JUST A PICK BITE FOR YELLOWTAIL IN 4 DAYS OF SPORTFISHING

April 9, 2005, Don Bear, Loreto, Mexico Fishing Report:

Fabrizio Marangoni, Jim Ballard and Philippe Naveau, all of Thousand Oaks, and I fished out of Loreto Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with Capt. Paulino Martinez.

The Loreto sportfishing areas covered in the four days were Pta. Pulpito (twice), Pta. Perico and Isla Catalana. Loreto fishing area water temperatures varied between 66 and 71 degrees. Bait was usually jurelito, but one day was mostly mackerel.

Except for Tuesday, when wind chased us home at 10 o'clock (and continued into Wednesday), the water has been fairly flat. Daytime temperatures have been in the upper 80's, making for very pleasant weather in the absence of wind. Our total catch for the 4 fishing days was: 5 yellowtail, 10 leopard grouper (cabrilla sardinera), 8 broomtail grouper (cabrilla pinta), 5 red snapper (huachinango), 2 pintos, 1 tijereta and 4 whitefish. The yellowtail ranged from 10 to 20 lbs., while the broomtails went up to 22 lbs.

The first few dorado and marlin are beginning to show at Loreto. I learned second hand from two sources that pangueros Andres and "Blackie" have caught 7 dorado and 1 marlin in 3 fishing days. Today, on the way to Catalana, we baited a marlin too big to be a striper; but unfortunately it wasn't interested. So the summer fishing season at Loreto might be getting an early start.

(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.