A SURPRISE BLUE MARLIN LANDED IN SLUGGISH FISHING TIGHT TO MEXICO'S
PUNTA PESCADERO JUST BEFORE WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS TOURNAMENT

July 24, 2004, Bill Burkett, Los Barriles, Fat Cat, East Cape, Baja Sur, Mexico Fishing Report:

We put FAT CAT back in the water, after cleaning it, on Sunday and made our first trip of the week on Monday. We fished an area called the 10/10 in beautiful weather and flat seas. The fishing was great, but the catching was a little slow. We only had one strike all day. We got lucky though and turned our one strike into a release on a large sailfish.

On our next outing we targeted Stripped Marlin. We were trying to locate an area with numbers of marlin for the Western Outdoor News, East Cape Blowout Tournament this weekend (7/25).

Reports indicated that most of the stripers were close to shore and scattered all around Palmas Bay. We started trolling right from our mooring and trolled north toward Punta Pescadero and El Cardinal. We stayed between a half-mile and three miles of the shoreline all day.

Though nothing much happened for us, other boats in the area were hooking up stripers all morning. We changed lures several times, trying to find something they wanted.

Finally, about noon, our "shot gun" lure got hammered by a marlin. So we thought we were finally hooked up to a striped marlin. Wouldn't you know it? - Not a striper--a Blue! Hooked less than two miles from shore off Punta Pescadero on 40 lb. line and on a 4-inch soft head lure with a 90-pound leader.

We'd just put the lure out to try and catch a small Dorado, or something else small. Never dreamed we'd draw the interest of a marlin. But, as is sometimes the case, luck was on our side and we released a nice fish of about 180 lbs. I now have that lure on a heavier leader.

We tried to continue our near shore search on Friday, but a large thunder storm drove everyone off the water by 9 AM. We fished near Punta Colorada and had a striper hooked within 10 minutes of putting lines in the water. But, he came unbuttoned after a short fight.

Today (Saturday) we tried once again to locate the near shore marlin. We again fished Punta Colorada and on down towards Cabo Pulmo. Not any sign of marlin all morning! We were pulling a Marauder however and it came through for us with a 25 lb. Wahoo. So, with the WON Tournament tomorrow, I still don't know where to fish--but I do know where NOT to fish.

Actually, there are fish pretty much everywhere. It's only a matter of being where they are when they want to eat. Maybe next week I'll tell you how FAT CAT won the tournament--but probably not.