Dorado Invasion 2.0

Dock Totals Aug 5 – Aug 11: 6,512 anglers aboard 270 trips out of San Diego landings this past week caught 155 bluefin tuna, 2,984 yellowfin tuna, 1,594 skipjack tuna, 3,493 dorado, 6,676 yellowtail, 2 white seabass (released), 462 bonito, 69 barracuda, 3,850 calico bass, 76 sand bass, 764 rockfish, 115 whitefish, 3 lingcod, 30 sculpin, 80 sheephead, 6 halibut (2 released), 1 treefish, 1 triggerfish, 1 leopard shark (released), 3 thresher shark, 1 gray smoothhound shark, 8 Spanish jack, and 3 bat ray

Saltwater: The feeling that the yellowfin bite would pick up was justified in the count, and though my call for well over 3,000 yellowfin amounted to just under 3,000 of those tunas caught, I nailed it on the skipjack. No dorado have been reported caught by a kayaker yet, but the count is tremendous at over 3,400 fish, and there have been a few caught on extended ¾ day runs, so they are very thick and getting closer. And oddly enough, the yellowtail count was within 9 of the week prior at 6,676 fish. That’s just a .00135% change, so I’d say the yellowtail fishing has been consistently great.

The big bluefin tuna are still hanging around just off the backside of San Clemente Island, though I do know that as I am writing this, the Vagabond is taking a look at the Cortes Bank some 40 miles southwest of the island to see if any bluefin are there in the cooler water. Some of these fish are coming in at up to and over 200 pounds, and are being caught where surface temps would indicate the likelihood of a different breed of tuna. The water is hot for our area of the Pacific, but the thermocline is not that thick, so the bluefin are able to cruise the cooler water and hold in the same areas as the yellowfin and dorado that will be in the warmer portion of the water column above.

Predictions of wahoo and striped marlin making it to our local waters are mixed. I’m thinking they will be caught within sight of the Coronado Islands before the season is over. Water over 75 degrees off our coast just begs for wahoo and striped marlin, along with the short-billed spearfish and opah that have just started showing in the summer counts in the past few years.

Inshore, the calico bass continue to bite consistently in the kelp beds off Point Loma and La Jolla, while spotted bay bass are showing well in both bays, especially in the early mornings and late afternoons. Night fishing in the bays during the higher tide swings has been good for halibut and sand bass, while first light on the mornings after grunion runs has been good for shortfin corvina along the riprap just offshore. California corbina and barred surf perch have been biting on clams and sand crabs in the surf on incoming tides. Torrey Pines and Del Mar beaches have been the hot spots, but wherever one finds sand crabs, it’s a fair estimate that there will be some perch or corbina.

Fish Plants: No plants scheduled