Santa Rosalia, Mexico:
Many Local Sport And Commercial Fishing Boats Are Catching Yellowtail

June 5, 2004, Mike Kanzler, Isla San Marcos, Baja California Sur, Mexico fishing report:

Just starting to feel normal today. Took longer than it should have due to the fact that sick or not, when people are here to fish I have to take them, so kind of hard to recuperate in 85-degree sun, and getting up at 0430 in the morning didn't help.

The Santa Rosalia weather has been more on the tropical side and should pretty much stay this way till October. Higher humidity. Seeing 70-degree mornings and mid-80s during the days.

Water temps: This one's got a lesson attached for those nonbelievers. Last month I posted a short story on Allcoast’s Baja Mexico message board called Full Moon New Moon. I talked about the great fishing during the full moon period for Yellowtail and challenged people to debate it.

To my surprise only the ones who were on the same page as me responded. In this area, for good Yellowtail fishing, the best time is during the strongest current which is caused by biggest tides, determined by the new and full moon phases.

Because big strong current is out there, strong upwelling brings cooler waters to the surface. Last week the water was 77 degrees. But now due to the phase of the moon, the water has cooled to 72 to 74 degrees and visibility is only 15-plus feet. Offshore water of 80 degrees can be found with 60 to 80 feet visibility.

The fishing? Lots of yellowtail are being caught by all, a few American boats and lots of commercial fishing pangas.

I had Steve Davis and his son Travis from San Quintin, who said they never had chartered a boat in their life (they had their own boat with them). They where able to catch 6 nice Yellowtail of 22 to 27 pounds with 4-ounce egg sinker rigs with live Mackerel.

On Friday and today I got to fish with a good friend who's been coming down here to fish with me the past few years, Hugh Cobb owner of Pacific Coast Bait & Tackle, along with his two friends Mike Mercado of Fallbrook and Dennis Dannat of Oceanside.

We've had two great days with 13 Yellowtail of 20 to 27 pounds, 2 Leopard grouper of 6 and 10 pounds (lost as many as we caught), all caught on Slider sinker rigged live Mackerel fished close to the bottom in 120 to 160 feet of water on the north end of Isla San Marcos.

Some of the squid boats out of San Lucas Cove are pulling double duty, squid at night and by the time they get done it's time to make Mackerel and go fish them Yellows, which about 6 to 8 boats are doing, and fishing along side me without anchoring up and messing up the drift, loving it! They’re doing real good, taking about 10 to 15 fish a boat (they stay out longer and don't lose as many fish as my guys do!).

Oh yeah, Dorado. What Dorado? Don't hear much. I myself haven't run out looking yet, but as far as I know it's still spotty and pretty far out, maybe next week.

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