Same Place, Different Outcome!

Excited about last week's catch, we headed out of Dana Point again this week looking for the tuna and yellowtail. Tim, Jack, Wayne and I left dock at 5 am in Tim's 26 foot Striper (nice boat). We grabbed a scoop of bait (mixed sardines and mackerel) and left the harbor heading towards last week's lucky spot.

This week the weather was warmer and so was the water starting out at 72.2 degrees and going up to 74.3 degrees. The water was flat calm. We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise on our way.

Around 6:30 am we found our first kelp. Tim trolled around the kelp then we decided to stop and throw a few baits. Jack was first in the water with a nice mackerel. As luck would have it (and Jack always has the luck) a nice dorado bit. I mentioned how hard it is to gaff dorado and Tim thrust the gaff into my hands. It was horrible - Jack had to bring that dorado to the boat at least 7 times before I could get a gaff in it. As it turned out, this was Jack's first dorado and the first dorado on Tim's boat.  What a beautiful fish!

We fished the kelp a while longer with no success then took off looking for another kelp. We traveled south for a couple hours and we were west of Oceanside before seeing another kelp. Just as we set up to fish the kelp, another boat swung around our kelp and started fishing it without even asking. We took off to find another kelp.

By day's end, we had found only a handful of kelps and the only bite we had was Jack's dorado. It was obvious that the kelps and fish had been pounded by so many private boats and sportboats during the last week, that the fish had sounded to escape. Perhaps next week the fish will come back up and want to bite again. 

We enjoyed the day anyway. We snacked on peanuts and Wayne’s wonderful sandwiches that we washed down with Tim's IPA Beer. Great day on the water, just not a catching day.

Dead Bait Fishing!

Tuesday evening, I got a call inviting me to fish the Catalina Channel the following day with Jack, Wayne and Tim on Tim's boat. It barely took 15 seconds for me to say "yes." I quickly put some hooks, cutters, jigs, weights, line etc. into a tackle box and rigged 3 rods (a 20 pound anchovy outfit, a 25 pound sardine rod and a 60 pound trolling rod with a Little Speedy attached). I packed everything in my truck, put on my seasick patch and went to bed.

We all met pre-dawn Wednesday morning at Dana Point Jet Ski and Kayak Center and loaded our gear on Tim's boat which was docked just behind the Kayak Center. Tim and Jack had taken the boat to the receiver Tuesday evening and filled the bait tank with live sardines so we were ready to go. We headed out of the harbor around 4:30 am heading west, southwest. The water close to harbor was 67 degrees.

After traveling about an hour or so watching the sunrise, we got into 72 degree water west of Oceanside. We put out a couple trolling rods and started trolling around looking for kelps working our way northwest. A little before 10 am, we spotted a couple boats stopped and we headed in their general direction. We weren't sure if they were fishing or in distress. We were almost a mile away when we realized they were fishing. At about the same time we spotted a kelp and Tim turned the boat towards it. That's when my trolling rod went off.

I wound in a yellowtail that had both hooks in it from the little speedy I was trolling. As Tim reached over to gaff my fish, several other yellowtail charged the boat. I told everyone to get a bait in the water and I unhooked and bled my fish. That was just the beginning of a delightful four-hour catching spree drifting with that small kelp.

While Wayne, Jack and Tim pulled on their yellowtail, I grabbed my 25# outfit and pinned a live sardine on and cast it out. Shortly after, I hooked and landed a 20 lb. yellowfin tuna. We would catch a couple fish, trade off gaffing, then drift a while until the yellowtail charged our bait again. Then Jack caught a yellowfin tuna. By about noon, we were out of live bait. All that was left were dead baits - some floating and some in the bottom of the tank.

We drifted dead baits behind the boat with our rods in the holders and sat down to eat lunch - delicious homemade roast beef and ham sandwiches made by Wayne (thanks Wayne). We were celebrating our catch (2 yellowfin tuna and about 8 yellowtail) washing our sandwiches down with a beer, when a couple rods went off. Unbelievable! These fish bit dead baits! And they continued to bite dead baits!

Tips to fishing Dead Baits: Select a bait with the best color, with as little red on its' body as possible. Straighten out the sardine if it is curved. Hook the bait by bringing the hook up through the bottom jaw, up and out the top of the nose so it keeps the sardines mouth shut. Add a little split shot about 2 feet above the bait on the line (it keeps bait away from birds) and float it back behind the boat. When all the dead bait you have is red and ugly, your only choice is whether you select a floater or sinker - which is just a personal preference.

We continued to fish dead sardines until 2 in the afternoon. By then, Jack had caught another yellowfin tuna (yes, it was on a very dead sardine) and we put 8 more yellowtail on the boat. Even though we had a couple dead baits left, it was time to return to dock. We had caught 16 yellowtail and 3 yellowfin tuna (half of all the fish were on dead baits) and we were just 16 miles from the Harbor - less than an hour return trip home. I have no idea how many fish I caught but I do know I enjoyed gaffing the fish as much as catching the yellowtail. I also know that I love El Niño years which are the only time tuna I’ve seen tuna in the Catalina Channel!

Our work was just beginning. Unfortunately, we don't have Fish Pros at Dana Point Harbor so Tim and I had to fillet the fish. Jack and Wayne cleaned up the boat and then helped us bag the fish.

It took us a couple hours to do the fish then we all headed home - exhilerated, exhausted and content. We'll never forget the day we caught 19 fish during a 4 hour drift on a kelp, 16 miles from home and on dead bait!