MIRROLURES PRODUCE YELLOWTAIL FOR LOCAL FISHING BOATS AT ISLA SANTA INEZ

March 5, 2005, Rick Barber, Mulege, Mexico Fishing Report:

The fishing water temperatue at Mulege is warming up to 65-66 degrees in most places and, for the most part, was reasonably calm.

Mulege fishing this week was like the title of the old TV show, "This Was The Week That Was!"

The best part of the fishing is that all sorts of yellowtail, cabrilla and leopard grouper ended up as table fare this week.

An old Mulege buddy of mine, "El Dustino", found a hot spot between a couple of rocks at the north end of Isla Santa Inez and had a ball earlier in the week. He hooked six yellowtail from the 36 foot deep slot but managed to boat only two. He said that they would hit like a freight train and then it was a fight trying to drag them into deeper water where he'd have a fair chance at boating them before they managed to get into the rocks and break off. Since this area is one of my favorite "cabrilla" holes, I asked "El Dustino" if he got any. He just smiled and rubbed his stomach! 'Nuff said!

Brian King went fishing at Isla Santa Inez with some MirrOlures and boated a very nice 36 pound yellowtail for his efforts. Brian and Lisa are new to the area and recently bought a vacation home here in Mulege. On this trip to Mulege, he brought his boat and he obviously knows what a fishing boat is for! Good job Brian! I may be talking out of school but Brian also got a very nice cabrilla but almost lost it on the way to the filet table. It slipped out of the box on his ATV and was nearly run over by a trailing car. Luckily the driver spotted the fish lying in the roadway in time to avoid making a tortilla out of it.

Wayne Morrison took a Mulege neighbor fishing out at Punta Chivato and they dropped some jigs down to the bottom just to see if there were any fish there. "Something" inhaled one of the jigs right at the bottom and towed Wayne's panga around for 10-15 minutes before it broke the 80 pound test line. Wayne said that they couldn't get it off the bottom with the rod so they wrapped the line around a gaff and dragged it up about 25 feet off the bottom until they finally lost it. My guess is that another of our bad groupers is now wearing some new jewelry!

On Tuesday, Marty Robinson took some buddies out of Mulege to one of his favorite fishing areas north of San Marcos and hit the jackpot. They brought back 4 big yellowtail, 6 cabrilla, 3 pargo and 2 dog snapper. Marty also went fishing over on the Pacific side, to Punta Abreojos, where they managed to put a lot of fish into the ice chests. Hey, Pacific-side fish taste good also!

All of the Mulege fishing guides are reporting excellent action in the San Marcos, Punta Chivato and Santa Inez areas. Fishing south of Punta Concepción, off The Mine, The Corral, The Slide and The Palms has also been producing both yellowtail and cabrilla, depending on how deep you want to fish.

Most of the Mulege guys and gals fishing for the yellowtail are still using live bait when they can but, this time of the year, the 'tails are inhaling lures and jigs readily. One reason I like to troll is that it gives me a good shot at bringing in a leopard grouper or two and I consider them to be one of the best tasting fish in the ocean. Only halibut can give them a run for the money.

That's about it for this Mulege fishing week. Hopefully, Mulege's local waters will stay flat this coming week because I have some empty space in my refrigerator. See ya on the water.

(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.