Puertecitos Fishing Report

Copied from Bloodydecks.

Things are getting hot around the Enchanted Islands.

Enjoy, its a great report!
Dale



Before I even get started on the trip report, I need to give a big big big thanks to Victor101; he's a total machine. He drove for about 13 hours straight on the way to and from San Felipe.

Another big thanks to Dale(gonetobaja) and Capt Naty for showing us a great time on the water!

-Friday-
So Victor only got about two hours of sleep on Thursday night before waking up at 1AM to leave Las Vegas. He got to my house at about 5AM, loaded my gear and we headed out to pick up Oz. At around 6/6:30, Oz's gear was loaded in the car and we were on the road.







The car ride down to San Felipe was long, slow, and thankfully uneventful. to anyone heading down, I definitely recommend a comfortable car that is capable of taking on a few semi-rocky dirt roads. I was crashed out for most of the drive down.


we got into San Felipe around 2/2:30 PM. The sun was scorching and the wind was a blowing! Checking the water from the boardwalk, it looked muddy, murky, and all around dirty. Then we realized it was just the first few hundred yards where the waves were crashing and kicking up sand. /phew. We drove around and hit up a couple of hotels to check out different rates. Bajamar had some really cheap rooms, but they were a little cramped with lower ceilings. In the end, we opted to stay at the Costa Azul Hotel; a very nice blue and white, three story hotel. The rooms were very spacious and have very high ceilings (or at least the first floor rooms had high ceilings). Restroom was quite nice and the ceiling was high enough to fit 8 foot rods comfortably in the shower for easy rinsing.

Our room even had a bunk for HBomb (even though he wasn't with us this trip.




Hallway picture of the hotel rooms.


Pool at the hotel.

After settling into our rooms and changing, we hit the strip/boardwalk for some grub. After leaving any air conditioned environment for three minutes, we would all be sweating like mad men. We found a nice little restaurant facing the beach to grab some food.




I ordered some garlic butter shrimp and Campechana c-cktail (mixed seafood)



Oz ordered some mixed ceviche and a couple of skrimp tacos and Victor101 ordered four skrimp tacos.


After the very satisfying meal, we went cruising the boardwalk. It came to my attention, a simple cap is NOT going to cut it with this sun beating on us the whole day. Vic and I ended up picking up a few straw hats at a local shop; let me tell you, they were worth every single dollar.

We spoke with a local panga captain about doing a half day trip. He said he would take us out and provide bait for 35 dollars. Taking into account the wind and everything else, we declined and retreated back to our AC'd room for some rest.

A few hours later, it was getting pretty dark outside and we decided to get some dinner and check out the nightlife in San Felipe. Right off the bat, it was quite apparent that the nightlife in San Felipe was much much much much better than anything San Quintin could provide. I guess we weren't meant to eat a full out meal that night because the service at most of the restaurants were slow that night. In the end, we decided to hit a few bars, down a few beers, and cruise the boardwalk. Turns out lots of locals/visitors had the same idea as us because the boardwalk was packed that night.

-Saturday-
We woke up at about 4:30 Am and started loading out gear and coolers into the car.



Took about an hour drive over to Puertecitos. The road was paved asphault but I guess no one thought about leveling out the road. Every quarter mile or so, there would be a pretty sharp dip. We met up with the captain and followed him to the launch ramp. When we got there, he pointed out that the Mexican Department of Fish and Game was out on the water today.

Water conditions were looking really nice and the wind was blowing a bit stronger than a slight breeze. The launch went smoothly and soon we were off to the enchanted islands.





On the way out, the wind was putting a bit of spray on us every time we caught a little air. Thankfully, Victor101 and I had our hats!! We got to the islands relatively dry, I can't say the same for Oz though.

So we finally arrive at the first island and the first thing I notice is "arf arf arf arf arf arf" a whole swarm of dogs sitting on the rocks and swimming around.






