YELLOWTAIL FISHING AT ISLA SAN PEDRO NOLASCO

Nov. 10, 2006, Craig Collins, San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico:

I fished last Saturday with Fernando Almada on the San Carlos charter boat "Catch 22 Rubina" at Isla San Pedro Nolasco, in stiff breezes and 2-4 foot seas.

Water temperatures were 72 to 74 degrees, and the water was clean blue-green.

We found some shelter from the northwest winds at the south end of the island. After trolling Rapala XRaps on wire line and mono for a couple of passes close to the island, we tried jigs in the deeper water a little further out.

Fishing in 180 to 250 feet of water, we hooked 6 yellowtail in the next 3 hours and landed 4 of them. The fish were biting in the first 50 feet off the bottom, hitting best on a full-speed crank.

The yellowtail were from 20 to 24 pounds, and mixed in were lots of larger bonito and skipjacks. All of the yellows bit on a 4 ounce Megabait Live Jig in green mackerel pattern.

We also made a quick stop in the channel on the way out and were surprised with a wide-open bite on big Humboldt squid. One was pushing 30 pounds. Other anglers from San Carlos reported similar luck during the week in the same place while fishing with butterfly jigs.

The fishing should get even better this week as the water has dropped another two degrees around San Carlos.

(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.