shark populations in puerto penasco

Hello folks, i have been fishing rockypoint for years, boat and shore, and have never hooked up anything really big. use to fish daytona florida as a kid and always caught monster fish and shark not too far from shore. first off, are there any sharks in rocky point? captains always say no. i find it hard to believe as we are in the ocean. and can anyone point to who i may contact to go do some shark fishing. thanks for the replies.

Under the "fishing" forum look under the thread you posted at my thread "fishing report August 13th". Will be in Rocky Point Sept 2-5 and we're hoping to head out to Area 51 on my boat and spend one or two nights on it fishing for big fish (hopefully Halibut) including sharks, or do day trips, all depends on the weather. We'll be based out of Safe Harbor. If the weather looks good for all those days and it looks like we can stay overnight on the boat at Area 51 then my buddy and I will probably just head out there ourselves due to space limitations on the boat, but if the weather's iffy and it looks like we're just gonna do day trips you're welcome to come if you're around if you don't mind throwing in a few bucks for fuel. If the weather's iffy and choppy we plan on heading just to Caballo specifically for sharks. Have a 26 foot Chaparral Signature.

Boccaccio5, Sharks, Yes.
Last time I cruised through the port going to Balboa's restaurant we saw hundreds of small sharks (less than 18" long).
I have seen more than a few sharks displayed at the boat launch in Cholla.
Largest one I've seen was a 13-14ft Thresher that came into the shallow water and got caught in Cholla 20+ years ago.

YumaJames said:

Under the "fishing" forum look under the thread you posted at my thread "fishing report August 13th". Will be in Rocky Point Sept 2-5 and we're hoping to head out to Area 51 on my boat and spend one or two nights on it fishing for big fish (hopefully Halibut) including sharks, or do day trips, all depends on the weather. We'll be based out of Safe Harbor. If the weather looks good for all those days and it looks like we can stay overnight on the boat at Area 51 then my buddy and I will probably just head out there ourselves due to space limitations on the boat, but if the weather's iffy and it looks like we're just gonna do day trips you're welcome to come if you're around if you don't mind throwing in a few bucks for fuel. If the weather's iffy and choppy we plan on heading just to Caballo specifically for sharks. Have a 26 foot Chaparral Signature.

thanks for the invite yuma, i should be able to make it. i will def. throw in for fuel and anything else you may need. if you have time call me at 623 204 6365, i live in the phx area but we stay in penasco from may-aug. 1st.

Sounds good Boccaccio5, as it gets closer we'll see what the weather does and figure it out from there. As stated in my previous post if the weather looks real good for all those days my buddy and I will probably just head out ourselves and stay one or two nights on the boat ourselves (sorry, space is kinda limited), but if the weather is good for only one day and it looks like we can only do day trips then we'd love to have you come along. I wrote your phone number down in case you want to take it off the internet. Thanks, James.

Discovery Channel's "Spawn of Jaws" episode. Tracking pregnant Great Whites to the place they choose to give birth, basically our backyard!

dailymotion: x1bth1y

On the way to San Felipe is where some have been tracked.

brokenwave said:

On the way to San Felipe is where some have been tracked.

The green lines are LANDSHARKS!!:D

Sorry Boccaccio5, weather looks good Sept 3-5 so my buddy and I are gonna take off to Area 51 and spend a couple nights on the boat versus doing day trips outta Safe Harbor. Would invite you but space is kinda limited. But if I go out again will let you know. Thanks!

Sorry YumaJames we harvested anything that was left at the 51, you might want to try the 47!

Awesome! Am so jealous, that must've been a fun fight. Can't wait to get out there this week, although the forecast has changed, see what happens…

Great catch!

Shark population in Puerto Penasco...plus one. 12 feet long 5 feet high Hammerhead Shark! Our newest wall-hanging! I love Craigslist!:)

Santo tomas fish camp

Another Mako bites the dust

Tiburones grande........

I had the pleasure to see the biggest shark in my life a few years back. We were doing the beach run North back from Penasco and as we were coming in to El Golfo we saw a pickup truck panga launcher dragging something huge. There were at least a hundred people running out to see what was going on. It was a Great White about fifteen feet long and almost five feet tall at it's belly. The 4WD truck had a rope on it's tail and was having trouble pulling it up the beach. The shark was all wrapped up in a monofilament gill net.

