BajaNomad - Jen Wren over and out!

Jen Wren over and out!

vseasport - 11-22-2015 at 10:31 AM

Jen Wren over and out!
It has been several weeks since I have been able to post a report and November has been a wild ride.

At the beginning of the month we took our boats to Cabo San Lucas to compete in the Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot tournament. In my estimation this tournament is the most fun of the many we fish during our season. This year was no exception even though the tuna fishing was a bit tougher than normal the event was a great time.

Finding tuna was not really difficult nor was getting them to go. It was the jumbo variety that we were looking for that was absent. 210 pound fish took honors and we just couldn't make the grade.

Jen Wren III did win the "Show us your Costa's" contest. Costa judges said it was a slam dunk win when the team switched around the Costa letters to spell tacos.

The following the tournament we spent the entire day re-provisioning Vaquera and departed for Mag Bay that evening. Traveling all night we found ourselves about 50 miles below the bay in the morning. Conditions looked good so we plunked in some lures, broke out our gyro binoculars and started looking.

It was surprising to not sight any sea life. After a couple of hours we picked up the lures and ran at speed. Upon reaching Pinnical Rock we found a large school of common dolphin with frigate birds above in a frenzy. Now it started to look like the Mag I know. This spot turned out to be straight skipjack which was a good tune up and loads of fun for the fly fisherman we had aboard.

We tucked into the bay at Belchers for the evening and got a much needed good night of sleep. In the morning just a couple miles outside the Entrada we found some shark buoys that yielded a couple of dorado. The rest of the day was surprisingly slow. There was no other traffic on the water and nobody to compare notes with or get reports from.

The following day brought small craft advisories. We decided fishing in the mangroves would be best to avoid the harsh weather. It was a good move as the mangroves were very fruitful with spotted bay bass, corvina and other inshore species. That evening we arranged for our guests George and Lori to be picked up by panga for departure. Shortly after, Aaron and Connie who would be with us the next 5 days arrived. The wind persisted so it was another day in the mangroves with our new guests.

The following day all was calm and it was my hope that the 2 day blow would shake things up and make gamefish hungry. We left the Entrada at day break and headed to the north. It was my plan to work that direction and spend the night in Santa Maria. The weather was beautiful but the morning frustrating only producing 1 dorado. We sighted many solo frigates but couldn't find the working bird life needed. Our VHF was silent all morning and finally about 11:30 we could hear some chatter from local fishermen. It sounded like wahoo and tuna were biting on the Thetis bank so off we went.

The afternoon was action packed. In a short time we landed 2 wahoo and had several short biters. We also bagged 4 yellowfin tuna and released a striped marlin. Getting late, we had to head back to Santa Maria. Now it looked like we had it going on. The following morning we were underway before daybreak on a Bee line back to the Thedis.

What I thought was going to be a bonanza turned into a very slow day. Before my very eyes I watched the Thetis action dry up. At 2 PM we had 1 small yellowfin in the boat. With disappointment I headed south looking for better action.

That evening while cooking fresh jumbo shrimp and New York's on our barbecue I was thinking what now. We didn't come all this way for scratch fishing, it is time to roll the dice. It had become painfully obvious I wasn't going to find fish in the spots we had always found the past.

In the morning my thoughts were no guts no glory. A needed to pull a rabbit out of my hat. We headed offshore with Diego and I both scouring the horizon with our Gyro binos. About 25 miles out I pulled the throttles back to troll speed and continued. An hour went by and I was shaking my head in disbelief that there was no sea life. Then, there they were. Birds, a huge spot of frigates on the horizon working. As we approached porpoise could be seen under the birds. First pass through all 5 troll rods went off and it was c-ckpit chaos. I couldn't help but stop and smile. No other boats to call, no other traffic. This spot was all ours. After landing the tuna we couldn't get all the lines back in before bendo. The bite went on until we finally cried uncle. Trolling toward the Estrada we found a nice spot of striped marlin and released one.

Our last scheduled day at 6 in the morning I received a call from Weather Routing. They provide a service I can't say enough good things about. The call was to make me aware strong winds and harsh weather were coming our way and advised that we start heading south. We trolled a couple hours and picked it up and ran around the horn and arrived at the San Jose Marina just after dark.

In the morning we fueled up and headed for home. Strong north winds had been blowing for days on the East Cape but we lucked into a window of calm that allowed us not only smooth sailing but an opportunity to get Jen Wren and Vaquera out of the water.

East Cape water temperature is presently 80 degrees and the north wind has not let up. There has been very few departures but word from the die hards is there is still a decent marlin bite and a few good grade dorado have shown up. For us the season is over and our boats are out.