A week of fish soup

Rancho Leonero Resort, East Cape BCS, Mexico

A report right from the source:
Broadcast live on Sunday mornings on “Let’s Talk HookUp” 7-9am PDT

The week of June 21-28, 2014

The Environment:

Water – Temps constant 81-85-degrees with a few hot spots a degree or two warmer. Clear, flat calm mornings.

Air – Highs in the 90s. Afternoon winds are cooling and pleasant.

The Bottom Line:

The big news of the week is the blue marlin bite, highlighted by a 730-pound fish taken locally. Our Rancho skippers have released fish every day this week in the 200- to 300-pound class.
We have a new bait crew at the resort and are getting excellent bait including good quality caballito and barracudas as well as the ballyhoo which continue to light up the marlin and sailfish. There were the first sardines this week … very small ones.

All-in-all: Call it a 9+ on the Rancho Leonero 1 to 10 scale.

Marlin+ – The hottest bite is real close, right off La Ribera … a mix of blues, stripers and sails. Sailfish are everywhere and very aggressive on the lures. Dropping a live caballito back into the pattern has proved the most successful. The blues have been hitting lures mostly, but also love the ballyhoo. The striped marlin bite has been solid all year and continues as strong as ever with lots and lots of them. All boats targeting billfish are scoring at least one; most boats multiples.

Yellowfin Tuna – Tuna are a long ride out. There are schools of porpoise way to the north and way to the south, which means they are moving around quite fast. There have been huge fish mixed in with smaller footballs, but it has yet to become what we call "WFO."

Dorado – Dorado are around in numbers. The best bite has also been close – mostly La Ribera and the Lighthouse. Biggest this week was 40-pounds with lots of smaller fish in the 15- to 20-pound range.

Roosterfish – The gallo bite has also lasted right through the month. Rancho boats are still seeing plenty of 50- to 70-pound fish that definitely put a bend in your rod. We have become spoiled this year and consider a 50-pounder quite ordinary. Slow trolling caballito has been the best.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch …

A true bouillabaisse of wahoo, amberjack, barred pargo, pompano and of course, jack crevalle.