TWO DAYS OF PANGA FISHING PRODUCES JUST ONE DORADO

June 30, 2005, Scott Bradley, Mulege, Mexico Fishing Trip Report:

I just got back from Loreto and Mulege where the dorado fishing was nonexistent. I have been fishing this area every year around June and July for a long time and it seems that each year the fishing is worse. I think there is a reason aside from yearly cycles that is causing it and it's not sport fishing.

We panga fished 6/24 and 6/26 out of Mulege. We caught one 20-pound Dorado for our efforts. We saw one Marlin sunning and that was about it.

The sargasso is the only way to find any concentrations of fish in this area and there just wasn't any. We went probably 15 miles out, and then north almost to Punta Chivato, and south almost to Concepcion Bay. The water was cool for this time of year.

We went to Loreto after that, thinking that maybe the fish were still south, but the reports there were bad too, so we didn't even go out.

We didn't want to fish the bottom for for yellowtail, but I heard they had some luck in both places for these.

I sailed from Loreto to East Cape last year and saw first hand the many small fish camps and seiners working all the outlying areas for anything they can catch.

At Agua Verde the first night we were anchored up near a group of guys on the beach. At sunset they donned their wet suits and went out, I assumed for lobster. When they returned in the morning I checked out their catch and it was fish and lobster, speared. There is no enforcement to speak of anywhere. If they would just check fishing licenses at East Cape they could probably make enough money to fund at least one boat in those waters.

(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.