BLUEFIN TUNA, SKIPJACK TUNA, AND YELLOWFIN
TUNA CAUGHT ABOUT 9 MILES OUT

June 25-July 3, 2005, Stuart Burnett, San Carlos, Mexico Fishing Report:

If you like catching tuna, now is the time to get on down to San Carlos and do it. Just be prepared for very hot and muggy weather every day!

We fished a total of six days out of San Carlos, and covered about 380 miles trolling.

We came back in early on Wednesday because the water was too rough to fish. Overall, the water was decent enough to fish most days, but never really flat. The water temperature around San Carlos was steady at 83.5 degrees most everywhere we fished.

The fish are close in. We never went further than 15 miles out of San Carlos. Good blue water is close in, less than a couple of miles out.

We fished the reef area by the island the first two days. Picked up a peanut dorado, one good billfish strike that came unbuckled, a nice size bluefin tuna about 15 pounds, and oodles of true, not black, skipjack tuna.

The rest of the trip, we concentrated on fishing an area between 180 and 210 degrees about 9 miles out and boated at least a couple of nice 35 lb. class yellowfin tuna each day. We caught a yellowfin while fishing only 4.5 miles out from the San Carlos Marina, running in a huge pod of dolphins that must have been close to a mile wide. The others all came as blind strikes in the area about 9 miles out. There were also lots of marlin in this area and we caught and released a 250 to 300-pound blue marlin on our last day. It hit a light setup, 40 lb. test mono. Steady pressure and working the fish paid off, and we were able to unhook, revive and release an outstanding fish.

So, the tuna are there if you want to go get them. One San Carlos boat caught two yellowfin in excess of 60 lbs., so there are some larger ones around, although the 35 lb. ones provide plenty of action and are GREAT eating! We feasted nightly on fresh dorado ceviche and tuna done in small pieces in a black sauce that was some of the finest I've ever eaten. Gabriel at the San Carlos Grill prepared our catch. Also, had some pulpo (octopus) done with guajillo peppers at Blackie's one night that I highly recommend. Blackie's calamari salad is also a fantastic treat, made with very tiny squid.

As for dorado at San Carlos, they are nonexistent at the moment, other than some small peanuts picked up on blind strikes. I did talk to another boat that was picking up some decent size dorado, 30 lb., by fishing the long lines with ballyhoo about 35 miles out, but we never ventured that far out to check it out.

All of our fish were taken trolling, using the custom lures I make. Cedar plugs are also working great for the tuna.

The trip down to San Carlos is the same as always, get your papers at the 21 Km. checkpoint. The extended free zone is not yet a reality, but they are still talking about it. If you drive a diesel truck like I do, you can rejoice in the fact that diesel in Mexico is waaaay cheaper than it is here in the states right now. Gas is close to the same.

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