CBSC Fishing Derby 18

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
It's that time of the year again. Time for the annual Cholla Bay Sportsmen's Club fishing derby. First weekend is next weekend and hoping the wind will die down a little. I was able to get the jet ski down to CB twice in March for Spring Break although I can't say that I truly fished too hard. It was more of a shakedown run but had a good time with no real issues at all. I have since upgraded my fish finder system with a new Garmin Striker 4 color graph with GPS and waypoint navigation with CHIRP sonar for better clarity. I can honestly say this FF is the best one I've personally ever owned. The detail of the sonar is much better. I have also gotten my hands on some MARKS that I would like to hit for the fishing derby given the sea conditions permit. During my first two trips in March I ran the ski out of CB all the way over near PDO which is almost 10 miles one way. Most of the marks that I obtained are in the 5-8 mile range with some as close as 2.5-3 miles. I have VHF on board so I believe this is the time to go for it weather permitting.






Maybe the PROS can chime in to let me know if those marks will produce anything decent.

Until then tight lines!


ChollaBay4Life
 

Jungle Jim

Well Known Member
Xelente Joe!

Question, on the lower map is the word "BAHIA" just below the red house icon. There is a spot located at the lower left of the letter "B". Did you happen to get the numbers on that spot? If so that spot is known as "EL PRODUSOR" it's a hot one. I lost it when my GPS went tits up last year. Maybe not a good idea to make it public. Can you call me if you do in fact have it? 800-494-5597. I'll be down this weekend for three or four days. Maybe we could meet and I'll trade it for some secrets. Maybe JJ's?

Bloody decks!

JJ
 
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Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Xelente Joe!

Question, on the lower map is the word "BAHIA" just below the red house icon. There is a spot located at the lower left of the letter "B". Did you happen to get the numbers on that spot? If so that spot is known as "EL PRODUSOR" it's a hot one. I lost it when my GPS went tits up last year. Maybe not a good idea to make it public. Can you call me if you do in fact have it? 800-494-5597. I'll be down this weekend for three or four days. Maybe we could meet and I'll trade it for some secrets. Maybe JJ's?

Bloody decks!

JJ

PM sent!
 

Jungle Jim

Well Known Member
Weird...........

I took a quick look at your PM, went to your dolphins video then back to print a copy the marks and it's gone!

Is there a one time only view app for certain posts on this site?

Can you PM it to me again?

Anyways, 'EL PRODUSOR" is a solitary rock pile. One huge boulder with the base piled up with smaller VW Bug sized and smaller rocks. Super Grouper showed it to me twenty five or more years ago. We were going to use it as a scuba dive spot since it's close to PP and fairly deep. I always had good luck there loading up with the delicious Purple Lipped Rock Scallops. Did a dive there once in March and was blown away by the numbers of Sardineros (Leopard Groupers). There were fifty or sixty adults in the fifteen to twenty pound range slowly circling the rock heap, some of the golden phase as well. Got back to into my boat and did a slow troll with the Rebel Deep Diving Jointed Spoonbills and got a fish on every pass!

The grouper sex fest is only in the spring, probably over by now but even in summer I could get a few Yellowtail off of it.

At high tide the barren sand bottom out there is around forty five or fifty feet deep. Mostly way too deep for trolling deep diving lures. I wait till low tide to do my killing. Then the top of the rock is around sixteen feet deep which is perfect for a high speed pass.

I have a rig that I designed using one of those yellow foam kids pool noodles on a plastic reel with a lead weight at the end. I drop it on the spot with the noodle sticking up three or four feet then make passes with the boat. One day a few years ago I got twenty six Sardineros off of that rock in less than two hours!

Anyway, you know my hood down there in Miramar. Buzz me on my cell at 928-941-0344 from Friday afternoon on. I'll buy you a couple of TKT Lites at JJ's whilst chowing down some fish tacos.

JJ
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Weird...........

I took a quick look at your PM, went to your dolphins video then back to print a copy the marks and it's gone!

Is there a one time only view app for certain posts on this site?

Can you PM it to me again?

Anyways, 'EL PRODUSOR" is a solitary rock pile. One huge boulder with the base piled up with smaller VW Bug sized and smaller rocks. Super Grouper showed it to me twenty five or more years ago. We were going to use it as a scuba dive spot since it's close to PP and fairly deep. I always had good luck there loading up with the delicious Purple Lipped Rock Scallops. Did a dive there once in March and was blown away by the numbers of Sardineros (Leopard Groupers). There were fifty or sixty adults in the fifteen to twenty pound range slowly circling the rock heap, some of the golden phase as well. Got back to into my boat and did a slow troll with the Rebel Deep Diving Jointed Spoonbills and got a fish on every pass!

The grouper sex fest is only in the spring, probably over by now but even in summer I could get a few Yellowtail off of it.

At high tide the barren sand bottom out there is around forty five or fifty feet deep. Mostly way too deep for trolling deep diving lures. I wait till low tide to do my killing. Then the top of the rock is around sixteen feet deep which is perfect for a high speed pass.

