vseasport
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Location: Buena Vista, BCS
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WHERE'S WALTER?
This week my life long friend Gary Street of Laguna Hills arrived to participate in the La Paz Gold Cup black and blue marlin tournament. For the last
few weeks marlin fishing on the East Cape has been very slow so I was hopeful we would find more action up north. This tournament is always loads of
fun. It is a two day event with a 200 pound minimum limit for the blues and blacks. The coordinators have thrown a nice curve ball into this event.
That is a $50 per pound penalty for bringing in a short fish. A 10 pound judgement error could cost a contestant $500.
We headed Jen Wren III up the Golden Sea of Cortez a couple days early to check out the fishing grounds of the tournament. Starting at the South end
of Cerralvo we trolled hookless teasers past Las Cruces around La Reina by Punta Coyote and along the western side of Espiritu Santo. As the day got
late we anchored for the evening in a beautiful cove at Isla de Partida. During the day we had raised sailfish, striped marlin and dorado on our
teasers and were able to land one of each switching them to live bait. We had also seen loads of nice sized skip jack almost everywhere we went. What
we had not seen were any blue or black marlin.
The following morning we woke up to a pretty swift southern breeze and took our time getting under way. We continued to troll north past Los Islotes
and out to the famous El Bajo. There we also found loads more skip jack along with stripers sails and dorado. No big marlin but with all the bait and
beautiful blue water we were still optimistic a big fish was in our future. We cut the day a little short and headed to La Paz to fuel, get checked
into a slip and register for the tournament.
It wasn't until the morning we made the decision to head back out to El Bajo. Upon arrival we were able to catch four big skippys in about 5 minutes.
We trolled 3 on the surface and one in our down rigger. With the previous couple days experience it was obvious the big fish were not interested in
marlin lures. I hoped that trolling live baits would key them off. At the end of the day we had not raised a fish. Only two qualifying blue marlin
were brought to the scale for the 79 teams fishing. One fish weighed 260 pounds and the other 202.
Day two our strategy changed. It was obvious fishing was pathetic and there were not many fish in the area. With that we could cover much more area
with lures so that is what we went to. We also changed areas and headed for the southern end of Cerralvo Island. Again we didn't have a smell all day.
It turned out only one fish was weighed in at 203 pounds.
When tournament control called lines out at 5PM we were much closer to Buena Vista then La Paz and just headed for home. After running for 15 minutes
we found a huge school of spotted dolphin with tuna in a feeding frenzy. It was a sight I dream about. The fish going ballistic and not another boat
in sight. It didn't take long to land limits of yellowfin before pointing the boat south and heading home.
La Renia is a tiny rock just big enough for a light house and a few sea lions. It sticks out of the water a couple of miles north of Cerralvo island.
It normally is an outstanding fishing spot and also offers great scuba diving
We saw this ferry heading for Topolabampo coming out of the La Paz channel
Gary gets a sail to switch from a teaser
It is unbelievable how much bait is around
Snail races on anchor a Partida. The one on the left was mine. The others didn't know it had a huge hermit crab inside. I thought for sure it would be
faster then a snail. It was another failed strategy for me
Our races were interuped when Diego hung a huge cabria
Loaded for Walter and ready to rumble with a rack of Accurate 50's
La Paz Municipal Pier was tournament headquarters
Shot gun start 7AM
Marlin may not have cooperated but the East Cape tuna sure did.
I wanted to know what the tuna were feeding on. We checked a couple stomachs and to my surpise only found some tiny trigger fish and small peices of
little squids.
Mark Rayor
www.thejenwren.com
www.vistaseasport.com
markrayor.blogspot.com
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willyAirstream
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another Great report and great pics. The shotgun start looks like fun, as do the tuna!!
Thanks
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Hook
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Amazing. Baby triggers in the belly of YFT. Very unexpected for me.
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nbacc
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Location: Northern California
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great pics
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capitolkat
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I fished the same tournament and with the same results. Lots of skippys everywhere, and that kept us thinking the big boys must be around somewhere.
rather than say we got skunked I say we tied for third-------with 68 other boats..
Only two qualifiers reached the dock.
Life is too short to drink bad wine
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vseasport
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| Quote: | Originally posted by capitolkat
I fished the same tournament and with the same results. Lots of skippys everywhere, and that kept us thinking the big boys must be around somewhere.
rather than say we got skunked I say we tied for third-------with 68 other boats..
Only two qualifiers reached the dock. |
Actualy you tied for fouth with 75 other boats. There was a total of 79 teams entered and 3 qualifying fish weighed. 260 & 202 the first day and
a 203 the 2nd day.
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capitolkat
Senior Nomad
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Thanks for the correction--- otherwise I would have been looking for my check--Norm
Life is too short to drink bad wine
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bajabass
Super Nomad
Posts: 2016
Registered: 10-4-2006
Location: La Paz,BCS
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Mood: Want to fish!!!
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| Quote: | Originally posted by capitolkat
Thanks for the correction--- otherwise I would have been looking for my check--Norm |
 Great sense of humor Norm!!! Nice meeting you a few weeks ago. We need to go
fishing soon.
Keep your eyes on the road, and your hands upon the wheel!
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Skipjack Joe
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Hook
Amazing. Baby triggers in the belly of YFT. Very unexpected for me. |
I, too, was surprised.
Apparently there are pelagic triggerfish in the Cortez.
The two bottom videos are from the Cortez (SS07_063 ).
pelagic trigger fish video
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BajaBruno
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Ditto the surprise, Skipjack. Those pelagic triggerfish (Canthidermis maculates) are tiny little critters, with an average length of 35cm, or about 1
1/2". The fish Mark photographed may be nearly full grown. They look alluringly like some swimbaits I have never used--maybe I should give them a
try.
Christopher Bruno, Elk Grove, CA.
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