We planned to fish both days this past weekend, but it was a little too windy when we woke on Saturday morning. We had heard reports that the deep water bite had turned cold, so Dave, Jeff and I decided to try Lobos instead on Sunday. We left Penasco at 5 am and trailered my 23' Wellcraft "Murphy Girl" 100+ miles south along the coastal highway. The potholes were bigger than I remembered, and it took us about 2 hours to reach the turnoff. Arturo already had one customer ready to launch, so we waited our turn. It was a beautiful morning, sunny with just enough of a breeze to keep the boat moving. We headed straight for the 7 mile reef to try for yellowtail, but they were nowhere to be found. We managed to catch a mixed bag of bonita, goldspot bass, and large sierra mackerel before deciding that it was time to try another spot.
We headed north to try our luck with the grouper. Before long we came upon a huge flock of all kinds of birds just sitting on the water. As we closed in on them with the boat, they flew off and the water surface erupted with bait. It looked like it was raining cats and dogs, but it was sardines busting the surface. There a bunch of pink patches of krill at the surface and billions of small, 4-inch sardines filling their bellies. We all started dropping our sabiki rigs and pretty soon started loading up on 6 to 8 inch mackerel that were just below the sardines. Below the mackerel, we could see huge schools of 2' long barracuda cruising under the boat. Pretty soon we started catching those on sabiki rigs too. Later we saw 2 black manta rays gliding along the surface getting their fill of krill. Dolphins showed up and we even saw a huge sea turtle. There seemed to be so much food in the water. Maybe that is why the yellowtail weren't feeding.
Once our bait tank was full, we headed to our mark and immediately started catching leopard grouper, pintos, and large white sea bass. This bite lasted for about 30 minutes before shutting off completely. Dave and I then started getting break offs, so we switched to heavier gear. Dave put on a big spotted bay bass for bait and before long his rod was doubled over. Dave was doing everything he could to keep the fish from getting into the rocks. Jeff and I waited in anticipation to see what it was that he had on his line as he slowly reeled it in. It was a beautiful 70 pound gulf grouper. It popped to the surface and we all celebrated and took photos. It was amazing experience, but the bite was pretty slow for the rest of the day . We managed to catch 1 yellowtail along with more goldspot bass and bonita, but that was it.
I'll be down again in 2 weeks again to try for gulf grouper before seeing RCPM in concert. I can't wait!
We headed north to try our luck with the grouper. Before long we came upon a huge flock of all kinds of birds just sitting on the water. As we closed in on them with the boat, they flew off and the water surface erupted with bait. It looked like it was raining cats and dogs, but it was sardines busting the surface. There a bunch of pink patches of krill at the surface and billions of small, 4-inch sardines filling their bellies. We all started dropping our sabiki rigs and pretty soon started loading up on 6 to 8 inch mackerel that were just below the sardines. Below the mackerel, we could see huge schools of 2' long barracuda cruising under the boat. Pretty soon we started catching those on sabiki rigs too. Later we saw 2 black manta rays gliding along the surface getting their fill of krill. Dolphins showed up and we even saw a huge sea turtle. There seemed to be so much food in the water. Maybe that is why the yellowtail weren't feeding.
Once our bait tank was full, we headed to our mark and immediately started catching leopard grouper, pintos, and large white sea bass. This bite lasted for about 30 minutes before shutting off completely. Dave and I then started getting break offs, so we switched to heavier gear. Dave put on a big spotted bay bass for bait and before long his rod was doubled over. Dave was doing everything he could to keep the fish from getting into the rocks. Jeff and I waited in anticipation to see what it was that he had on his line as he slowly reeled it in. It was a beautiful 70 pound gulf grouper. It popped to the surface and we all celebrated and took photos. It was amazing experience, but the bite was pretty slow for the rest of the day . We managed to catch 1 yellowtail along with more goldspot bass and bonita, but that was it.
I'll be down again in 2 weeks again to try for gulf grouper before seeing RCPM in concert. I can't wait!
