WIDE FISHING AREA SEARCH YIELDS FEW YELLOWTAIL

March 19, 2005, Bill Erhardt, Loreto, Mexico Fishing Report:

For the past two or three months I have been reading with envy reports of the yellowtail fishing action 100 miles or so north of Loreto in Mulege and Santa Rosalia.

Although the Loreto fishing weather has cooperated with many more fishable days than last year, in 12 or 15 trips out of Loreto since the first of the year I have had only moderate success catching no more than 4 fish on forays as far north as Isla San Ildefonso and south to Catalana, and averaging only a fish or two per trip...more skunks than I like to think about.

There have been credible reports of double digit yellowtail fishing days out of Loreto, but I have managed to stay a day or two behind the bite and have seen none of the surface feeding frenzies that were nearly a daily occurrence when I fished off the north end of Isla San Marcos a couple of years ago.

On the positive side, the surface water has been very warm and there are already billfish in the Loreto fishing area. I have seen marlin and sailfish jumping and tailing and last week while fly-lining a mackerel for yellowtail in 73 degree water hooked a marlin. After a 5 minute chase he chaffed through my 50-pound monofilament.

There is also a lot of sargassum floating in clumps as large as 3 or 4 feet from Pulpito to Catalana. Maybe that bodes well for paddies later and a good dorado season.

Last week I fished south of Catalana Sunday and Friday. Sunday I was the only boat within 20 miles and my only company was a sea lion who greeted me like a long lost friend. I managed to get one 28 pound yellowtail in the boat and the next one I hooked the sea lion stole along with my hook and sinker. While he was devouring his ill gotten bounty, I hooked another which broke me off in the rocks. He then came back and stole two more before I gave up with one fish for my efforts.

Yesterday when I got to the reef there were three other boats there, and the water was five degrees cooler than five days earlier. The sea lion was also there swimming around trying to act innocent. I tried to keep one of the other boats between me and the lion and managed to get 2 fish in the boat. The other boats, which never got a hook-up while I was there, then left and again it was just me and the sea lion. The reef is a mile or so long so I would run from end to end trying to keep enough distance between us so that if I hooked a fish I could land it before he got there. After the second evasive maneuver I hooked up but I had underestimated the lion's speed. Before I even got the fish up to color I felt the lion grab him and take off. This time, however, I had a plan B. I tightened down the drag and then followed the sea lion like he was a marlin except trying to stay closer. Unlike a marlin, the larcenous lion needed air. When he surfaced I gunned the boat toward him and made him dive. After the second time he let go of the fish to get a good breath of air but then grabbed it again before I could get it to the boat. The third time he released the fish and I got it into the boat, sans stomach but I didn't want the stomach anyway. I then taunted him while he circled the boat giving me the evil eye, packed my gear and left while I was still ahead, or at least not so far behind with a score of: sea lion, 3; me, 1. I'll go back in a couple of days and try to even the score. I'm sure he's out there right now devising new strategies.

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