MEXICO PROFEPA AGENCY DISRUPTS BOAT LAUNCHING AT EAST CAPE

June 4, 2005, Bill Burkett, Fat Cat, East Cape, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The FAT CAT is back in the water after a delayed oil change and cleaning. I say "delayed" because the recent invasion of the East Cape by PROFEPA made it impossible to pull the boat from the water, using the traditional tractor across the beach method. PROFEPA is the Mexican equivalent of the EPA and they were here checking on usage in the area of the federally protected beach. Their presence caused a stir here for sure. It now looks as though the issues they raised with East Cape beach-front homeowners, charter operators and the local resort hotels will have negotiable resolutions. Basically, PROFEPA wants to charge a fee to permit the usage that's been traditional, and necessary, in the area.

East Cape fishing has been very different this season. In early May we had water temperatures hovering around 80 degrees, which is more normal for early July. Because of the warm water, there were several blue marlin and quite a lot of sailfish caught. Now, the fishing water temperatures at East Cape are more like April's and those species have fled the area. Most mornings we're experiencing fog and unseasonably cool air temps, which is caused by the cold water offshore. Striped Marlin are still around in large numbers, but remain difficult to entice, due to their bellies being full of squid. Tuna are off and on and dorado are all but absent. So, fishing's not as good as is normal for this time of year.

The FAT CAT fished three days in this East Cape report period. The first day, May 31st, was a scouting expedition in preparation for an East Cape Angler's Club Tournament on June 2nd and 3rd. We covered about 80 miles of water, from Los Barriles to the Ocho Ocho and didn't see but three marlin all day and finished skunked.

On day one of the tourney we fished from La Ribera to Punta Arena and back and although we saw lots of marlin, none were willing to bite. However, the boats fishing to the north around Punta Pescadero and El Cardonal were finding some biters.

So, on day two we joined the fleet to the north and finally managed to cross paths with a willing marlin. So, the FAT CAT didn't end up as a contender for the Skunk Flag.

There were 26 boats fishing the tournament and 22 marlin were caught and released in the two days. There were no tuna caught and only one dorado boated. One large wahoo was lost at boat-side when it bit through the leader on the marlin lure. The first place boat was PAYBACK with 5 releases, followed by BAJA MAGIC with 3 releases, MAKIARA with 2 releases and REEL HUSTLE with 2 releases.