HEAVY-DUTY YELLOWTAIL FISHING NEAR SHORE AT LA BOCANA

Nov. 25, 2006, Les Heil, Laguna La Bocana, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Two of my friends Frank Wasserman and Ernesto Gonzalez from San Diego arrived at my home in La Bocana for a fishing vacation and Thanksgiving holiday last Saturday.

We fished on my boat "Panga Extra" on Sunday for about 40 yellowtail of about 20 pounds to 25 pounds each, catching them just off the beach by my house.

Then we cruised south past Roca Ballena to try for grouper then a little further out for dorado. Ernesto caught his first dorado, Frank caught a dorado next, and for the finale I got the biggest bull of the trip.

For Monday's fishing, we decided to make it a little more interesting, so we made 2 bets with local Captain Juanchys Aguilar and 2 American fishermen for a friendly competition for the most fish over 10 pounds and the biggest.

The competition was to run from 7 a.m. until 12 p.m. Well, we fished in the same area in front of my house and by 11 a.m. the fish stopped biting and both teams decided to quit for the day.

Just before the end, my engine, a 115-h.p. Yamaha, had an alarm so we limped to the La Bocana lagoon entrance. The final count for the fish was 45 for Juanchys, and our team had a winning quantity of 49 fish, all yellowtail.

Our fish was filleted and frozen for return to San Diego. Juanchys' team's fish was delivered to the local fish coop. We didn't check for the biggest fish as Juanchys decided to move his fish to the coop before deciding on the largest fish.

Frank and Ernesto fished with the local Baja pangueros like Juanchys and Domingo for the rest of the week with good results for yellowtail and some dorado.

On the last day of their fishing, Ernesto caught a big dorado bull and tried to swing it on board when the hook came loose, a lesson learned not to lift dorado as their mouths are not as tough as yellowtail.

My engine was found to have water in the oil, so being still on warranty I called the Yamaha dealer in Ensenada and the repair was approved in La Bocana as most of the pangas here and Punta Abreojos have Yamaha engines and each town has good engine mechanics.

Well, the next day when the diagnosis of the engine was called in to the dealer, the claim was refused and he was told that the engine had to be taken to San Diego for the fix.

But after finding out the cost of repair, which was pretty low, I decided to have it fixed here and will try to claim it back from the dealer in San Diego on my next trip north at Christmas. I will keep you informed on how good the warranty is if the engine has problems in Mexico.

Frank and Ernesto had an excellent Baja fishing vacation as well as the traditional Thanksgiving dinner put on by Blanca and I for them and few friends from La Bocana.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from Baja and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Baja California may be found at Mexfish.com's main Baja page.