POMPANO FISH REPORT - ILDELFONSO - PHOTOS

The other day we were talking with some neighbors about a boat trip and some fishing. The consensus of opinion was we all wanted to give the water a try on Tuesday...MAYBE. Bouyweather said it was going to be a good one...no winds, no waves, and a good tide...MAYBE So it was 3-4 boats going...MAYBE. We would make an early rendezous at Ille del Fonso...MAYBE.

I was going with Two Dogs and we would meet and launch in the river at the Serinadad ramp. No problemo for me as I am a very early riser..often up by 4, making a ruckus so I am told.

This fine Tuesday morning I am awake early to make coffee, let out the cat (which I don't own), and pack the beer cooler. Then a thermos to go..

.. along with my boat lunch: 2 ham sandwiches, 2 oranges, 3 nut & fruit hi-energy bars, 2 small bottles water, a can of apple juice, a pork chop, tortilla chips, and 1 can of Slim Fast. It gets hungry out there.

Slamming doors, opening cupboards, banging stuff on the countertops, and cranking up the red-eye news on the tube before clattering open the garage door to organize rods & tackle. Banging back through the front door to the kitchen for the lunch bag and beverage cooler, I pass the veranda patio sofa and check the famous guard dog for a sign of life. Yup..she's still alive and can fog a mirror...sigh.
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Load all gear into the pickup and head 'er into Mulege on schedule to meet my fishing partner at the river ramp.

I meet Two Dogs with his boat at the ramp and we quickly get the job of launching done.



A miracle happens, I manage to avoid falling off the crazed dancing dock at the Donation Pier before clambering aboard the Two Dogs. Have you ever been to a carnival Fun House where the floor heaves and wobbles? Save your money and give this floating dock a try.
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The nearby pangueros make a good living making wagers on which boat launchers will fall into the river.
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Our fish spotter, Pepper, takes her post on the bow...then immediately goes on point!



Unfortunately..and somewhat surprisingly..the object pointed is not a fish, but a wayward and lost sea brandt. These migratory waterfowl are usually found more over at San Quentin areas..being almost exclusively Pacific Flyway geese...we dub him 'Wrongway.'



and head downriver past the Mulege harbor capitano's office and anchorage.
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Then go under the lighthouse.
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Where we briefly talk to an out-going, outgoing kayak fisherman. Wishing each other tight lines he kayaks on towards the Cortez.
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We note the recent shrimper activity and a couple anchored off the Almeja beach bar. Not our favorite sights as they wreak thier havoc on the Cortez eco-system. We talk of old times and limpet mines.
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It is a perfect, flat day as we had expected, so we open up the 115 Yammie 4-stroke and run at high speed to Pta. Domingo on the peninsula to make bait. Today, other days, the bait is easily made with Zubiki rigs...1-3 at a time...until we have about a dozen or so good bigeyes in the baitwell.

Our game plan: Cruise and enjoy the scenery all the way to Ille del Fonso for the early yellowtail bite. Then on the way back, check Ptas. Teresa, Rosa, Palmas, and a couple other hotspots we have mapped in the past...rockpiles, points, and canyons. Then pintos y cabrilla rockpiles near the mine, plus Wilbur's Hole on the home stretch.
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Being in the area, we buzz over Harry's Reef and Willll-burrrrr's Hole to see what our sonar (fish finder) will tell us about the fish situation. We spot bottom fish around both places and vow to give them a try on the return leg of our outing.

Then it's around the point and past the old manganese mine. Lots of memories of fishing those points near the old loading wharf..and also camping in the arroyos near the miniing areas, coming overland in our Jeeps from Coyote Bay so many years ago.
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Continuing south past Pta. Teresa in 200-400 feet of water, we watch for bird action, boils, and whatever. Our fish spotter working overtime on the bow..
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We spot some great sights heading towards Ille del Fonso and Pta. Pulpito.
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The Mexican Air Force..a squadron of pelicans in formation...using the ground effect so close over the water.
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A sea lion (lobo) munching his breakfast...
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And a finback that came and went too quickly to photograph, but we enjoyed his tail-up dive.
....................................no shot..........................................
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One lone boat on the flat sea ahead of us makes a nice shot.
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We are making good time and leaving a nice trail behind us.
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and some of those boat waves that often fool people from a distance..thinking them to be Champ...or the Loch Ness Monster?
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Now we close in on the lonely little island of Ille del Fonso...a few boats out there on the flat sea.
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The island ...we are there.
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Harkening back to the Golden Age of fishing this island many, many years ago I wanted to try a quick troll in 40-70 feet close in..with a couple Mirrolures. Got one quick, but small greenjack hookup and that was it...

