The charters are starting up this week, but we were out once last week before the big downpour. There are not a lot of fisherman down here yet. But we had lots of nice flat days and the weather was bearable. The dry northwest winds were up today and they will be blowing a few days this week. The water is clear and in the 85-87 degree range. It's just about perfect for swimming, and soon fishing. We released two sails the day we were out. The water is still warm and we passed but one marlin sleeping on the surface. We also caught a few small dorado and a couple of big Sierras. The fish seem to be all over but not in great numbers. The sails are large but the dorado are still barely keepers. We passed a couple of floating logs, and they should be attracting fish now. I got out for a couple of hours on Friday in close around the Seamounts for a few big Sierras. The inshore fish are getting active. The fishing should pick up here before the full moon and we'll be on the water. by Bryan Replogle, Team Margarita Sportfishing, repsilon@aol.com (photo by Fernando Almada, Catch 22 Sportsfishing)

Fishing Report It was a great Memorial Weekend in San Carlos. The ladies that competed in the Ladies International Fishing Tournament braved a rough Saturday to be rewarded with a calm Sunday. The bite sounded tough with a lot of fish seen but not too many hooked and landed. Some nice dorado up to 37 pounds were caught. My captain Arturo was out on Sunday to catch and release five sailfish on bait and circle hooks. I think that some good fishing will be going on this week. I had the pleasure to fish the Gulf of Mexico with the boys down South on Saturday and Sunday. We fished the Memorial Big Game Tournament out of Orange Beach, Alabama. We traveled a hundred miles offshore to the oil rigs. The weather was exceptional and the fish were biting. Something large ate one of our 12 pound baits. We chunked for tuna with some success. I thought the first 50 pound fish had done me in in the heat, but the second one at 138 pounds still has me in pain. Five big tuna came in on the second day and we returned to the party. The 108 boats took nearly six hours to weigh all their fish. Boat after boat brought in tuna, but mine held out for third place and a nice check. Biloxi, Mississippi is the next stop on the circuit! by Bryan Replogle, Team Margarita Sport Fishing

Birds of Isla De La Raza, San Carlos, Mexico

Off in the distance we could see Isla De La Raza (Honeymoon Island) an apparent barren lifeless lump of volcanic rock jetting out aimlessly in Bahia Delfin (the Bay of Dolphins). As we got closer… this tiny outcropping, half a mile off shore, began to expose more of her secrets. The surface of this rock was in full motion and life is teaming everywhere. We made landfall on a small sandy beach on the east side, Fritz, Dave and myself. For most of the year this island sits quietly, forgotten by time, patiently waiting for each spring to once again transform stillness into an active rookery of total chaos. The birds were everywhere…thousands!! As we ventured off the rubber dingy our first encounter was with agitated seagulls. The gulls had claimed the lowland beach area and with chicks about… no gull was happy to see us. The Females flew above our heads squawking the most ears piercing sound at the three foreign stalkers. As carefully as was possible, we meandered around one nest after another, insuring we did not step on the chicks scurrying at our feet… little ones were everywhere. Camouflaged amongst the low growing cactus some of the young cowered in the sparse shade and hide from the searing sun and the tres intruders. Others moved in total reckless abandon around us. We moved up the embankment from a sandy beach to a weathered reddish lava rock landscape and with that the species nesting changed too. Now we had Great Blue Herons building enormous nests amongst the spires of the 18-foot tall cactus. Picture the pipes of a great church organ, like fingers stretched skywards the cactus made a wonderful foundation for a large aviary. Interwoven from pipe to pipe are large dead tree limbs methodically layered to create the perfect cradle in which to protect the next generation of herons; while also making for a watchful perch for the cautious eye of the adult heron. The herons watched us approach with their heads bobbing and their great long necks expanding and retracting in a kind of warning ritual that perhaps other birds would understand…but not us. We never got to close, but I’m sure for Mama-Son our mere presence on the island was far too close. We could see through the sticks three downy-feathered chicks helplessly bobbing in the nest trying to see what all the commotion was about, all the while Mama trying to keep them hidden from view. It was an experience of overwhelming proportion as thousands of birds came into view as we continued our accent. Not just a few here and there, but every square inch of this isolated forgotten island were covered in life and death. Young chicks scampering about; bones of the fallen scatter here and there at our feet; eggs, some still waiting to hatch and others just pieces of what they once were just days ago; punctuated by hordes of male and female birds yakking, pushing and shoving. The island was far from dead; it was more alive than any big urban city I have ever walked upon. In one direction alone I saw three types of herons, two types of pelicans, four varieties of gulls, oystercatchers, stilts, and birds I cannot yet identify. If one can get past the smell, which is hard for a person such as myself, who boasts of a nose like a bloodhound, the drama before us was mind blowing. But the smell was so putrid; that even breathing continually through my mouth I could taste the rank odor of death and decades of avian droppings. Beyond the smell, the sounds are what transported me to a place out of this time. The cacophony of noise, so prehistoric in composure that I was sure we had teleported back 120 million years into Earth’s Jurassic period. If you ever imagined what dinosaurs sounded like… this was it! The shrill from the baby pelicans as they tried to feed from the mother’s bill had a quality that seemed unnatural on Earth in the time of human domination. We moseyed towards some of the elevated nest, sitting 2 feet off the ground in the small arms of low growing desert cactus, barely suitable for a lizard home, yet huge pelicans had nested a top. At one point, as we came closer to a pelican nest the mother raised up from the nest and stood her ground with outstretch wings beating the hot air with agitation to let us know clearly we had come far enough. Five, maybe six, feet her wings stretched as her three young cowered and squawked under her watchful eye. All the while another pelican circled over our heads, flying past us and then back out for another strafing run at the three creatures disturbing their ritual. From hour old hatchlings, to big white-feathered birds still waiting to take to the sky on their first flight, the sights of nature in its entire splendor graced our senses. We left the birds and the island no worse for the visits but an indelible mark was left on our minds that will long stay present in the joys of life. DB Waldman 5/24/13

