Dana Point 2/4/17

[DPevin]

Got a late start, on the water by 8. Conditions were less than ideal with the tide, wind and swell but we hadn't been out in awhile and had the day free. Thought my battery for the fish finder was charged, I guess I was wrong as I hooked it up at the truck and nada. Oh well, live and learn.

Some decently sized rollers on out way out to the red buoy at the point, but wasn't terrible. I guess the only real report I have is that making bait out there by the buoy was easy. Not sure how it will be after all this weather we will have this week, but if you all are headed out that way on a good weather window to get some of the halibut action, I'd say making bait out there wouldn't be a bad bet. Again, who knows after this weather.

Not much else to report. We were going to try for some of the halibut action but without the depth finder just stayed inside and paddled over to creek and drifted back working the kelp and whatever lobster buoys we saw. Just a couple short bites on some swimbaits. Combo swell made the paddle back pretty rough with the crossed up lines and wind picking up in the afternoon.

All in all the weather was nice and it was a good day on the water.

Good luck out there!

[bwana]

Thank you for the report. I was curious what the actual conditions were like on Saturday.

I had the same Dana Pt. game plan but to fish further west for Saturday.

MagicSeaweed predicted on Saturday a 4' - 4.5' West primary swell and a 2' South secondary swell. So I stayed home and made a new sabinki rig.

Looking forward to testing my new bait rig.

Was headed out Sunday with predicted swell at 2.5' - 3'. Woke to an early alarm. As I was getting ready I had an overpowering ominous feeling at 4 a.m. Had an internal debate about heading out by myself. Never had that feeling before so decided to heed my instincts and stay home.

Always another day.

[Aaron&Julie]

Got a late start, on the water by 8. Conditions were less than ideal with the tide, wind and swell but we hadn't been out in awhile and had the day free. Thought my battery for the fish finder was charged, I guess I was wrong as I hooked it up at the truck and nada. Oh well, live and learn.

Some decently sized rollers on out way out to the red buoy at the point, but wasn't terrible. I guess the only real report I have is that making bait out there by the buoy was easy. Not sure how it will be after all this weather we will have this week, but if you all are headed out that way on a good weather window to get some of the halibut action, I'd say making bait out there wouldn't be a bad bet. Again, who knows after this weather.

Not much else to report. We were going to try for some of the halibut action but without the depth finder just stayed inside and paddled over to creek and drifted back working the kelp and whatever lobster buoys we saw. Just a couple short bites on some swimbaits. Combo swell made the paddle back pretty rough with the crossed up lines and wind picking up in the afternoon.

All in all the weather was nice and it was a good day on the water.

Good luck out there!

Thanks for the report. Was it for last month on 1/4/17 or was that a typo?

[DPevin]

sorry, typo....it's Feb already? sheesh

[cris]

I'm going to add this here because I was inspired to go out by your report and I don't have much to add. Headed out 2/11 and found bait easy to make by the red buoy. Water was 60F and clear past the point. No takers though. The day started out gray with some rain but cleared up by 11am.

Cris!

[DPevin]

Good to hear the bait is still around. Thanks for the info.

[OCPhisher]

My son and I fished DP yesterday (2/12). Entrance to boat launch/marina was closed. They took spikes down at the exit so free parking for the day!

Made bait outside harbor. Caught some huge jacksmelt and macks --bigger than any of the few calicos we were hooking up. Trolled live bait heading down to Capo Reef. No takers. Down at Capo Reef some guys we were with caught some nice sized calico, 16 and 18 inches. Trolled back up with only a few raked baits and no hookups of the flat kind. Stayed out a little longer than planned and got caught in the winds heading back. By the time we got up to Doheny around 130 pm it was blowing pretty hard. Water never got above 60F.

It was only our second time fishing DP. What a fun fishery. We usually fish Newport so it was a nice change of pace.

Do you guys usually launch from boat ramp or baby beach?




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[bwana]

I'm headed out tomorrow. Going the opposite direction. I avoid baby beach after recent rains. Thanks for the heads-up on the entrance closure.

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[DanaPT]

My son and I fished DP yesterday (2/12). Entrance to boat launch/marina was closed. They took spikes down at the exit so free parking for the day!

Made bait outside harbor. Caught some huge jacksmelt and macks --bigger than any of the few calicos we were hooking up. Trolled live bait heading down to Capo Reef. No takers. Down at Capo Reef some guys we were with caught some nice sized calico, 16 and 18 inches. Trolled back up with only a few raked baits and no hookups of the flat kind. Stayed out a little longer than planned and got caught in the winds heading back. By the time we got up to Doheny around 130 pm it was blowing pretty hard. Water never got above 60F.

It was only our second time fishing DP. What a fun fishery. We usually fish Newport so it was a nice change of pace.

Do you guys usually launch from boat ramp or baby beach?






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If I am short on time I launch at the boat ramp. Best for getting in/out of water faster. I figure from baby beach to harbor mouth is 20 min each way. So 40 minutes saved is good.