...fun, but we went back out to deeper water to nail Big Momma.

We settle on a spot over 225 feet of water with some rocks on the bottom. A few fish seen on the graph. We rig two baits for yellowtail. I go deep with a 2 ounce egg-sinker and circle hook through the nose of a big-eye. I hit bottom and crank up about 15 feet and just set the clicker with a small amout of drag...out of gear. Two Dogs fly-lines his bait out ..slowly letting it swim out.
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Opps..a sudden visitor comes snorkeling in...looking like the Nautilus out of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Beneath The Sea.
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It's after our baits.

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Pepper says..."just a leetle closer, amigo...just a leeetle.."

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Now we spot our companion boats coming to join us at del Fonso. Two Dogs waves them over...hoping to scare away the damn Nautilus-bird in the process!
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Zac..say Hi to your folks and the new bird dog. Good looking French shorthair, and my first look at this breed. Nice Mako CC, too.
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Then another amigo pulls in and we spend some time gabbing...before splitting off and all drop bait down...Big Momma is waiting!
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Then along comes a panga named Wild Rice with 2 men aboard. As we pass close the bearded one amidships says ..."Hey, Pompano." Turns out to be an old amigo from San Sebastian, Brian. We met a coon's age ago at Posada and we run into each other in the damnedest places once or twice a year. Brian's an excellent fisherman, and doesn't waste too many words.
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He asks me how my luck is going...and I show him my first catch and say.

" Pretty good start. I got one over by the island just a while ago on a Mirrolure. See?" and I rig it to show him fish and lure.
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Brian says..."Nice little bait. Using that to catch these?"
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Oh, WAY nice, Brian. You got me that time.
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Well, we got back to our baits. Right quick I had a pick-up about 25 feet off the rocks below. The clicker went off in a rapid zzzzzz as the big fish took the bait and ran with it. Heading for Pulpito off in the distance it seemed, as I pulled the rod out of the holder and got ready to set the hook.

I let the reel free-spool for what seemed like an eternity, but was really about 6 seconds or so...before I threw the lever and blammo! I felt something VERY HEAVY AND STRONG...for about a half-second.

That fish busted off and was gone in an instant. The dogs looked sideways at me while I created a new cussword..which was quite eloquent, I thought..and made use of my Spanglish. Brian grinned over there in his panga. Two Dogs turned around to hide his face, but I could see his shoulders shaking.
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Then it was time to re-rig and get back down there. We stayed with it for some time more, but it was not to be our day, nor our other companion-boat amigos. Brian and his boat partner, a rice farmer/duck hunter from the Tules had boated the only two tails we saw that morning.

We had gone beyond the bite..and had missed the early stages. Oh well..next time we get going a little earlier, that's all. 'It's the fishing, not the fish' is our motto for yellowtail.

Time to go to Plan B. ..and AWAAYYY WE GO AGAIN!
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Pepper goes on a three-legged point near Pta. Teresa. Translated into human terms that means..."Hey guys, I could take a pee break about here."
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okay..we went up on that sandy beach at Pta. Teresa for a pee break and then back out due east of the Teresa light in about 225 ft, our Pinto glory hole. If you can't catch a nice-sized pinto here...take up golf.
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We had the exact gps co-ords, found the hump, and sent the heavy 4-6 ounce jigs to the bottom fast. Now here's the thing about this pinto fishing with iron. If the fish are there..and they always are at this rockpile..they will hook up in the last 20 feet or so..and will be on when you see or feel slack line. That's when you throw the lever, set the hook, and find out what you may have caught, because more often than not, we get big yellowtail, grouper, Humboldt squid to 5 feet, and large cabrilla out here.

