YELLOWTAIL COMING OFF THEIR SPRING SPAWNING SEASON

May 15, 2005, Pam Bolles, Baja Big Fish Company, Loreto, Mexico Fishing Report:

The Yellowtail that we've cut into this past week have all spawned. The Yellowtail fishing at Loreto has been a day-to-day occurrence with one day on and the next off. Earlier in the week, Loreto fishing boats were going to Punta Pulpito, 38 miles north. There, Yellowtail under 20 pounds for the most part, were feeding at the surface and being caught on live mackerel and bigeye. But this bite only lasted a few days.

Midweek at San Bruno, 16 miles north of Loreto, Capt. Francisco Munoz was the only boat when they located a school of deep feeding yellowtail in the mid 20-pound range. They landed two and broke off on a few others.

On the way back to Loreto that same day, Capt. Francisco stopped over the reef 2 miles north of Isla Coronado, 6 miles north of Loreto, where we had a hot bite back in February and landed an estimated 35 pound Yellowtail. One more was hooked but broke off in the rocks, but not before snapping the rod in half.

At the nearby reef just over a mile off the beach in front of our Loreto airport, fishing has likely dropped off as only one to no boats are fishing there this week. I suspect that there are no fish feeding there anymore.

Even though we haven't fished there ourselves, I have been told by several reliable sources that just off Isla Catalan's "Smorgasbord Reef" the Yellowtail, Huachinango and occasional Amberjack have been very willing to feed. There are more boats out there today.

Inshore, things seem to be changing for the better. Roosterfish are starting to appear in good numbers now. At San Basilio, 27 miles north of Loreto, Capt. Francisco Munoz got into a school of large fish estimated at 25 pounds. Unfortunately the fly anglers onboard couldn't keep up with the fish and they spooked and swam off. I am getting reports of Roosterfish at other locations that we'd normally expect them.

In addition to Roosterfish also expect to catch Pargo and Cabrilla from 3 to over 20 pounds, depending on how deep you fish them, Barracuda, Ladyfish, Triggerfish, Giant Wrasse and other Jack Species.

The Dorado are coming and they're almost here. Well they're here, if you consider the Loreto fishing area a 50 mile radius. As of Tuesday, May 10, 2005 the Dorado have been 50 miles east of Loreto. Last Tuesday was the last flat calm day that we've had so far. Dorado were there in good number. The disappointing fact was that the fish were not at all interested in eating. Captain Gabriel Sanchez Banuelos told me about the hundreds of Dorado he saw that day that wouldn't eat.

Reports through yesterday, Saturday, May 14, 2005, tend to reflect those of last Tuesday: flatter water, lots of flying fish and lots of Dorado with one thing on their mind, migration. As of Saturday they've moved in a little closer and are now 30 miles off Punta Lobos, the most northern point of Isla Carmen, but they were definitely not feeding on what anglers had to offer. The water surface temperature range at Loreto was 68-75 degrees.

(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.