HUNDREDS OF DORADO FOUND AROUND EAST CAPE DEAD WHALE

Feb. 19, 2005, Russ Fritz, La Ribera, Baja California Sur, Mexico Fishing:

Saturday's fishing trip with Steve Susick from La Ventana, and Brad Meister of San Clemente was very successful. The dead whale had drifted further than any of us anticipated, but we found it 26.2 miles out from La Ribera. Made for a long boat ride, but there were still hundreds of dorado (also mahi-mahi or dolphinfish) under and around the whale. I counted 24 East Cape fishing boats with as many as half hooked up at the same time. Most were local boats from Cabo Pulmo to los Barriles, but I did see one Euro stylish 40 footer, with all the design and colors of an Italian soccer shoe, fishing from their swim step. The dead whale news must have traveled as far as Cabo, as that boat certainly wasn't local to the East Cape. Nice treat to see a bevy of thong bikini clad beauties, bouncing with excitement over a 10 pound dorado. Strange bedfellows for a dead whale me thinks.

This week, Brad Meister and I have fished 3 days, getting nice dorado (mahi-mahi) each day. On Wednesday, we encountered 2 pangueros with a whale in their net. The humpback whale was exhausted from towing the net, and could only stay afloat to breathe. The fishermen were trying to untangle the whale, but were unable to, for the 30 minutes we watched. They appeared very apprehensive when we approached, and released most of the net while pretending to be otherwise occupied. Although willing, we were unprepared to help, as I had no fins and mask on board. We trolled away, thinking they might be more successful without Gringo witnesses. We were unable to contact anyone via radio, that could offer any help or advice.

On Friday, my son Dan Fritz, and his fiancee, Sonya, and I fished with success for Dorado. We found a dead whale, probably not the one in the net, as this one has been dead more than 3 days, and there were hundreds of dorado around it. We kept 6 nice ones, and released many more. It was about 16 miles at 53 degrees from the lighthouse at Punta Arena, south of Punta Colorado.

The wind was very light, sea flat to glassy, and the sea surface temperature was 72 degrees near the whale. We also sighted several pods of the small black and white porpoise. More whales seem to be present than previous years, with broaches, jumps, and displays of fin and tail slapping very common.