Fishing near San Carlos. Better run. Bryan coming!!

We are into yellowtail season, even if there aren’t too many boats fishing for them. The bite has been off and on and the winds have been up a bit, as is typical for winter. Most days you can get to San Pedro Island early in the morning and come back with the wind when it comes up. The bite hasn’t been ‘hot’, but some good catches are being found. The fish are up some days in the morning off of San Antonio and Doble. The fishing around the high tide, or just after the low tide, are usually the best. Yellowtail are a school fish, so sometimes you just need to find the bunch. A good fishfinder helps, and if the readings are deep and the fish aren’t biting the lures, you may have to jig.

We had some luck mid-week on the north-east end of the Island just off the north tip. There were a lot of small to medium-sized fish around, with some big ones mixed in. There are still some bonita in the area, with a few sierra in close. We weren’t able to find any cabrilla this last week, but they could still be around. The tides look a little better for possibly finding fish on the surface or higher in the water column this week. Get out there early, or on a calm day, put in the time, watch your fishfinder, and if all else fails, jig and just enjoy the fact that your friends up north don’t even have liquid water and the temperatures are still 50-100 degrees warmer here!

tight lines, Bryan Replogle repsilon@aol.com
Team Margarita Sportfishing, San Carlos Aquatic Adventures

The end is near...... to water

It looks like the end is near for our pelagics. On Monday the break to the south looks to have dropped from 74.5 to 73 degrees. We’ll see if it can hold out with several days of good wind in the forecast – just in time for all of our good holiday vacationers.

The yellowtail are still showing up off of San Antonio in the 8-11 pound class. They are finicky though. The boils are up and down and they are feeding on small bait. I don’t think that anyone trolling lures is having much luck. I just got a good shipment of smaller Rapalas, so we’ll see if I can turn their heads. I’ve caught a few lately in the boils with smaller lures. Those jigging have been able to have some good luck if you are persistent and find yourself in the right place at the right time.

We tried the Island today and only caught a couple of skipjack. The fishfinder didn’t mark much bait or anything else. The other boat in our area did manage to find a couple of yellowtail, and I heard of one boat finding four earlier in the week. The bonita there and off the point have been missing this past week, as have the sierra. Maybe they are up feeding all night under the moon. Sounds like the inshore action is pretty slow too. Some corvina are being caught though in the right areas on the high tide.

The striped marlin are still hanging off of San Antonio, just outside and even in with the yellowtail. As we headed in today, we saw some birds working and I started to get some lines ready for yellowtail. It turned out to be a school of marlin though and I threw a ballyhoo in as we passed the first fish. After a thirty second follow, it finally took the bait and after a gruelling battle, one of the couples on board was able to tag-team and release a 130 pound fish. The last of the year? They still may hang around for a few more days. I haven’t given up hope on a few dorado hanging out on the sardine schools 20-30 miles to the south either.

