By Pete Thomas
With sea surface temperatures climbing well into the 70s in many areas off Southern California, anglers eagerly await a predicted invasion of dorado from subtropical waters.
But some of the acrobatic (and delectable) game fish have already arrived, and on Saturday a drone pilot from Orange County Outdoors captured video footage of two large dorado, or mahimahi, swimming three miles off Newport Beach.
A video posted by Orange County Outdoors (@orange_county_outdoors) on Jul 9, 2016 at 3:15pm PDT
The footage, captured by Mark Girardeau during a whale-watching voyage with Newport Coastal Adventure , is sure to get the adrenaline flowing among those who like to fish offshore for the exotics.
The dorado was swimming very close to a Bryde’s whale (pictured), a species rarely seen off Southern California, and one also attracted by unusually warm water.
Bryde’s whales have shown off Southern California for the past three summers, thanks to a phenomenon known simply as the “warm blob,” and the more recent El Niño.
