Catching a dorado?

[skein]

I piggy-backed this question onto a tuna-report thread, but didn't want it to get completely lost.

I think there's a real possibility of catching a dodo this year, but there's a lot of us northwest boys and girls who have ZERO experience targeting them. Anybody got some tips or techniques that might help us in our quest?

Skein

[Rodbender]

Dorado go for a trolled lure that pops up for a while then swims under the surface then comes back up- Blue/Pink is a killer colour.

Of course when the bite is hot they go for anything but it's the change that really seems to turn 'em on.

One thing about gaffing one and bringing him into the boat-throw a wet towel over his head once you have him in the fish box or on the floor it'll settle him right down sounds funny but it's true.

They can be tough to kill with a bat much more of a PITA than a Tuna, a quick jab in the brian or severing the spinal cord often works better than bashing.

[Zodiac-Fisherman]

Cant forget the spray bottle filled with tequila,its a way to subdue a dodo

[olybirds]

they love to hang out near floating debris, scum lines, grass lines, etc.
they are usually very agressive fish and hammer topwater poppers.

I dont know about up here, but down in the gulf where Ive got em, they usually are in schools of 3-5 fish as well.. doubles are common, and sometimes a schoolmate will follow the one on hook right to the boat...

[Zodiac-Fisherman]

Big dorado can be caught trolling marlin sized lures. A 9 inch swimbait with a 3oz jighead works good. Kustom Kraft Plastics out of Grover Beach, CA has some awesome 9 inch setups, dude got 4 dodo's over 40lbs in the East Cape Dorado Shootout. Non came in the money unfortunatly.

[ron m]

Originally Posted by Zodiac-Fisherman

Cant forget the spray bottle filled with tequila,its a way to subdue a dodo

hey Dylan, that worked on the dodo - - - - - - - bird, but they are extinct now!

I'm sure you don't really do that, it would be a waste of tequilla!

Jim, when I caught the one in Fla on a charter, they set things up to fish for multiple species -- much like we do with tuna, but they were trolling slower than 8 knots. However we got just the one that day.

I wonder if they would hit a rapala?

ron m

[saman]

Dorado go for a trolled lure that pops up for a while then swims under the surface then comes back up- Blue/Pink is a killer colour.

Does it make a difference if its something like a clone or would a cedar plug be better, in that color combo.?

[Hanapa'a Time]

Also forget the barbless hooks. With the acrobatic show that they put on, barbless hooks won't stay in long. Some small chugger/popper/pusher style heads work well too.

[fyshndad]

The Dodo I caught in Florida fell to a live bait off of a kite setup

The kite went away from the boat and kept the live bait on the surface

Seeing the take was awesome

[northriver1]

Originally Posted by Hanapa'a Time

Also forget the barbless hooks. With the acrobatic show that they put on, barbless hooks won't stay in long. Some small chugger/popper/pusher style heads work well too.

HT We need to take a kite to Bajaa next time. That sounds like fun.

[Onokai]

The only two I have caught-came off the outriggers in clean water (no prop wash) on cider plugs-one in Mexico and one off Eureka. They like to hang under things that float and you will need barbed hooks as they like to tail walk swinging the head. most of the ones this year off Eureka were in open water no floating trash. Large lures and barbed hooks-Jim on the outer rods. Thats the ticket. Heres ours from 2004 off Eureka.Mark

[fishbait]

Skein,

I agree and I think it will me multiple fish that will be caught once people gear up and start targeting them.

I know I will be in the hunt and hopefully this Blind Squirrel will find an acorn.

Made some additions to my gear recently I will try running this way out behind the Tuna gear this weekend on an 865 with a 2 speed 4/0 Reel. It's a 5 oz head and 10 in long. I'll need some luck, but then thats fishing.

[CATCH AND EAT]

I want one!

Hey Skein. First thing ya gotta do is launch the boat.

[skein]

That is cold, C&E, very very cold. Not nice at all.

Thankfully the ocean has been blown out or I would be in the looney bin.

Skein

[CATCH AND EAT]

Originally Posted by skein

That is cold, C&E, very very cold. Not nice at all.

Thankfully the ocean has been blown out or I would be in the looney bin.

Skein

Just bust'n yer chops Jim. Saddle up and fish brother. I wanna hear your story of a 12 weight fly caught tuna again this year.

Have ya figured out how to hitch up the team to drag the boat down?

[Hanapa'a Time]

HT We need to take a kite to Bajaa next time. That sounds like fun.

Who knows what else may pay us a visit with that set up


As Mark said any kind of surface structure(log, kelp patch, old plastic floats, cargo net, etc) and slicks will hold Dorado too.

[Pilar]

Blue and silver streamer on that 12 wt Skein.

When I fished for dolphin fish in Florida we used dead bait. Ballyhoo trolled on wire leader ( wire for kingfish mainly ) at 7 or 8 kts. On an outrigger and set to where it would jump clear of the water once in a while.

In Mexico the Pangero we fished with used a strip bait from a skipjack tuna and a single barbed hook. It worked pretty quick too. About 1 inch wide by 4 inches long from the silvery colored belly back by the tail. Just hook it through the fat end of the strip and drag it. It swims like a bait fish.

I bet that would work here if you stripped a small tuna or a mackeral.

Also in Mexico the Williamson mex flag caught a DoDo to the amazement of the Pangero.

[RODACTION]

Originally Posted by olybirds

they love to hang out near floating debris, scum lines, grass lines, etc.
they are usually very agressive fish and hammer topwater poppers....

They are very agressive fish, and not shy, if you find a suspected dorado hangout, e.i.,, debris....they love to be thrown strip baits. Free drifted and WHAM !

