On a trip that started out with a Bang the wind came up on us and really made for an overall tough trip.
The fist day the water was as flat as it could get and the fish cooperated very well. Many in the group were first timers so a day of catching many Bonita and what they call antenna fish was just what the group needed to get comfortable landing fish from the yaks. Craig Miller you is a repeat client had the best fish of the day with a couple Morado, a red Amber Jack, which both weighed in at 22 pounds on the Boga.
Sheet Glass
Craig and Kelly Miller rigging up
Monica and Tom enjoying the calm
Alonso getting in on the Antenna fish action, his wife made us fish burritos for our lunch the next day with these tasty fish.
Craig and one of the Morado he caught this day.
Scott with a White Bonita, which are excellent Sashimi
Kevin with a Bonita
I even got in on a little action fishing with the Lucanis, it got bit on almost every drop to the bottom.
Craig with his second Morado
We shared a great Meal on the patio that night with high expectations for the days to come
For those that have been to Punta Colorada in the past few years you will recognize Pinto who decided to be my roommate for the week. I would wake up in the middle of the night with him snuggled up against me.
Pinto also has a new friend who also shared my room for the week, Latte, a great little yellow lab pup. Having four dogs myself, I felt right at home.
The second day of the trip brought a bit of wind which kept us looking for shelter, which Punta Arena provided. Not to mention this nice twenty pound Rooster actually caught by Craig’s wife Kelly. She had forgotten to attach her paddle leash and lost her paddle during the fight. Once Craig helped her land the fish she drifted away and we could not get a shot of her with her fish because we needed to get the fish released healthy.
A couple more small roosters where caught this day but always as far away from the camera as possible so no more shots.
The third day of fishing brought even more wind and again we hid behind the point where Kevin Dickson caught the big fish of the trip, an estimated 35 pound Roosterfish
Stronger winds sent us in a little early we dropped off Kevin and Scott a short distance from the hotel where Kevin picked up another Rooster he said was 24 pounds.
Well day four, our last day of fishing, was a real bust for the kayaks. An unusual, for this time of year, strong north wind made taking out the kayaks impossible. I sent four of the guys out in a Cruiser for the day while I took the ladies of a tour of the area. We headed down to Cabo Pulmo, which is a national park, for a couple of hours. Where we are has a little shelter from the wind and you can see how bad it was. The winds were sustained 25 knots with higher gusts.
Of course the next day with no fishing scheduled and a day of working on the kayaks at Rancho Leonero ahead of me I wake to this.
Flat calm and hot all day while I am working in the sun replacing rod holders and pop rivets on the fleet at the Ranch.
With my clients all gone, the last day I had a few hours to get on the water myself, my only real day of fishing from my kayak.
It was flat calm again and I just wanted to get in a good paddle and hope for some fish.
I headed straight out to sea paddling for the blue water, trolling a large swim bait from Spro. Right at the edge of the blue water I got hit by a Bonita for a fun little fight. I reach a high spot that the locals fish for snapper and dropped the Lucanis to the bottom, I got hit right away but it didn’t stick. While I was bringing up the jig I look below my kayak and see the largest school of Toro aka Jack Crevalle I have ever seen. I had left the trolling lure out, just in case, and it got slammed. I grabbed the rod but the fish came off. I put it back in the rod holder to bring the other jig the rest of the way in and the troller got hit again, this time sticking. The fight lasted about 25 minutes and kicked my butt. The cool thing was that the entire school of Toro stayed under my kayak for the entire fight. Once in the clear water I could tell why it was such a tough fight. Besides the fact that Toro are very tough, called the Bull, it was foul hooked in the belly. I got one shot of if in the water then another up on deck, it weighed 24 pounds on the Bogo.
After that I headed in to pack and fly home. Certainly not one of our best trips, but we had a great group of people who all accepted that the weather was out of our control and made the best of it.
Next trip back to the East Cape is in July and we still have a couple of spots left open. Visit www.EastCapeKayakFishing.com for information.
Heading to Florida and Alaska before that trip though, so I should have some fun reports from those locations also.
