Tue June 7th – Aaronn returned to Phoenix on Monday night and Dave also made a trip to Phoenix, so I decided to fish all by myself in Lobos. I now knew how, when and where to fish and was determined to be fishing at the Glory Hole when low tide occurred. I started fishing the 18 mile reef and caught a variety of gold spotted bass, snapper and a leopard grouper on 8 oz diamond jigs. Later in the morning, I moved to the Glory Hole and waited for low tide to approach with hopes that the bite would turn hot again. It started off with a 30 pound halibut caught on a diamond jig. I honestly wasn’t sure if I actually had a fish on or not. It was heavy, but didn’t fight at all. I was surprised to see such a nice halibut, as we typically catch them in deep water during the fall months. As soon as I dropped down again, I was hooked up again with a nice fish. It turned out to be a beautiful 30 pound white sea bass. I quickly dropped down again and was hooked up again on what turned out to be a very hard fight. It was a 15 pound Barred Pargo or Green Bar Snapper, the first one I had ever caught. I was amazed at the variety of fish, all caught just minutes apart on one drift. After that, with low tide passing, the bite turned cold again. A while later I caught a 10 pound Pinto before moving to the deeper, 7 mile reefs about 3 miles away. There I caught plenty of gold spotted bass and 4 nice leopard groupers in 150 feet of water using diamond jigs before returning to shore. I later brought all the fish to the restaurant where we weighed them for a total of 130 pounds. It was a really great day and I can only imagine how well we would have done with 2 or more people fishing.
Wed June 8th – Art Pina and I fished Lobos together on Murphy Girl. The wind was blowing from the west with 6 foot rollers. The fishing was slow in the morning, but I knew it would get hot once low tide arrived. At about 11 am we started getting double hookups with nice fish. We boated three nice 15 to 20 pound leopard grouper and one smaller one, and also lost several larger fish to break offs. Then Art hooked up with a big fish on a live mackerel. It turned out to be a 45 pound white sea bass, the largest one I had ever seen. Minutes later, Art and I doubled up on a 25 and 15 pound white sea bass before low tide passed and the bite turned cold. We drifted a few more times before deciding to head back early. We started the motor and it soon died. After 4 days of fishing Lobos, we were finally out of gas, even though my fuel gauge showed nearly half a tank remained. I had a 12 gallon tank of gas in the cabin for my 15 hp kicker motor and decided to pour it into the main tank. I did my best in rolling seas to pour it from a bucket into a small funnel without spilling too much, but it wasn’t easy. The gas was old and pre-mixed with oil, so the motor ran poorly as we worked our way around the rocks towards the landing. We needed every last drop of the spare gas to make it to shore and at times it got a little spooky as we watched the rollers crashing into the rocks. We made it on fumes, hooked up the boat trailer and then returned to Rocky Point with our catch and my boat. It was a very memorable day of fishing.
Thu June 9th – I fished with Art Pina on his new boat, a 41’ Tiara with 16’ beam. He had decided to sell the Big Daddy and take over the larger and more elegant Tiara. This was his first fishing trip with Ed and Marsha (owners of the Wanderlust), Antonio and me. The boat is spectacular and the seas were calm. It was an amazing day out on the water fishing the 25 mile reef and Sand Dunes (32 miles). Ed and Antonio each caught a 40 pound Gulf Grouper at the 25 mile reef using a scampi jig and live bait. On the way back in we stood at the bow and watched the surface. It was full of life. There were shoals of small fish, red clouds of krill, a hammerhead shark and hundreds of manta rays. The rays were small and brown, in groups of 10 to 30 working in v-formations along the surface. As the boat approached, they would flap their wings like birds and disappear into the depths. It was the first time I had seen this type of brown manta ray and they were seemingly everywhere. The Sea of Cortez is so amazing and always full of surprises.
Fri June 10th – I put the boat away in storage for the next 8 months while I work in Abu Dhabi. Friends Mike and Christy Sexton with daughter Kaitlyn drove down from Phoenix. We met at our condo and drove to the large house we rented at the end of the road in Las Conchas, called Mariposa Azul. The 5 bedroom/5 bathroom house was amazing and perfect for our group. Later Rob and Brenda showed up and then Paul, Dawn, Bernie, Debbie and Tina arrived. We had a fabulous dinner at Al Capone’s Restaurant later that night with amazing fresh fish dishes.