This time the first drop brings forth a nice pinto. Which Two Dogs holds uup for a photo op to be emailed to another old Baja amigo who is now weathering a blizzard in Minnesota. Eat your heart out, Randy.
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I catch some really nice Pintos, too, and we quickly bring them aboard, catching one every drop. To add some variety to the catch, I retie with a new and very heavy iron that Two Dogs had bought at Claudia y Miguel's La Tienda in Mulege. That damn iron was about 10 inches long and felt like an engine block on my rod. I chucked it over the side and it hit 225 feet down in like 2 seconds, pretty sure I heard the thud and saw a swirl of sand come to the surface.

Must have scared away all the BIG rock-dwellers, because the next fish..our number 9...was a smaller pinto that we would have to keep. Those deep fish will not survive anyway, so don't throw them back. We have tried various releases but don't feel any work that well, and we have begun to keep and count towards the limit all deepwater fish we bring to the surface.
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Well, we are only 1 fish shy of our limit of 10 now and we want one more cabrilla..our favorite eating fish. Pintos are damn good, but cabrilla are just a touch better..in my humble opinion.

So we put on 2 fire-tiger Mirrolures and start trolling the 40-60ft structures along the shoreline heading north of Pta. Teresa. There are numerous places along this troll that will produce cabrilla, roosterfish, greenjack, grouper, and even large yellowtail. Keep to that depth and change speed and direction often..the strikes come most often on a 'change.'

I like to troll the Mirrolures as fast as they will run without breaking surface...up to 8 mph with my 30lb test. Try it from 4-8 and find your own preference. Line size will make a great deal of difference and tie directly to the lure..no swivels or snaps. A palomar knot, improved blood cinch, etc.

I always like to let my shallow-water troll lure out a ways beyond what one might think to be a good distance...and it seems to work for me. Figure I do pretty good at 150-175 feet back...sometimes more. Gives engine-spooked reef fish time to circle back...like this small cabrilla that double-hooked itself within 5 minutes of the troll.
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Now that makes 10 and we have to call it a day fishing-wise. We have a limit in our icebox and that's a lot of fish dinners.
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From here on it's just a boat tour, which is fine, too. On the pleasant ride north to Mulege we notices a sign in the heavens which tells us why we didn't boat any Ille del Fonso yellowtail.
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The moon. You see? It won't hold water. Why hell, we were just plump lucky to catch anything at all! It pays to pay attention to Mother Nature...and Manuel Diaz back in 1971..that's our story and we're sticking to it.

We round Pt. Conception and head towards Harry's Reef and Wilbur's Hole.

Now here's the report from Wilbur's Hole for you, castaway.

We stopped there for about a half-hour and went back and forth a few times using the sonar. Lots of fish bumps on the bottom to within 5 feet or so. I am thinking cabrilla and for sure some pintos. Who knows what else, as we have caught some monster grouper there over the years and a few really big roaming yellowtail. Because we already had our limit and did not want to risk killing any fish, we could not angle, so sorry about that. The license and limit checkers are out on the waters these days and it pays to stay legal at all times. We were checked way out at Tortuga Island by the navy a few days back, so they are making the rounds.

Our bowdog guides us back to the ramp and we find it somewhat occupied, so we wait a bit..
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..before I back the trailer down and Two Dogs hooks up. The ramp is in very good shape thanks to some fine area anglers and donators. Also that floating dock! It has become my dancing partner and we are now used to each other.
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No fishing trip is complete without a welcome stop with friends at the Jungla..a favorite gathering place along the river in Mulege. Almost a 'Cheers'-like atmosphere where everyone knows each other and they give warm welcomes to newcomers. I find the comraderie at the Jungle most inviting. This particular pub and it's patrons have raised much money for charity, organized donation drives for the needy, and created more job opportunities throughout our community that I can state here. Town meetings with the mayor, chief of police, and other officals are held here. Recent flood relief efforts were organized here. Suffice to say...it's a happening place and you'll be welcomed with open arms.

