Kayak Fishing 10-8-16

[Mexico Joe]

Decided to head down for the slack tide 10-8 and the wind report looked good as well. In anticipation for making a trip down in October I had refurbished my bait tank. Saturday 10-8 I launched out of Cholla Bay around noon and proceeded to Sabiki some bait around the corner to the west from JJ's. I was able to catch some nice looking Boners in the 6" range which immediately peaked my interest for the possibilities that day. I was able to get 3 Bone Fish and 2 Cabrilla all in the 6 inch range. Tossed them in the bait tank and headed out to Pelican point. On the way out I decided to troll some plugs. I couldn't troll a plug more than 3 minutes without it getting absolutely slammed by these agro Triggers. The large model Triggers too. Peeling off line like it was a bonita or other pelagic. The action was fun but it side tracked me for a bit.

I finally made it out to some points that I had marked in my GPS app Backcountry Navigator. I had made some live bait rigs which consisted of nothing more than a 3/0 circle hook on 20lb mono. I hooked the Bones through the nose and dropped down. There were moments that I though I was about to get a big strike because the bait would go crazy and start power swimming like it was being harassed but nothing. I tried a little closer to shore and had no luck as well. Decided to call it an afternoon around 5ish and headed in.

Sunday I launched out of Cholla again around noon and forgot the bilge pump to the bait tank in the truck so I decided I would only be trolling that afternoon. I headed out to the spots that I had marked in the GPS app which is essentially the outline of the point that extends underwater out past Pelican point. The marks were accurate to my surprise. I trolled that underwater point and again couldnt go more than 5 minutes without a hard strike from a Trigger. One after another. After a while it actually became annoying. I trolled my little heart out on Sunday making it all the way to Pinto Point. Only managed to catch one other fish that wasnt a Trigger. It was a decent sized Cabrilla but again nothing I was hoping for.

I called it a day around 530pm and headed in. Loaded up, cleaned up a bit, changed my clothes and headed home to Phoenix. No wait at the border and was home by 10pm. Had a good time but cant wait for Flounder season starting next month. Until then, tight lines!


Side notes:
- Drift was really fast on Sunday the day after the slack tide. My estimate 2-3 mph.
- Mr. Fish was NOT open. That was upsetting.
- I hit the drive through liquor just west of Latitude across the street from Del Mar Charter and paid 75 pesos for a sick pack and my cooler packed with ice. <$4?! Can't beat that.
- When I got home I looked at the statistics on my GPS app. On Sunday I paddled 5.6 miles total and covered 65.26 acres of water... Damn lol I need a motor. Ave speed 3mph Max speed 8.5 mph... I'm still trying to figure out how I can take a screen shot of the statistics screen.


As always...

ChollaBay4Life







​

 

[asprinkles]

Joe ,nice size trigger. Little hot and humid

 

[Jungle Jim]

So Joe..........

What are the red spots with white borders on your charts, hook-ups?

I can tell you that first off, you are way too far out to catch anything but sand dwellers. I've done detailed scuba inspections of all of that area over many years and I'll tell you what I've seen. The sand bottom is good for the big white clams, some flatfish and a few corvina types to include White Sea Bass.

The predatory action is on the seaside faces of the rock piles, rock reef lines and isolated boulders. The groupers wait motionless and well camouflaged against the rock faces while the Sierras and Yellowtails patrol in small schools in midwater above the rocks.

If you get closer in you will be plagued with small Cabrillas and Triggers that will attack lures as big as they are. On clear water days you can see the rocks, on muck water days I rely on my sounder and memory as I troll the line from Pelican Point to Sandy Beach. I target mid sized groupers in the five to twenty pound range and all Sierras and Yellowtails of any size. We keep the larger Triggers of course but toss all Cabrillas under a foot long. Those I keep for my mutts at home.

The only way I fish that area is trolling big, up to ten inch, spoon-billed deep diving lures at high speed, meaning around six knots. Any faster and most lures loose their action and end up on the surface, any slower won't get the lure down close to the bottom. I'll play with my speed until I get the lure bumping the bottom and then back-off slightly.

Initially, I like to have two rigs in the water with different lures and keep a notebook handy to list what hit on what then concentrate on the lure with the most hits. Up until a few years ago and for thirty years back the only lure that I ever used was the Rebel Deep Diving Fastrac which was available in at least a dozen colors. I finally determined that the best hitters were the blue and silver, the gold and silver and the black and silver models. Some days the fish would only go for one color and the next day another color. I believe that their choice is based on the current type of baitfish that they are eating. Those huge schools of black-backed sardine looking things are actually Flatiron Herring which are black on top with gold bellies, as are Sardines with blue backs and silver bellies and so on.

Things have changed now, I hardly ever get anything on the Rebels any longer. I've started cruzin the shelves and Cabellas and Bass Pro Shop to look for the biggest chunkiest deep diving plugs that I can find and I'm getting a regular blood bath with some of them. Online I found a high speed deep diver that looks exactly like a Sierra that groupers can't resist and bigger is better. Most of my recent hauls have been on that Sierra lookin lure at ten inches long.

So why do the Sierras and Yellowtail cruize the reef? Well, they are looking for dummy reef fish that stray too far from the security of the rocks. What type of reef fish might they encounter? Well number one is the Sergeant Major, you know the little bait thieves with yellow and black bars and chunky bodies. You can find something VERY similar at the bass shops and they WORK off of La Cholla.

Also, depth is really important, most of my hookups along that shore are in ten to fifteen feet of water. Any shallower and you'll be bumpin the bottom and any deeper they won't be able to see your lure, if they are even out there. The exception being the White Sea Bass that are showing up along that area now.

Later,

Tight lines and bloody decks!

JJ

 

[brokenwave]

Joe,
Mr. Fish was NOT open. That was upsetting. (They aren't open this week either)

I was told by a couple of people who should know, that the Penasco health Dept gave Mr. Fish Taco a list of things to do so they could stay business. (that's one of the reasons Taco's Brisa has A/C now)
The biggie was bathrooms and a major kitchen re-model, I don't know if it's worth it to them to invest the $$ because they are only open 15-20 times a year.

I hope they do comply because Mr. Fish Taco is still so much better than JJ's food and cheaper.

 

[Wood Spinner]

We will be down next Thur and be all winter except a few runs back for meds and Drs. Any time you want to buddy up let me know. I have a 10 ft inflatable pontoon and generaly fish out of Plya De Oro RV park where we stay in No 50 E-Mail [email protected] tele 520 251 0656 We can also launch from Tucson beach.