I have a rig that I designed using one of those yellow foam kids pool noodles on a plastic reel with a lead weight at the end. I drop it on the spot with the noodle sticking up three or four feet then make passes with the boat. One day a few years ago I got twenty six Sardineros off of that rock in less than two hours!

Anyway, you know my hood down there in Miramar. Buzz me on my cell at 928-941-0344 from Friday afternoon on. I'll buy you a couple of TKT Lites at JJ's whilst chowing down some fish tacos.

JJ
Funny you should say that because I had a few private conversations that have since disappeared from my inbox ... Not sure why. I'll shoot you a text with the Produsor mark coordinate. Coincidentally the tide will be falling all morning until early afternoon both Saturday and Sunday this weekend... Maybe that spot will produce my first real jet ski fish that I can be proud of and get my name on the leader board for the derby .. Last 3 years for the derby I've laid an egg... #sad
 

Jungle Jim

Well Known Member
So Joe.................

Where do you plan on stowing all of those groupers on your tricked out water scooter?

I don't have a device that can receive a text. I'll be seeing you this weekend anyways.

JJ
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
So Joe.................

Where do you plan on stowing all of those groupers on your tricked out water scooter?

I don't have a device that can receive a text. I'll be seeing you this weekend anyways.

JJ

I have a pretty big cooler on the back of the ski that could fit something up to 25 or 30 inches but DEPENDE on what we're talking about here I might have to strap it to the lid or bear hug it the whole way in.... or drag it in like old man and the sea... Shit if I get something decent and get some good pictures I'd be cool with that. JJ, you got me jonesing with this El Produsor rock... Wish it was Saturday morning already.

Tide is fairly slack.... 2.5m and falling from 5am to 1145am. That sounds like what you're describing. Head out early and bottom fish and then troll some plugs when it's close to low tide. Fish the tide turn and then head in around 2pm...
 

Jungle Jim

Well Known Member
So Joe........................

I will be launching from Safe Marina around ten-ish in the AM on Saturday. I'll be messing around out there for awhile pushing my just freshly overhauled Yammies to their limits with the intent of eventually parking on the El Produsor spot. I did finally get the numbers off of your original PM and plugged them into my GPS a few hours ago. I really doubt there will be any other boats out there but you can't miss my cream colored plastic hull twin screw Sea Pro "Hammer Time" with a T-top and twenty plus fishing rods and various antennas bristling from it. I keep my radio on channel 16 as it's the Safe Marina talk spot.

I usually stay out there until late afternoon and pick off a few more fish on the "afternoon bite" and pull back into the harbor just as the sunset cruizers are heading out.

I'll let you follow me along the La Cholla cliffs and underwater rock heaps where plenty of smaller Broomtail, Leopard and Baya groupers hang out. It's not that unusual to get a hefty White Sea Bass along there with the right lure. If Saturday's shakedown plays out without any negativos, I'll be heading to Saint George Island on Sunday morning for a Sierra and Yellowtail kill, AKA: MEAT RUN!

Still need your cell number.

Tight lines and crimson red blood billowing from your scuppers................

JJ
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
CBSC Derby 18 Update: First weekend was a success although the wind report was a bit off. Unfortunately got a late start Saturday morning and didn't actually get on the water until about 930am. Went out to the Produsor rock that JJ informed me of. GPS took us right to the location and surprise there was already a marker buoy setup and a panga fishing the rock so I knew we were in the right spot. The drift was about 1mph. We made a few drifts with nothing. On another drift I thought I had a hookup because it didn't like bottom and the line came free momentarily but then hooked up again. Couldn't stay if I somehow snagged the bottom or had a hook up. Made numerous drifts without hooking the bottom so not entirely sure. I had to cut off unfortunately. The deck hand MI NOVIA EX had fun catching some rock bass and a decent trigger with a bait rig that I had made and tied up on the bait rod. We headed over to Wrecked to check that out and anchor and eat some lunch but around 1pm the wind picked up and the ride back to Cholla Bay was fun.... 3 foot swells as the jet ski would ride up and submarine the next wave, 4 mph the whole way back to Pelican Point and I must be a real P#$$y because even though it was close to 80 and fairly sunny those waves crashing over the jet ski I was cold as shit. Got back to Cholla Bay and called it a day. Had a fantastic dinner at Al Capones. I've always enjoyed Capones for their seafood not so much the pizza but this weekend we had some elite raw fish. Tuna Tatari and Yellowtail Carpacho was ELITE omg! Wen't out Sunday morning again around 9am and this time we hit the rocks that are more West, North West of Cholla Bay maybe 275 280 heading. The Garmin app has it listed as Roca del Toro. Roughly 5 miles out we again pulled up to 3 pangas anchored hooka diving so again I figured we were in a decent spot. Starting marking color and immediately dropped down for the first pass with no success. Second pass I hooked up with a decent for my standards approximately 8-10 pound Pinto Bass. I was super stoked. First real fish on the jet ski and now it has given me confidence to hit some of these other rocks and I know putting in work in the future will yield results so I couldn't have been more excited. I was out there yelling like a little kid it was so much fun. Hooked it with a 4oz jig head on a bare rootbeer scampi tail the big version from Phoenix Fishing Supply... Not sure what size the scampi tail is but it's the big boy LOL. Need to stock up on more of those.... Shortly after hooking up the wind starting picking up which seemed to be really early from what the wind report was showing. Wind wasn't supposed to pick up until 1 or 2pm but by 1030am it was again getting decently rough for a jet ski. Not so much sitting out there but just knowing the ride in was going to be WET again. We headed back in to Cholla Bay for lunch and then just tooled around in the bay and Tucson beach area for a while before finally calling it a day around 3pm. Left Rocky Point about 5pm and got to the border at 6pm with a 35 minute wait and we were home exactly at 930 pm to Central Phoenix. Cleaned the fish and had fresh Pinto the next night for dinner and it was amazing!!!! YES YES I KNOW IM A BABY KILLER so sue me! I put in too much work to not get a good dinner out of it.











