Pompano Fish Report

Hey, we finally have some spring/summer weather here in Mulege. Daytime temps to high 80's...nights still cooling off...not too bad at all.

I have been shanghaied lately into overseeing construction of our Great Wall Project at our Coyote Bay casa..so I have been forced to postpone a couple of ideal-condition fishing trips...Grrrr. Oh well, anything to keep the hostess happy. And the wall will look good when done.

Now for fishing. I managed to get a pass 2 days ago (Wed), got up super early full of anticipation and eager to hit the water, made some strong coffee, pulled the boat into Carmelita's Truck Stop south of Mulege for my standard 'tres burritos de rey' to go, and hit the Serinadad ramp early...about 5:30. But I STILL had to wait for 2 other boats to launch...I gotta get going a little earlier next time!

I pulled out of the river and immediately recognized a couple of boats trying to make bait directly in front of the river entrance....Hmmm, I thought, I haven't made bait in this spot for many years, so why not give it try? I putzed around long enough to realize WHY I haven't bothered stopping here in so long..because there was very little bait here..stupido! Saying adios I ran over to the popular bigeye and mackerel spot just north of the river mouth..Pta. Prieta..and gave that a try, although the coconut telegraph had told me the bait had slowed a bit there. It was a bust for 10 minutes..only 1 lonely puny mackerel hit my Zebikis jigged all the way to the bottom at 35 ft. Off I go to my 'secret' bait hole!...that I show to anybody who wants to know...and immediately start pulling up first 2's, then 3's, then finally two 4's and said that's enough for a good day's live-bait fishing.

I got underway with another large cup of hot joe with some 'flavor' to ward off chills and brainclouds. Despite the red dawn/sailor-take-warning sunrise earlier the day was turning warm and clear..and the water was flat calm. Surface temp was 70 and I was 'sittin' in high cotton'. The day was mine.

It's about a 8 mile run to the current yellowtail hotspot near Mulege. The spot is midway between Sta. Inez Island No. 3 (seal rock one with tower) and Pta. Chivato lighthouse..then about 3/4 mile northeast. Look for depths of 180-190ft. with a large hump rising to 155 ft....or if you're a little late, like me, just head for the fishing boats. In particular Alejendro, a local guide, is an good fish indicator. He is just plain uncanny. You can be sitting on a good hole fishless for the last half-hour and Alex will pull up next to you with a couple of green clients and.. Blammo!...he catches 2 nice big yellowtails before his wake has settled. Then he smiles over at you and says..."Been fishing here long?" Someday I will steal his drain plug.

Now I am on my GPS mark and get things ready. Decide to put down a bigeye on a circle hook through the nose with a 3oz. sliding weight right down on the hook eyelet. This is on my 'broomstick' rod with 50lb. spooled on a Penn HiSpeed 5.3:1...and I will send that to the bottom and crank up about 8 -10ft. A green mackerel bait goes on a 4ft. 50lb. leader with circle hook and clipped to main line with 4oz. fixed weight above..this all on 30lb on medium rod w/Daiwa Sealine-X 5.1:1 Both good high-speed reels on quality rods. The mackerel on the medium rig will be fished at 70-80ft. over the 180 bottom I picked off to the side of the 155 hump.

I have already seen quite a few large fish on my Lowrance X-19c sonar/gps and am eager to get at them. I drop the bigeye down to the bottom and crank it up a couple of turns and it immediately is hit and being taken to Guaymas at speed...I barely had time to throw in the drag and bang, it was gone!..got my bait and left me wondering what the heck that was? Out here, you never know..shark, giant grouper, mermaid, who knows? I ponder this while getting the other medium tackle bait into the water from the live-well. Down you go, little mack..do your stuff..make me proud! I get the bait to about 80 feet and almost had time to get the clicker on before it was taken...this time I am ready however! I watch the line spinning off the reel and let the fish run for a full 5 seconds before throw the reel into gear and set the hook...hard. He fights a good battle..I pump and reel, he lunges for the bottom rocks and gets back a lot more line than I took in, I tighten drag a little and slow him down more on his next dash..tiring him out..pump and reel..pump and reel...he is good at tiring me out....but now he is coming up and I get to see color at last...one last lunge and he is giving up...I slide him over to the side and gaff him for the my buddy wall builders back at the casa. He is a nice 25lber, not a giant, but a good fish. That covers them, I thought, so now let's try for OUR dinner..a nice cabrilla, maybe? Also some for our neighbors? Why not. I hook another mack on the deep rig and send it to the top of the rock hump..sure enough, a scrappy cabrilla takes it and I bring him up after his intitial dash for cover in the rock cave he lives in down there. Actually he DID make it his cave right off the bat..because I was not quick enough to stop that first rush!..so then I had to keep hard tension on the line as I backed-off at an angle to pull him out of there without cutting the line on the rocks. Pretty smart, eh?...Me..not the fish! I caught 2 of these tasty brownies and I large gold spotted bass (our local 'pinto') before I decided that was enough fish to take home.

I had some good company out there that day...Alex in his guide boat, Tom & Patti Higgenbottom in their Strange Lady, and a couple of Bay boats. Fun day in nice weather.

I went home across the Cortez towards Mulege on glassy water and watched the porpoise working some of their own fish. A good day on the water..again..something I never get tired of...and with fishing to boot!

Alex in his guide boat..got a big one next to me.

naturally.....the showoff!

Time to head home...got to check on that wall!!

pompano...

auyhor of the worlds shortest books...this month "10 reasons to put off building block wall"....1 go fishing,2go fishing,3 eat fish tacos,4go fishing,5have a cold one,6go fishing,7have another cold one,8go fishing,9lay in hammock under palapa,10repeat 1st 9 steps.... :lolnly problem is your wife might end up blowing her top....and then you might look like this