San Quintin fishing area kicks out more midsummer white seabass

Mexico Fishing News, August 31, 2009

SAN QUINTIN FISHING REPORTS

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SAN QUINTIN, MEXICO: Pete Hillis of Pedro's Pangas sportfishing at San Quintin reported 20 boats fishing during the week, in very good sea conditions and air temperatures as high as 86 degrees, for good action on white seabass south of the bay at Socorro. Local Pedro's Pangas boats also came in with a mix of calico bass, sandbass, barracuda.

Boats running offshore found larger yellowtail and medium-sized dorado on kelp paddies. "We had our anglers busy," Hillis said.

Marita Melville of Don Eddie's Landing at San Quintin reported white seabass Mexican sportfishing limits by 8 a.m. just off the point in 64-degree water during an outing by Capt. Juan Cook aboard the charter boat Sofia with anglers Howard Cassute and Jack Bennet. "They left early, made a little bait, and headed off the point where the white seabass were going off," Melville said. "The also limited out on bottom fish and a couple of thresher shark with Krocodiles and mackerel bait."

Another outing by Capt. Pancho Berellesa aboard the charter boat Mona Lisa produced a first-ever white seabass for angler J.J. Jones off Pabellon in water at 63 degrees. Also fishing aboard the Mona Lisa was Joe Elam.

San Quintin fishing area weather was foggy in the mornings and clearing during the day, with calm seas and late August water temperatures averaging 64 degrees.

SAN QUINTIN, MEXICO: Gabriel Davila of Upland, Calif., reported bonito, some smaller mixed species, 1 yellowtail at 9.8 kilos, and surprise broadbill swordfish at 120 kilos landed by his group during an outing with San Quintin's Capt. Jaime Garcia during a local tournament.

An outing the previous day to Socorro south of the boca produced barracuda, sandbass, bonita, good action on mixed bottom fish, and 1 white seabass at 10 pounds. "The Socorro area had an unusual amount of brown kelp that caused lots of hang-ups and lost lures," Davila said. "It was an all around very enjoyable day on the water."

The broadbill swordfish was landed by angler Jason Vanderlinden about 11 miles out.

"After eating about 4 of our baits and breaking a couple of guys off, Jason Vanderlinden finally got his chance," Davila said. "After an hour-and-a-half he got the swordfish to the boat. It took us a good 15 intense minutes to tie it to the swim board. The day ended with a celebratory dinner at Don Eddie's Landing. All of us are humbled and grateful to be a part of a catch like that. The swordfish provided us with a once in a lifetime experience.

"We also would like to emphasize how Capt. Jaime Garcia continues to demonstrate his excellence. This is the ninth year in a row that we fished with him. He does all he can to ensure that we enjoy our time."

Also fishing in Davila's group were Albert Davila, Oscar Davila, and Juna Eggli.

In other mainland Mexico and Baja fishing action this week:

ENSENADA FISHING REPORTS

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ENSENADA, MEXICO: Ivan Villarino of Vonny's Fleet at Ensenada reported 10 yellowtail plus some bonita hooked on the locally made aluminum surface jigs by angler Jay Johnson, who went out fishing at the tip of Punta Banda with Capt. Beto Zamora on the charter panga Vonny I. Another outing by Capt. Beto with anglers Eric Frazer, Guy Shields, and Robert Petree of El Dorado Hills, Calif., produced 4 more yellowtail, bonita, and a good catch of bottom fish. Local Ensenada fishing area weather was mostly clear in the low-80s, with light breezes, ocean swells of 2 to 3 feet, and the water temperature at Punta Banda averaging 62 degrees.

ENSENADA, MEXICO: Paul Lopez of El Centro, Calif., reported on an early August outing with his son Juan Pablo Lopez and father Rudy Lopez aboard the Ensenada charter boat Selena, fishing 3 kelp paddies for a catch of 11 yellowtail plus many bonita. Eleven-year-old Juan Pablo landed 2 yellowtail on 20-pound line.

BAJA COASTAL FISHING REPORTS

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BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO: Ed Epifani of Punta Chivato on the Sea of Cortez coast of Baja California reported on a trip to the Pacific side at Bahia Asuncion where fishing out of Baja Bed & Breakfast with Capt. Juan Arce aboard the charter panga Sirena produced a catch of 15 yellowtail in water temperatures of about 78 degrees off Punta San Pablo. "All the fish were caught trolling," Epifani said. "They were really liking purple MirrOlures. We also caught several huge barracuda, much bigger than at Punta Chivato. I can't say enough about the hospitality of Juan and Shari Bondy of Baja Bed & Breakfast. Juan is an excellent guide and speaks fluent English.