In Penasco I usually clean my fish while drifting at the mouth of the harbor just out from the old RR pier. For several years there was a big boy that lurked in the channel there. The first time I saw him I was sure that he was a bull Sea Lion. The beam of my boat at the stern is over 8 1/2 feet and this guy was much longer than that. What got me thinking was that he never came up for air. So instead of tossing the heads and guts I started dropping them over the side. Well, sure enough it turned out to be a monster shark, light brown in color with a smallish dark head and dark dorsal fin and tail. The girth of this guy was at least four feet. I presume it was a Bull Shark.

Funny thing, in the summer there are always lots of kids that jump from the pier and swim across the channel to the beach on the other side. Makes one wonder just how many have gone missing over the years.

I've scuba dove off of Isla San Jorge at least a hundred times and never seen a shark even when Sea Lions are giving birth and the water is red with blood and afterbirth.

There's a good spot off of Desemboqe were we get some good Dorado and usually after one or two fish some type of large sharks always show up and start taken em off at the gills.

JJ

Number of years ago, in the early 60's actually, cousins, sisters and I, all youngsters, decided to try to walk across Cholla Bay while the tide was out. Well, the tide came back in before we made it, we were first driven into the rocks and started cutting our feet, didn't want to walk in the sand because of sting rays, and the tide was coming in really fast, so we decided to go to deeper water and swim. Parents had talked about seeing a lot of sand sharks and I remember seeing some fishing on the family boat. It was getting dark as we were swimming in, there were about 8 of us and sharks were circling. Being kids no idea of how big they actually were but definitely saw fins circling. Some fishermen saw us out there and pulled us into their boat and brought us in around dusk. No fingers and toes feeding the sharks that day, but I'll never forget it!

I have to admit it, I fear being in the water. I love the water it is a major calming source in my life. It was 2 trips down ago that I finally went out in a panga, Eduardo was a good guy and I trusted Him and the boat and all went well.
I would like to catch and release a shark sometime, but so far havent even seen a glimpse of one... But I am always inshore fishing.
People know how much I love water but ask me why I dont go out on the ocean, I reply thats where the sharks are! Pretty irrational huh. Lol,
I think it has a lot to do with being a Jaws baby. Saw it at the drive inn as a child, even swimming in the lake evokes feelings of some unseen thing dragging me under and chewing me up. I will go back out on the water in Pp but there is always that , dun dun dun dun thing playing in the back of my mind lol.

so if something pulled your leg under water, you'd leave the old brown cloud and the shark would say, yuck he taste like shit. Lol I know kind of early for this

LOL, that's funny.
In an episode of family guy Peter is training Chris by having him swim upstream with the Salmon. A bear grabs him and Peter tells him to soil himself like they practiced so the bear will let him go.....
Very OT but I am easily distracted lol.

Hillbeartoe said:

People know how much I love water but ask me why I dont go out on the ocean, I reply thats where the sharks are! Pretty irrational huh. Lol,
.

If the Maker wanted us to swim he would have given us gills.
If the maker wanted us to fly, he would have given us wings.

Roberto said:

If the Maker wanted us to swim he would have given us gills.
If the maker wanted us to fly, he would have given us wings.

Kinda wonder why we are here now?:(

LOL. Morning Robert O. I will be down there in 2 days.

I grew up in Kailua Oahu. We heard about a lot of sharks in the bay and also in Kaneohe Bay. Actually a guy in my high school was spear fishing off Kailua Beach and got killed by one. We were diving off the boat in Kanohe one day and I looked up and saw one pass over head. I sure he was 50 feet long. I didn't even use the ladder to get into the boat. I understand your healthy respect for Sharks.
The last time we went diving out of Cancun, they had a guy on top of the dive boat with a rifle, not to shoot sharks but to warn us if there were any in the area. That was the day I decided I was told old for that kind of excitement. We use to dive at San Carlos and never saw any but we stayed close in.

Jungle Jim said:

Tiburones grande........

I've scuba dove off of Isla San Jorge at least a hundred times and never seen a shark even when Sea Lions are giving birth and the water is red with blood and afterbirth.

Before I had my own boat, I'd often do panga charters. We took one out of San Jorge many years back because it's a short ride out to the island from there (but a REAL PAIN in the ass launching and recovering because it's so shallow there and the tides have to be right). Just an old man and his young son, myself and wife, and a beat up old panga. We were happily catching triggers and sand bass of the north end of the island. The kid cut a head off a sand bass and put it on a hand line. He gets a bite and slowly starts pulling up something on the handline, very gently, while talking excitedly to papa. Within a couple of minutes, up pops a great white next to the panga, about 12-14 ft. long. It bumped the panga a time or two and gave a sharky look and toothy grin before deciding it was bored, threw its head and cut the kid's 300 lb. mono handline like butter, and swam off into the depths.

