Please help me find the hot spots in Dana Point.

[BrokeLoser]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

Yes the headlands and salt creek are toward the north. As far as hot spots...things change out there from day to day, week to week...it wont neccesarily bite in the same spot the next day or even the next 5 minutes. Its your job to find the areas that have fish, thats part of the fun. The only way to know that is to get out there and fish. Heres a tip, halibut like areas that are sandy next to structure, rocks, kelp, baitfish etc...So you ask how do you find these areas? Learn to read your fish finder.

While I appreciate the lesson in philosophy...I should note; I've been out on hundred's of sport fishing boats over the years...all of them have had a sh!t load of GPS coordinates that they use to locate various things under water that they know may hold fish....while we all know that simply having the coordinates to these locations does not guarantee a catch it certainly helps as a base point. Imagine this: You peddle out to the known structures that you have the coordinates to and that are often known to hold fish. You fish those X number of spots first...if you have no luck you then get creative and aimlessly peddle around while watching your finder for structures that may induce a fish habitat...crazy concept?
Further; while some may totally get off on paddling and peddling all over the Pacific chasing fish and reading their finders I tend to prefer to have a 'starting point' or points...At the end of the day...after all the time and money spent, the only thing I really find rewarding is a catch of fish...Frankly, I never brag about the fact that I can read a fish finder or the fact that I know where different species of fish live...but I do brag about catching fish...To each his own...I suppose

[dc1983]

Ill be out at DP in the morning if you want to rag along. I got a new ff and will be trying to mark some new spots

[BrokeLoser]

Originally Posted by dc1983

Ill be out at DP in the morning if you want to rag along. I got a new ff and will be trying to mark some new spots

Thanks for the invite dc. I'd love to join you...unfortunately I have a Dr's appointment in the AM. Let me know the next time you're headed out. Good luck!

[rossman]

In the spirit of the season here a a great starting point. It's a fairly large rock pile which will be easy to spot now because of the lobster buoys. In a hundred yard swath from this point to the red buoy, are 4 other large rock piles and 8 or 10 other ones that I've marked, Some have buoys on them and most don't. Go find them. This area has yielded to me 7 legal halibut, one 31" ling, and countless clico and sand bass in the last month. All but one halibut and the ling were released.

N 33 27.091
W 117 43.065

I'll be out tomorrow for another try.

The Rossman

[BrokeLoser]

Originally Posted by rossman

In the spirit of the season here a a great starting point. It's a fairly large rock pile which will be easy to spot now because of the lobster buoys. In a hundred yard swath from this point to the red buoy, are 4 other large rock piles and 8 or 10 other ones that I've marked, Some have buoys on them and most don't. Go find them. This area has yielded to me 7 legal halibut, one 31" ling, and countless clico and sand bass in the last month. All but one halibut and the ling were released.

N 33 27.091
W 117 43.065

I'll be out tomorrow for another try.

The Rossman

AWESOME!
Thanks Rossman...that's exactly what I've been after.
Good luck tomorrow...you and dc1983 should hook up.

[ful-rac]

Originally Posted by BrokeLoser

At the end of the day...after all the time and money spent, the only thing I really find rewarding is a catch of fish...Frankly, I never brag about the fact that I can read a fish finder or the fact that I know where different species of fish live...but I do brag about catching fish...To each his own...I suppose

Well if thats all you find rewarding....then you are going to be dissapointed...alot.

You dont need to brag about knowing how to read your fish finder, in fact i dont know anybody who does...but learning how to interpret your fishfinder, will have you bragging about how much fish you caught alot more.

So your looking for a starting point? What do you want to catch? If its halibut or bass, the headlands and salt creek are great starting points. You already know where that is right?

[BrokeLoser]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

Well if thats all you find rewarding....then you are going to be dissapointed...alot.

You dont need to brag about knowing how to read your fish finder, in fact i dont know anybody who does...but learning how to interpret your fishfinder, will have you bragging about how much fish you caught alot more.

Funny how you totally disregard everything in my previous post that really matters and only pick out the things you can cast a shadow on and play devils advocate to. I hope you're not always a 'glass is half empty' kind of guy.

"So your looking for a starting point? What do you want to catch? If its halibut or bass, the headlands and salt creek are great starting points. You already know where that is right?"

Yep, I know what species that general area holds and I know the location of that general area...but just as mentioned in the original post...a good coordinates for a base point like all fishing vessels use would be nice to have.

