Dorado and Yellowtail on the Islander

The Braid Products 3.5 day charter on the Islander departed July 29th at 9:00 p.m., baited up at the receivers then headed south to fish kelps. Several of the passengers had migrated from the Pacific Queen 2 day trip to the Islander 3.5 day trip. It was great seeing old friends again. Captain John Coniff was at the helm for this trip and Paul was cooking.

We began trolling around 6:30 in the morning still traveling south and within view of the coast. We picked up 77 mixed dorado and yellowtail throughout the day ending up 110 miles south. The yellowtail were 20 to 30 pound fish and the dorado were 18 pounders – all beautiful fish. These fish bit well on 25# to 40# line and the dorado put on a great show.

We continued further south during the night beginning at 135 miles south the next morning. We continued the same direction fishing kelps. The further south we went the better the fish bit. We had a great day ending at 165 miles south with just over 200 mixed dorado and yellowtail for the day. The flat calm waters certainly made the fishing that much more enjoyable.

Since we had plenty of dorado and yellowtail we headed north to try our hand at albacore fishing. Unfortunately the albacore didn’t want to bite so John anchored us up on the 60 mile bank for some rock cod fishing. The salmon grouper were biting full speed on every drop. We caught over 150 of these fish and only one red and one cow cod.

We spent the rest the day trying for albacore but they were nearly a no show. Only 5 albacore for the trip and they were caught by anglers that only take one trip a year.

We were only 54 miles from home so it was a calm, peaceful ride home.