MAGDALENA BAY FISHING REPORTS

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MAGDALENA BAY, MEXICO: Gary Graham of Baja On The Fly reported dorado to 35 pounds, yellowfin tuna to 18 pounds, and firecracker yellowtail caught from about 10 miles outwards by boats fishing out of Magdalena Bay's Puerto Lopez Mateos. "There are also some reports of marlin beginning to gather, but it is a tad early and so far there isn't enough volume to chase them," Graham said.

Southwards at Puerto San Carlos, firecracker yellowtail were caught under birds at the entrada and consistent smaller halibut were present on the sandy beaches running south of Punta Belcher.

The Magdalena Bay mangrove channels produced mainly bass. Magdalena Bay fishing area weather was mostly sunny in the low-90s.

CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING REPORTS

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CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO: Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters reported on 25 outings by Gaviota Fleet and the Cabo charter boats Fish Cabo, Fish Cabo I, and Tuna Time, with a catch including released fish of: 2 smaller black marlin, 2 sailfish, 19 striped marlin, 12 yellowfin tuna, 1 Humboldt giant squid, and 68 dorado to about 50 pounds. Cabo San Lucas fishing area weather was partly cloudy in the low-100s, with water temperatures to 85 degrees on the Pacific-side Golden Gate Bank, and up to 87 degrees on the Sea of Cortez side running northeast up to Los Frailes.

The best action continued to be found on the Pacific banks with caballito live baits.

CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO: Jim Dillon of Salvador's Sportfishing reported on 3 outings by the Cabo San Lucas charter boat El Budster, with a catch including released fish of: 1 sailfish, 5 yellowfin tuna of 15 to 20 pounds, and 8 dorado of 15 to 20 pounds.

CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO: For the Cabo fishing week ending Aug. 26, 2009, Tracy Ehrenberg of Pisces Fleet Sportfishing reported 50 percent of charters landing a combined billfish total of 16 striped marlin and 1 sailfish, 93 percent landing dorado of 15 to 45 pounds, and some boats with yellowfin tuna including 2 fish at 100 and 110 pounds.

Ehrenberg also noted a 200-pound plus grouper reported by a local Cabo San Lucas newspaper. "They said it was the largest caught in 15 years," Ehrenberg said. "It was caught by a commercial panga 5 miles from Faro Viejo."

Cabo San Lucas fishing area weather was hot, with calm seas and water temperatures averaging 86 degrees as most Pisces Fleet boats fished up the Pacific side .

CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO: For the previous fishing week ending Aug. 20, 2009, Pisces Fleet reported 67 percent of boats landing a total of 56 billfish, with 53 released, 13 percent landing yellowfin tuna, and 90 percent catching dorado. Cabo San Lucas fishing area weather was clear in the low-100s, with water temperatures averaging 84 degrees.

SAN JOSE DEL CABO (LOS CABOS) FISHING REPORTS

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SAN JOSE DEL CABO, MEXICO: Eric Brictson of Gordo Banks Pangas reported on 48 combined La Playita fleet pangas fishing out of San Jose del Cabo's Puerto Los Cabos marina, with a catch including released fish of: 304 dorado, 72 yellowfin tuna, 22 bonito, 15 pargo, 9 amberjack, 9 sailfish, 8 hammerhead, 8 cabrilla, 5 roosterfish, 4 striped marlin, and 3 dogtooth snapper. Southern Baja fishing areas continued to be free of severe summer tropical storms, but local thunder showers dropped rain over the mountains as humidity increased and air temperatures reached 105 to 110 degrees daily. Some southern swell brought moderate surf to the Los Cabos area, but sardina bait fish continued to be netted around the Puerto Los Cabos marina jetties.

Local San Jose del Cabo sportfishing boats found their best action at the Iman Bank, but boats running south from East Cape were also competing for fish in that area. "Some of these larger boats need to make more of an effort to practice courtesy rules of fishing," Brictson said. "They should not troll directly through the chum lines of pangas patiently drift fishing for tuna."

EAST CAPE FISHING REPORTS

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EAST CAPE, MEXICO: Simon Cazaly of East Cape's Vista Sea Sport diving service reported continued excellent conditions on the Cabo Pulmo coral reef, with bottom water temperatures at 86 degrees and visibility at over 120 feet.

