JUST A FEW DORADO CAUGHT IN MOSTLY WINDY FISHING CONDITIONS

Nov. 6, 2004, Rick Barber, Mulege, Mexico Fishing Trip Reports:

Monday and Tuesday proved to be unfishable due to very rough seas and extremely windy conditions. Kinda reminded me of last week! Wednesday calmed down enough to be fishable, but it was still a bit too rough for my liking, and my little 15-foot Bayrunner. Despite the water cooling off to about 75 degrees, a few Mulege sportfishing boats went out and managed to corral a few dorado, although most were quite small, 5-10 lbs.

Thursday started off with a westerly wind of 5-15 knots, but, as these usually die down, my neighbor, Gary MacFarland, and I decided to try it. We crossed the mouth of the Bay of Concepción and started to troll toward Pt. Concepción. No success and when we got to the point, the water started to get really nasty, so, rather then try to troll north in the trough, I did a 180 and headed back toward Mulege. When we finally got back into smoother water (remember, that is a relative term), we headed for Jingle Beach to try for the Sierra that hang out over the dropoffs. Nada. Too late in the day, so we headed across the bay to the microwave tower (Krockodile Point) where we ran into some Triggerfish and a few Cabrilla. At this point, I'd take anything!!!

Tom and Patti Higgenbotham and some friends went on a little boat-camping trip up near Punta Chivato toward the end of the week. Boat-camping is one of Tom and Patti's favorite activities and they are always a good source of information to the fishing in the area. They managed to catch one nice yellowtail of about 20 lbs. and some very nice cabrilla but the rest of the fleet ended up with empty or near-empty ice chests. Patti reported that the water was a bit iffy at times and some of the fleet decided to sit out one day or another. She also noted that they loaded up on live bait (Mackerel) right in the Mulege channel and in front of the lighthouse.

Marty Robinson, Dustin Brown and another boater from the Mulege area took their three boats and tried the Mine, Slide and "The Palms" areas on Thursday but without much success. They reported about the same water conditions as I found but, as they were "around the corner" from me and in the shadow of the Pt. Concepción hills, the water was a bit smoother. Marty mentioned that they did get one savage hit off a Pt. Concepción beach that had all the earmarks of a big Roosterfish. They ARE in the area near the beaches, folks, but use heavy tackle. These brutes really fight and will just tear up lighter tackle.

Alex Mejia, one of the fishing guides from Mulege found a pocket of dorado about three miles outside Pt. Concepción on Thursday and boated six smaller ones.

Manuel Diaz, a commercial fisherman, reported spotting several Dorado jumping near Pt. Hornitos, just south of Mulege, and near Punta Chivato. He flylined some bait at the ones at Punta Chivato and came in with one 25 lb. Dorado.

"Gringo" , a local guide, took some customers out during the week and they reported taking some Dorado in the Punta Chivato area with bait.

Mulege conditions on Saturday were fairly good but most of the fishermen stayed in port. Two that did venture out managed to boat one Dorado of about 20 lbs., some Sierra and a few nice Cabrilla. Not a bad trip!

I awoke to rain on Sunday but it wasn't much to write home about so Gary and I went fishing again. Water conditions were fairly good although we did get a bit of a blow around 9:00 am or so and intermittent rain squalls throughout the morning. We trolled a couple of places near Mulege with no results so we headed for Isla Santa Inez and hooked up with a local guide, Mateo, who had three clients with him. We all started scoring on Sierra just SW of the island in about 40 feet of water. It turned out to be a pretty good morning.

At the dock, however, Alex, another area guide, had scored on Dorado right in front of the lighthouse. His party took home seven nice Dorado. They were using bait, also caught right in front of the lighthouse. Sometimes it just never pays to go too far from home!

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