Old story, but they ARE out there. We see makos out further on a fairly regular basis, but that was the only great white I've ever seen in the area. In the fall, the sharks seem to school up on certain reefs. Mostly blacktips. Caught a rather large model a couple years ago and Shawno hooked into several on a recent trip, same species. Where they go the rest of the year is beyond me, but when they are schooled up, the smaller blacktips will hook up on our rigs two at a time. Mostly, we release them, but the best fish tacos you'll ever eat are made with tiburon.

Also - on your comment about a shark near the harbor. A few years back there was a small whale shark that was hanging out near the entrance to the harbor. Small is a relative term when it comes to whale sharks. We'd see him regularly when we launched.

And, if anybody had ever told me I'd see killer whales in Rocky Point, I would have told them they drank too much tequila. However, we were fortunate enough to encounter a small family pod on our way out to the 51 and get pictures of them a couple of years ago. I had seen them previously in San Carlos, but never that far north.

Stuart said:

And, if anybody had ever told me I'd see killer whales in Rocky Point, I would have told them they drank too much tequila. However, we were fortunate enough to encounter a small family pod on our way out to the 51 and get pictures of them a couple of years ago. I had seen them previously in San Carlos, but never that far north.

Stuart - do you still have those pictures you can post?

Stuart said:

And, if anybody had ever told me I'd see killer whales in Rocky Point, I would have told them they drank too much tequila. However, we were fortunate enough to encounter a small family pod on our way out to the 51 and get pictures of them a couple of years ago. I had seen them previously in San Carlos, but never that far north.

Well I hate to bring the news to you, but 2 or 3 summers ago me and the whole family seen 2 black and white orca's shamoo's off Las Conchas beach. The family was in the shallows playing and I was out real far snorkeling and spear fishing, when the wife started yelling at me to get out. Soon as I seen them I was walking on water to the shore.

I to didn't think they would be there, but we seen them. I've seen seals and dolphins on the same beach too. I haven't seen sharks yet.

Stuart said:

Before I had my own boat, I'd often do panga charters. We took one out of San Jorge many years back because it's a short ride out to the island from there (but a REAL PAIN in the ass launching and recovering because it's so shallow there and the tides have to be right). Just an old man and his young son, myself and wife, and a beat up old panga. We were happily catching triggers and sand bass of the north end of the island. The kid cut a head off a sand bass and put it on a hand line. He gets a bite and slowly starts pulling up something on the handline, very gently, while talking excitedly to papa. Within a couple of minutes, up pops a great white next to the panga, about 12-14 ft. long. It bumped the panga a time or two and gave a sharky look and toothy grin before deciding it was bored, threw its head and cut the kid's 300 lb. mono handline like butter, and swam off into the depths.

Old story, but they ARE out there. We see makos out further on a fairly regular basis, but that was the only great white I've ever seen in the area. In the fall, the sharks seem to school up on certain reefs. Mostly blacktips. Caught a rather large model a couple years ago and Shawno hooked into several on a recent trip, same species. Where they go the rest of the year is beyond me, but when they are schooled up, the smaller blacktips will hook up on our rigs two at a time. Mostly, we release them, but the best fish tacos you'll ever eat are made with tiburon.

Also - on your comment about a shark near the harbor. A few years back there was a small whale shark that was hanging out near the entrance to the harbor. Small is a relative term when it comes to whale sharks. We'd see him regularly when we launched.

And, if anybody had ever told me I'd see killer whales in Rocky Point, I would have told them they drank too much tequila. However, we were fortunate enough to encounter a small family pod on our way out to the 51 and get pictures of them a couple of years ago. I had seen them previously in San Carlos, but never that far north.

Regardless of who you like or get along with on this forum or what your OPINION is of the home port, this is why we all come here! For information like this, personal accounts, secondary information so that we can stay as informed as possible. Some may see Stuarts post as inflammatory. I doubt Del Mar Charters would like Stuart telling the forum that he's personally seen a great white in the same water that they are paid to take clients snorkling and swimming. However, this is why we are here. Thank you to posters like Stuart, Russ and Jerry. I think when one assesses risk, one must have a general understanding of probability to make a rational conclusion. Apparently swimming at Bird Island must be really really safe because I can not remember a time when something has happened out there besides boats catching on fire and the occasional heart attack while swimming. Love the forum and love you all. Happy Holidays!!!