They also like to try and inhale skipjacks, and some times they are successful.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Okay, what about Maceral? Dead Macheral? Would they work and how would you rig it if so? I saved a bunch for halibut fishing however I would certainly sacrifice them to the dorado. Never caught one or even seen one in person. Would like to someday though.

[RODACTION]

I think a mackerel would work live would be my choice, with a bridle rig. A dead whole mack, a few rigs to choose.....double hooked, a bait threader and go to work.

I think a strip bait off the mack would work as well, just fastened to the hook and line so it stays on. (mini zip-ties)

[Pilar]

Bernie .. filet it and cut a long strip from the bottom 1/2 of the filet near the tail. Like from the vent to the tail. About an inch wide and as long as it is.

Just stick a hook through the wide end and drag it. It works like magic.

I was real skeptical until I saw several do dos hooked this way in a very short time.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Originally Posted by Pilar

Bernie .. filet it and cut a long strip from the bottom 1/2 of the filet near the tail. Like from the vent to the tail. About an inch wide and as long as it is.

Just stick a hook through the wide end and drag it. It works like magic.

I was real skeptical until I saw several do dos hooked this way in a very short time.

Another question. Two hooks? One hook? Size of hook? Test leader? I understand the likelihood of hooking one of those up here is about 1 in 10,000 but ya never know. I however had some thoughts about hooking up a harness on a Mackeral and trolling it way back but came to the conclusion that it might be more sharkbait then anything else. Couple more questions. Are you casting this stripbait or trolling it and are you adding weight to it? Can it be hooked onto a fishtrap lead and tossed out there?

Thanks. I'm trying to pay attention here.

[Pilar]

The hook I saw used came from under a seat in a 22 foot panga. I'm guessing it was 4/0 or so. This was tied to the mainline on a very questionable penn reel. 40 or 50 lb mono line. No weight, no swivel. And then dragged at 8 or 9 knots.

I have some Mutu ringed hooks. I plan on trying flouro carbon 60# on a 6 foot leader with a small swivel. We have nothing here pelagic with sharp teeth other than sharks. Just in the spread somewhere. I bet tuna WILL HIT IT TOO.

I would not dead drift a bait off our coast because of the blue sharks.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Thanks John. Pretty much what I had thought but without experience I had to ask. I'm almost sure I was not the only one with the questions.......well maybe........ Might give this a go.

[Mypursuit]

dorado, tuna, skates, salmon...my, my , my. If I run handlines, 2 tuna poles with a daisy chain, coupla mackeral sized swimbaits and a downrigger with flasher and plugged herring at 80 feet, s'pose I'll hook something...you guys are coming up with too many options..can't keep my concentration at work

[ron m]

When I fished in Fla we often used strips, almost always from the belly. They can be either cast and retrieved or trolled. I'm almost sure they would work for tuna. One behind a jighead would probably work ok, but if there are sharks around, I bet they would also go for it. If I use a strip here, it will probably be without the jighead to reduce the probablility of getting sharks. I might try cutting one out of the belly of a tuna and trolling it. A single hook rig would probably work and would be easy, but a two hook rig similiar to what is used for salmon would be even better, then a hook could be in the back part of the strip.

ron m

[Stowaway]

We've put albies in the boat with these.....Do you guys in the know think they'd work? They chug up a good splash and the strikes are usually vicious! Braid Tenpin..

[Gatorbait]

These lures that everyone is trolling for albacore should work for Dorado. We used similar style lures along with Billy Baits and Ilander lures to catch a lot of Dolphin while growing up in Florida fishing out of Sebastion and in the lower Keys. Blue or Blue and White color combos seemed to work well and course other colors had there day too. We would also run a larger bullet head Blue Ilander lure with a ballyhoo on the downrigger which produced some of the larger Dorado as well as some Wahoo and Kingfish.

Of course don't forget to leave one hooked fish in the water if a school follows the hooked fish to the boat. Once you hook another fish you can bring the played out fish to the gaff and repeat the process until you have what you need in the fish box. Unfortunately you can wipe out and entire school like this. Once the fish are around the boat we use cut bait(squid, ballyhoo chunks, fish bellies) bucktails, even bare hooks to catch more. A lite up excited school of dorado will attack just about anything you throw at them it seems. Here are a few pics of the Ilander brand lures. Don't forget about the naked ballyhoo but finding ballyhoo in oregon may nip that one before it gets started.

[Puffin]

they used vodka in venice. calmed the fish right down.

[Reel Creel]

I want the spray bottle!!!

[Scaup]

I agree with Gatorbait, your standard albie stuff will work, and he's right about how to work a school.

When I lived on the East Coast one of my top producing dorado rigs was a simple home made green hoochie daisy chain. Dorado's are cannibalistic, so they'll readily attack something looking like themselves.

[MYRTLE BEE]

Dylan, did you already forget?? one of the top lures recommended by tackle shops from southern Calif. to Cabo for the Dorado Tournament was the EM-25, and the feedback from all the tournament anglers it was very effective

[Hanapa'a Time]

Looks like my EM-25's will be taken out of the Mexico/marlin/sailfish wrap and put in the Oregon/albie arsenal

[HiouchiMike]

Crescent City Harbor has large jack smelt in commercial basin currently. I figure a fresh or fresh dead 14 to 18 inch model might be a good slow troll for dodos or BFT. We boated a small salmon shark, when spotted by boat, last week when pinned on feather. Sharks will be a issue but hopefully worth the effort on exotics. If sardines show up, oooweee.
Cheers,
Mike

[CATCH AND EAT]

Here's a cool link if you are interested on how to set up a stripbait for these boys.

www.georgepoveromo.com/60secondstripbait.htm