baitcast
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San Lucas Cove ??
In late june early july,under normal conditions,what could a guy with a small tin boat,reasonably equipped expect to catch,on the beach,inshore
and at the island?.......Any camping areas south of the cove?......Thanks guys
BAITCAST
I hope when my time comes the old man will let me bring my rod and the water will be warm and clear.
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bajabum
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Should be wide open! Inshore you might run into Jacks, roosters, cabrilla, grouper, etc. In the chanell between the mouth of the cove and the island
and around the island the tails and Dodos should be around and if ya get lucky you might even jump a marlin or sailfish! End of June or July will
increase your chances on all species. Last time I was there in July (I think) the Squid and dodos were only bitting at night and the tails were at
thier usual spots during the day, almost ran over a Marlin headin back to SLC late in the afternoon. You can also camp and get into some excellent tin
boat fishin at Pta Chivato, about 30 mins south. Take Krocs and broken back rebels for inshore and Rapalas, mirolures, feathers, & cedar plugs for
draggin around the island. Best bet will be live bait...use yozuris at the mouth of the cove at day break to catch em. Fish the high spots around the
island with a mack on a dropper or fly line em if thier chewin on the surface. Work all 3 sections of the water column, bottom 1/3, middle, and top
1/3 untill you find the fish. I would bet you will find them on the surface feeding in the mornings and at the bottom during the rest of the day.
Probably more than you wanted to know, but there you have it! Look for Mike Kantzler in the Boston Whaler, if you find him you have found the fish!
Work is just something I do to keep me buzy between baja trips!
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Pompano
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Baitcast....
from 1972 - 1976 I used an aluminum 16' Lund with a 50 Johnson DAILY on round trips from Coyote Bay to places like San Marcos (75 mile round-trip),
Tortuga (90 mile RT), Pta. Teresa & Ille del Fonso (90 mile RT). This was mostly in winter conditions..meaning lots of WIND and WAVES. Every day
coming back I would think.."Wow, that was fun, but I should have taken the 'Pompano' "..a 28ft diesel. But too tell the truth, a small boat is just a
whole lot better fishing and manuevering platform. From San Lucas Cove the world is your oyster. You can cover the ground from inside San Marcos to
the bajos, to Tortuga, to the dorado offshore. Now if you feel the need to move at dorado time, get down to the camping beach right at Pta. Chivato
lighthouse and head straight offshore at least 12 miles and begin your search for those tidelines, scum, kelp, birds, flying fish, etc. We usually
have a great dorado run that comes north past Ille del Fonso (by San Nicolas & San Sebstian) and then turns with the warm current towards Guaymas then
bends back towards Tortuga (a little east and then north around the island) then as the season progresses, the dorado are found most everywhere...even
in Bahia de Comcepcion on good El Nono years. Your best locator, other than your own eye, is your VHF..channels 22 & 72. We all share info
freely...as do all good fishermen.
So don't hesitate because of a small boat. I have come across 12ft. Zodiacs, pontoons, & jetski fishermen 20 miles offshore in calm seas...NOT
saying that I would recommend that however. Bueno suerte!
[Edited on 4-1-2005 by Pompano]
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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baitcast
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Great stuff!!
"Probably more than you wanted to know"are you kidding can,t get to much info before a fishin trip!!
Sounds like my kind of place,Pompano we fished Carmen last year in my 12ft porta bote,been roughing it for the last few years but have
upgraded to tin a week ago
Thanks guys sounds great.
BAITCAST
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fishinrich
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bugs
baitcast--I would recommend punta chivato over san lucas cove. Much shorter run to the fish and there are no bugs at chivato, san lucas is full of
them. I cannot even begin to think about all the fish I have caught and speared out of chivato over the years in a 12' boat, you will have a great
time. There is daily trash pickup and fresh water showers at chivato and a small store next to the hotel. I recommend the herradura margarritas at
the hotel bar and if you do not feel like cooking one night then have a fabulous dinner there. Wish I was there right now!!!----fishin rich
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baitcast
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Bugs!!!!!
I hate bugs,damn things love me.
Rich is there an area down there for camping,you know not in town but out in the bonnies some,the nite life sounds good though.
Keep it coming guys........Thanks
BAITCAST
Bugs.........That reminds me of the time I and a couple friends years ago thought it would be fun to camp out on Smith island at BOLA.
Everything went well until it got dark,then all the blood suckers came out to feed,I got to sleep to start with but woke with a mass of bugs
feeding on my face and there was this hooded figure standing over me with a sheet over his head and mumbleing something about these @#$%^
bugs..........Need less to say it was a very long nite
 Fishing was great tho. the next day.
