Every week, Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching provides the Dana Point and San Clemente Times a report on the week’s fishing from Captain Brian Woolley, in addition to the weekly fish count.
Here is Captain Woolley’s report for the past week’s action:
Definitely a fun week here for us on a lot of different fronts.
Local bass action on the half-day scene was still a bit slow despite some better conditions and pretty good water temperatures. The water was 68-71 degrees along the coast. Most of the bass we caught were on the fly-lined sardines and cut bait. Artificial lures fished well this week, too. There were some nice fish caught off the bottom, as well. On Saturday, Aug. 13, the Reel Fun had a 33-pound halibut on their afternoon half-day trip. It was caught on a dropper loop rig with a live sardine.
The three-quarter-day trips have been mixing in some time off the beach fishing kelps paddies for dorado and then folding in the bass action in the afternoon when the conditions have set up better. The success has pretty much mirrored the half-day, and anglers are having to work at it a bit to get the bites.
The best opportunities this week had to be in the offshore scene. Offshore boats had great dorado fishing for the all-day trips. It was classic kelp paddy-type of fishing. Fly-lined sardines fished the best. There was some nice yellowtail as well to go along with the dorado. Boats were seeing some good spots of bluefin too. Our 6-Pac fleet was catching that fish well on the troll and a few fish on the kite and flyer.
The big news here was that we added a new boat to the fleet. The boat is called the New San Mateo replacing the San Mateo. The boat is a beautiful factory-built 1977 50-foot Delta/Delta. It is set up very well for our fishery. The boat has side-scan Sonar, nice electronics, a two-ton refrigerated saltwater fish hold and a speedy 15-18-knot cruise speed. The boat is ready for charter.
The New San Mateo ran its first trip on Saturday, Aug. 13. Captain Mike Hansen ran the boat. Forty dorado and five yellowtail hit the boat’s deck on its first trip as part of the Dana Wharf fleet. We’re super excited to have this boat in service and running charters. Check it out on our Instagram page @fishdanawharf.
Here are the latest fish counts from Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching:
Aug. 16 – 7 boats, 112 anglers: 147 dorado, 5 yellowtail, 23 calico bass, 12 sand bass, 7 sheephead, 3 sculpin, 305 bass released
Aug. 15 – 8 boats, 159 anglers: 80 dorado, 10 yellowtail, 14 calico bass, 6 sand bass, 5 sheephead, 1 sculpin, 1 whitefish, 1 triggerfish, 169 bass released
Aug. 14 – 13 boats, 333 anglers: 156 dorado, 4 bluefin tuna, 2 yellowtail, 42 calico bass, 5 sand bass, 2 whitefish, 2 sheephead, 1 bonito, 1 barracuda, 1 sculpin, 218 bass released
Aug. 13 – 10 boats, 250 anglers: 66 dorado, 27 yellowtail, 2 bluefin tuna, 2 yellowfin tuna, 18 sand bass, 15 vermilion rockfish, 12 calico bass, 4 sheephead, 2 whitefish, 1 halibut, 217 bass released
Aug. 12 – 9 boats, 210 anglers: 35 dorado, 18 yellowtail, 4 bluefin tuna, 27 boccacio, 22 calico bass, 13 vermilion rockfish, 12 rockfish, 7 sheephead, 5 sanddab, 4 whitefish, 2 sand bass, 2 bonito, 2 treefish, 1 halibut, 153 bass released
Aug. 11 – 9 boats, 144 anglers: 60 yellowtail, 25 dorado, 7 yellowfin tuna, 26 calico bass, 3 bonito, 3 sculpin, 2 sheephead, 1 barracuda, 1 halibut, 163 bass released
August 9th seems to be the best fishing day! It’s fascinating that different days and conditions resulted in different catch results