GOOD TUNA FISHING AND STORM RELIEF SUPPLIES AT LA RIBERA

Sept. 25-30, 2006, Steve Gruenwald, La Ribera, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

I just returned from a few days of fishing at East Cape out of La Ribera. The weather was warm, in the low 90's, with good afternoon breezes.

The road to East Cape from the airport at San Jose del Cabo is in good shape, with only a few car eating washouts and sandy spots left from Hurricane John. The country is about as green as I've ever seen it, and will probably have lots of bloom on the native shrubs in a few weeks.

At the East Cape village of La Ribera, we fished 4 days with a couple of local panga captains out of, Victor and Rigo. They own their own boats and launch directly from the beach at La Ribera. I would recommend fishing with either of them. They both work hard to find fish, Victor a little more so, and he has a better setup as well.

The squid that were abundant at East Cape a couple of weeks ago have moved off to the north I understand, so we bought our bait. Sardinas are plentiful, and mackerel less so.

Dorado and yellowfin tuna were definitely on the East Cape menu for this fishing trip.

Dorado are scattered in the bay mainly south of La Ribera down to the lighthouse, but we also picked up a few dorado as far up as Rancho Leonero, all of them caught from 1 to 5 miles out. All the dorado we caught were singles, no schools, by slow trolling mackerel, sardines, or hoochies. Dorado sizes were from 20 to 35 pounds.

The best yellowfin tuna fishing was south of the Punta Arena lighthouse, 3 to 4 miles off Cabo Pulmo, while chumming with sardinas. Yellowfin tuna sizes were from 25 to 35 pounds, with an occasional tuna to 80 pounds. One tuna of 60-plus pounds kept me on the rail for about 2 hours one afternoon. The first half hour was fun, the rest was just a lot of work, but he finally made it in the boat.

The folks in the La Ribera area got hit pretty hard by Hurricane John a few weeks ago, and although there was no loss of life, quite a bit of property was lost. We each brought a duffel bag full of good used clothing, shoes, and a few bottles of insect repellant as our second checked bag at the airport.

We took the bags to the local mission in La Ribera and gave them to the padre there to distribute to those in need. If you fish out of Rancho Leonero, Buena Vista, or Punta Colorada, chances are your captain lives in La Ribera, and he would probably know folks who could use some help. The padre travels to all the outlying towns on a weekly basis.

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