By Zach Cavanagh
Yellowtail are becoming more plentiful along the coast, and the first dorado of the season was pulled in last week on a Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching expedition.
In his weekly report, Captain Brian Woolley said that more coastal yellowtail are coming in. The Boardroom pulled in a 30-pound yellowtail, but Woolley said they are seeing more yellowtail than they’re hooking along the coast right now.
On those coastal half-day and three-quarter-day trips, bass is still the headliner, with calico bass plentiful on the north and south sides of the harbor. Woolley said that down the coast along San Onofre and into the Barn Kelp, the bass fishing has been particularly good for the three-quarter-day trips. Fly-lined sardines are getting the best looks.
While the yellowtail is moving in along the coast, the yellowtail have practically been jumping into the boats over at San Clemente Island and Catalina Island. The all-day trips have caught a good number of yellowtail in the morning and added some bass to round out the day. Woolley said the difficult part of fishing over at Catalina right now is navigating the increase of boat traffic. When they can get away from the other boats, the yellowtail is there, along with bass, bonito and barracuda.
Last Saturday, the first dorado catch of the season came in on the Clemente. The boat took an extra minute to look around the kelp and was able to hook one of the few dorado found.
For more information on the wide variety of fishing trips, check out danawharf.com.
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Here are the latest fish counts out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching:
July 31 – 10 boats, 267 anglers: 13 yellowtail, 187 calico bass, 14 sand bass, 18 sheephead, 1 whitefish, 5 rockfish, 8 barracuda, 10 bonito, 1 halibut, 810 bass released.
July 30 – 9 boats, 287 anglers: Not available.
July 29 – 8 boats, 278 anglers: 80 calico bass, 5 sand bass, 7 sheephead, 4 barracuda, 115 mackerel, 805 bass released.
July 28 – 6 boats, 142 anglers: 26 yellowtail, 172 calico bass, 13 sand bass, 1 sculpin, 12 sheephead, 10 whitefish, 2 rockfish, 30 vermilion rockfish, 3 barracuda, 15 bonito, 1 halibut, 5 blue perch, 40 Spanish mackerel, 630 bass released.
July 27 – 8 boats, 196 anglers: 1 dorado, 117 calico bass, 9 sand bass, 1 sculpin, 6 sheephead, 7 whitefish, 114 rockfish, 85 vermilion rockfish, 14 bocaccio, 2 barracuda, 8 blue perch, 1 opaleye, 1 sargo, 1 yellowfin croaker, 751 bass released.
July 26 – 9 boats, 232 anglers: 165 calico bass, 6 sand bass, 12 sheephead, 2 whitefish, 61 rockfish, 60 vermilion rockfish, 35 bocaccio, 4 barracuda, 1 halibut, 802 bass released, 14 barracuda released.
Zach Cavanagh
Zach Cavanagh is the sports editor for Picket Fence Media. Zach is a California Journalism Award winner and has covered sports in Orange County since 2013. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @ZachCav and follow our sports coverage on Twitter @SouthOCSports.
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