The cantina also offers a great chance to expound on the day's fishing.
"Never let the truth get in the way of a good fishing story."
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And where else can you kiss a fish-pointing shorthair?




[Edited on 3-10-2009 by Pompano]

Thanks for the great report. For those of use that have to be up north to pay for the next trip the great pics of all the familiar sights makes the wish to be there that much stronger. Just a couple more months!!!

Pompano, Thanks for the report and pictures. And you did catch some fish!!

Yes Pompano, a wonderful story of my favority fishing area! I wish I knew how to post multiple pics with adding comments to each one like you do!!
Wonder when they moved the floating dock around to the side? Last time there (last summer) it was out in front.
See pic.

Egads, Pompano, do you guys in Mulege go out at noon or what. I have never gone for bait once the sun comes up, guess it is a different culture down south.

Pompano...you had about the same luck I've had soooo manytimes of Isla San Ildefonso. Thanks for the picture of Dave and Brian. I vaguely remember being light to moderately "wobbly" with those lads in days gone by!

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Originally posted by Pescador Egads, Pompano, do you guys in Mulege go out at noon or what. I have never gone for bait once the sun comes up, guess it is a different culture down south.

Per the 'late start' questions, Zac and Pescador Jim. Simple answer: All is not as it seems. You see, my main objective was to show a clear photo-trip of our day.. and taking pics in the dark at the ramp and bait hole does not make for very good viewing and information. So I did those in reverse.

In reality we always launch at least a half-hour before first light, make bait before dawn, and are underway with our coffee in hand when El Sol pops the horizon. So, like I mentioned, the reason the photo time sequence shows the 'launch' at the dock in daylight is because it would be a poor photo in the dark!

Hope that solves your puzzlement?!

However, about making bait during the day and high light..we've been there, done that ..many times. There are lots of great bait holes around this area...near Mulege, Pt. Conception, Pta. Chivato, Santa Inez, Dolfin Cove, and San Marcos to name but a few. The other day we made good bigeye baits near Pta. Domingo around 7 bells...lots of light. Just takes a little more effort. Years ago, I used to catch bigeyes and green macks near Barga Island (in front of my house) with a small jigging outfit..to feed my cat. It was also great fun on 2lb ultra-light gear. One of my upcoming projects is posting an area bait-hole map for those who might make use of it.

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Originally posted by vgabndo Pompano...you had about the same luck I've had soooo manytimes of Isla San Ildefonso. Thanks for the picture of Dave and Brian. I vaguely remember being light to moderately "wobbly" with those lads in days gone by!

Pompano...............thank you for the effort you went to for my and many others benefit. To sit down and caption all those pictures is not something that just happens. The time you spent was noticed and appreciated. It is important for me who has been experiencing the Baja for just the last 10 years to hear from ones like you what it was like at another time. That goes for fishing experiences or descriptions of places and people who made the Baja what it was years ago. Looking forward to more of your postings.............Don

From the editing room...

Igor....EGG-ZACT- LY!!
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Pompano, I'm a newbe to this Forum and really enjoyed your story and great photos! I'm packing for my trip to Chivato as fast as I can! Thanks.

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Originally posted by Meany Pompano, I'm a newbe to this Forum and really enjoyed your story and great photos! I'm packing for my trip to Chivato as fast as I can! Thanks.

Thanks Meany and welcome to Nomads. You will enjoy the time spent here.

If you're trailering a boat to Chivato, you will find a couple of good places to launch. Once out on the water, you'll also find some good fishing near the islands to the ESE..called Sta. Inez. Good trolling the south and east sides with Mirrolures for cabrilla and a rare yellowtail now and then.

North of Chivato is good, too. San Marcos north end past the seal rocks. Just look for a lot of boats and join up. A good day's trip from Chivato is the island of Tortuga to the NE. Dorado, tails, and hopefully some tuna later.

I guess you might have done all this before.

Tight lines and safe travels to Chivato.

Thanks Pampano for the greeting. I've been in the Chivato area since 96. Hope to see you on the water.

Meany's a hell of a fisherman don't let the "newbie" thing fool ya. He's also is set up with a great boat now. He bought mine. So now I'm a deckhand, as it should be.