Break out your top water jigs. Barracuda fishing is back in Newport Beach. This is the kind of surface action that Newport Harbor sport boats have been waiting for.
I talked with Thor at on Wednesday and he told me that barracuda fishing is wide open just six miles from the end of the Newport Harbor jetty. The fish are biting fly-lined baits and traditional top water jigs.
Newport Harbor’s open party boats from and Newport Landing got into the fish on Tuesday, with anglers aboard catching their limit. The action continued Wednesday with more than 150 fish being caught before 9 a.m.
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Jimmy Decker of Fishing with Captain Jimmy Decker said he plans to fish for barracuda today with a client who is attempting a world fly fishing record on these big fish.
I check in with Tracy Viloria, secretary and weigh master at the Balboa Angling Club, who just returned from a trip to the East Cape in Baja Mexico. She stayed at the Las Palmas de Cortes.
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Viloria was fishing with her light bass gear for pompano when she hooked and landed the first yellowfin tuna of the season at the resort. She told me that the pompano bite was wide open when a school of bonita breezed through followed by her yellowfin tuna. Her fish was estimated between 20 and 30 pounds.
Max Petty of Newport Beach was spear fishing with his sling Saturday when he nailed a monster sand bass along the outside of the jetty near the Wedge. Petty was predicting that it was a record for sling spear fishing.
On the Balboa Pier recently, anglers targeting mackerel were filling five gallon buckets with the tasty little fish. Anglers were hooking up six mac’s at a time as the schools swam around the pier.
JD at J.D.’s Big Game on Balboa Island reported that the water temps in Newport Harbor are holding in the low 60’s and that the water is still off color. JD said that sand bass fishing should be improving with the coming of the full moon on May 17.
It should be a great weekend of fishing. So dust off your surface iron and get some of these barracuda on the grill.
