Fished on a buddy’s boat bout a year ago with Capt. Dave at the helm. I was impressed with his tenacity to find fish and help on the deck, I felt he would be a great addition. Left O’side Tues morn with a mixed tank of chovies and dines.
Dave had done his research and felt a trip south would be the ticket. After a lot shorter ride than we both anticipated, Dave had us on a paddy bout the size of a school bus that was loaded with mid size dorado. A fly lined dine got nailed almost as soon as it hit the water. Well long story short, A couple farmed and a few nailed on the troll later, we were headed back in with a fillets for all and a great day on the water!

Went fishing today with my girlfriend on our little boat to go see this yellowtail bite that’s going on along the coast of San Clemente.

Started out with some boat problems and were unable to make the mackerel like I had hoped to. Not that the mackerel aren’t there, we needed to get to that area for the morning bite. Got down to barge around 7:30 in the a.m. Now when your fishing this spot, it’s a large kelp bed off of the old Nixon estate. The key to this is anchoring up 200-300 yards above the kelp as to not get hung in the kelp when you hook a fish. When we arrived the Dana Pride was already there. I talked to the Captain, Todd Mansur who was already there. He said the yellows were boiling around and he had one on the boat for his 95 anglers. Yeah, when we got there they were boiling around, but I didn’t see any small fish…everything was big. Now the big problem there is that there are so many barracuda, both legal and short, that if you have sardines and anchovies (which we had) it’s hard to get the bait through the barracuda. We were able to get a couple of hook ups and land one…my girl’s first yellow…a nice 25-30 lbs fish. What I think is the key to this is a tank of mackerel and to be there at gray light. Also, I wouldn’t fish anything less than 30. If any of you guys are thinking about going down there and doing that, you know what I do so give me a call. If not, I hope the info I gave helps out.

Last Wednesday I took my second trip with Dave Hansen. My first was boiler rocks for Calicos.
The plan was to find some big halibut. When we met Wednesday, Dave said lets go offshore and fish kelp paddies. I am a recently converted largemouth bass fisherman and I spent about ten trips last fall and caught one dorado, so I was all for learning how to do this. We covered the 279 and 209 and found lots of empty paddies with a ton of bait on them. Dave suggested that we go to the 14 mile bank. When we got there we found four paddies with dorado on them. I hooked one on the first paddie, but it broke off. We never could get the others to bite. Dave took that opportunity to show me all the different ways to fish a kelp paddy. Dave had to leave early for another commitment that we knew about, so we had to leave the paddies after a short period of time. Dave then offered to take me out again on Tuesday as part of the same trip.

Today we went out lookiing at paddies and did not find any fish on them. While near the 14 mile bank we did mess with a marlin but never got him to the boat. We continued looking for paddies going south. We ran into a large pod of dolphins. Dave got excited and we started working on them. We got a few tuna to boil on some baits, but did not hook any. As we continued south,we came across more dolphins and Dave yelled out. These are the right kind. We started chasing them and I finally got one to eat, but my inexperience caused it to come off. By then it was time to go in.

Dave’s guide service is money well spent. Two days of fishing with no fish in the boat and I am still thrilled with the trip. The knowledge I have gained from Dave is immeasurable. I am now confident I will put fish in the boat soon. Even off South Orange cCounty where it seems everyone but Dave thought there were no tuna.

Two examples of his knowledge and intuition

We were at the 14 mile bank and Dave says Be ready we may run into a marlin around here. He describes what to look for and five minutes later I spot the marlin.

While looking for paddies, Dave makes a big point of letting a tuna go on its first run. Don’t thumb the spool. He must of said this to me a dozen times. Of course when I got my first tuna bite, I thumbed the spool (From thirty years of bass fishing habit). and the fish came off. But Dave knew I was going to anyway and he was right beside me saying no thumb. He even tried to move my thumb off the spool.

If you use Dave’s guide service ( highly recommended ), bring a lot of questions to ask him. I wrote mine down. He will answer them all with great patience.

- Steve

So after yesterday’s great catch, we decided to give it another shot with Capt. Dave. The kids had so much fun yesterday; they jumped out of their beds and were running out the door before I was ready this morning! That’s a first.

Got to DP at 0600, launched, got bait and took on the wild seas for our trip across the channel. After almost 2 hrs and being totally soaked, we pulled up to a spot, dropped the hook…and WFO… Capt. Dave couldn’t keep the kids baits soaking long enough to even take off his wet sweatshirt before they had another Cali or Bone to the rail. The poor guys to our port and starboard didn’t know what to think!!! They had slack lines when we arrived and I think they were the same when we left for spot two!

After 1 1/2 or 2 on spot one we headed south a ways and were in em again. Bigger grade of Bones this time that really got the reels screaming on the 12#. One almost spooled my son! He was having the time of his life though and finally got it to gaff. The kids also had their first double on screaming reels, had to run the rails, and now understand what Bloody Decks mean!

Current changed so we ran back up to spot one and were on em again!

In the end we caught over 100 Cali’s and 20+ Bones, a Sheep Head, Scalp, and a Cuda! Kids couldn’t believe any of it! I’ve taken em fishin 50+ times but never had them in w/o bites like this. Now they’re spoiled!!!

The ride home was smooth and fast. Ran in to two big pods of dolphins and played with them for a while with the kids.

I don’t think my kids have laughed so hard, had such fun, and really enjoyed fishing as much as they have the last two days with Capt. Dave. He’s one hell of a teacher with extreme patience with the young ones. He made every minute fun for them and now they can’t stop talking about it! What a way to start summer vacation! Thanks so much for everything Capt. Dave. Looking forward to doing it again soon…

I saw the report by Dave Hansen earlier in the week with his outstanding Halibut catch.  I checked out his guide service website and I felt like I could use some Local Local knowledge.  Turned out to be a wise decision.  We didn’t slay the fish today but I gathered a lot of advice and Dave dialed me into several spots in my own backyard. 

The past couple years I would much rather hit the islands than work my local area.  Todays trip got be excited again about my local options and the little money I spent on the service will quickly be repaid with less trips to the island.

Dave.  Thanks again. 

Fish Count for 4 hours of fishing.

12 Sand Bass
4 Calico Bass
2 Halibut  one legal and one short
*countless raked baits

*two other legal halibut taken right next to us on other boats.

Guided Mike Macdonnell and his son Brian today on there 29foot Tiara. We went fishing at Catalina Island. The Calico Bass and Bonito Fishing was wide open. We caught about 80 Calico Bass and a lot of Bonito. Showed them a few fishing spots, why and how to read the ocean conditions. We worked on how to anchor, where to anchor.
If you need any help call me 949-374-0786

I have my own website now. Thanks to my dedicated regular customers I have been able to stay on the water 5 days a week. I look foward to an awsome fishing season this year!
If you need anything give me a call. 949-374-0786 or email Dave@yoursaltwaterguide.com