Sea life sighting during Vista Sea Sport dive trips included manta rays up to 20 feet across at Cabo Pulmo, a 10-foot tiger shark at Esperanza, a 7-foot bull shark, killer whales, and myriads of colorful reef fish. "Balloonfish grouped together and curiously eyed us as we passed by," Cazaly said. "I was captivated by the stunning array of life on display."

EAST CAPE, MEXICO: Steve Spencer of Lakewood, Colo., reported on 3 good days of fishing at East Cape, with a mid-August catch by his group aboard the charter boat Rosa out of Hotel Playa del Sol of: 20 dorado to 45 pounds, 15 yellowfin tuna to about 75 pounds, and 1 dog snapper at 8 pounds. "We caught fish 45 miles straight out from the hotel and right off of Los Frailes," Spencer said.

LA PAZ FISHING REPORTS

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LA PAZ, MEXICO: Gerardo Hernandez of Tortuga Sportfishing at La Paz reported hot weather and calm seas for his pangas fishing on the Las Arenas side in improving conditions for dorado and small yellowfin tuna. At Ensenada de los Muertos, Boca del Alamo, and San Isidro, dorado of 15 to 25 pounds were caught.

Yellowfin tuna of 15 to 30 pounds were caught at the south point of Isla Cerralvo, and larger tuna were seen chasing flying fish but would not bite on sardina baits.

MULEGE FISHING REPORTS

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MULEGE, MEXICO: Jeff Rumble of Whittier, Calif., reported on a Baja fishing run to San Nicolas south of Mulege, Aug. 10-17, 2009, with trip partner Pete Jenista of Grants Pass, Ore., for good reef fishing, but just so-so action on small, scattered dorado to about 8 pounds near shore, and 1 dorado also caught at about 20 pounds. "The dorado we found were all near shore," Rumble said. "They were within a mile of shore, and most were actually inside the bay in the greener water. Several were even right on shore, in 10 feet of water, chasing bait up onto the rocks."

Bait fishing from the beach at night was slow for 1 decent pargo, some smaller pargos, and a few mixed grunts including Graybar, Cortez, Striped, and Burrito.

Near shore reef fishing produced good numbers of triggerfish plus porgy, chino mero, Mexican hogfish, leopard grouper, sierra, 1 Mexican bonito, a barred serrano and a 20-pound jack crevalle caught at Punta Pulpito, and a couple of baby yellowtail.

"By the time we checked our stats, the numbers weren't far from average," Rumble said. "In fact, the variety count turned out to be pretty good."

In all, Rumble and Jenista caught 172 fish of 26 species during their trip.

MAZATLAN FISHING REPORTS

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MAZATLAN, MEXICO: Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters reported on 12 Aries Fleet offshore charter boats out of Mazatlan's Marina El Cid, with a catch including released fish of: 11 yellowfin tuna to 85 pounds, 7 dorado, and 7 sailfish. Six inshore super pangas at the shark buoys had a catch of: 1 sailfish, and 53 dorado. Mazatlan fishing area weather was partly cloudy in the low-90s, with mostly calm seas and water temperatures at 86 to 87 degrees.

IXTAPA ZIHUATANEJO FISHING REPORTS

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IXTAPA ZIHUATANEJO, MEXICO: Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters reported slower inshore fishing as river runoff following recent rains muddied some areas and killed the bite. Offshore boats were still finding fish starting at about 20 miles out. "There is a distinct edge to the water clarity that tends to parallel the 1,000-fathom curve," Edwards said. "There is almost no action until the 20-mile mark." Ixtapa fishing area weather was mostly cloudy in the low-90s, with some rain and water temperatures at 83 degrees inshore and up to 86 degrees offshore.

Ed Kunze, reporting for Baja On The Fly, said inshore fishing was also hampered by big surf. "The bait fish can't handle the heavy surf, so the game fish have followed them into deeper water," he said.

A fly fishing tackle trip south to Puerto Vicente Guerrero with anglers Scott and Christine Repass failed to produce a fish.

Capt. Adolfo on the charter panga Dos Hermanos reported no roosterfish caught in 3 days of fishing north of town Ixtapa Zihuatanejo.

Just a couple of charter boats fishing per day found about 1 or 2 sailfish each during offshore fishing.

Swordfish caught at San Quintin

BROADBILL SURPRISE--This good-sized broadbill swordfish was the surprise catch during an offshore run by Capt. Jaime Garcia recently at San Quintin on Baja's northern Pacific coast. With Garcia, left, are lucky anglers Oscar Davila, Albert Davila, Jason Vanderlinden, Juan Eggli, Gabriel Davila. PHOTO COURTESY OF GABRIEL DAVILA.

