bill erhardt - 5-13-2007 at 04:32 PM
Fishing southeast of Catalana today I hooked 6 marlin. 2 came unbuttoned after long runouts. 1 broke the leader and made away with a lure after
about ten minutes hooked up. 3 were released at the boat after a photo op. Also caught and released was a small, 50 - 60 lbs., sailfish and a
dorado. Attached is a picture of one of the marlin posing before he was sent on his way. Not the biggest but the most photogenic. I did not see
another boat until on the way home after 8 1/2 hours on the water
Skeet/Loreto - 5-14-2007 at 05:53 AM
Great Picture Bill!
Pescador - 5-14-2007 at 07:18 AM
Shoot Bill, let a couple of those guys get through so that they make it up to Santa Rosalia. That sounds like a great day.
bill erhardt - 5-14-2007 at 07:36 AM
Pescador...... I'm sure that many will make their way north. They are thick outside Carmen too. They have been around for awhile, but are just
starting to get hungry. It is unusual to have so many this early.
Thanks, Skeet. Here's a shot of the baby sail.
Minnow - 5-14-2007 at 07:43 AM
That blue and black lure looks to be the hot ticket. Great pictures. Thanks for the report.
bill erhardt - 5-14-2007 at 09:36 AM
Don Jorge....... The water temp. yesterday was 78 - 79 degrees. In the late afternoon Friday north of Catalana it was flat calm and 84.5.
Minnnow....... that lure is an ALLure #28 (flying fish) http://www.allure.com.mx/. The other two marlin hit an old purple and black doorknob
[Edited on 5-14-2007 by bill erhardt]
[Edited on 5-14-2007 by bill erhardt]
tripledigitken - 5-14-2007 at 10:39 AM
Bill,
Beautiful pictures. Thanks!
Seven weeks and counting before I'll get a shot.
Ken
Postscript
bill erhardt - 5-17-2007 at 09:30 AM
The marlin bite turned off as quickly as it turned on.
Tuesday morning I returned to the scene of the crime off Catalana. 4 hours trolling yielding nothing but one half-hearted marlin strike which did not
stick. A little before noon I picked up and ran south to Santa Cruz. Five minutes after putting out lines off the northeast end of the island I was
hooked up with a nice striper. twenty minutes later he was photographed and released. Mid-afternoon I headed on south to Las Animas. In late
afternoon I had a marlin strike and one other unidentified big fish, but caught nothing but a skipjack.
After spending the night at anchor in a cove on Isla San Jose I was back at Las Animas at first light yesterday. Nothing but more skipjacks in two
hours trolling. An hour or two of trolling at Santa Cruz, Catalana, and 15 - 20 miles east of Punta Lobo on Carmen of the way back to Loreto yielded
absolutely nothing. It was a nice boat ride though.
Attached is a photo of my 21' Bluewater on the hook at Isla San Jose with Las Animas in the background.
Hook - 5-17-2007 at 09:49 AM
Beautiful!
Seen any signs of longlines, purse seiners or trawlers on your travels?
bill erhardt - 5-17-2007 at 10:11 AM
Hook........ Not this year. Last October in the canyon ENE of Loreto just about midway to the mainland I came across a seiner with not one but two
helicopter spotters tracking a school (or schools) of yellowfin. I was with a brother and nephew. We caught 11, but two days later when I returned
the seiner and YF were gone. They came into the SOC separately, but probably left one inside the other.
bill erhardt - 5-17-2007 at 12:56 PM
Pomp - Great minds....... I have one of each. When I retired 5+ years ago I brought down a 2000 McKee Backwater 172. I fished out of it 4 seasons
before buying the Bluewater. When I was shopping for a new boat I visited the McKee factory to check out the Freedom 22/24's. I decided on the BW
2150, but both are nice boats. The BW has a fishbox that is 68" long and a flush deck. There is about 6' between the console and the anchor locker
which includes the fishbox lid. That is enough room for me to lay out an air mattress and a sleeping bag with a good view of the milky way on
overnighters. I had an auxiliary gas tank installed at the factory which gives me capacity or around 140 gallons, enough for three long days. I
picked it up in Fort Pierce in January of last year. I didn't stick around for any bone fish because I wanted to get in back here for some
yellowtail. Here is a picture taken in Catavinia on the morning of the day I got back to Loreto. I was still about 450 miles out, but after 8,800
miles on the road it felt like I was almost home.
BajaBruno - 5-18-2007 at 04:59 AM
Bill, I see now how you do those overnighters in a center console. I can live on sandwiches for a while, but I think I'd need a camp stove for my
morning coffee!
Cypress - 5-18-2007 at 05:07 AM
Thanks for the report and the pictures!
Your boat looks like a fishing
machine.
Skeet/Loreto - 5-18-2007 at 06:18 AM
Thanks again Bill: Brought back many Memories on the same trips I took.
