LARGE BONITO CAUGHT IN FISHING ALONG BAJA SHORE AT SOLEDAD REEF

July 16, 2006, John Duffy, Soledad reef loaded with large bonito:

I have a fishing report for Puerto Santo Tomas, Baja California, Mexico, from Sunday, July 16th.

My friend Johnny Ferretti joined me with Capt. Marcus the guide at Puerto Santo Tomas Resort.

The Soledad reef and the entire Puerto Santo Tomas area is loaded with big Bonito. These are 4 to 9 pound bruisers and we released about a dozen.

We did land 2 yellowtail which were both 7 pound fish.

After a hectic morning bite and weary backs from the bonito we went to fishing the bottom at about 80 feet to 100 feet. We caught 4 Lingcod to 6 pounds. We also got 5 big whitefish, a really good grade of fish size-wise. One went 4 pounds. We finished up with some nice red rockcod and olive rockfish.

Our guide Capt. Marcus of Puerto Santo Tomas really impressed me by gingerly putting the air bladder back in the smaller rockfish that were released. That kind of responsible fishing is commendable.

We had a good morning on the water since we finished up by noon. The weather was a cornucopia of thunderstorms, brief rain, dead calm, light breeze, 10 knot wind from the east, overcast and bright hot sun. And this was just in the morning!

We caught the Bonito and Yellowtail on Rapalas, CD14s, and black was the hot color. The lingcod and Rockfish were on plastic. We did not have any bait. I forgot to get frozen squid and they didn't have any at the landing.

I went through Scampi's, AA swim baits and hammertails. Not one would last more than two fish as these were quality Rockfish. The Reds were Mexican Rockfish. They are Deep Red with some black marking on their face. The others were Olive Rockfish and what my Northern California friends call Gopher Rockfish. The Whitefish were great. I haven't seen a four pounder in ten years. At first we wondered if it was a yellowtail when Johnny hooked it.

The fish count: 2 Yellowtail, 14 Bonito (Released), 4 Lings, 5 Whitefish, 4 Reds, 5 Olives/gophers.

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