Dorado on the line

On Friday 9^th December, John, Chuck and I launched “Drifter” off Vidal. The live bait had been scarce off the point so I ran straight to bighill and found a good supply. There had been a few dorado on the dead baits in the morning, but by 7:30, it went dead so by the time I had livies, we missed the early bite. I decided to troll from the bait marks and see if we could find anything. The water temp had dropped 2 degrees over night and was sitting at 22. 

All the boats in the area were battling, so after two hours without a pull, I headed deeper to look for a temperature or colour break. I had just crossed over the 50m ledge when the far surface bait went away. Chuck hauled in a small skipjack that we released. In 75m, there was a current line so I trolled along it. Not long after, there was a big commotion on the surface and the long rod keeled over. I could feel that the fish was heavy, and there were some big head nods. I increased the pressure and the line angled to the surface where a big shark twisted out the water and luckily popped off the leader. About half an hour later, along the same line, we went tight with a dorado. While it was jumping, I could see a follower with it so I left one of the other lines in. sure enough, when it came into range, the second fish ate the bait and we managed a double. I let out another bait while the deck was being sorted out and just as I put the rod in the holder, it keeled over and we were on. Chuck took the rod on a deep fighting fish which turned out to be a 9kg yellowfin. 

Another dorado along the current line

The wind had picked up from the south and with the strong n-s current, I knew the sea was going to pick up quickly so we ran to the point and put out lines along a good looking current line in 25m of water. I worked the line for about half an hour and went tight with another dorado. Things seemed to be changing with the change in wind. Not long after, the close rod went away. While John was fighting that one, I saw a follower and flicked out a livie on a spinning rod. Almost immediately I went tight to a good dorado which gave me a hard time before I could boat it. The current line moved shallower and I just followed along the edge. In 18m, we managed another dorado on the live bait. Our time was a bit limited as Chuck needed to leave that afternoon, so we started pulling the lines. Just before the last line was in, there was a blue flash next to the boat as a dorado flew in and chowed the livie. Chuck had a quick fight with a shoal size fish before heading back to the beach.