Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching

I went out on the Reel Fun 1/2 day boat. I caught about 45 calico bass and 10 mackeral. My friend also caught about 25 fish. we caught all our fish by just flylining an anchovie in front of the kelp and getting bit every 5 sec. Id reccomend a pole with a spinning reel with 15 lb test. dont fish bottom cuz u will be doing a lot of waiting. also i dont reccommend renting poles cuz everybody who did was a newbie and didnt catch anything but mackeral and an occasional sand bass. Definetely reccomend 1/2 day boat.

The crew was great and so was the fishing.

Hadn't been out on the ocean on a boat in along time. Thought it would be fun. Saw in The OC Register paper about the the sightings of Blue Whales, and pictures. Thought I would take my husband for his birthday out to see if we could see any. None on our trip however, it was enjoyable and saw hundreds of little black and white dolphins, a sunfish, and seal lions. Crew was great. We'll probably go again.

Dana Wharf fishing has always provided my two young boys and I with the great experiences. That is, up until now. We have been on 4 different trips. Clemente Awesome! Our first three excursions were on the "Clemente." The captain of the Clemente will not hesitate to trolley around to find the best area if one location isn't getting anything. With his recommendations on bait for the best bite, to how deep to drop your line, you are constantly being assisted either by the Captain himself or his crew. Sum Fun....Not so fun! On my last outing, I put together a 12 person party on the "Sum Fun." We got to our first location, and that's where we stayed the whole day. We were accompanied by 3 or 4 sea lions that continuously robbed us of bait and catch. Also the fish were not really biting in that location. I was expecting the captain to pull up anchor and get us to a better local, but it never happened. It's a good thing I had bought Hot Dogs and Hamburgers for our Bar-B-Que after. I completely understand that you don't always catch the fish you want, however, it would have nice if they could have at least looked for a bettter local. Bottom line, if you get on the Clemente you'll surely enjoy it. If you end up on the "Sum Fun," You could be headed for disappointment.

We had a terrific time on our family fishing trip and always choose to go through Dana Point fishing because of its excellent services and convenience.

Not many fish caught, crew very friendly and helpful

Well, this is the second time within a month my son and his friend went. My son invited another friend as well. Although we did not catch as many mackeral as we did before, the red tide was gone and we caught a croker, a big sheephead, and a couple of calico bass. We caught about 5 mackeral and two smelt we thought were big enough to keep. This time, I think the crew was heavier. They had one new guy who I thought was more into work than ensuring the beginner to more advanced fisherman had a good experience. For example, he was a bit rude when he knew we were going to keep our mackeral and smelt. He could have been nicer. The other two young crew members though were equally as hard working and as friendly and helpful as they were the time before. The captain was great as well as he was last time. He seemed interested in the customers having a good time by catching fish with as much help from their crew as possible. I will try to get my own equipment next time as renting for four people at $12 each gets expensive. I will definitely keep this adventure on my list of things to do and I will recommend our scout troop go on this soon.

It was a great opportunity to see the Blue Whale in this ocean adventure; however, we didn't see the Humback Whale during this trip. It was a great exlperience with our family and the kids even my 7 years old boy was having a seasickness, but he enjoyed it so much!! You will like this aventure.

It was fun going on the boat, however, after two hours, we saw nothing, nada. Amazing, not even a dolphin, we did see sea lions on a buoy, that was the only time the captain talked. It would have been good if we had a little verbalization on the trip, but zero, even when we were heading in. When we were inside the harbor, he told us we would get our tickets back. We will go back since we have the tickets.

We had a lovely afternoon. The captains were informative and helpful. Although we did not see any whales, we enjoyed the playfulness of the dolphins.

On Saturday I went out on the Dana Pride with my dad. When we got on the boat the first thing we did was order B.L.T.'s which I recommend they are amazing I would go on the boat just for them. Then the boat went to get bait the little anchovy's and the bigger sardines.The fishing though was pretty good not the best, but good. The first spot we tried I caught a fish to small to keep, but the next one was big enough to keep. The cook is very nice on the Dana Pride and I enjoyed talking to him. Their was some fun on the Dana Pride somebody caught a Thresher shark it took like 30 minutes, but it was very cool to see and the crew let everybody see it I highly recommend this boat. Over all this trip was amazing and my best one yet the food was great the service was and I just really enjoyed it. It was an amazing trip and I would recommend this boat to everyone.

Highly recommend it.

The boat was clean and in good order. I haven't been aboard a Dana boat for some time and was less then thrilled to see the Capt. But I was thrilled to see that there has been some changes in the way boats are run and the crew were really helpful. Had a great time caught a load of fish!! The only problem was that the regulars on the boat seemed a little rude, and it seemed that they we catered to just a tad! but all in all great time and good fishing!! Thanks for the trip I should be back again.....

my 11 y.o. identical twin sons and I had a great time. Loved the Sun. noon kids fishing class prior to 12:45 pm departure. we'll be back . . . .. . hopefully sooner than later. didn't catch any fish to take home (caught & released bonito) but a lot of activity, including a dolphin eating the bait & the catch on the line!

An extremely memorable night. The crew were super friendly and most helpful. My son and I caught fish and just had a great time. I would reccomend all dads to spend some time fishing and bonding with their kid. A night to remember. Cant wait to do it again. - Brian from Irvine