All - I’m back working now in Abu Dhabi, but wanted to write about a great vacation I spent fishing in Rocky Point. It was very successful as I was able to see a lot of our good friends, the weather was good, and the boat ran well. It will be the last time I can fish down in Rocky Point for the next 8 months, until March 2012.Sat May 28th – Tina and I fished the Caballo Reef with Doug McLaughlin, Scott Pike and the dogs (Sara and Tori) on our 23’ Wellcraft “Murphy Girl”. It was a frustrating day with a stiff South wind and fast drift that made fishing tough. We tried all types of bait and lures without any bites. The boat didn’t have enough power to plane out with so many passengers and topped out at less than 15 mph making it a long 50 mile roundtrip.
Sun May 29th – Tina and I decided to take the boat out for a half day of trolling deep divers near the first estuary. We only caught one small leopard grouper and a large triggerfish, but it was a beautiful afternoon and the boat ran well with just the two of us and our dogs. We drove back to Phoenix later that day to get a spare tire for the boat trailer after blowing one on Friday night.
Mon May 30th – I returned to Rocky Point in the afternoon. No fishing today, seas were rough.
Tue May 31st – I woke to calm conditions and decided to take the boat out by myself. Dave Roberts of Al Capone’s Restaurant planned to fish with me at around noon. I fished the 15-210 reef and found it loaded with shoals of mackerel. After catching a few for bait, I started drifting along the drop-off before hooking up with a nice fish. It turned out to be a 31 pound Pinto, the largest one I had ever caught. About 30 minutes later I caught a 7 pound leopard grouper the same way before heading back to shore to meet Dave. Dave and I decided to fish reefs near the 16-180 reef but didn’t have any more luck the rest of the day.
Wed June 1st – Dave Roberts and I took the Murphy Girl out to the Caballo reef in calm seas. We tried a variety of live bait, diamond jigs and scampis, but found the bite was slow. I did hook up with a very large fish using a juvenile yellowtail for bait, but the fish rocked up on me and we eventually broke the line trying to get it loose. Later, I hooked up with a nice fish on a 16 oz chrome diamond jig that turned out to be a 27 pound Pinto and followed that with a 15 pound Leopard Grouper. I met up with Chris Tober and his family later that night at Al Capone’s. We had corresponded by email for years and it was nice to finally meet. They reported seeing whales just a few hundred yards from shore along Las Conchas, which was quite surprising.
Thu June 2nd – No fishing today, seas were rough. Fishing reports from the past month or so had been slow around Rocky Point and I had been looking forward to trying out a new spot called Puerto Lobos, about a 100 mile drive to the south. Most all of the fishermen in Rocky Point had already been down there fishing in 2010, except for me, since I was busy working in Abu Dhabi. Dave and I decided to trailer my boat to Lobos and put it in storage behind the market so we could fish there during the coming week. The ride down is very nice now that they have completed the majority of the coastal highway down to Puerto Libertad, except for a 4 mile section of dirt road. We met up with Ted Miller who has a house and charter service there and talked about fishing. Ted said that all of the reefs were loaded up with Leopard Grouper and some very large Gulf Grouper had been caught recently, including a 116 pounder. The Yellowtail had also been boiling and easy to catch at times. Dave and I were pretty excited to give it a try.
Fri June 3rd – I fished with my friend Art Pina to fish the deepwater reefs on his 34’ Pursuit “Big Daddy” with Sandy, Philippe, Andy, Andy’s daughter Tori and her friend Ryan. It was a real pleasure to fish on such a magnificent boat, with 12’-9” beam and tuna tower. We stopped first at the 44 mile reef and caught 4 red snapper and 8 gold spotted bass on both 16 oz chrome diamond jigs and cut mackerel. It was a new moon phase and the current was very swift, making it difficult to hold bottom in up to 300 feet of water. We tried anchoring, but it wasn’t much better. Later we fished the 51 and 47 mile reefs and caught some more gold spotted bass, before heading back in that afternoon. The seas were beautiful and we saw several Finback Whales about 40 miles from shore.
Sat June 4th - No fishing today, seas were rough.