Took John (ocsawdust) and Rodney (venator) for a shot at the Dorado that have been abundant out of Dana Point. The initial reports yesterday and the concerns about the bait did not sound promising, but the later reports firmed up the decision to do Dana Point.
So met up at 5 AM and waited our turn at the bait.
John looking shocked..LOL
Rodney looking chipper for an early AM launch.
The line at the receiver had us about 6th in line. It took about 20 minutes, but we got a very good looking scoop of bait and made our way out to make some mackerel
By 6:20, we had about a dozen feisty macks in the tank and were on our way for the 14 mile bank.
The temps were a miserable 67-68 degrees. Not ideal for dorado, but we carried on in hopes of warmer waters ahead.
Once at the 14, the conditions were still pretty chilly and quite different from yesterdays reports of 72-74 degree waters. There were a couple of boats around but nobody was hooked up. We trolled the area for about 15 minutes before we pulled the trollers and went gunning for patties.
While trolling we picked up this little hitch hiker. A land based bird that was very lost. He took a breather before we brought in the trollers and gunned it in search of patties. I hope the little guy found land.
About 7:30, and a few miles short of the 277, we came across our first decent looking patty. It didn't take long to realize there were fish on it.
All 3 of us hooked up on the first pass, but we went an embarrassing 0 for 3
John and I quickly retied (we both got bit off on the first try) and we made another pass at it and this time landed a few.
John's dodo at color. He had a buddy tagging along. This was a common scene throughout the AM.
How about this for a double bendo?
The fish were far from trophy grade. Most were 3-4 lbs with the occassional 5 lber and jackpot being around 5.5. While they bit the 20# pretty good, we'd scale it down to 8, 10 and 12 # test to have some fun. And fun we had. To the tune of 5 hours on this one patty!
I busted out the bass outfit again, my Curado with 12# Ande.
Didn't take long...
Rodney with another bendo.
Be careful of flying dodos.
John having a seat.
Another typical dodo. The colors are simply amazing.
...and my circle. Not exactly in the corner of the mouth but its close enough. 8)
The little doritos were on the chew. At one point, I got this back. :o
Lunchtime was top notch. Fishing for doritos makes one pretty hungry. On the menu were the OCsawdust sandwiches. They were pretty damn good!
Rodney refusing to put the rod down while he renenergized.
My lunch. YUM!
A hooked dodo all lit up!
The bait was excellent. It was hearty and lasted pretty much all day with very few rollers.
Don't believe me? Here's a clip of them swimming with conviction
...
Dodos continued to cruise all over the place. Schools of 8, 10, 15 dorado would cruise by time and time again. We'd manage to pick off at least one at each pass and would even get them as far as 150 yards off the patties.
John going bendo on the 8 # bass outfit.
A video of John fighting his fish.
And the prize...
The highlight of the trip came around 10:30 AM when a mako made a brief appearance causing the dodos to scatter. It loitered for a bit before disappearing into the blue.
A little while later, John would grab a steel leader, a big a$$ hook and a mackie in search of the mako.
After soaking the mackerel for about 20 minutes, the strong runs of the bait were replace by a slow methodical pull. John winds down and raises his rod. I tell him I think he's on and the little game of tug o' war ensues.
It would be 5 minutes before we'd get color. This is what we saw...
Deep color
Looks like a ray?
Nope...its the mako!
And the moment captured on video.
...and what pound test were you using for your mainline John?
That right...15# test!!!
While he tussled with the beast (which appeared to be about 5 to 6 feet long, probably closer to 6), Rodney and I continue to play with the doritos.
Another 10 minutes would go by, but he's wasn't gaining any ground so we decided to back down on the shark. Doing so, John was able to retrieve about 100 feet of line.
Then it came to color again and was about 30 feet away when the hook pulled. Oh well, no harm no foul. We were completely unprepared to toy with the mako so it was going to be released anyway. It probably was about 80-100 lbs. John's first mako and the first such species on my boat. That was quite exciting.
We'd finish off the day hitting a couple of patties on the way in. One would have a few baby molas so I took a couple of pics and clips.
I love my Olympus!
So we wrapped up the day by 1:30 PM and I was home by 4 PM. What a perfect day.
Rodney/John - it was great fishing with you guys! I think it was a good call, sticking with the one patty. One stop shopping. Its as good as it gets!
Till next time fellas!
Linear Mode
