shark populations in puerto penasco

marybna

Guest
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.
 

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
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.
 
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mis2810

Guest
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?
 

AZRob

Guest
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.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
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!!!
 

mis2810

Guest
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!
 

Roberto

Guest
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.
 
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JimMcG

Guest
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.
 

Kenny

Guest
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.
 
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
 

JimMcG

Guest
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.
 

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
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.
 

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
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.
 

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
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
 
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