Went to Flordia, bought a 217 Wellcraft Fish, converted from a Ford Marine to a 230 Yannmar Diesel.
Try that same Trip when it gets a little Hotter. Yellow Fin are usually all over the Water at Animas in July and August!!
Skeet/Loreto
Alan - 5-18-2007 at 06:29 AM
That is one beautiful rig Bill and the picture going through Catavina is pure classic Baja. I must say though that you take a different route through
Catavina than I do when headed to Loreto. I'm afraid I don't know that short cut.
Diver - 5-18-2007 at 07:52 AM
Pompano,
I think you will like the Bluewater better.
They run about 20% lighter than the McKees and have more deck room than most. They have much more useable deck space than many of the new generation
of boats like Anglers and Maco's and Aquasports.
The Bluewaters are lighter than almost all of these and will be much easier to tow and launch. They also have larger stardard fuel capacity then most.
That 2150 is a really nice ride !!
.
bill erhardt - 5-18-2007 at 08:55 AM
Bruno - Fresh brewed would be nice, but choking down a couple of spoons of instant dissolved in tepid water is a small price to pay for waking up 15
minutes from the fish rather than having to launch and run an hour and a half.
Skeet - Las Animas, which is really just a rock, actually 3 rocks, jutting up out of the depths is a fishy spot. I've not seen any YF in the area
yet, only skipjacks, but maybe when it gets warmer. For at least the past month there have been 6 or 8 handliners working out of a single panga
tender mining the sheer drop-offs. Just about every time I have glanced at one of them he has been pulling up a rockfish.
Alan - I brought the boat down Mex. 1 through Catavinia. I pulled off on a side road at daybreak for a photo op.
Diver - Those were my conclusions exactly. The BW 2150 with the Armstrong bracket although nominally a 21 footer has about the same usable space as
the Freedom 24, but for my purposes is laid out better. The 2150 is enough lighter that I get about the same performance with a Suzuki DF175 as the
Freedom with a DF250. You can also deal directly with the factory and have it built to your specs.
Attached is a photo of a couple of handliners working one of the Las Animas rocks Wednesday morning.
bill erhardt - 5-18-2007 at 10:23 AM
Pomp...... If you would like to test drive a BW 2150 with the DF175, let me know the next time you are going to be in Loreto. Or, if you want to make
a special trip before the fish start biting up there let me know and we will coordinate it.
bill erhardt - 5-18-2007 at 12:26 PM
Pomp........ That is just about right. 4700 rpm gives me 30 knots (depending on how much fuel I am carrying) and I usually cruise at 4500 to 4800.
Figuring fuel consumption is not as simple as it should be. Although not as notorious as the old Pemex in Santa Rosalia, the pumps at the two older
stations in Loreto and the station in El Centro in Insurgentes are calibrated similarly. We have a new Pemex now in Loreto. Since I have been
filling up at the new stations here and on the highway at Insurgentes, my mileage has improved considerably. I have been keeping track of miles run
for the last two tanks and will pass along mileage the next time I fill up.
bill erhardt - 5-19-2007 at 07:00 PM
Pomp...... I filled my boat up this morning and over the last 624 miles recorded on my GPS (4 long days) combination cruising and trolling the average
gas mileage was 3.3 statute mpg.
Cypress - 5-20-2007 at 11:25 AM
Andros Panga-Hybrids? Look good
aquaholic - 5-20-2007 at 01:14 PM
...I've fished on friends' pangas many times, and always had a great time...as long as the Pacifico didn't run out. They will haul a load and have
caught a lot of fish...BUT...they do have a very hard chine and little deadrise, which makes them a little hard on the ride. My old body wants a
softer ride and the amenities that come on other brands...my two cents' worth...
Cypress - 5-20-2007 at 01:24 PM
Pompano, Yea, they'll beat your brains out, you can also say bye-bye to your knees in a chop, flat bottoms will do that, and you'll get wet. 
aquaholic - 5-20-2007 at 01:29 PM
...hmmmm...do I rise to the bait, or not...??? Bouncers, indeed...Oh, Yee of rumor mongering...
aquaholic - 5-20-2007 at 01:53 PM
...MOBETTA...
Range
bill erhardt - 5-20-2007 at 02:19 PM
Pomp...... The 624 miles was on two fill-ups. With the main tank, 102 gal., and the auxiliary, 37, my boat has a range of 450+ miles if I leave with
both tanks full. I have had no problems with the Suzuki DF175. I've had it for about 15 months now and have run it 1150 hours. I change the oil
every 100 hours, which is about every 3 weeks this time of year, and the lower unit every other oil change, new plugs every year and it keeps on
truckin'. I have a DF115 on my McKee Craft and before I repowered had a DF70. No problems with those either. My McKee has a deadrise similar to a
panga or a Whaler (I had one of those that beat me black and blue in the Chesapeake Bay) and the 24 degrees on the Bluewater makes those long days a
lot easier.