fished the bay for the third straight week...it just keeps getting better and better! fished from about 8:30-3:00pm. we pulled up fish left and right. you name it, we got it.

we pulled in sand bass (one that was at least 2lbs), a couple of nice spotted bay bass, mackerals, short barries, 3 short but fun wsb, lots of short halibut (2 close to legal),

lots of silver perch looking fish about 6-10 inches...not too sure what it is...

also my brother threw out a sardine...i told him it was too big to catch anything in the harbor because they were pretty large...but sure enough, his reel was screaming and whaterver it was took off until the line snapped. so he threw another another one out and it got whacked too. this time the thing circled around the boat then snapped the line...my guess is a nice size shark, any other guesses?

then there was some prehistoric looking thing. it had the head of a lingcod, but it narrowed out after the head to a long tail, almost eel like...the top fin ran all the way from behind the head to the tail...would be interested to know what that thing was if anyone knows...it was about 15 inches long.

anyways, the fishing was great, "it was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." the only draw back would be all the kids learning to sail whizzing around yelling...but hey i was out fishing so no worries:)

Sounds like a blast I would guess it was a bat ray
I have been pulled around a few times in my tube. The big suckers just rip line its no stopping them
I miss those spotties were you fishing live bait only?
try crankin the docks

im guessing the large creature was a bat ray also, and the prehistoric thing....., i'm guessing a small kelpfish...

hope the info helps,
aaron

Negative on the kelpfish. Sounds like a Midshipman. They look like something out of a submarine canyon (and are sorta). They come into the bays to spawn, then back out to the deep water. They usually have rows of white phosphor (sp?) dots and are grayish brown fading to white on the belly.

Amish Ed
You Can't Catch it again if
it's Dead!

what the heck I would be scared lipping that thing???

thanks for the input about the mystery fish. all i know it was creepy looking! yeah i have been out there once a week for the past 3 weeks and each trip gets better!

i get a skiff out of daveys locker. its a good deal. $45 for half day (5 hours) and a scoop of anchovies and some sardines. can fish up to 4 people comfortably. most of the time we fish the chovies. havent tried fishing the docks yet as we have had such success in the channel, but have thrown swimbaits with no avail. did get a nice sandy with a bonita feather! it was a nice one...surprised me because i didnt think the bass would go for the feather. but i know the swimbaits work well. in college, my buddy used to work at a bed and breakfast on the harbor. so we used to go there late at night and fish the docks with swimbaits and we used to hammer the sandies!

anyways, thanks for the replies and hope you all get a chance to get out and wet those lines!

i checked out the possibile suggestions of the mystery fish and it appears that AmmishEd was correct! it was a midshipman or a humming fish. they are studied by biologists because the males make a sound to attract the females for mating. interesting fish. but thanks to all who replied and especially AmmishEd for knowing his fish!

It helped that I caught one this spring, plus I saw a couple working the boats. If you don't already have one, pick up a copy of
"Fishes of the Pacific Coast". It's very helpful in indentifying those wierd fish, plus it makes great bathroom reading. I've read mine at least 4 times al the way through.

Amish Ed
You Can't Catch it again if
it's Dead!

You weren't kidding about Newport Bay. Fishing was awesome. Caught many short halibut (released) and limits on bay bass.

Thanks for the tip
mpnugent

I caught one of those fish throwing swim baits at the agua hedionda lagoon in Carlsbad about two months back.It had to be the ugliest fish I ever caught. I tried to describe it to my brother but was at a loss for words.Released it at arms length with my pliars.