I've swam/snorkeled at Bird Island. Would do it again. When it's your time to go - it's your time to go. At least I'll be doing something I love!

Heard a rumor from a good source that a large number of sharks have been spotted from Bahia de Kino and Lobos to Santo Thomas. Bumping pangas and stuff. Local pangeros are being very cautious. There is a local legend among the fisherfolk that the sharks gather and get aggressive every 10 years or so along this coast. They don't seem to get further north.

Jacques Cousteau has the famous video of the hammerheads schooling by the hundreds, if not thousands in El Mar De Cortes not far from there. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find it yet.

The Shark population is in real trouble in the Sea of Cortez for the obvious reasons.
When I was a kid and young man fishing out of Cholla Bay Sharks were common right off shore and they often would take the better half of the best fish of the day. They were looked at as a nuisance and more than a few fisherman would carry guns to shoot them in the head before they were released.

Found this. Looks like a must see: https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KIo9jay6FUiFwAb9X7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTByZWc0dGJtBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMQ--?p=jacques+cousteau+hammerheads+gulf+of+california&vid=b2d49f49b67bce7dfc022d7fafd0acb8&l=3%3A06&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.608047106137129692%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F105140065&tit=The+Sea+%3Cb%3Eof+%3C%2Fb%3ECortez+-+Teaser+1&c=0&sigr=10qoo2tss&sigt=113l3ejql&age=0&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av%2Cm%3Asa&fr=yfp-t-901-s&tt=b

When we troll the weed and current lines for Dorado we almost always see leaping Mako Sharks. When we stop and idle to reel in a fish out there we will often have Black Tip Sharks come up to the boat and check out and even bite my left side counter rotating Yami 115 four stroke, they have no interest in the right side prop. I once got a prop fouled up on an abandoned long line out there that had a dead Black Tip on almost every hook. I've got a feeling that the tons of collateral kill off of every shrimp boat feeds a very large unnatural population of several species of offshore sharks, not to mention pelicans and boobies.

JJ

mis2810 said:

Found this. Looks like a must see: https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KIo9jay6FUiFwAb9X7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTByZWc0dGJtBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMQ--?p=jacques cousteau hammerheads gulf of california&vid=b2d49f49b67bce7dfc022d7fafd0acb8&l=3:06&turl=http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=VN.608047106137129692&pid=15.1&rurl=http://vimeo.com/105140065&tit=The Sea <b>of </b>Cortez - Teaser 1&c=0&sigr=10qoo2tss&sigt=113l3ejql&age=0&fr2=p:s,v:v,m:sa&fr=yfp-t-901-s&tt=b

Looks very interesting. The video looked very high quality.

Jungle Jim said:

When we troll the weed and current lines for Dorado we almost always see leaping Mako Sharks. When we stop and idle to reel in a fish out there we will often have Black Tip Sharks come up to the boat and check out and even bite my left side counter rotating Yami 115 four stroke, they have no interest in the right side prop. I once got a prop fouled up on an abandoned long line out there that had a dead Black Tip on almost every hook. I've got a feeling that the tons of collateral kill off of every shrimp boat feeds a very large unnatural population of several species of offshore sharks, not to mention pelicans and boobies.

JJ

How incredibly sad to read a first hand account of such negligent waste.

mis2810 said:

Stuart - do you still have those pictures you can post?

I'll search and see if I have them to post. I keep telling myself that one of these days I'm going to get all my 1000's of pictures organized and such. Uh-huh. o_O

JimMcG said:

How incredibly sad to read a first hand account of such negligent waste.

Long-lines are incredible killing machines for all kinds of sea-life. Fishing out of San Carlos in the summer, you'd encounter a maze of damned long lines as you went further out -- all illegal, all not marked worth a damn, and all of them fishing for dorado, but catching marlin, sailfish and turtles, as well. With no enforcement, who's to stop them? The biggest problem comes because they are not well-marked and as mentioned above, it's easy to run over one, foul a prop or cut it, and what was one now becomes two, becomes four, etc. individual killing machines that will not be found by the panga that set the line and will drift and catch and kill more sea life. Myself and other San Carlos sportfishers have no qualms about releasing turtles we find on long lines, whether the line is being tended by a panga or not. It's resulted in a few confrontations. Even though catching/selling sea turtles is illegal, it's a big pay day for a panga fisherman to sell a live one on the black market.

