BY MIKE STEVENS
DANA POINT – Dana Wharf Sportfishing’s presence on the Western Outdoor News charter schedule has increased in each of the last three years, and the final installment in 2022 was a full day aboard the Sum Fun that was able to tap into the dorado that have been swarming offshore.
Captain Brian Woolley had an offshore zone in mind, but his first stop fell a couple miles short of that area and it ended up being the top producer of the day. There were about a dozen private boats working in the general area, but Woolley kept his distance and made a point to locate breezing schools dorado a good distance away from that cluster of boats.
A big school of puddling dorado crept within casting range of the Sum Fun, and the first shot at them resulted in as many as five hookups right off the bat. As big as the school was and how willing the fish were to hang around the Sum Fun before moving on, these fish were still picky, and those using 20- or even 15-pound line were getting the best of it, and that would be the story all day. In some cases, you could see the schools of micro-bait with the dorado that were keyed in on them. About 12 dorado out of that first school were decked including a first dorado for Dylan Depres of WON who landed it on 15-pound.