Sat June 11th – Our group spent the day shopping at Shac
ks 5th Avenue and downtown at the Malecon, before seeing the Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers perform for 4 hours under the stars. It was a fant
astic night and was the highlight of my vacation.
We returned to Phoenix on Sunday. I flew to fish two days with my 94 year old grandfather
in northern Minnesota before returning to the Middle East. I’ll have to live vicariously through the fishing reports of my friends over the ne
xt 8 months, unless I can figure out how to fish in this country. Someday I hope to return to work as an engineer in Phoenix again and fish eve
ry other weekend again. The next time I see Tina will be October 22nd when I meet her at the airport in Phuket, Thailand. That should be fun.
Wed June 8th – Art Pina and I fished Lobos together on Murphy Girl. The wind was blowing from the west with 6 foot rollers. The fishing was slow in the morning, but I knew it would get hot once low tide arrived. At about 11 am we started getting double hookups with nice fish. We boated three nice 15 to 20 pound leopard grouper and one smaller one, and also lost several larger fish to break offs. Then Art hooked up with a big fish on a live mackerel. It turned out to be a 45 pound white sea bass, the largest one I had ever seen. Minutes later, Art and I doubled up on a 25 and 15 pound white sea bass before low tide passed and the bite turned cold. We drifted a few more times before deciding to head back early. We started the motor and it soon died. After 4 days of fishing Lobos, we were finally out of gas, even though my fuel gauge showed nearly half a tank remained. I had a 12 gallon tank of gas in the cabin for my 15 hp kicker motor and decided to pour it into the main tank. I did my best in rolling seas to pour it from a bucket into a small funnel without spilling too much, but it wasn’t easy. The gas was old and pre-mixed with oil, so the motor ran poorly as we worked our way around the rocks towards the landing. We needed every last drop of the spare gas to make it to shore and at times it got a little spooky as we watched the rollers crashing into the rocks. We made it on fumes, hooked up the boat trailer and then returned to Rocky Point with our catch and my boat. It was a very memorable day of fishing.
Thu June 9th – I fished with Art Pina on his new boat, a 41’ Tiara with 16’ beam. He had decided to sell the Big Daddy and take over the larger and more elegant Tiara. This was his first fishing trip with Ed and Marsha (owners of the Wanderlust), Antonio and me. The boat is spectacular and the seas were calm. It was an amazing day out on the water fishing the 25 mile reef and Sand Dunes (32 miles). Ed and Antonio each caught a 40 pound Gulf Grouper at the 25 mile reef using a scampi jig and live bait. On the way back in we stood at the bow and watched the surface. It was full of life. There were shoals of small fish, red clouds of krill, a hammerhead shark and hundreds of manta rays. The rays were small and brown, in groups of 10 to 30 working in v-formations along the surface. As the boat approached, they would flap their wings like birds and disappear into the depths. It was the first time I had seen this type of brown manta ray and they were seemingly everywhere. The Sea of Cortez is so amazing and always full of surprises.
Fri June 10th – I put the boat away in storage for the next 8 months while I work in Abu Dhabi. Friends Mike and Christy Sexton with daughter Kaitlyn drove down from Phoenix. We met at our condo and drove to the large house we rented at the end of the road in Las Conchas, called Mariposa Azul. The 5 bedroom/5 bathroom house was amazing and perfect for our group. Later Rob and Brenda showed up and then Paul, Dawn, Bernie, Debbie and Tina arrived. We had a fabulous dinner at Al Capone’s Restaurant later that night with amazing fresh fish dishes.
Sat June 11th – Our group spent the day shopping at Shac
ks 5th Avenue and downtown at the Malecon, before seeing the Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers perform for 4 hours under the stars. It was a fantastic night and was the highlight of my vacation. We returned to Phoenix on Sunday. I flew to fish two days with my 94 year old grandfather
in northern Minnesota before returning to the Middle East. I’ll have to live vicariously through the fishing reports of my friends over the next 8 months, unless I can figure out how to fish in this country. Someday I hope to return to work as an engineer in Phoenix again and fish every other weekend again. The next time I see Tina will be October 22nd when I meet her at the airport in Phuket, Thailand. That should be fun.
