Dorado on the Striper!

I got an invite to fish with Tim and Karen Boyer on their Striper yesterday and I jumped at the chance.  Kayak Mike joined us too.  We met up at 6 am and found the bait had rolled during the night so we had to line up at the receiver to buy more.  Fortunately the line was nothing like last week.

We headed out of Dana Point Harbor around 6:30 am and tried for mackerel just outside the harbor.  We managed 2 mackerel and 1 bonito.  They just were not biting so we headed south, southwest trolling all the way.

An hour or so out, we encountered a long straight line of common dolphins puddling and playing.  I thought there must be a temperature break they were along but the meter only showed a .5 degree difference.  We spent some time in the area but never metered anything so we traveled on searching for kelps or breaking fish. 

Kelps were sparse - just a scrap here and there with nothing around.  During our journey we were treated to a whale show.  We saw several whales including one minke whale and a blue whale.  

We kept going and got into some beautiful 73 degree blue water off Oceanside.  We had another Striper call us in to their small paddy to let us share their good luck.  They had a couple dorado and a couple yellowfin tuna.  Unfortunately, that was all there was so we headed off to find our own kelp.

We did find our own kelp!  A large kelp with a couple seagulls sitting on it.  Tim shut down the boat and as we drifted dorado came rushing the boat.  Karen and I got picked up but the dorado just mouthed the bait and we couldn't get the hook in them.  We kept at it trying different things.  I put a 3 ounce torpedo sinker on and drifted a sardine out.  After a long soak, a 13.5 lb. dorado took the bait - hook and all.  Finally we had a fish on the boat and dinner for all.

As we continued to fish, a Luhrs Yacht Named "Lil Luck" out of Oceanside drove their boat right over our lines cutting us off from our kelp and nearly hitting us in the process.  The captain never asked if we would share the kelp - he just assumed it was his for the taking.  It was a total lack of sportsmanship and an ugly display of greed.  It was all over then so we headed home.

We had been fishing off Oceanside so the ride home took an hour or so but it was a pleasant trip.  The weather had been beautiful the entire day and we were all thankful we had a fish to take home and share for dinner.

We unloaded the boat then I filleted the dorado while Tim and Mike cleaned the boat.  I think I got the best of the deal. 

Michelle made sure we had our Red Solo Cup of cheer to help with the tasks at hand.  Thanks again Tim for the opportunity to fish with you and good luck next week in Alasla.