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Pompano
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Buenos dias, Baitcast....
Coffee in hand, I am thinking of places you can camp 'in the boonies' south of San Lucas. You say late June..early July....hmmm. So here are the
choices: San Lucas Cove (buggy). The Lagoon (inshore San Marcos Island..isolated, but bad road). Pta. Chivato..good camping, proximity to fish,
bad rumble-road, store, a little crowded. Shell Beach (continuation of Pta. Chivato) ..better off on PC point. Santa Inez Beach..uncrowded,
isolated, pretty, but farther from fish...you might like it here. Mulege estuary beach camping by lighthouse..close to fish, gas, town, etc. Lots of
traffic, though, high risk of theft. Beach south of Mulege same features as estuary, but close to fish and amenities. Lovers Beach just below the
micro-tower south of town...okay, but has history of thefts. Bay of Conception..prettiest and best of all, bar none, but can be very hot in late
June, July..and is at least a 30 mile run to dorado..unless you trailer into Serindad ramp thus saving 15 miles of dead water.
That will give you some food for thought! Maybe you should just do like a lot of others...just head south with a cool one, listening to JB, and stop
when the mood hits you.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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baitcast
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I also am sitting here with a coffee in one hand ,my Baja Almanac in the other and on the screen a pic. of san lucas and p chivato,trying to absorb
all the info you guys have given me
Everything looks great but the bugs.........I see what looks like some dirt roads just south of San Bruno? they appear to be on the beach.
Rich the campsite you mentioned is that on the road to hotel?
Thanks guys the more info the better.
Baitcast
How,s the chances for jacks and roosters
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Skipjack Joe
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Wow!! There is a lot of good information for you in the posts. Here's a bit more about SLC.
Late June is a fishing transition period in the area. The locals keep track of when the first dorado is caught, and it's somewhere between 6/10 and
6/21. The yellowtail fishing is going great guns at mid June off the north end of San Marcos but become real scarce by July 1. The dorado at first
appear in the open water past San Marcos, on the way to Tortuga but work their way to the island and are in the channel by July 1st.
Many of the locals leave at this time of year because of the weather and come back in late September. It becomes very hot and humid. You'll end up
sleeping in the buff with the windows open and the plastic seat covers sticking to you. I am thinking of buying one of those battery operated small
fans to make it easier. The thing to do at SLC is to back your rig right up to the water's edge and keep all the windows open. There is a small breeze
that comes up in the afternoon that really helps. If you are just a few hundered inland you don't feel it at all.
The nice thing about this time of year is that the sea is perfectly calm almost every day. That means you can venture far in your small boat and
rarely have to sit out days due to bad weather. That's far better than say, November, a time much more popular.
The low tide is always around 3 am and high tide before you go to sleep. That means you can't leave the boat next to your camper if you intend to get
those mackerel at 5AM and pursue the yellowtail. You need to anchor your boat about 100 yards away and you will need sandals to shuffle your way back
during high tide the night before to make sure you don't step on a sting ray.
The best place to get mackerel is at the lone cactus you will see across the lagoon as you look outware in about 30'-50' of water.
The bug problem is, in my opinion, not that bad. The noseeums come out at 5:30 and are gone at 7. A spray of insect repellant seems to work well and
you can get that in Santa Rosalia. There are a few mosquitos also. We use on those candles sold in drug stores and they seem to do the job because I
don't remember getting bit.
The two spots I fish the most are Haystack and the north end of San Marcos (5 miles from SLC). Haystack has a very long shelf about 40' deep that
sticks out a long way under water. There are always fish in this area. It's a good area for rapalas and krocs. The north end of the island is for the
larger fish. For yellowtail you will do better if you have GPS readings of the 'spots' and orient yourself using your GPS. Your best bet, bu far, is
with live mackerel.
The best way to get dorado is with feathers. At that time of year the seaweed gathers in clumps and the dorado may be around them. The bigger the
clump the better your chances. There are more paddies closer to shore than further out. A large paddy found in the open water between San Marcos and
Tortuga is almost a sure thing.
One of the pluses for SLC is it's proximity the village of San Lucas and to Santa Rosalia. Guys usually get ice blocks very evening a few hundred
yards away and keep the dorado fresh for the evening meal (those fish spoil really fast in the summer heat). A lot of people really enjoy a restaurant
cooked meal once in a while at Santa Rosalia to break the monotony of cooking.
The dorado fishing can be very localized. Last year a group of people showed up from Pt Chivato and Mulege complaining of the absence of fishing. The
fish were thick in the channel in front of SLC and it really surprised me. I could look south and virtually see Pt Chivato and yet one location had
the fish and the other did not.