Jungle Jim said:

When we stop and idle to reel in a fish out there we will often have Black Tip Sharks come up to the boat and check out and even bite my left side counter rotating Yami 115 four stroke, they have no interest in the right side prop.

JJ

Interesting, huh? Only the port side prop. I've seen similar things and have always surmised that it has to do more with where and how your boat is discharging electrical current into the water. Sharks (in particular) are very sensitive to and key on electrical current in the water. Your port anodes probably wear out faster than your starboard ones. I've noticed that my port and starboard anodes wear at different rates. They both wear down from electrolysis, but one always more than the other.

fyi; do not think there is any evidence that a human has been hurt in the Wild by Orcas, they are dolphins.
Only have Man caged Orcas have hurt or Killed humans.

This is basically a true statement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale_attacks_on_humans

What's not often understood though is that what orcas eat is based on what family they are born into. There are two basic families -- one that eats mammals (sea lions, otters and such) and one that only eats fish (salmon, squid, and such). They learn to eat whatever their parents eat and there really isn't any crossover between the two families. The Shamus of the world are all from fish eating pods.

Stuart...

I just went out to take a look at my anodes and the port side outboard is in fact missing 50% more lead than the starboard side. My last boat was a Scout center console with a single Yami 250. I used to fish out of San Diego before Kalifornica became a Communist country. Whenever we stopped at a kelp paddy for Yellowtail within minutes Blue Sharks would show up and start biting at the prop. They never bothered the fish as we brought them in.

By the way, are you the "Stuart" that used to write up your adventures in Gene Kira's MEXFISH.COM?

JJ

Jungle Jim said:

By the way, are you the "Stuart" that used to write up your adventures in Gene Kira's MEXFISH.COM?

JJ

That would be me. I still have great adventures, just not as many or as often as I used to. :D

Gene and I used to be running buddies all over the Gulf of California. I introduced him to Puerto Penasco and the fishing scene there. We took the Panga Mothership trips out of San Felipe and got to hit almost every island from the Mid Riff up. Loads of the fish ID photos on MEXFISH.COM are mine and as I recall yours too. We always had a blue Jointed Rebel Fast Track trailing on the stern of every boat we were on. So where do you live now? I'm in Yuma. I've got my boat out of mothballs and getting it ready for the March Leopard Grouper spawn.

JJ

Oh wow, very cool stuff guys. Many a night do I drift off reading from A to Z or Z to A the Mexfish list of fish... still working on catching more than just the Triggers and Sand bass lol.

Wahoo said:

Incredible Sea of Cortez;

fyi; do not think there is any evidence that a human has been hurt in the Wild by Orcas, they are dolphins.
Only have Man caged Orcas have hurt or Killed humans.

Thats good to know. Watch video.

AZRob said:

Thats good to know. Watch video.

Hahahaha! That video has been making the rounds lately. Watch it slowly and closely. The whale is chasing a small seal. You can clearly see it jump out of the water briefly just by the boy. The whale appears to knock the boy down and go over him, not eat him. Even if the whale DID actually get a bite of the boy, it certainly wasn't an "attack." Kid was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Killer whales don't have good brakes, yanno?

That's given that the video is even for real and not spliced together. Note the hysterical screaming and horror show music in the audio added for special effect. If this whale had actually attacked the kid deliberately on the beach, it would have been on every news broadcast in the country for days. Think about it.

This is actually a "viral" video that was circulated via Youtube, social networks and email. The video apparently shows a man grabbed and taken by a killer whale while he was walking along a beach. It is not real footage and the man was not at all eaten by the killer whale. In fact, the video is a TV ad promotion for La Sirena, a retail chain in Dominican Republic.

The ad at the end of the video says "No todos los lapices dan suerte solo el lapiz la suerte de La Sirena" which, in English means "Not all pencils give you luck, just the pencil "La Suerte" from la Sirena".

Jungle Jim said:

Gene and I used to be running buddies all over the Gulf of California. I introduced him to Puerto Penasco and the fishing scene there. We took the Panga Mothership trips out of San Felipe and got to hit almost every island from the Mid Riff up. Loads of the fish ID photos on MEXFISH.COM are mine and as I recall yours too. We always had a blue Jointed Rebel Fast Track trailing on the stern of every boat we were on. So where do you live now? I'm in Yuma. I've got my boat out of mothballs and getting it ready for the March Leopard Grouper spawn.

