Finally got a chance to get down and go fishing! A couple of fishing buddies (Gary and Wally) from San Carlos asked me to guide on their boat. They had never fished Rocky Point and wanted to learn the ropes on where to go and what to do.
Friday morning while I was waiting for them at Safe Marine, I talked with Art and got a good look at the new 'Big Daddy.' Art has been meticulously going through the boat and tweaking, repairing, and adjusting everything so it's correct and just the way he wants it before he puts in the water the first time. The boat is beautiful and I can tell Sandy's gonna have some competition for Art's attention! He had been there for 8 days straight fishing and working on the boat. Ahhhh, retirement! Someday! ;-)
Also took a quick peak at Scott and Doug's new fishing monster. Very good looking boat!!
My friends arrived and we got prepared for launching their boat. They needed new fishing licenses, so we went over to City Hall and found the one little room buried in the back that sells them. Got launched and on the water late, about 10:00.
We hit the bonefish hole 1st for some bait and caught a little flounder and a few macks on sabikis, but nothing else seemed to be around. Headed to the 16 and had a little trouble at first finding macks and sardines, but eventually loaded up on enough that we'd be okay for bait.
The water was as Buoy predicted - flat. We ran out to the 51 to see if anybody was home on the reef. I had been looking forward to fishing on this boat because I've been considering buying the same boat for a few years - a Davis Bahia 25. Gary and Wally have had this one for a few years now and you would swear it was brand new. Immaculate shape, well-kept, and loaded. Powered by a Volvo D4 diesel with a Volvo Duoprop stern drive. The boat has a great ride, lots of fishing room, and chugs right along at about 30 knots top speed. Also has autopilot and the next boat I get will definitely have an autopilot! Anyway...
The 51 was a bust. We tried several drifts without so much as a bump on live or cut bait. Because of the late start and short days, we were burning daylight quickly. Opted to abandon the 51 and headed for the 53. Once we got on the mark there, the bite was definitely on. Double-hookups of big gold spotted bass every drop. Fish of the day was a large baqueta. I guess he was either hungry enough or big enough to get to my bait before the gold-spots could glom on to my hook! I love the 53 because there are always nice gold-spots there, but I imagine them as a pack of hungry wolves down there. They are so quick to jump on your bait that nothing else gets a chance to eat it! We stayed on the 53 through the high tide at 4:30 and could have fished even longer, but it's a long ride back in in the dark. Watched a nice sunset on the way in with plenty of fish in the box. Oh... total fuel burn for the day? Absolutely unbelievable -- 44 gallons. I burn nearly double that on the same trip! Talk about range and fuel efficiency!
Saturday, we got an earlier start and the macks were glomming on to the sabikis six at a time. Took no time to fill the bait tank with live wigglers. The water was a little rougher and Buoy was again right, forecasting a building wind as the day went on. We headed for the Witches Hat. The boat rode very nice through the chop on the way out. This time, I had Gary locate the reef on his electronics and practice setting up our drifts. It's one of the most important skills you can have if you're going to fish Rocky Point, so I wanted him to get it right and be comfortable doing it. First drift and drop, a 30 lb. sardinero came aboard. Very next drift, Gary caught about a 25 lb. white seabass - his very first white seabass, so he was stoked. We did several more drifts and the bite turned to more gold-spotted bass.
By 1:00, the wind was starting to pick up pretty good. We went over and tried a close reef where we've caught lots of black-tip shark at this time of year, but nobody home there. Then headed to the 43. By then, the drifts were just too fast. We had several good strikes and some live macks just ripped in half, but didn't get hooked up. When we did get hooked up, again, more willing to eat anything gold-spots.
Called it a day and headed back in about 3:30 on bouncy seas with a stiff breeze. Lots of whales and dolphins out there right now, too. All in all - another wonderful weekend on the beautiful Sea of Cortez!!
Friday morning while I was waiting for them at Safe Marine, I talked with Art and got a good look at the new 'Big Daddy.' Art has been meticulously going through the boat and tweaking, repairing, and adjusting everything so it's correct and just the way he wants it before he puts in the water the first time. The boat is beautiful and I can tell Sandy's gonna have some competition for Art's attention! He had been there for 8 days straight fishing and working on the boat. Ahhhh, retirement! Someday! ;-)
Also took a quick peak at Scott and Doug's new fishing monster. Very good looking boat!!
My friends arrived and we got prepared for launching their boat. They needed new fishing licenses, so we went over to City Hall and found the one little room buried in the back that sells them. Got launched and on the water late, about 10:00.
We hit the bonefish hole 1st for some bait and caught a little flounder and a few macks on sabikis, but nothing else seemed to be around. Headed to the 16 and had a little trouble at first finding macks and sardines, but eventually loaded up on enough that we'd be okay for bait.
The water was as Buoy predicted - flat. We ran out to the 51 to see if anybody was home on the reef. I had been looking forward to fishing on this boat because I've been considering buying the same boat for a few years - a Davis Bahia 25. Gary and Wally have had this one for a few years now and you would swear it was brand new. Immaculate shape, well-kept, and loaded. Powered by a Volvo D4 diesel with a Volvo Duoprop stern drive. The boat has a great ride, lots of fishing room, and chugs right along at about 30 knots top speed. Also has autopilot and the next boat I get will definitely have an autopilot! Anyway...
The 51 was a bust. We tried several drifts without so much as a bump on live or cut bait. Because of the late start and short days, we were burning daylight quickly. Opted to abandon the 51 and headed for the 53. Once we got on the mark there, the bite was definitely on. Double-hookups of big gold spotted bass every drop. Fish of the day was a large baqueta. I guess he was either hungry enough or big enough to get to my bait before the gold-spots could glom on to my hook! I love the 53 because there are always nice gold-spots there, but I imagine them as a pack of hungry wolves down there. They are so quick to jump on your bait that nothing else gets a chance to eat it! We stayed on the 53 through the high tide at 4:30 and could have fished even longer, but it's a long ride back in in the dark. Watched a nice sunset on the way in with plenty of fish in the box. Oh... total fuel burn for the day? Absolutely unbelievable -- 44 gallons. I burn nearly double that on the same trip! Talk about range and fuel efficiency!
Saturday, we got an earlier start and the macks were glomming on to the sabikis six at a time. Took no time to fill the bait tank with live wigglers. The water was a little rougher and Buoy was again right, forecasting a building wind as the day went on. We headed for the Witches Hat. The boat rode very nice through the chop on the way out. This time, I had Gary locate the reef on his electronics and practice setting up our drifts. It's one of the most important skills you can have if you're going to fish Rocky Point, so I wanted him to get it right and be comfortable doing it. First drift and drop, a 30 lb. sardinero came aboard. Very next drift, Gary caught about a 25 lb. white seabass - his very first white seabass, so he was stoked. We did several more drifts and the bite turned to more gold-spotted bass.
By 1:00, the wind was starting to pick up pretty good. We went over and tried a close reef where we've caught lots of black-tip shark at this time of year, but nobody home there. Then headed to the 43. By then, the drifts were just too fast. We had several good strikes and some live macks just ripped in half, but didn't get hooked up. When we did get hooked up, again, more willing to eat anything gold-spots.
Called it a day and headed back in about 3:30 on bouncy seas with a stiff breeze. Lots of whales and dolphins out there right now, too. All in all - another wonderful weekend on the beautiful Sea of Cortez!!
