FISHING AT PUNTA SANTA TERESA PRODUCTIVE FOR LEOPARD GROUPER

Jan. 28, 2006, Rick Barber, Mulege, Mexico Sportfishing Report:

I didn't get in any fishing at Mulege last week as I had to go to Monterrey on a business trip, but I did get my boat Barquito wet the day before I left. That Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006, was an absolutely gorgeous day. Mulege temperatures were in the mid 80's and the winds stayed calm until about 2:30 p.m.

I started out the day by finding out, I think, what "Blue Tuna" are. The locals call them "Toritos" and The Baja Catch lists them as Green Jacks. Their mother-of-pearl sides look blue hence the name "Blue Tuna." I caught eight right off the bat at Punta Concepción.

While there, I ran into Mulege sportfishing guide Capt. Mateo who had two clients with him. They were trolling and throwing iron to the jacks and, later, for some yellowtail off the mine. They boated a few jacks and four very nice yellowtail, all about 35 pounds. I wanted some grouper but I did troll a bit for some yellowtails but couldn't entice one to hit.

Since it was such a beautiful day with nothing in the Mulege weather forecast until late afternoon, I went down to Punta Theresa, a 20 mile or so trip south of the point. Since that's about my limit of safety since Barquito is only 15 feet long, I really enjoyed the excursion.

I fished Punta Santa Teresa for about 2 hours and then started working my way north toward Mulegé, stopping at every point to drag a bright orange over yellow 6-inch broken-back Rapala lure through the rocks. I got back to the dock about 2:00 in the afternoon with five very nice leopard grouper, the largest of which weighed from 12 to 17.4 pounds, and I released 6 or 7 smaller ones in the 6-8 pound range. Dad took the jacks off my hands to use for triggerfish bait and I filleted the grouper for the evening meal.

The day before, I ran into Cody Spahn who told me that he and his wife, Andy boated two nice yellowtail off Isla San Marcos using live bait. These two are fishing fools! Anytime I see them out there, I stick close. The two 'tails they got that day were both 35 pounds.

To jump ahead in my story, they stopped by the house this Saturday, Jan. 28th, to show me three very nice fish they just caught off Punta Concepción. Cody and Andy had Gary Nunley, Andy's son, with them. Leading the group was a 42 pound yellowtail caught by Gary. Yes, he was smiling! A pair of nice 12 pound leopard grouper rounded out their bag. They were fishing in about 250 feet of water, again using live bait. Cody said the water was about 62 degrees, somewhat rough and a little on the murky side. We've had quite a bit of wind lately so that accounts for the murky conditions.

I talked to Mateo, Gringo and "Niño" (José Luís Romero), some of our local Mulege fishing guides. All have been scoring on yellowtail when the weather cooperates. Typical at this time of the year are 2-3 days of wind followed by 1-3 days of fair weather. Anglers can count on about 2-4 days of acceptable fishing weather a week. Live bait always works but the yellowtail also hit the surface at times to chow down on sardines at the top. During these feeding frenzies, iron works really well. Try to match the lure size to that of the bait. It's kinda strange but, if the yellowtail are feeding on small sardines, a large lure usually will go untouched.

Marty Robison harassed the fish while I was gone and boated his usual share. He brought home yellowtail in the 20-35 pound class and his fair share of leopard grouper as well. Marty fishes almost exclusively with MirrOlures and does very well with most species using that method. He is one of our more consistent scorers.

A lot of us are sharpening our hooks in preparation for the Mulegé Classic Tournaments Spring tournament on the 16th & 17th of February. At this time of the year, both bait and lures, trolling, will work equally well. Manuel Díaz, my partner, and I are going to be prepared for both methods and we have our secret spot already entered into my GPS. Now if my Hercules lures will only arrive!

That's about it for this week at Mulege. Have fun and I'll see you 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.