SUPER CLEAR WATER--Capt. Kelly Catian (left) of K&M Offshore Sportfishing reported very clear water conditions at San Quintin's 15 spot last week, with yellowtail boiling on the surface. Photos courtesy Kelly Catian.

SUPER CLEAR WATER, YELLOWTAIL AT SAN QUINTIN 6 SPOT

Dec. 21, 2004, Capt. Kelly Catian, K&M Offshore Sportfishing, San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico:

On Monday I had Jimmy Chi, Lawrence Li, and their friend Felix fishing out of San Quintin, and on our other boat was Oscar and Chris just out for some fun.

We got out early and made bait even though most of last week's fish at San Quintin were jig fish. I had heard that there was a new swell predicted for Monday so I was concerned for the weather, but to our surprise San Quintin fishing water was as flat as it gets!

We headed for San Quintin's 6 fathom spot first and were greeted by a bunch of sea lions that had been feeding on bonita and hooked yellowtails, so we turned around and went back to the 15 fathom spot, and started metering around. There weren't a lot of birds at first and most of the yellowtail were down deep. We had a couple of hookups on iron, but it wasn't until we started to fly line live baits that it really turned on. The fish were coming up and boiling on our baits and there were breezing fish all over!

Chris and Oscar were at the San Quintin 6 fathom spot when we got into the yellowtail and were soon in on the action as well.

I must mention how totally beautiful this day was. It was unreal. San Quintin water had 100-foot plus visibility, no jòking. You could see your jig hit the bottom at 120 feet and watch it all the way up. Unreal.

Chris and Oscar spent 20 minutes just drifting over the 15 spot and looking down. They said it was incredible.

They got a late start, didn't make bait, and were just kinda goofing around. They got a couple on jigs. Then we handed them a scoop of bait and it was instant bendo on every one. Free swimmers everywhere and truly wide open.

Jimmy and friends ended up with limits by 1 p.m.

SAN QUINTIN YELLOWTAIL--Capt. Kelly Catian (left) of K&M Offshore Sportfishing found excellent yellowtail action last week at San Quintin's 15 spot. Photo courtesy Capt. Kelly Catian.

At 11 a.m., I got a call to assist a boat that was broken down near the San Quintin point somewhere. They had a dead battery and could not start the boat. On board were 4 adults, including one woman and a little girl. The boat was a little lake-type ski boat.

As we were heading into San Quintin, we were listening to the search effort conducted by Tiburon's Pangas. They had sent out a boat to look for the guy but after an hour still could not find him. I took my charter back to the San Quintin dock first. Chris was on standby waiting for the word to head back out, so I jumped on with him and we headed back out at 3 p.m.

Although it was a nice day we were worried that it would get dark. With Chris in the tower, we had no problem spotting the small vessel drifting 3 miles south of the San Quintin point. We arrived on the scene to find a very frightened woman holding her daughter and three very relieved guys. After putting a fresh battery on their boat, we called Tiburon and let him know that we'd found them, and made it back to San Quintin in time for a couple beers! A great ending for a great day. Thanks to Tiburon for coordinating the rescue effort.

(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.