DORADO FISHING ACTION INCREASING IN LOCAL WATERS

May 7, 2005, Rick Barber, Mulege, Mexico Fishing Report:

Wild and wooly best describes the action in the Mulege fishing area this week. Not only are the yellowtail continuing to hit just about anything thrown or dragged near them, the dorado are being picked up in increasing numbers. Not only that, there were marlin and sailfish caught this week. How's that for starters?

Last Sunday, Gary Bendix was fishing by himself about 14 miles off of the Mulege harbor, just about straight out, when he boated a marlin and a 10' 2" sailfish! Not only that, he also boated three dorado and two "cabrilla". Gary mentioned that he encountered 75 degree water out there. Good job, Gary!!!

Alex, "Gringo," and Mateo, all local guides, did well for their customers this week by scoring on large yellowtail and "cabrilla". Most of the fishing action has been off the Punta Chivato light in 150 to 250 feet of water. The bait fishermen hit the depths and the trollers follow the birds. The 'tails have been mixing in with the porpoise at times so, if you see porpoise feeding, throw on some MirrOlures and troll through the area. Chances are you'll get lucky. Remember, porpoise are protected so, if you catch one, you have to throw it back. That's a joke, folks!

Tom and Patti Higginbotham took their granddaughters fishing on Tuesday and went out about 20 miles from Mulege. They ran into water that was starting to get a bit rough as well as colder so Tom turned around to get back into warmer water. Good choice as his granddaughters caught their first dorado ever. They boated three nice Dodo's of about 10-15 lbs. Wayne Morrison and Dale Behymer tried to repeat last Wednesday's great day of fishing but couldn't find the fish.

Tom and Patti took their granddaughters, Geena (12) and Sarah (11) Ferrelli, out fishing again on Wednesday and Sarah caught a 35 lb. dorado. The fish weighed almost as much as she does! In two days of fishing, the girls boated six dorado. Good work, Kids. I'll bet daddy's going to bring you back real soon, right? Speaking of "daddy"... John Ferrelli was fishing with John Dinning near Tom and Patti when he boated and released a beautiful marlin!

Ralph Lane and Marlin Larsen, fishing in Marlin's boat, managed to boat six nice dorado and one small yellowfin tuna which they released. Jane Brooks, fishing with Gene Lee off Mulege caught a nice "eating-size" dorado, her first in two years. Looks like Jane, who couldn't fish last year due to a broken leg, is back in the swing of things again. Roger Pramhus, of Coyote Bay, boated three nice dorado on Thursday while fishing "outside" off Punta Concepción. He then moved inside to boat a red snapper and a "cabrilla".

Friday turned out to be a FANTASTIC day for two of our really neat newbies. Brian and Lisa King, who bought a vacation home in Mulege late last year, were down for a short vacation and went out to see what they could stir up. Brian was trolling a yellow & green feather a few miles off the slide/mine area when a big bull dorado hit. After four or five great runs, he finally boated the fish that weighted out at 39 or 40 lbs. depending on how you looked at the scale at the launch ramp. Great job, Brian. You've got the big one so far... but the season is young!

Most of the dorado being caught now are hitting feathers and the concentration seems to be from just about directly out from Mulege to a couple of miles south of Punta Concepcion near "The Slide" or off "The Mine" areas. Look for warmer water that goes into the low to mid 70's right now. Also look for flotsam or patties. There are quite a few scum lines out there right now and they all seem to be harboring fish.

Also of note from a sailboat making the crossing to Mulege from San Carlos, there are a lot of yellowfin tuna near Isla Tortuga, near Santa Rosalia, and they are reported to have some good size to them, much larger than in the past few years. Hey, this might just turn out to be a GREAT fishing year!

(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.