Paddy Hopping

Last week I got the opportunity to fish with Tim Boyer, his son Chris and Jack Voss on Tim's Striper. We made an early departure stopping at the bait receiver for a scoop of sardines then headed off-shore searching for kelp paddies.

The waters were choppy at first but calmed as the day went on. Skies were overcast with some coastal fog that burned off quickly.  The day ended up with clear blue skies with temperatures in the 80’s.

We were searching for either dorado or yellowtail that were rumored to be on kelps in the channel off Dana Point. I was fishing with 25 pound fluorocarbon to a 2/0 Mustad 92667 hook on a Talica10 - no weight. We found our first paddies after about an hour of travel. Unfortunately this kelp was dry.

We threw sardines on 15 or 20 kelps when Chris decided to chop up the dead sardines and chum with them. At one of the next kelps, I decided to fish a chunk of sardine. I ended up hooking something that went straight down and just dogged me. It was a heavy fish but didn't feel like a yellowtail or tuna. With 25 pound line, I couldn't put much pressure on the fish. After 10 minutes or so, the fish surfaced off in the distance but it didn't fight - it was just dead weight. I gradually brought the fish to the boat. At first it looked like a shark, but once it was next to the boat, we realized it was a sunfish (Mola Mola). Definitely not a pretty fish and prehistoric looking at best.  We released it. What a disappointment.

Several of the kelps had small fry on it and we saw one baby yellowtail but failed to see or hook anything else. Chris and Tim traded off running the boat and they did a great job to.

We continued to paddy hop ending up off San Onofre before calling it a day. On the way in, we were treated to a show from breaching whales. We put in a full day chasing kelps from 6 am until 3 pm for one sunfish. It was a beautiful day on the water and I truly enjoyed being out fishing with friends. It's especially appreciated now that I can't long range fish until I get my knee replaced. Thanks so much Tim, Chris and Jack for including me.