If I don't have time OR money then I pay the metered parking. $1 per hour where all the surfers park. I wheel the kayak to the south jetty wall and I'm off. Or baby beach, I hate that route back.

If you really like fishing south of the harbor Google Beach road and pch. More metered parking $1 per hour. Park feet from the sand. It's a shore-break semi surf launch. Just watch swell and tide swings. This puts you on good fishing w/o a major paddel to or from.

[OCPhisher]

Thanks! That's really helpful. I've been wondering where we can practice surf launching closer to OC area (before venturing out to La Jolla). We'll definitely try Beach Rd launch area when it gets warmer.

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[Amish Ed]

Keep in mind beach launching/landing is technically not allowed from the jetty to the houses in capo beach. Just depends on the lifeguard's mood as to whether you get a ticket, warning, or no attention whatsoever. I've heard of tickets being given, but have only received warnings myself.

[OCPhisher]

Thanks Amish Ed. Always appreciate people pointing out the rules and especially etiquette too. Always helpful and will save me and son from future grief as we're still learning the ropes.


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[Vikingj]

Went out valentine's day. Bass biting at 40-50'depth on pipe going out and returning from barber poles. Complete skunk for 3 of us at 100'. Medium/small mac bait readily available.

[bwana]

That was me in the yellow Cobra Marauder at the pipe. I was slaying the bass on swimbaits between 10:30 and 12:30.

Earlier at 7 am I got caught off the headlands when the wind and swell went off. No takers there dropping a mac between 100 and 140 feet. Took forever to paddle up swell/wind to reach the pipe.

Pretty tired and left bass biting. Handed off some bait to a fellow yaker as I was leaving.

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[Snags]

Hey Bwana. I think we met at the launch. Is your name Mike? I was in the camo Trident 13.

I had a similar experience but stayed a ltitle closer inside. Caught about a half dozen macs and 1 lizard for bait. Drifted past the point in about 80ft and around the kelp for a while.

Caught 1 Sandy on the lizard and no bites on the macs.
Battery died on the bait tank so switched to plastics.
Fishing was slow out by the red buoy so I called it quits around 12.

Saw a couple whales out there which was cool

VERY slow paddle back against the current and
wind. Nice to meet you out there.
Steve

[bwana]

Hey Bwana. I think we met at the launch. Is your name Mike?

Battery died on the bait tank so switched to plastics.


Steve, that was me.

A day for bait tanks...

My bilge pump fried on my bait tank early a.m. I guess I can't complain as it lasted over 10 years.

Glad it happened then and not at the HOW 4/15 tournament with big bass in the tank.

Mike

[bwana]

DPevin,

Talk about jackin' a guy's thread!

[cris]

DPevin,

Talk about jackin' a guy's thread!

I'll add my apology to DPevin too. Nice to hear I'm not the only one only catching bait in DP though :)

[DPevin]

Haha, no worries. This is good stuff. Wasn't much of a report to begin with. Glad to hear bait is still readily available. Now to get out there and put some of it to use.

[DPevin]

Saw a couple whales out there which was cool

Saw a couple breaching while we were out as well.

[Snags]

Saw a couple breaching while we were out as well.

It made up for the slow fishing. Never know what the day will bring.
Sorry about the thread jack.
See you out there

[DPevin]

It made up for the slow fishing. Never know what the day will bring.
Sorry about the thread jack.
See you out there

Definitely made up for some slow fishing. There was good swell when we were out too, and Killer Dana was breaking. So to break up that son of a paddle back we stopped for a bit and watched the waves. It looked alright.

Always the nice thing about Dana. Usually lots of life and good scenery. Love living there. Fishing can be rough. Definitely have to put in your time, figure its little quirks out and get it while its good. At least that is what I am starting to figure out hah.

[InfidelYak]

What's this pipe you're referring too??

[DPevin]

What's this pipe you're referring too??

Steveooo posted this in multiple threads about it and its pretty much the best description I came across when researching Dana.

"The Pipe- A reef structure that extends from the "rivermouth" at Doheny to the area that it dumps in about 90 ft deep. The area that it dumps in is almost directly west of the tip of the long jetty but for the most part is is just slightly south of the harbor. Right now it is easy to find. Go to the red buoy in front of Doheny, then look south west. It will be littered with lobster Buoys. Those buoys are a good place to start, but make sure you are either directly on the structure, or on the same side of the structure that the fish are on. 30-60 ft has always been the most productive for me. There is a nice section in 40 ft of water, that the reef comes up to about 25 ft that has been good to me, but it is the most snaggy bottom I've ever seen. Be prepared to lose alot of tackle in this area. It can be costly, but worth every penny."

If you don't have a FF, right now is a good time to find it. Like he said the lobster buoys will be on it. Just drop a pin on your phone's map and save it and you can get back to it if you don't have a FF/GPS. It goes out pretty deep all the way to the barber poles....when you get out to 40-60 ft of water depending on the conditions you will see the barber poles if you follow the path of the pipe.