ChollaBay4Life
 

Jungle Jim

Well Known Member
X-E-LENTE!

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

I saw the wind "predictions" as well, that and making mucho dinero last Friday is why I decided not to make the haul down South.

Nice fish! Pinto's are especially tasty filleted out and deep fried to a crisp in a beer batter with a fresh bowl of homemade guack-mole-ee and corn tortilla strips fried along with the fish. A bowl of re-fried free-jollies and a half dozen TKT's make a real meal.

Glad you found El Producor, that spot will certainly pay off for you in the future. Those panga guys are usually just hand lining for Cochies and Cabrillas for the hole in the wall greasy spoons at the malecon. You can still have good luck pulling DEEP diving spoons alongside them. If it's shallow enough and your speed is right you will want your lure to bounce off the bottom every now and then. I love to pull up a big Sardinero just ten feet from their boats especially after they have probably been dipping their lines out there since daybreak. Those guys usually quit in the early afternoon and you will have the rock pile to yourself.

As for the hooka boats, all they are doing is collecting those big round flat glossy white clams that you see drowning in the foul water filled trays at the malecon. The sandy bottom out there is covered with them. I've collected sack fulls of them on Scuba on many occasions. They are delicious sauteed in butter then dumped over a pile of steaming pasta covered with that creamy Bertolli Alfredo Sauce.

Give those guys a break when trolling up close to them. The last thing they need is to get their air hose snagged by a high speed lure dangling two or three big treble hooks!

If and when we can get together in person I'll show you some floating type, deep (18 to 20 feet) diving spoons that will not get snagged on the rocks at high speed (6 to 10 knots). The midwater Sierras and Yellowtail can't resist them and if you pull one past Senior Sardinero with his head poking out of his hi-dee hole he'll rip out and hit it so hard you'll think you just caught a boulder.

Later,

JJ
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Cholla Bay Sportsmen's Club Derby 18 Weekend 2: Well, after holding out hope that the wind would hold off enough to get out there it's starting to look like a no go. Can anyone else weigh in with a wind report for this weekend? Buoy weather perhaps?Windfinder.com has made 20 corrections over last few days and now it shows the wind absolutely NUKING Friday Saturday and most of Sunday... Gusting 30-35 Friday, Saturday sustained 20 gusting 30 and Sunday similar... I've have seen other reports on weather channel and wunderground Sonoran Sky link that say 10-15 out of the South Saturday and Sunday... This wind is playing with my emotions, it's like being in a bad relationship. What do you guys think? I'm jonesing to get back out on the water to a few of those spots!

https://www.windfinder.com/forecast/bahia-la-choya
 

brokenwave

Well Known Member
Joe, I find weather forecasts pretty ?? more than 5-7 days out. Other than in the here in the desert "it's going to be hot", May-Sept. Friday looks windy but later Sat and Sunday might work.
 

Jungle Jim

Well Known Member
Hey Joe.......

I've been sitting it out now for going on three weeks. Boat's geared and gassed up. The F-350 is topped off and ready to roll. Look at www.windy.com for a fairly good forecast of what to expect. It does not look good, as they are predicting the same of thirty mph and above gusts. I'll make my decision this Thursday nite. Really got some seriously bad cabin fever going on here. Might just do a Ford Raptor rumble in order to get some fresh beach air. Maybe do a Salinas Point run on Saturday to spot a few more Vaquitas Muertos on the beach. If their fresh enough and still bloody, I'll steak em out and seal em up with my Food Saver for a "soon to be extinct animal barbie" celebration. Might be some big waves slamming down on that beach.

Every day now I get in the boat and fire up the electronics then dial in "Producer" on the GPS. It farts around for a few seconds then points me a 75 mile bee-line straight to the rockpile.

JJ
 

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
Blow for three days, calm for one. Rinse, lather, repeat.

Have seen whole springs go that pattern. Sux big time when ya got the bug to be out there pulling on some fish.
 

brokenwave

Well Known Member
The wind forecast has changed a lot in 12 hours time with Fri-Sun looking, "No Bueno". Have to look again on Thursday to see how much it's changed. Compared to WU, Windy.com is a better site to get wind forecast info from.
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