SPORTFISHING BOAT MURPHY GIRL WITH RED SNAPPERS SOUTH OF PUERTO PENASCO

Sept. 9, 2005, Shawn Gustafson, Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco), Mexico Fishing Report:

My wife Tina and I took our two the dogs down to Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) for fishing over the Labor Day weekend.

Saturday fishing was windy with 6 to 8 foot swells, so we stayed near shore and caught sand bass and grunts for bait. The water was 93 degrees near the harbor.

On Sunday, we left Safe Marina at 7 a.m. and headed out of Rocky Point for fishing on our 24-foot Wellcraft "Murphy Girl" towards the 51 mile reef. The wind was still blowing, but not as hard as the day before. There were 2 to 4 foot waves, but they were manageable if we didn't go too fast. The wind was again from the south, so we had to head right into the waves for 50 miles to get to the reef. It was a new moon and there was a strong current working against us. It was like boating up river. It took us about three hours to get to the reef going about 15 miles per hour.

We anchored at the reef and immediately started catching large red snappers and gold spotted bass on cut bait. The fishing water temperature was 88 degrees. We caught a red colored fish that I'd never seen before that looked like a hogfish. The locals called it a parrotfish, but it had teeth instead of a beak.

We fished this spot for 2 to 3 hours and caught a total of six red snapper and four gold spotted bass. A school of small dorado swam up to the boat a few times, but we didn't catch any. We did hook one bigger fish that gave us a really good fight for a few minutes before we lost him. He bent the pole in half and stripped line, but the hook pulled free. It's always the big one that gets away!

We headed back to the marina at Rocky Point just after 2 p.m. and had an easy ride in with the wind at our back. We didn't see any other boats fishing other than pangas near shore.

(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.