[Amish Ed]

I don't have #'s for you, but this will get you to the Pipe. It's particularly easy to find right now with all the buoys on around it. Head out of the harbor at like a 60º angle from the outside jetty. When you hit around 45-50' go left and stay in that depth. The pipe will come up about 8'. It lines up with the red buoy on the inside and the lefthand barber pole on the outside. The Pipe starts in about 25' and goes out to at least the poles, but I've never fished it deeper than 65-70'. The pipe does wander a bit, but not more than maybe 30' off the landmarks I gave you.

I haven't fished south in a while, but if you head south stay in about 20' until you see the walkway over PCH. Then just wander around, lots of little rock piles around. This is especially true around Capo Reef and south to the end of the houses.

Sorry I don't have #'s, but I've never tried to use that feature on my FF. So, I don't know how or even if I can pull #'s from a given waypoint.

[BrokeLoser]

Originally Posted by Amish Ed

I don't have #'s for you, but this will get you to the Pipe. It's particularly easy to find right now with all the buoys on around it. Head out of the harbor at like a 60º angle from the outside jetty. When you hit around 45-50' go left and stay in that depth. The pipe will come up about 8'. It lines up with the red buoy on the inside and the lefthand barber pole on the outside. The Pipe starts in about 25' and goes out to at least the poles, but I've never fished it deeper than 65-70'. The pipe does wander a bit, but not more than maybe 30' off the landmarks I gave you.

I haven't fished south in a while, but if you head south stay in about 20' until you see the walkway over PCH. Then just wander around, lots of little rock piles around. This is especially true around Capo Reef and south to the end of the houses.

Sorry I don't have #'s, but I've never tried to use that feature on my FF. So, I don't know how or even if I can pull #'s from a given waypoint.

Okay thanks Ed...and no problem on the numbers. I realize not everyone has GPS equipment or uses the GPS feature within their finders.
So, the "pipe" is north of the harbor? See, I had always thought it was to the south. How far off shore is the furthest end of the pipe?

[Amish Ed]

No it is south. I mean a 60º angle, not the compass heading. Sorry if I confused you. Never thought about the difference until now. I'm guessing it's about a mile to the 50' area. A little more as I usually paddle a dog leg to get to it. I guess I should get smart and zoom out my GPS when I start, I could save myself a little paddling.

[BrokeLoser]

Originally Posted by Amish Ed

No it is south. I mean a 60º angle, not the compass heading. Sorry if I confused you. Never thought about the difference until now. I'm guessing it's about a mile to the 50' area. A little more as I usually paddle a dog leg to get to it. I guess I should get smart and zoom out my GPS when I start, I could save myself a little paddling.

Haha...no problem. I appreciate the detailed advice.

[CheapPelican]

I was out this morning looking for a rock pile mentioned in a previous thread. I dropped my sabiki on, what I thought was a bait ball and pulled up a single squid. Pulled up four more singles before I got greedy and tied on my squid gannion. By the time I got that in the water they had disappeared. This was the first time I've made squid. Handling them... didn't feel right.

On my FF, the school showed up like a bait ball but was solid. There were several good sized fish ID'ed within the school. In hindsight I should have sent the first squid back down. What would have been the best way to do this? Flyline? Dropper? C-rig? I was in 180' of water. All this was happening at 30'.

Decided to tie on a dropper and ended up drifting south. Drifted around capo too. No bites all day.

[ful-rac]

Originally Posted by BrokeLoser

Funny how you totally disregard everything in my previous post that really matters and only pick out the things you can cast a shadow on and play devils advocate to. I hope you're not always a 'glass is half empty' kind of guy.

"So your looking for a starting point? What do you want to catch? If its halibut or bass, the headlands and salt creek are great starting points. You already know where that is right?"

Yep, I know what species that general area holds and I know the location of that general area...but just as mentioned in the original post...a good coordinates for a base point like all fishing vessels use would be nice to have.

Easy there buddy...! Don't get too excited...As you can see you don't need an exact set of numbers to catch fish out there. Just get out there and look around, pay attention, learn, but mainly put in your time. Not a knock on you just what we all have to go thru in order to be successful.

Good luck!

[yak-fishing-socal]

So much good information here thanks everyone one iv been fishing Dana with a blind fold on....can't wait for the next time I get to go paddle out tight lines and thanks for the info
👍👍🎣🍻🐟🍣🚣

[Stuck20]

Fished about 30 yards east of the red buoy at headlands last time I was out there. Caught some on the flyline and some with plastics. Was a productive day.