Our longtime friends from MN vacationed with us last week in Rocky Point. It was their first trip to Rocky Point since 2005 and I hoped to get them onto bigger fish this time around.
On Monday morning, the five of us launched out of Safe Marina on my 23’ Wellcraft “Murphy Girl”. Winds from the northwest made the seas a rougher than expected, but not bad enough to keep us ashore. We stopped at a few nearby marks to look for bait and found the pickings were slim. We headed to the 5 mile reef and found an abundance of Wavyline Grunts. We travelled 24 miles from the harbor to fish the Caballo, a one-mile long, but narrow reef. The drift was fast and crossing the reef, so it was hard to keep our baits in the zone for more than a minute or two. While I tried 16 oz pink scampi jigs and chrome diamond jigs, Tim and Gary tried live bait rigs. Within the first hour, Tim battled a beautiful 52 pound Gulf Grouper to the boat and Gary landed a large 20 pound Leopard Grouper. After that, the bite turned cold and some of the group began to get seasick. We continued to zigzag across the top of the reef from one end to the other without a bite. Finally in the afternoon, Tim landed a nice 15 pound Leopard Grouper before we decided to call it a day. Although the day was sunny and warm, the wind and full moon currents made the fishing difficult.
Later that night we brought some Leopard Grouper fillets to Al Capone’s to have them cooked for dinner. The restaurant served the fish in four different flavors: breaded, blackened, teriyaki, and lemon caper sauce, and it was fabulous! We stuffed ourselves and still brought home several boxes of leftovers.
On Tuesday, Gary, Tim and I went out again and headed towards Cholla Bay to look for bait. We quickly loaded up on Spotted Bay Bass, but couldn’t find the Sierra Mackerel and Bonefish that I had expected. Although we had planned to fish the 22 mile reef that day, the forecast called for winds to change from north to south, and build in intensity throughout the day. I decided that we should play it safe and headed south to fish the Caballo reef again. We fished the first hour without a bite on either our live bait rigs or jigs. Despite the dire forecast, the day turned out to be bright and sunny with calm seas. We decided it was a good opportunity to travel the remaining 24 miles to fish the Desemboque reef. W fished the reef with live bass, scampi jigs and diamond jigs for several hours without so much as a nibble. We even tried catching some fresh bait, but nothing seemed to be working that day. Later that afternoon, we returned to try the Caballo reef again with similar results. At 5 pm we called it quits and returned to the marina with a skunk in the box, thinking that we would have done much better at the 51 mile reef instead.
Strong winds arrived on Wednesday and we spent the morning visiting the local aquarium and shopping instead of fishing. We stopped to take pictures of my billboard. The poster for the upcoming grouper tournament has a picture of me holding a 62 pound grouper.
The forecast for Thursday called for calming winds with a chance of rain, so we made plans to fish the 51 mile reef. As we pulled out of the harbor, we were greeted with 6-foot swells, but very little wind. The rollers were uncomfortable, but easy to navigate. As we made our way out to sea, we could see rain in the distance and soon we found ourselves in the middle of it. We stopped at the 16-180 reef and finally found what we had been looking for all week. On each drop of our sabiki bait rigs we would bring in 5 or 6 baits, including mackerel from 4” to 12” in length, and both horse and spotted sardines. I wanted to take advantage of our good fortune and kept at it until we had filled at least 8 one-gallon Ziploc bags with bait for the freezer. The whole time we were catching bait the wind increased along with the rain, and as the seas turned to whitecaps our plans changed. Before long the seas became too rough to fish and we had to return to the marina.
The forecast for Friday looked very promising, so we again planned to fish the 51 mile reef. We already had plenty of bait on ice and a few live mackerel that survived the night in a bait net. We stopped at the 16-180 reef and found that the bait had disappeared except for a few grunts, so we headed south on glassy seas to fish the deep water reefs. We rigged up live mackerel, whole sardines, and a diamond jig, and before long we all started catching white seabass from 6 to 17 pounds, and goldspotted bass from 3 to 7 pounds, one after another until both fishwells were full. Gary also caught a 10 pound Sheephead, probably the biggest I’ve seen. I hooked up with what felt like a bigger fish on my diamond jig and slowly worked it to the surface. We were surprised to see it wasn’t a fish at all, but an 18 pound Humboldt Squid. We cut off the head and tentacles and put the body on ice. Soon we could see ten or more Humboldt Squid hovering in the water below us, and we hooked up with another squid.
