WHITE SEABASS FOR EL CAPITAIN SPORTFISHING BOATS

July 30, 2004, Capt. Kelly Catian, El Capitan Sportfishing, San Quintin, Baja fishing, Mexico:

On monday I had Jeff Fuller, his son Chris, and their friend. Oscar (my son and second Capt.) had Mike Nunez and freinds

In overcast morning San Quintin skys we headed south to see if the white seabass were up, upon arriving we were greeted by boils and birds!!! We were throwing jigs and the bass (sandys and calicos) were coming all the way to the boat to take the iron.

Chris got a bass on the drop and while cranking in, a huge white seabass came up after the struggling bass on Chris,s jig and right in front of our eyes the big croaker swallowed bass and jig and bolted!!!! After a perfectly executed battle on 20lbs gear Chris brought the huge fish to gaff. We knew it was big but not until I almost fell out of the boat while trying to lift the toad over the rail did we really know. Once we had the fish in the boat we realized that it was way bigger than we thought, and then the yelling and screaming got really loud. we weighed it once on a 50 lbs spring scale which maxed out so we got a commercial scale and the fish weighed 60.3 lbs. We got about 11 more whites that day up to 30 lbs and lots of sand bass and calicos.

Oscar had a great day as well with 13 whites one yellowtail and lots of bass too for the Nunez party.

Both boats also landed threshers in the 30-40lbs range.

On tuesday, wed, thurs, out of San Quintin, I had both boats out with Bill Harmon and group. They were on San Quintin dock when we arrived on monday afternoon so they wanted a shot at the whites also. During our three day seabass hunt we had fish breezing under the boat all morning, Perry had one fish pick up his iron on. the drop and then almost spool his 30 lbs rig before busting off!! Who knows how big that one was.......it never stopped running. On day 3 we got to the spot we,d been seeing fish and within an hour we had a triple going...Perry,Bill and Gary were all pinned on fish that came up our squid chumline and took their irons!!!! Perry brought to gaff a 30 lbs white, the biggest so far. Gary had a yellowtail about 20-25 and Bill was still on his fish, He was using an old school crippled soldier outlaw jig on 25 lbs gear. I knew it was another toad because of the way it fought and the duration of its runs. Bill brought the fish to gaff, and as it cleared the rail we all sighed in relief and then the yelling started!!!! Bill's Whiteseabass weighed in at 44 lbs!!!

All of the white seabass were caught right offshore in front of "El Socorrito" about 8 miles south of the San Quintin harbour mouth. It was definatly a morning bite but lasted up to 11.00am Jigs were the ticket and Blue and chromes, scrambled egg, and the Krocodile was really good. Fish were taking em on the drop, retrieve, and even in the rodholder!

The week before was tough for San Quintin fishing, the albies that were around in june got pushed out by 70 degree water in early july but we started to get dorado and yellowfin and then we got an upwelling causede by high afternoon and night winds and that brought with it some red tide and brown water. The 240, which normally has clean warm water this time of year has brown cold water, all the spots west to north including the island are cold, still some yellows but the bait went south. Ran out 30+ miles from San Quintin and couldnt get out of the 65 degree water so.... no tuna or dorado. Although.... these San Quintin fishing conditions made it perfect for the White seabass!

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