Dana Wharf Fish Report

Bass fishing surges with warm temperatures

Every week, Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching provides the Dana Point Times and San Clemente Times with 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:

More good stuff going on here this week. Super busy schedule, and fish biting in a lot of different zones.

Half-day action has been great with 70to 72-degree water along the beach. Good condition and good water temperatures made bass fishing good again. Fly-lined baits, rubber lures and the hard baits all caught fish. There was plenty of action, as well, for the new anglers or the rent rod folk. There were also a few halibut catches for the guys soaking baits on the bottom. We’re seeing some yellowtail in a couple half-day zones. They’re big leery fish, so, the ones we’ve hooked have been on wrong tackle. But we did get one 41-pounder on the Clemente this week, so, those things are around.

The three-quarter-day is pretty much the same scenario as half-day with good bass fishing stretching through Camp Pendleton. We’re seeing some yellowtail down there, too.

Off the beach at San Clemente Island and Catalina Island, there’s good bass action, some barracuda and bonito. The New San Mateo fished 5-5 at San Clemente Island on Saturday, July 29. Speed was 18 knots there and back. They had great bass fishing there and saw more yellowtail. Such a cool deal having the range and speed to fish there on an all-day trip. We fished on Friday at Catalina Island and had good bass fishing despite the sea lions. Ugh.

And then how about Captain Christian on the LexSea and the double jig strike on the albacore? Crazy cool. He said, as he was winding the second jig in, it got bit multiple times before a second fish finally stuck to it. Does that mean they clipped an edge of a school or same fish trying to eat and finally got hooked? So cool. Also worth noting, there were big bluefin 200-pounders in our zone the last few days, too. That’s a bit big for our day-to-day anglers, but skiff guys were on it good.

With the end of July came the end of Dana Wharf’s catch-and-release saltwater bass tournament, and there was no change on the leaderboard since the last update. Bryan Gunther led the way with a 6.98-pound bass, and Mark Ator was in second with a 5.8-pound bass.

For more information on trips, visit danawharf.com.

HERE ARE THE LATEST FISH COUNTS FROM DANA WHARF SPORTFISHING & WHALE WATCHING:

Aug. 1—6 boats, 153 anglers: 204 calico bass, 55 sand bass, 8 sheephead, 4 sculpin, 1 halibut, 770 bass released.

July 31—9 boats, 210 anglers: 270 calico bass, 51 sand bass, 27 sheephead, 19 barracuda, 10 whitefish, 5 blue perch, 3 rockfish, 1 sculpin, 1 bonito, 1 treefish, 1,016 bass released.

July 30—7 boats, 236 anglers: 5 bluefin tuna, 81 calico bass, 38 sand bass, 30 rockfish, 14 sheephead, 5 bocaccio, 4 sculpin, 2 halibut, 2 whitefish, 785 bass released.

July 29—9 boats, 271 anglers: 1 yellowtail, 211 calico bass, 120 rockfish, 47 sand bass, 32 blue perch, 28 white- fish, 13 sheephead, 9 bonito, 5 sculpin, 5 vermilion rockfish, 4 barracuda, 895 bass released.

July 28—9 boats, 237 anglers: 2 albacore tuna, 1 bluefin tuna, 212 calico bass, 40 sheephead, 27 whitefish, 19 sand bass, 11 blue perch, 3 barracuda, 3 treefish, 2 sculpin, 2 bonito, 2 halibut, 602 bass released.

July 27—7 boats, 159 anglers: 3 bluefin tuna, 142 calico bass, 48 sand bass, 34 sheephead, 29 rockfish, 23 whitefish, 5 bonito, 4 barracuda, 1 halibut, 630 calico bass released. DP