Big fan of this message board, although this is my first post:

I was kayaking in upper newport bay for the first time and noticed a lot of very active fish jumping clear out of the water...a pretty amazing sight, really, to a novice fisherman.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what these are, and what kind of bait/rigging one would use to target them. I'm interested in trying my hand at kayak fishing and figure the bay would be a good place to start before hitting the harbors and open water.

Thanks.

Trying going to bigwatersedge.com. Those guys can probably give u tips on kayak fishing.

What'd they look like?

It was a little hard to see details, but they were 12" to 24" long, mostly silver/white, looked like the fins may have been yellow. I thnk the comment about the mullet might be right on the money.

they are most likley mullet. i have seen them jump there a number of time. i hear they are extremely hard to catch, i've tried once with peas but no luck. someday i may try using a fly, bread, moss, or give peas another try.

mike

Try using bread as bait. Pinch a good size and roll it into a ball (size of a small marble) with a small hook. I use to fish for them along the shores using ultra light gears. They're very fun to catch. Since they seem to be on the top feeding I did not use a sinker. But if you want to cast it a short distant then i would recommend using a light as possible weight so that the bait can stay a float.

Mike's got it right. These fish are Mullet.

Mullet.

LETTUCE ON A CIRCLE HOOK, OR A 10/0 TREBLE!!! LOL