Newport Surf

[Bendo]

I went on an exploratory trip to check on conditions, and found some really fishable holes in North Newport to South Huntington Beach. It was late afternoon with the nearly Full Moon rising well before the Sun set and the Tide getting very low. The holes were defined by the surf disappearing into swell as they topped over the deeper water. I watched the surfers wading in, going from knee deep water into chest deep and back into ankle deep as they reached the shore. To the South of the Santa Ana River outlet the water was quite warm as the outflow was heated all day by the warm bright Sun. I caught a Halibut on my very first cast, on a 5 inch Pearl ZMan Streakz glued onto a 1/8 ounce Jighead and Ten pound test. Even though a fish on the first cast is usually a bad thing, I took it as the start of a wide open bite. Was I ever wrong. It was a grind for your next two hours as I worked from hole to hole and I landed one more Halibut, and had several hard thumps that didn’t stick. Usually these are Yellowfin Croaker that are abundant in this area but aren’t big enough or hungry enough to choke down the 5 inch Swimbaits. Both the Halibut, about 20 and 18 inches had sucked the Jig completely into their mouths. They were good for a battle, but their numbers won’t have me coming back tomorrow, I’ll keep checking every week and see if I can’t get on them like the last few Decembers, which have been surprisingly good for me. I didn’t see any Sand Crab beds in this area. Hopefully this is the start of a good Winter Bite, and I’m just a little early. I’ll let you know…Photo from last December.