I just got back from Christmas with my wife's family, and I was invited to fish with them next summer when they fish offshore for yellowtail tuna and dorado in the waters off San Diego.
Apparently, the two fishing techniques are to chum around kelp mats that are floating free, causing for the fish that are connected with the mat to surface feed. Here imitative lures and bait are used to get the fish to hit. Apparently they like to use 10-12" live sardines as bait. The other way is to find surface feeding fish and cast into them. Apparently tuna will hit a beer can that is tossed into their melee. I can imagine that surface poppers and streamers would work well. I understand that yellowtails can run 20-50 pounds and that dorado can run 20-40 pounds. Then there has been some discussion about the inshore species which include spotted bass and dorado. I know nothing about how they fish for these. I am wondering what sort of rod, reel and line one would recommend for fly fishing these species. I have searched the web, and found that Orvis is recommending a 9 or 10 weight rod, and g. loomis is recommending a 10-12 weight rod. Rob -- Rob Blomquist Kirkland, WA