JJ

I live in Tempe. My boat's currently up here at home and if/when I get some time, for routine maintenance. I usually leave it stored down in Penasco because I hate towing the big beast around. And even though I hate doing so, I'll probably fill it here and tow it down there full because gas is so cheap right now. Last trip in the fall and gas was over $4.00 a gallon in Penasco! The $1.95 at Costco is a real bargain.

I haven't talked with Gene in ages, it seems. But, you couldn't find another soul out there that cared more for the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, and its fish. He inspired me in so many ways over the years. I still break out my Baja Catch and get an adrenaline rush just reading about some of the places I've been and have yet to go.

We'll have to see if we can hook up for an adventure this spring.

Looks like the whale knock him down right into his choppers and out to sea. This is an older video, look at the guys swim shorts, hair style way out dates and the quality of the camera, it probably was on the news when it happened, just everyone for got about it. I see the seals and yes wrong place wrong time, but still guy became a snack.

Well there is only one way to find out the truth. Can we have a volunteer from the forum.

Kenny said:

This is actually a "viral" video that was circulated via Youtube, social networks and email. The video apparently shows a man grabbed and taken by a killer whale while he was walking along a beach. It is not real footage and the man was not at all eaten by the killer whale. In fact, the video is a TV ad promotion for La Sirena, a retail chain in Dominican Republic.

The ad at the end of the video says "No todos los lapices dan suerte solo el lapiz la suerte de La Sirena" which, in English means "Not all pencils give you luck, just the pencil "La Suerte" from la Sirena".
And..Origins: The video clip linked above does not capture an innocent beachgoer being snatched by a killer whale. As indicated by the graphic overlay, it's a television commercial created for the Dominican Republic-based chain of La Sirena retail stores. The wording of the caption, "No todos los lápices dan suerte, sólo el lápiz la suerte de La Sirena," roughly translates as "Not all pencils give you luck, only the Lucky Pencil from La Sirena." The mention of a lucky pencil references one of La Sirena's earlier campaigns, a back-to-school promotion featuring a Lucky Pencil that offered consumers the chance to "aprende un mundo" (i.e., learn the world) through winning prizes such as laptops, cameras, iPads, and vacation trips. Read more at http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/killerwhale.asp#x58jPzrcBdKtRcLr.99

Maybe he was yelling for a pencil to stab an eye out.

OK, now you see it.;)

Mid Winter Meat Run....

Thought this story might warm your guys up as we sit through this freakin azz cold Arizona New Years Eve....

Seven years ago to the day tomorrow I was rigged and ready to prove to myself and and anyone else that fish can be caught on any day in the Gulf of California.

I'm sure that everyone has read about "chummin" and the chum buckets that the guys on the east coast rig up. I've used the blood and guts trails off of San Diego to bring in Mako's but it has never worked out of RP. So I came up with a plan that took six months to mastermind. I started saving every bit of leftover marine animal body parts that I could get hold of. This included fish heads and guts, the left over inedibles from Pearl Oysters, Giant Pen Shells, smelly old squid etc. By December I had two of those five gallon plastic "Homer" buckets full and frozen with the stinking mess. Earlier in the year I found one of those old timey hand operated meat grinders and bolted it to one of those gunnel rod holder fish cleaning tables.

That 2007 New Years Day was just like today, cold and dreary. We forced ourselves outa bed, launched the boat at the ramp in the Old Port and took off for Isla San Jorge. The Sea was flat and we made it there in record time. There is a long rocky reef that runs South from the island and we anchored on it. I tossed a few bits of iron down with no success. So now was the time for "Mr. Chum Grinder". It was slack tide and I was grindin away and through the greasy brown cloud I could see fish commin up from the depths. We got out some lightweight spinning outfits and just dropped em below the boat. Instant action! Every drop got a trigger, cabrilla or lizard fish. Pretty soon we started seeing some big boys cruzin in for the action. I upgraded our gear to heavier spinnin outfits and midsized chrome spoons and on the first drop got a five pound Yellowtail. Within a few minutes we had a dozen Yellowtail on the deck and my wife starts yelling about something that was too big for her to handle. I take over and haul in the biggest Sierra that I had ever seen. It was about forty inches long, about twelve pounds and had no gold spots on the sides. As it turns out, after a consult late with Gene Kira we determine that the fish and ten more just like it were the Monterrey Sierra.

That day we brought in over one hundred fish in a matter of a few hours. Also, the trip home was one on the coldest and wettest ever. We had to stop a few miles north of the Island and put on wetsuits to make it back through eight foot swells to the harbor.

JJ