Newport Back Bay, August 29, 2010

[Ohana]

Launched out of the Newport Aquatic Center at 9:30 am. Tide was moving in a good clip (high tide at 12:00 pm) and the wind out of the southwest was steady, so the drift was fast pushing into the backbay.

I decided to use a crankbait and fished the sides of the channel. On my third cast, I hooked a nice size yellowfin croaker; it put up a scrappy fight and released to fight another day. But I also dunked my reel while trying to unhook the croaker, so time to do a thorough cleaning of the reel

Shortly after the croaker, I hooked two small (13 inches) halibut on the crankbait.

No spotted bay bass today. My impression is they are further up in the bay; last weekend I got only two bass, but four, 2 legal, halibut in the area I normally catch only bass.

All in all a nice day on the water. For those who like to birdwatch, I got to see a Peregrine Falcon chase some shorebirds and rocket right over my head as it headed into the back bay.

Kevin