On my drive down I would stop at SLC and inquire from the people at the park about the fishing. If good I would stay, otherwise I would move on until
I got a good report.
Baitcast, how big of a boat did you end up purchasing? Did you set up a live bait tank? If so, what was your design?
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baitcast
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Hey Joe nice hearing from you again,I bought a 12ft crestliner,thin skinned but beamy and 104#which was a big thing with me.
I have a chevy astro van awd which I,m tweaking some so I,ll be keeping it for some time,anyway its a long way to the roof of that thing so
weight is a big thing!!!!
Not enough room for a baittank but I never used one anyway,been a jig freak all my fishing life,got to be throwing something all the
time,will troll if I,m forced to.
The area sounds like a kick in the arse,are their any jacks and roosters that time of the year?
I,m got a trailer for it to but I,m coming down through Gonzaga and maybe BOLA,San Francisquito and who knows
If any of you think of anything else be sure to let me know.
BAITCAST
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Skipjack Joe
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blue crabs
Baitcast,
If you ever do make it to SLC you might want to take the opportunity to hunt up some of the blue crabs you will see in the cove. They are absolutely
delicious - the meat is much sweeter than our local market crabs.
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baitcast
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Thanks guys
We can put this to bed,I,ve got more info then I know what to do with.
Just one last question,are there any jacks and roosters that time of year in the area?
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Skipjack Joe
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roosterfish and jacks
My experience in the area is that the jacks and roosterfish become abundant when the large schools of sardinas arrive. I always find jacks when they
are smashing these baitfish. The same is true of roosterfish.
I have had better luck on these 2 species during the fall months. I see bigger schools of these bait fish in the fall and as a result the jacks also
are there also. Perhaps others have a different impression.
I was fishing SLC the fall before last and schools of big jacks came right into the cove and herded the baitfish from one end to the other. It was
wild!!! I was taking a siesta when my son came running to tell me that they were right next to our campsite. I ran out with my rod, and sure enough,
these 15-20lb jacks were in 2 feet of water right next to the beach churning the water to a froth and scarring the bejeesuz out of the baitfish. I
have also caught small roosters in the cove in the fall.
Baitcast, I noticed from your earlier postings that you have fished the Gonzaga and San Francisquito area from a small boat next to the shoreline. In
my opinion, the SLC area is best for pelagic fish like yellowtail, dorado, skipjack, and sierra. I think that, unlike the other areas, the shoreline
has been fished hard over the years by the local pangeros and fishing for resident shoreline fish may not be as good as what you may have experienced
in those more remote locations. Again, others who live in the area may disagree. That's just my observation.
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baitcast
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I pay close
attention to your observations Igor.
By the way I ran into your 202 and 204 trip reports at SLC the other day and want to tell you they are two of the best I,ve read period.
a fine looking boy you have there!!!
I can tell from his big smile he loves to fish,he can,t get into to much trouble with a rod in his hand,just keep him fishing.
BAITCAST
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Big Al
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Temperature?
I am heading south at that time also. Was planing on a BOLA trip, but this sounds like fun. What are the day and night time temps in mid to late
June?
Big Al
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Pompano
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San Lucas Cove temps would be the same as Sta. Rosalia and Loreto mostly...you can find them easily on weather search. From my experience here
figure June this year could be HOT...reaching 90-100 daytimes to 80's night..coolest time would be 1 hour before and right up to dawn..maybe as cool
as 70-75 then, but warms quickly. Gets much hotter than that in Bay of Conception. You will have to like heat. I used to sleep out at sea all
night, drifting off Tortuga...lots cooler and very interesting sights.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Skipjack Joe
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>>I can tell from his big smile he loves to fish,he can,t get into to much trouble with a rod in his hand,just keep him fishing.
Baitcast,
Here's my little guy on his first trip to Baja. Five years old with a broomtail grouper at Mag Bay. I showed him this the other day and he told me he
said "You know, I hated wearing that life vest"
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baitcast
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I miss the
wonderful times I had with my kids down there,had two girls and a boy,took them down to Gonzaga and BOLA many times,that all started back in
64!!!!!
BAITCAST
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Pompano
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I couldn't agree more about taking a kid fishing...
This guy is Jason when he was a little shaver in 1978...he came from a pretty rough background, but is today a real gentleman. All he needed was a
'Big Brother' and some direction.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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baitcast
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Direction
is the key,and having a big brother around does,nt hurt either,my kids all have pic,s of our trips in prominent locations in their homes and we speak
of them often.
BAITCAST
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