#33 The Right Kelp

Sunday 9/20/26

After missing a troll bite the day before on what we think was a wahoo, we had to get out there again! Our morning was booked, so we got a full tank of anchovy and went out for the afternoon. We started at the lower 9 mile bank, where we saw tons of life including flying fish and a jumping dorado. With the life we were seeing we kicked out the trollers. Trolled up the bank for a while for nothing. The wind picked up and made for a wet ride. Despite choppy seas, we found a kelp patty with a bird on it. We trolled around it, but no bites. We decided to drift on it and as soon as we threw anchovy in the water we had boils of small yellowfin tuna. As we drifted off the patty we had fish following our boat. It was an aquarium style bite with wide open fishing on a few different species, yellowfin, yellowtail, and skipjack. There was even a Mako shark lurking. We threw most of the fish back, except for a couple yellowfin that were hooked badly and not able to make it. After having fun on this kelp, we moved on in search of the right kelp with some better grade fish.

Back on the troll we soon found another patty, which we had a troll bite on as soon as we began circling the kelp. This time we saw a dorado on the line. It bit the marlin lure, and with the boat still in gear we worked to clear the lines while one of us went for the rod. As soon as we went to grab the rod, the Dorado jumped at the boat. When the dorado did this, the line went slack for a minute and somehow wrapped around the reel, causing a moment of too much pressure and the fish popped off. Super unlucky. After missing this fish, we set up a drift on the kelp. We had a tank full of anchovy, with one sardine in the mix. We caught one dorado on this kelp, and it was on the only sardine we had. The only fish that would bite the anchovy on this kelp were bullet tuna, all of which we released. By this time the sun had set, so we quickly ran back to the dock.