Dana Point Harbor pier - Sept 16

TheFrood

Well-Known Member
#1
Hit the afternoon tide catching the end of the outgoing and a few hours of the incoming from noon to about 6pm. The word of the day was smelt. Jacksmelt everywhere, but only way to catch them seemed to be with super tiny hooks baited with breadballs or by snagging them. I caught one with an 18' tenkara rod with a bit of a gulp sandworm on it, but I think it was just luck as the hook was drifting through a school.

Was on decent octopus caught when it was investigating one of the aforementioned smelt being used as bait (released), and one small spiny lobster (also released) caught on hook and line. One moderately sized perch of some type. Bit large for a shiner perch but didn't have many markings. My only fish for the day was the smelt on the tenkara.

There were two very odd things seen today. One was a torpedo shaped predator fish, either a bonito or a large mackerel, that appeared and absolutely panicked the large schools of miniature jack-smelt. Was quite a sight to see pretty much the entire school of smelt jumping out of the water to get away from the fast moving predator. I have never seen a mac or bonito inside the harbor at this pier. Didn't catch it but was quite a sight to see it zipping around chasing the smaller fish. Wonder how it became separated from it's school. There was also, quite unmissable, a large Garibaldi making the rounds of the pylons (left unmolested as it made it's rounds in all its gaudy splendor).

The other oddity of the day was a 3 inch sargo that was caught on a piece of shrimp by a fisherman casting underneath the pier. I've never seen a sargo taken from this pier (and have targeted under the pier myself with various types of gear on numerous occasions to see what may be there). I later found that the sargo was what was used as the bait that caught the lobster.
 
#2
Hit the afternoon tide catching the end of the outgoing and a few hours of the incoming from noon to about 6pm. The word of the day was smelt. Jacksmelt everywhere, but only way to catch them seemed to be with super tiny hooks baited with breadballs or by snagging them. I caught one with an 18' tenkara rod with a bit of a gulp sandworm on it, but I think it was just luck as the hook was drifting through a school.

Was on decent octopus caught when it was investigating one of the aforementioned smelt being used as bait (released), and one small spiny lobster (also released) caught on hook and line. One moderately sized perch of some type. Bit large for a shiner perch but didn't have many markings. My only fish for the day was the smelt on the tenkara.

There were two very odd things seen today. One was a torpedo shaped predator fish, either a bonito or a large mackerel, that appeared and absolutely panicked the large schools of miniature jack-smelt. Was quite a sight to see pretty much the entire school of smelt jumping out of the water to get away from the fast moving predator. I have never seen a mac or bonito inside the harbor at this pier. Didn't catch it but was quite a sight to see it zipping around chasing the smaller fish. Wonder how it became separated from it's school. There was also, quite unmissable, a large Garibaldi making the rounds of the pylons (left unmolested as it made it's rounds in all its gaudy splendor).

The other oddity of the day was a 3 inch sargo that was caught on a piece of shrimp by a fisherman casting underneath the pier. I've never seen a sargo taken from this pier (and have targeted under the pier myself with various types of gear on numerous occasions to see what may be there). I later found that the sargo was what was used as the bait that caught the lobster.
Maybe the predator was a mullet? I've seen mullet running around the Dana Point Pier before. I have caught several Jack Mackerel at the pier, and have seen Pacific Mackerel, but only at the incoming tide.
 

TheFrood

Well-Known Member
#3
Maybe the predator was a mullet? I've seen mullet running around the Dana Point Pier before. I have caught several Jack Mackerel at the pier, and have seen Pacific Mackerel, but only at the incoming tide.
From the info I've seen (on this site and other posts) it seems like Mullet are bottom feeders and mainly vegetarians. This fish was large (would have been a good sized mac or a pretty decent size for a bonito) and from watching it the top looked similar to a mac or bonito.
 
#4
Dana harbor is unique because it is so close to the open ocean. I've caught many legal halibut and short white seabass from inside the harbor. I've seen giant squid, barracuda cruise by and of course there's the famous video of the guy spearing a bft from the docks .
 

Makairaa

Well-Known Member
#5
Every other year or so a yellowfin or bluefin tuna wanders into the dana harbor and someone videos it. Multiple videos on youtube