GULF GROUPER AND LEOPARD GROUPER CAUGHT ON END OF THE LINE

July 6, 2006, Ric Felder, End Of The Line fishing trip for gulf grouper and leopard grouper out of Rocky Point, Mexico:

This is a report for a fishing trip to Puerto Penasco, Mexico, over the July 4th weekend.

We fished on my boat End Of The Line in 100 to 130 feet of water and water temperatures at the surface of 84 to 85 degrees.

There were 4 beautiful days in Rocky Point over the July 4th weekend but only 1 calm day to get on the water and do some fishing.

I woke up on Saturday morning to almost no breeze and lots of clouds and a few light showers so I headed into Cholla Bay for some fishing and found Chuck Blair or "Lucky Chucky" as he is known in Cholla Bay, as he has always been one of the best fisherman in Cholla Bay.

I have been fortunate to fish with Chuck since I was a 10 years old and have probably learned 70 to 80 percent of what I know about catching grouper from Chuck over the last 25 years.

We only get a chance to fish together once or twice a year so when we saw the calm ocean we were eager to get out there.

My boat launcher, Lupe, said his daughter had been wanting to go fishing so she jumped aboard as well and we were off.

We started by fishing several spots one-half to 1 mile off Pelican Point in 30 to 40 feet of water to catch spotted bay bass and a couple of species of grunts for bait. The action was a little slow but after about an hour we ended up with about 30 good baits.

We headed out of Rocky Point about 16 or so miles to fish several spots for the day. We were fishing reefs 11 to 16 miles west of Cholla Bay.

The wind off Rocky Point had died down to nothing and the humidity was high and the sun was shining right on us and it was getting very hot and muggy real fast.

After about 45 minutes, a light breeze finally came along and a few clouds moved over the sun and it felt like a whole new day. We fished several spots throughout the day and ended up with 3 gulf grouper of 50, 40, and 35 pounds and one leopard grouper of about 10 pounds.

We had another 6 good bites and hooked 4 of them but lost them to pulled hooks and only had one break off due to a damaged knot that we did not notice. We fished until about 5:30 p.m. and then headed into Rocky Point on flat calm seas for a nice ride in.

The blue water was about 10 miles out and we saw lots of flying fish while out there so the dorado and skipjack should be showing up now as well.

The color change of the water was not sharp. It goes from a green color to a pretty nice blue about 10 miles out of Rocky Point, but the change takes place over about a quarter-mile mile area. This condition is pretty typical for this time of year but quite often in August the water goes green for quite a ways out if you head west, but if you head south or southeast, there still is good blue water to be found 15 to 20 miles out.

Sierras, which are usually very plentiful this time of year, starting in May and running all the way through summer, have been very scarce this year. I'm not sure why.

(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.