BD,
My old man, Lou, my younger brother, Victor and I headed south through Calexico. At the border got inspected by Mexican officials which included boarding my 26' Skipjack,
Panacea. The inspection only took a few minutes, but it was the first time we ever got boarded on the way INTO Mexico.
The rest of the trip south was fairly uneventful. The winds were gusting pretty good at about 30 mph as we drove through San Felipe and we knew we'd probably run into some whitecaps when we reached Puertecitos. Good news on the road development... The road has been paved and is in great shape all the way to about 1/2 mile from Puertecitos. That saved a good couple of hours of pot-hole and dirt road maneuvering!
Got to Puretecitos around midday on the 13th. Northerly winds, as expected, were gusting to about 25 mph. We launched and headed south. Not 30 minutes after we launched, the winds really laid down. What great timing! The water was about 70-71 degrees. We made our first stop at an area near the Hot Chocolate Cliffs and got into a considerable Spotted Rose Snapper bite! We kept a few for the cooler knowing they make some of the best fish sandwiches on the planet. The snappers were running up to about 3-5 lbs. As dusk approached, we headed to Isla Encantada to spend the night in a quiet cove.
The next morning we decided to make some live bait for a trip out to the seamounts and outer reefs. It didn't take us long to fill the bait tank with small grunts and such between 1/2 and 1 1/2 lbs each. With the tanks loaded up, we headed out to outer reefs to try our luck at some of the cabrillas and groupers.
We set up dropper loops and soaked a few grunts... The first few drifts came up with nothing but a few chewed up baits from what appeared to be big triggers. On the next drift, I decided to change tactics a bit and sent down a Sumo 6x in chrome and blue and yo-yo'ed. On my first drop I got a hit and pulled in an average sized Sierra of about 6 pounds. As soon as the Sierra hit the deck, my dad got a big hit on his soaked grunt. He set the hook and the battle was on. But this was going to be a shorter battle than expected... The grouper (we guesstimated its size over 100 pounds) made a mad dash for his rock home and it wasn't going to be denied. The 60 pound line snapped and the groupers were up 1-0.
We reset on a similar drift and I dropped my Sumo 6x back down. Within a few seconds of my retrieve, I was hit again... this time the rod bent more heavily and I knew it wasn't a Sierra. A short fight and up came a nice Spotted Cabrilla of about 25 lbs. More importantly, we knew we were honing in on the right structure.
The next drift produced a big strike almost immediately, again, with my dad on the receiving end of it. But this time he managed to turn the head around before the fish could find his rock haven and within a few minutes we buried the gaff into a nice 50+ pound Gulf Grouper.
A few more drifts produced 2 more Spotted Cabrillas for my brother Victor at 25 and 20 pounds. A quick assessment on total fish we had chilling on ice and we concluded that we had all we needed for the dinner tables. With that decision made, we left them biting at the outer reef.
We spent the rest of the day slow trolling a few areas with no success and some near shore shallows fishing that produced a pair of bonefish along with a few catfish and usual triggerfish and spotted bay basses. Just north of Isla San Luis we ran across a whale. I was a bit surprised to see a whale that far north. I'm not very familiar with whale species, so I wasn't able to identify what type it was, although it seemed to be headed south.
That night the northerly winds returned and by Sunday morning they had picked up considerably with gusts up to 40 mph. We headed back to the ramp and made our way back to the States, thankful for the short window we got without the blow.
Quick stats:
Winds: Gusty and not advisable for small craft
Water: 70 degrees and very green and murky
Total species caught: Approx 12 - Spotted Bay Bass, Triggerfish, Spotted Rose Snapper, Porgy, Chili Catfish, Bonefish, Spotted Cabrilla, Gulf Grouper, Sierra, various grunts.
Tight Lines,
- Adrian Sosa
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