Vic asks the captain, "Are you sure there are fish here?" The captain nods at Vic and we drop our lines. We all are using dropper loops with 4-6 ounces of lead. We were sitting in about 30 feet of water and as soon as our lines hit the bottom we would get slammed. We were amazed there was even a fishery with all the dogs around. A few of us got cornholed and hung in the rocks for a little while, this really got our hopes up thinking we had something big on the other end of the line. Turns out this spot would only produce Cabrillas and Triggerfish. Both species were totally GREEDY!! We were using 6/0-8/0 hooks in hopes of WSB or Yellows and the Cabrillas and Triggers were destroying full squids.

Captain doesn't sit on this spot for too long and we make a quick move to a really deep spot. I really have to give props to these captains, they are able to find reefs and deep holes without the use of any GPS or fishfinders etc. We all drop down with dropper loops and within a couple of minutes, Oz goes BENDO!!!! Oz does a great job ripping his fish away from the rocks. After working the fish for a couple of minutes, he gets it up to color. Before I even get to look over to see what he has on the line, the fish gets quick released and vanishes.

A couple of minutes later, Vic goes BENDO! WOOHOOO, the fish are around! Vic is fishing a 40# dropper and he quickly gets his fish away from the rocks as well. But about a minute into the fight, his line goes limp and he reels in nothing but a frayed line. Damn the fish are kicking our asses so far!

As I'm resetting, I actually get picked up on the way down. I quickly push the lever up and put my reel in gear, but the fish is still ripping drag off me. Deja vu if you read my last report. Pushing my drag a little past strike, I stop the fish but it feels like he has me hung in the rocks. I hang there for about 25 seconds and then a feel a little give on the line. Without hestitation, I start cranking line in and I'm feeling weight again. The fish if putting up a pretty good fight on my 30# test, He's making a couple of runs every now and then, but I'm gaining line on each pump. Eventually I get the fish to color, looks like a white Sea Bass except it has an exposed air bladder. Captain leans over and says it is a Totuava. Everyone on board is excited because we all heard that the fish were pretty rare these days. I tried grabbing the fish by his mouth but quickly found out that Totuava have some pretty sharp teeth. My Totuava put a nice raking on my thumb. Victor101 took a quick picture and we safely released it. My Totuava disappeared after two tail kicks. I grab a squid and get ready to drop again, when I realize my line is completely frayed and my lead is gone. What the hell? Did I lose my lead in the rocks? Oh well, I quickly rerig and drop back down.




Turns out the captain also hooked up on a Totuava while he was helping me unhook mine. His Totuava needed a little help waking up. But after forcing a little water through the gills, his Totuava swamp back down as well. Captain reset a couple of times, but this spot died out after our initial hook ups,

While waiting for the tide to drop, we traveled to some of the other islands and checked around for some exotics. Turns out none of them really wanted to play with us. We kept picking up Cabrillas and Triggerfish. At one particular spot, I picked up two yellow snappers. They were really nice looking fish, I tried landing a few more but I couldn't land in the same hole again.



Trying to conserve some of our squid, Victor and Oz switched over to irons and plastics. Both of them were picking up at a steady pace. Turns out the triggers down there are voracious feeders. They were hitting everything in the water. We quickly regret not bringing our surf gear out on the panga. If they were putting up a good fight on 30# lines, we could only imagine the fight they would 6, 12 , or 15# lines. Captain decided that the tide had dropped a decent amount so we would try a few other spots.

Again, the captain stops in the middle of no where and says this spot has produced some groupers for him in the past. We excitedly drop down with our droppers again. We sit for about eight minutes with no loving from the fish and then I feel some light taps on my line. I crank down about 5 times and swing, bendo! I'm on!!! Oh crap, I didn't get my fish away from the rocks. Great, I've been cornholed again. I sit there for over a minute with a mean bendo on my rod. I'm starting to wonder if I'm just stuck on the rocks without a fish when my rod tip starts lifting about 4 inches every couple of seconds. Looks like the fish came out of its hole, I start gaining line and cranking down but the fish feels really really light. Turns out a larger model Cabrilla had my line down there. Checking my line after unhooking the cabrilla, my line was seriously frayed.

