MARLIN SIGHTED OFF ENSENADA, MEXICO BY FISHING BOAT BAD DOG

Oct. 15, 2005, Steve Ross, Bad Dog, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico:

Ensenada Bad Dog departed Ensenada's Marina Coral on October 15th with Gail, Alex and I in the fog at 0300 with a tankful of mackerel and headed for the warm bluer fishing water up north at around 32.10/117.30. Another fishing boat had reported 3 jumping marlin in between the 390 and the 295 spot and these numbers were where the current break occurred in that general area.

We arrived in the dark and by time we put out our early morning pattern first light spread over the mountains spilling onto the Pacific blue.

While this fishing area off Ensenada was very promising on the charts, it was a desert. We were 15 miles east of the 390 when I decided to pull out the jigs and run for the 390.

At 32.04.164/117.48.465 Alex spotted a marlin jumping so I slowed down the Bad Dog and put 3 bridled live mackerel behind the boat. Those numbers are pretty much so the 390. In less than 5 minutes we had a marlin hot behind the boat charging the short flat line off the port side and Gail slid a drop back mackerel onto the trolled mackerel.

Not a sound, as the electric blue marlin tracked on the live bait high and dry and after a full minute of excitement he peeled off to the right and we never saw him again. I thought I have seen it all, but to watch a hot all lit up marlin track on a live bait and decide this was not his breakfast for the day was a total shocker.

I find 6 foot seas to be the norm these days; it's the occasional pair of 8 footers that travel together that put the icing on the cake.

To add insult to injury, it wasn't too much longer before the middle port reel went off from a 7Strand multi colored pusher and a large mako came clean out of the water, dropped the jig, came back and ate it again, and I can still see his big tail fin crashing through the jigs with a large splash from another jump behind the boat. Upon inspection, this shark hit the jig high, cut the leader down to 2 pound, sliced up the head of the jig pretty good, and gonzo. What happened to tail nipping makos, did somebody retrain these guys?

We found a paddy in these troubled waters and I pulled up a casting distance away. I have good casters on board. Alex through a mackerel right on the money and got bit as the boat in idle flew down swell. Apparently, the yellowtail was too small to eat that mackerel, and spit it. With two more passes I concluded that what ever was there.....left.

The rest of the fishing day ate up the 163 nautical miles we traveled out of Ensenada for nothing to bring home. The best part of the 390 is that once you're there it's 60 miles from home with a path downswell and I get a fabulous, long, well-needed nap.

The boat Melody fished south of Ensenada for one yellowfin tuna that had two weird parasites in it. So weird that it's reported that Mel wouldn't take it home and gave the fish away to waiting bystanders. The tuna weighed 23 pounds. They said the tuna had two long black tails hanging out of it and when they pulled on them something came out that looked like a sea horse. Two of them. Too weird to eat.

Another Ensenada fishing boat, who just arrived at Marina Coral, reported they went 300 miles for the day and caught nothing down south.

This sucks. Now with the weather change, and rain, it makes you really wonder. These are the days when Jeff Gammon's charts are critical to find the right area. But, last week any blue water was way too far away. Hopefully, something will change.