Dorado (Mahi-Mahi)
Neon acrobats of the warm water — the paddy-hopping prize that lights up gold and green when it’s hooked.
- Type
- Dorado / mahi-mahi / dolphinfish
- Scientific name
- Coryphaena hippurus
- Typical size
- 5–15 lb (bulls 25 lb+)
- Likes water
- Warm, 70°F+
- Hangs on
- Kelp paddies & floating debris
- Best months
- Late summer – fall (warm years)
Coryphaena hippurus
Meet the dorado
Dorado — also called mahi-mahi or dolphinfish — are maybe the prettiest fish in the ocean: electric blue and green with a gold belly, flashing brighter when they’re fired up. They’re fast, they jump like crazy, and they taste amazing. When they show, everyone smiles.
Where they hang out
Dorado are kelp-paddy fish. They tuck under any floating thing in warm water — a paddy, a plank, a stray buoy — because it holds bait and shade. Idle up on a good-looking paddy in warm blue water and there’s a real chance a school is home.
How big they get
Most are 5–15 pounds of pure fun on light tackle. A big “bull” with a tall, blunt forehead can push 25–35 pounds. They grow shockingly fast — a dorado can go from egg to double digits in under a year.
How to get bit
Easy to please when they’re around. Pitch a live sardine at the paddy, or cast a small jig or fly. Hook one and leave it in the water — the rest of the school often follows it right to the boat, and you can pick them off one after another.
Dorado are one of the fastest-growing fish in the sea — but they don’t show every year off SoCal. They ride in on warm-water summers and fade when the ocean cools.
Is it a dorado (mahi-mahi) day?
Load Dorado (Mahi-Mahi) into the live Bite Score and see where the water’s worth the run right now.