BIG BLACK SEA BASS SNAP ANGLER'S LINES OFF PUERTO PENASCO

Jan. 27, 2005, Mike Auditore, Rocky Point, Mexico Fishing Trip Report:

On. Jan. 22, I and my friend Lloyd Robinette, of Casa Grande, Ariz., left Rocky Point about 9 a.m. for fishing on my boat El Gato Blanco. Rocky Point water was nice 1 to 2 foot waves. We stopped to make bait about 5 miles out where some birds were working. We immediately were catching horse mackerel and filled the live well in about 45 minutes.

Then we motored out to a reef I have on my GPS. I was able to run between 27 to 35 m.p.h. in mixed sea conditions.

We arrived at the reef 1 hour before high tide and dropped anchor. El Gato Blanco swung over the reef with a perfect position. The GPS read .0000, dead on the way point. I dropped down first with a live mackerel and got a huge hit in a matter of seconds. I could hardly budge this thing which snapped a tuna stick in half! My Penn 50SW International could not stop the fish, so all I could do is cleat it off. We tried to pull it up by hand with no success. So we decided that when we left, we'd let the boat pull it up. We did not want to move off our spot.

We both dropped down live mackerel, with each of us getting slammed. I brought up a 100-pound plus black sea bass after a 15-20 minute fight and Lloyd hauled in a nice 40-pound plus Broomtail Grouper. It was an outstanding day of fishing out of Rocky Point.

Lloyd had four large fish break off. I caught three White Seabass over 20 pounds and Lloyd pulled a white seabass up over 20 pounds also. After two hours we were tired out and with some wind picking up we decided to leave. I went over to the line that was cleated off and it was limp. Reeled it in and the bottom 14/O circle hook was bent straight! The monster got away. So we motored back with speeds up to 40 m.p.h. What a great day!

The Rocky Point sea surface temperatures were about 61 degrees and there were two other boats out there, one about 1/2 a mile and the other two miles. I did not have time to see if they were catching anything. We had our hands full, as was the fish box!

Rocky Point gets a lot of wind, so the trip number of boats fishing here are low. I would say on a good weekend there could be as many as 10 pay-for-hire boats going out of Rocky Point. But most do not go out very far and they catch usually triggerfish and sandbass. The privately owned boats could number as many as 20 on a good weekend. Not many venture more than 20 miles from Rocky Point.

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