RESULTS OF 7 DAYS OF FISHING BY CAPT. PAULINO MARTINEZ

July 10, 2005, Don Bear, Loreto, Mexico Fishing Report:

Capt. Paulino Martinez fished out of Loreto all 7 days this week, 5 on his super panga and 2 days on my boat. His customers were the Irwin Gersh group of Upland including Steve Spies and Joe d'Angelo, Ray Harper of Lemon Grove, and me.

The 7-day total catch was: 2 striped marlin (released), 2 dorado to 32 lbs., 3 yellowtail to 21 lbs., 14 cabrilla to 10 lbs., 1 broomtail grouper to 25 lbs., 10 pargo, 1 hammerhead shark, innumerable ladyfish/ small tarpon (at least 25 of them), around a dozen cabrilla too small to keep, and several squid used for bait.

Most of the fish were caught on Rapala-type lures, except for the dorado on cedar plugs by Charkbait, and the yellowtail, marlin and larger cabrilla/grouper on live bigeye jacks.

Areas fished were San Bruno, the coast north of Loreto as far north as San Basilio, and Coronado and Carmen Islands.

The dorado and billfish came from a fishing area 35-45 miles out of Loreto on a NE heading.

The sea off Loreto was generally calm with some wind chop on top of small swells. Fishing water temperatures ranged from 77 to 83 degrees, with the colder water closer to shore.

Bait from the carnaderos was sold out by 6:15 each morning. There are huge numbers of squid to 10 lbs. around Coronado, so many that it's impossible to get a bait or lure down through them to the yellowtail that are hanging out on the west side there.

A few dorado and one or two tuna are being caught every day 40-50 miles out. On Tuesday we saw one gringo boat flying 5 dorado flags, but that was the almost certainly the max for the week.

A note about keeping a boat down here. My boat is currently trapped in the garage because--without any notice--the town government started tearing up my street in preparation for paving. The most optimistic estimate is that the work will last 2 months! Oh, the joys of having a place in Mexico!

(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.