At 2 pm, we decided to try the 53 mile reef in nearly 400 feet of water. Before long, Gary was hooked up with what turned out to be a large 10 pound goldspot bass, however, when he brought it to the surface all that was left was the head. Before we could even say the s-word, we saw an 8-foot, 350 pound Mako Shark cruising the surface near our boat. Our jaws dropped and our hearts began to pound. We tied on a shark rig and tried the big goldspot head as bait. The shark kept circling the boat, but wasn’t interested. We tied up a second shark rig with a live goldspot bass for bait this time and the shark quickly cut the main line with its teeth. We then tied on a third shark rig and tried to think of a good bait to use. I decided to put one of the large squid heads on the hook and dropped it down. In no time, the big Mako swallowed the squid, but the hook pulled free. By this time, the shark had been circling the boat, fearlessly, for about 30 minutes. At times we thought there were two sharks because it was moving so quickly through the water, and in perfect view from the boat. I tried the last squid head for bait and the shark made 6 or 7 passes at it before swallowing it. I set the drag, reeled in slack, felt the hook set, and prepared myself for a battle.
Mako Sharks are one of the fastest and most dangerous fish in the world, and are known for leaping high into the air. I was concerned that we were not prepared to subdue such a large and powerful Mako. We had one gaff, a small hand gaff, a small club, and some rope to tie around the shark’s tail; but nothing like a flying gaff or harpoon. This shark was one mean hombre, and I was more than a little bit nervous about the potentially deadly outcome of messing around with him. The shark quickly stripped line from my reel and dove to about 200 feet below the boat. For a long time I worked the rod and reel to slowly gain back some of the line. After about 30 minutes the shark rose to the surface, belly up, and beaten … or so we thought. As we readied our gaffs and steeled our wills, the shark began to thrash and roll on the surface, before severing the wire cable on the shark rig. Just like that, the shark was gone. The hour that we had spent with the shark was an incredible adrenaline rush and something I had always dreamed about. The three of us still haven’t stopped smiling or talking about the shark encounter. The experience was unbelievable and wasn’t diminished much by the severed cable. It felt good that we didn’t kill the shark, and I expect it won’t be the last time that I get to tangle with one.
Not long after our shark battle, we travelled nearly 50 miles on flat seas to fish the evening bite at the 22 mile reef. We found plenty of mackerel at the reef and loaded the livewell with fresh bait. Soon, I was hooked up with a big fish that rapidly peeled line off my reel. Since it didn’t head for the bottom, I figured it had to be a big white sea bass. After a great fight, we gaffed a 31 pounder and brought it into the boat. The huge fish was a good measure more than 4 feet in length and much too big for the cooler. We fished a while longer before calling it a great day. With our 15 fish limits on both white seabass and goldspot bass, we returned to the marina to have the fish cleaned in the dark. Later that night we brought some goldspot bass fillets to Al Capone’s restaurant to have them cooked and, as expected, they were absolutely delicious. We returned to Phoenix on Saturday, still sore and tired from our days spent fishing the amazing Sea of Cortez.
On Monday morning, the five of us launched out of Safe Marina on my 23’ Wellcraft “Murphy Girl”. Winds from the northwest made the seas a rougher than expected, but not bad enough to keep us ashore. We stopped at a few nearby marks to look for bait and found the pickings were slim. We headed to the 5 mile reef and found an abundance of Wavyline Grunts. We travelled 24 miles from the harbor to fish the Caballo, a one-mile long, but narrow reef. The drift was fast and crossing the reef, so it was hard to keep our baits in the zone for more than a minute or two. While I tried 16 oz pink scampi jigs and chrome diamond jigs, Tim and Gary tried live bait rigs. Within the first hour, Tim battled a beautiful 52 pound Gulf Grouper to the boat and Gary landed a large 20 pound Leopard Grouper. After that, the bite turned cold and some of the group began to get seasick. We continued to zigzag across the top of the reef from one end to the other without a bite. Finally in the afternoon, Tim landed a nice 15 pound Leopard Grouper before we decided to call it a day. Although the day was sunny and warm, the wind and full moon currents made the fishing difficult.
Later that night we brought some Leopard Grouper fillets to Al Capone’s to have them cooked for dinner. The restaurant served the fish in four different flavors: breaded, blackened, teriyaki, and lemon caper sauce, and it was fabulous! We stuffed ourselves and still brought home several boxes of leftovers.
On Tuesday, Gary, Tim and I went out again and headed towards Cholla Bay to look for bait. We quickly loaded up on Spotted Bay Bass, but couldn’t find the Sierra Mackerel and Bonefish that I had expected. Although we had planned to fish the 22 mile reef that day, the forecast called for winds to change from north to south, and build in intensity throughout the day. I decided that we should play it safe and headed south to fish the Caballo reef again. We fished the first hour without a bite on either our live bait rigs or jigs. Despite the dire forecast, the day turned out to be bright and sunny with calm seas. We decided it was a good opportunity to travel the remaining 24 miles to fish the Desemboque reef. W fished the reef with live bass, scampi jigs and diamond jigs for several hours without so much as a nibble. We even tried catching some fresh bait, but nothing seemed to be working that day. Later that afternoon, we returned to try the Caballo reef again with similar results. At 5 pm we called it quits and returned to the marina with a skunk in the box, thinking that we would have done much better at the 51 mile reef instead.