Thresher shark and white seabass caught at San Quintin

SAN QUINTIN FISHING--Holding a couple of crossed thresher shark tails is San Quintin sportfishing Capt. Juan Cook, center, who also found a great catch of white seabass for his clients Howard Cassutte and Jack Bennet during a run out of Don Eddie's Landing. PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARITA MELVILLE.

Dorado caught at San Quintin

SAN QUINTIN DORADO--Alice Rudd, 71, of Long Beach, Calif., with her first-ever dorado, caught recently during an outing by her group with Pedro's Pangas at San Quintin. PHOTO COURTESY OF PETE HILLIS.

Fishing at Ensenada 1 Fishing at Ensenada 2

ENSENADA YELLOWTAIL--Juan Pablo Lopez of El Centro, Calif., used live mackerel and 20-pound line for 2 of his group's 11 yellowtail caught during a mid-August outing at Ensenada aboard the charter boat Selena. At right, Lopez gets a steadying hand at the rail from grandpa Rudy Lopez. PHOTOS COURTESY OF PAUL LOPEZ.

Panga fishing catch at Ensenada

PANGA DINNER FISHING--Anglers, from left, Eric Frazer, Robert Petree, and Guy Shields, all of Dorado Hills, Calif., scored a nice mix of firecracker yellowtail, bonita, and bottom fish for dinner during a panga outing with Vonny's Fleet at Ensenada. PHOTO COURTESY OF IVAN VILLARINO.

Yellowtail caught at Bahia Asuncion

BAJA PACIFIC SIDE--Ed Epifani normally fishes out of his place at Punta Chivato, on Baja's Sea of Cortez coast, but he recently crossed over to the Pacific side for good yellowtail action at Bahia Asuncion with Capt. Juan Arce of Arce Bros. Sportfishing and Baja Bed & Breakfast. PHOTO COURTESY OF ED EPIFANI.

Dorado caught at Mazatlan

PISCES FLEET DOCKMASTER--Mario Bañaga, usually seen at work as dockmaster of Pisces Fleet Sportfishing at Cabo San Lucas, went fishing on his day off recently and hooked this nice dorado with his daughter Rebecca aboard the Pisces Fleet Sportfishing charter boat Valerie. PHOTO COURTESY OF TRACY EHRENBERG.

Tuna and dorado caught at San Jose del Cabo

LOS CABOS FISH RACK--A yellowfin tuna at 80 pounds tops a nice mix of tuna and dorado landed at San Jose del Cabo's Iman Bank during panga fishing with Gordo Banks Pangas. Anglers, from left, Mark Reed, Jeff Woolsen, and Rich Vandenoord, all of San Diego, Calif., also used fly fishing tackle for good action on school-sized dorado. PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIC BRICTSON.

Dorado caught at East Cape

EAST CAPE FISHING--Steve Spencer's 3 days of fishing at East Cape out of Hotel Playa del Sol produced good action on these dorado plus yellowfin tuna to 75 pounds found about 45 miles out. PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVE SPENCER.

Tuna and dorado caught at La Paz

LA PAZ PANGA--John Fraumeni and Gregory Garcia, both of Santa Ana, Calif., went out on a Tortuga Sportfishing panga on La Paz' Las Arenas side for a nice mixed catch of dorado and football yellowfin tuna. PHOTO COURTESY OF GERARDO HERNANDEZ.

Jack crevalle caught at Punta Pulpito

Mexican hogfish caught at San Nicolas

SAN NICOLAS FISHING--Jeff Rumble with a nice jack crevalle hooked during his beach launched boat fishing trip to San Nicolas south of Mulege with trip partner Pete Jenista. Below, a nicely lit-up Mexican hogfish. PHOTOS COURTESY OF JEFF RUMBLE.

Golden grouper at Cabo Pulmo

THE QUEEN--A golden phase leopard grouper, or golden cabrilla, graces Baja's Cabo Pulmo coral reef during a Vista Sea Sport dive trip at East Cape. The fish, more commonly a dull, mottled olive-brown color, is called "The Queen," or "La Reina" in Spanish when a privileged few of its numbers suddenly turn a bright yellow. This one was photographed at Cabo Pulmo by Marc Maelfait. PHOTO COURTESY OF SIMON CAZALY.

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