On Friday, we headed out 34 miles to catch five nice bull dorado in the 10-18 pound class. We saw a sailfish and had a nice Blue marlin look at our spread. One boat supposedly caught three Blues that day and lost another four. On Saturday, we headed out with great expectations, but the fog came in and the wind kicked up. We caught a small dorado and missed one, and my friend impatiently turned back hearing reports of fish farther in. Coming back in through the mist I saw a boil behind a bait. I jumped down and picked up the rod and got ready for a strike. The line came out of the clip and I fed the line. The fish dropped it but picked it up again. The second time the hook stuck and a nice Blue of 170-180 pounds took a couple of horizontal leaps. We slowed down and I called my friend out of the tower to fight the fish. Then the hook came out. That fish will haunt us all winter long. ‘Till next season, my friend.

Tight lines, Bryan Replogle repsilon@aol.com
Team Margarita Sportfishing, San Carlos Aquatic Adventures

Donde Esta

Where are the Fish?
It was a spectacular week of fishing in San Carlos. The rain rolled through for the first time this year and the fishing turned on. After a break of not getting out much farther than the bay, I was on the water for six days straight. Day One saw us out for six hours, and we caught a couple of small dorado and a small striped marlin. On Day Two we caught a small marlin and a sailfish; on Day Three we had two sailfish; on Day Four we caught a marlin, sailfish, and three small tuna, and on Day Five, two more sailfish and a dorado (before a mishap).

Last weekend San Carlos and the Sonora is Safe group put on the first Hooked on San Carlos Fishing Tournament. Finally we had a tournament with amazing fishing and weather. Sixteen boats caught and released 61 sailfish and marlin and weighed 14 dorado and three tuna. Team D’Becca won overall with nine fish, a weighable dorado, and also won the Sunday jackpot with five released fish.

Team Kryptonite took the Saturday jackpot, second place tuna, and overall billfish releases by catching their first fish thirteen minutes before Team D’Becca. Mary Margaret took overall dorado with 171 pounds of dorado over the 15 pound minimum.
The weather was glass calm both days and the tournament was a complete success. Well, except for our teams’ “mishap”.

Our tournament didn’t start off great, nor did it end great. At the beginning of the day, I had a large sailfish on the line for about 25 minutes. I’ve never had a fish fight so hard, and ten feet from the boat, the hook pulled. Things were looking a little better the second day, and at midday we finally capitalized on a double hook-up to add to our fish. I had the first fish to the boat fast and as the leaderman was attempting to line up his fingers with the camera, he may have taken his eye off the fish. The small sailfish shot up and its bill went straight through the radius and ulna on his forearm — right through. The bill came right out and then the fish proceeded to try to jump in the boat a few more times before he let go of the leader. I cut the fish off before we had gotten the picture, and the other angler lost his fish because he was watching us and his line went slack. We immediately raced all the way home and straight to Rescate. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

The lesson here is to keep your eyes on the fish, keep the boat in gear, and if a fish goes crazy, let go of the leader and back away. Fishing should not be a contact sport!

Semana Santo Fishing

We made it to San Pedro a few days ago for an epic yellowtail bite. The crowds have left but the fish sure haven’t. If you haven’t noticed all the sealife around then you need to get out to the beach. I must have seen five hundred terns in the estuary today screeching as loud as the Semana Santa crowd. They are enjoying their Spring. In between their mating rituals they are finding lots of baitfish to keep their energy up. The bay is full of huge amounts of baby sardines. Expect all the big ones to be right behind this yearly event!ad married a girl from Hermosillo brought his father and brother-in-law along. He lost the first fish to the rocks, but the old man mustered the strength to land the next one. After losing a few more fish, the young guys started winning a few battles. The father lasted for one more fish before the boys started hooking up two at time. I think he won major points with the family! It was great to finally start catching fish jigging. The fish were all around 20 pounds and were readily taking live bait and jigs. Expect a few more great weeks of yellowtail fishing before they begin to spawn on the next full moon. I’ve heard reports of the pangas catching fish up to 50 pounds. They get big in the Spring.
Today’s satellite shots show incredibly warm water on the way. Confirming that are reports of 69-71 degree water out front and pictures of marlin on the surface. A few boats have seen them lately. Expect the dorado to show up in the next few days. They might not be big at first, but they are on their way. I was told of a tuna boat that caught fish up North in cold water, so they too could show very soon. Maybe we’ll have ’summer fishing’ by next week. I know that I’ll be getting ready.
Lots of great inshore action around. Small and larger sierras are around. The small yellowtail have been showing up sporadically at San Antonio. Lots of small skipjack are coming in on the Miramar side of the bay. All the pargo, cabrilla, and other bottomfish should turn up soon. Big grouper will also be coming in shallow to spawn. Get out on the boat to see all the great sealife that shows up this time of year. I saw a nice mako the other day and a huge manta ray at the Island. The whales should be coming by soon too.

Tightlines,
Bryan
repsilon@aol.com