Strong winds arrived on Wednesday and we spent the morning visiting the local aquarium and shopping instead of fishing. We stopped to take pictures of my billboard. The poster for the upcoming grouper tournament has a picture of me holding a 62 pound grouper.
The forecast for Thursday called for calming winds with a chance of rain, so we made plans to fish the 51 mile reef. As we pulled out of the harbor, we were greeted with 6-foot swells, but very little wind. The rollers were uncomfortable, but easy to navigate. As we made our way out to sea, we could see rain in the distance and soon we found ourselves in the middle of it. We stopped at the 16-180 reef and finally found what we had been looking for all week. On each drop of our sabiki bait rigs we would bring in 5 or 6 baits, including mackerel from 4” to 12” in length, and both horse and spotted sardines. I wanted to take advantage of our good fortune and kept at it until we had filled at least 8 one-gallon Ziploc bags with bait for the freezer. The whole time we were catching bait the wind increased along with the rain, and as the seas turned to whitecaps our plans changed. Before long the seas became too rough to fish and we had to return to the marina.
The forecast for Friday looked very promising, so we again planned to fish the 51 mile reef. We already had plenty of bait on ice and a few live mackerel that survived the night in a bait net. We stopped at the 16-180 reef and found that the bait had disappeared except for a few grunts, so we headed south on glassy seas to fish the deep water reefs. We rigged up live mackerel, whole sardines, and a diamond jig, and before long we all started catching white seabass from 6 to 17 pounds, and goldspotted bass from 3 to 7 pounds, one after another until both fishwells were full. Gary also caught a 10 pound Sheephead, probably the biggest I’ve seen. I hooked up with what felt like a bigger fish on my diamond jig and slowly worked it to the surface. We were surprised to see it wasn’t a fish at all, but an 18 pound Humboldt Squid. We cut off the head and tentacles and put the body on ice. Soon we could see ten or more Humboldt Squid hovering in the water below us, and we hooked up with another squid.
At 2 pm, we decided to try the 53 mile reef in nearly 400 feet of water. Before long, Gary was hooked up with what turned out to be a large 10 pound goldspot bass, however, when he brought it to the surface all that was left was the head. Before we could even say the s-word, we saw an 8-foot, 350 pound Mako Shark cruising the surface near our boat. Our jaws dropped and our hearts began to pound. We tied on a shark rig and tried the big goldspot head as bait. The shark kept circling the boat, but wasn’t interested. We tied up a second shark rig with a live goldspot bass for bait this time and the shark quickly cut the main line with its teeth. We then tied on a third shark rig and tried to think of a good bait to use. I decided to put one of the large squid heads on the hook and dropped it down. In no time, the big Mako swallowed the squid, but the hook pulled free. By this time, the shark had been circling the boat, fearlessly, for about 30 minutes. At times we thought there were two sharks because it was moving so quickly through the water, and in perfect view from the boat. I tried the last squid head for bait and the shark made 6 or 7 passes at it before swallowing it. I set the drag, reeled in slack, felt the hook set, and prepared myself for a battle.
Mako Sharks are one of the fastest and most dangerous fish in the world, and are known for leaping high into the air. I was concerned that we were not prepared to subdue such a large and powerful Mako. We had one gaff, a small hand gaff, a small club, and some rope to tie around the shark’s tail; but nothing like a flying gaff or harpoon. This shark was one mean hombre, and I was more than a little bit nervous about the potentially deadly outcome of messing around with him. The shark quickly stripped line from my reel and dove to about 200 feet below the boat. For a long time I worked the rod and reel to slowly gain back some of the line. After about 30 minutes the shark rose to the surface, belly up, and beaten … or so we thought. As we readied our gaffs and steeled our wills, the shark began to thrash and roll on the surface, before severing the wire cable on the shark rig. Just like that, the shark was gone. The hour that we had spent with the shark was an incredible adrenaline rush and something I had always dreamed about. The three of us still haven’t stopped smiling or talking about the shark encounter. The experience was unbelievable and wasn’t diminished much by the severed cable. It felt good that we didn’t kill the shark, and I expect it won’t be the last time that I get to tangle with one.
Not long after our shark battle, we travelled nearly 50 miles on flat seas to fish the evening bite at the 22 mile reef. We found plenty of mackerel at the reef and loaded the livewell with fresh bait. Soon, I was hooked up with a big fish that rapidly peeled line off my reel. Since it didn’t head for the bottom, I figured it had to be a big white sea bass. After a great fight, we gaffed a 31 pounder and brought it into the boat. The huge fish was a good measure more than 4 feet in length and much too big for the cooler. We fished a while longer before calling it a great day. With our 15 fish limits on both white seabass and goldspot bass, we returned to the marina to have the fish cleaned in the dark. Later that night we brought some goldspot bass fillets to Al Capone’s restaurant to have them cooked and, as expected, they were absolutely delicious. We returned to Phoenix on Saturday, still sore and tired from our days spent fishing the amazing Sea of Cortez.