As I was rerigging, Oz gets hit like a truck and goes BENDO! No cornhole for Oz, he puts in some serious cranking and denies the fish any chance!! Pumping and grinding away, Oz makes short work of his fish and is handsomely rewarded with a beautiful Totuava. Turns out Oz's lead also disappeared after his encounter with his Totuava as well. Highly suspect, I'm starting to wonder if the Totuava's straight up hit our lead? Victor101 snaps a quick photo and Oz quickly releases his Totuava. Captain hooked up on a Totuava on this spot as well. But his release didnt go so well, he had to back up the panga a couple of times on his Totuava to try to revive it.





A couple minutes after Oz releases his Totuava, I hook up on a really nice bendo. Learning from Oz, I grind on my fish not giving him a chance to head for the rocks. I'm about 40 seconds into my fight and I'm gaining a lot of line when my line goes limp. Praying the fish is just swimming up towards me, I crank faster and faster. When I finally get my line up, I see the fish took my hook and left me with a frayed and broken dropper loop.

There was another panga next to us and the captain looked like he really wanted to leave the spot. Turns out the other panga had four Totuavas floating right next to them. Captain explained to Vic that if the Department of Fish and Game see floating Totuavas by any panga, they will fine all boats in the area.

Captain said that the conditions were perfect for trolling so we all rig up. Victor101 was using a blue mackeral Rapala. Oz rigged up a green/gold mackeral yozuri. I busted out a bright pink mirrolure. As we were trolling the first island, we passed up this really shallow reef. Vic and Oz said this was the reef that produced for them last time they were out here. Less a minute after they said that, Vic's clicker goes off and he scrambles for his rod. Turns out to be a false alarm, he is hooked up on some kelp. There were two more false alarms following that, so the captain decides to troll another island.

Quick move to the next island and the trollers are out again. We trolled for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time and we were all nodding off.


Then a clicker starts screaming. We all check our rigs and it turns out, I'm the one that is hooked up. As the panga slows down, I tighten the drags and start working the fish in. Fight was pretty sure, the fish basically swam 70% of the way in before trying to fight. Turns out it was a smaller yellow.



We quickly reset the trollers and try cruising over the same spot a couple of times, but to no avail. Captain decides to hit one of the further islands that produced some nice WSB the weekend before. When we got to the island, conditions looked perfect and we were getting amped up! However, the fish did not want to show up and play.

Fishing was slow for the rest of the day, we tried putting out trollers again. But after a long long long trolling session with no love, we decided to call it a day. We headed back in and got our catch filleted.



Snap shot of the fish hold at the end of the trip.


After loading up the fillets and buying some ice, we head back to the hotel to shower and rest a bit. We went to George's Steak house that night, but We were so tired and hungry that night that we totally forgot about taking pictures of the food. This night was pretty uneventful, we were way too tired to get into any trouble. We basically had two beers and crashed in the hotel room.


-Sunday-

We woke up aroun 9:30 and packed up the car. Decided to go back to Georges Steak House for breakfast. Turns out they have a breakfast buffet on the weekends. We scarffed down like rabid beasts. Again, we forgot to take pictures.

Back on the road again.



On the way back we saw a ton of white smoke rising in the distance.


Not sure what kind of fire it was because it wasn't black smoke.


Took just over an hour to cross the border.

Long long long drive back to LA. Luckily we caught the Laker's game on the radio.

After about 10 hours on the road, we were pretty starved and we stopped into In-N-Out for some grub.


Can't go wrong with a double double animal style with animal fries.

Vic dropped Oz off, then he dropped me off, and ironmanned his way back home to Vegas.

Til next time, Tight lines!
-MexicOdium[/QUOTE]

I think its grilled onions with thousand island and cheese...on top of french fries...i think it was invented by a cardiologist to drum up business...