Dorado numbers surge; first spearfish caught

Inshore: Half-day boats are still concentrating on the great calico bass bite of the kelp in Point Loma and La Jolla. Yellowtail are just about everywhere from the kelp edges out and the short runs are picking a few, along with an occasional white seabass or halibut. As the water temps continue to edge upward, a few dorado and tuna have strayed within ¾-day range off the Coronado Islands and the lower 9 Mile Bank, but most of those in the counts are being caught by the overnight and longer trips. Schools of bonito and barracuda are chasing bait around just offshore from LA to northern Baja.

Outside: Yellowfin tuna counts dropped off dramatically from the week previous while the dorado numbers soared from under 100 to over 1000 in a week. Dorado (AKA mahi-mahi) are usually found in water 75 degrees or warmer ranging outside of tuna boils and especially near floating debris or kelp paddies. When they are present, they usually will voraciously attack any bait or lure that they see. The brilliantly colored dorado normally roam in small schools of 4 to 20 fish not unlike wolf packs, with a large ‘bull’ male or two in the lead. Male dorado have a large, blunted head while the females are more slender in appearance. They are in the jack family and their meat is not unlike their yellowtail cousins. Also, the first shortbill spearfish of 2016 was caught this past week.

7/31 – 8/6 Dock Totals: 6352 anglers aboard 229 boats out of San Diego landings this past week caught 1,071 dorado, 34 bluefin tuna, 1,488 yellowfin tuna, 1 skipjack tuna, 4,678 yellowtail, 6,399 calico bass, 47 sand bass, 1,236 rockfish, 2 lingcod, 22 sculpin, 527 bonito, 94 barracuda, 74 sheephead, 9 halibut, 9 white seabass, 93 mackerel, 5 whitefish, 2 escolar, 3 leopard shark, 1 thresher shark, 1 mako shark 1 finescale triggerfish, 1 shortbill spearfish and 1 giant seabass. 2 striped marlin were caught and released.

Notable: Carl and Sue’s annual Surf Perch Derby in San Quintin was a great success again last week. Set on a Thursday with a perfect 5:40am low tide, last year’s record attendance of 97 was shattered as 141 entrants showed up to fish. Several larger perch were caught (I took 7th with a .99 lb barred surf perch and scored a trolling rod with a 4/0 Senator) and the top 2 fish were caught by local kids. First prize was 3,500 pesos, or choice of anything from the table loaded with gear, coolers, rods, reels and other swag. Every entrant got a bag of Berkley Gulp sandworms and a few weights and hooks. That alone was worth more than double the entry fee. There was a massive amount of excellent food, including kosher dogs, chili, a plethora of salads, seared yellowtail-sashimi style and much more. Most of the cash and prizes are donated, so with the low 50 peso entry fee everybody was a winner.

Scheduled fish plants (lbs): 8/15 Jennings, catfish (1000)