What Fish Are Left If Any?

jerry

Well Known Member
Last Tuesday at the 17st. Market in Tucson Yellowtail was going for 21 bucks a lb! On the brighter side the new concession trailer outside makes a great fish Taco plate for $3.69
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Watching Wild Pacific on HD Theater right now and they just showed the impact of commercial tuna fishing. The net they use is a mile long and they take in 150 tons of tuna in one take. I would assume that happens once a day, how can we keep fishing at this rate and not think we are seriously fking up the ocean? If we weren't so gd greedy we could take 80 tons or 100 tons of fish and leave a little bit to go have lots of sex and create more fish. I wonder if the commercial fishing industry is run by the oil companies?!
 

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
Big or small, kill them all!

Some of what we're currently seeing may be more cyclical than direct overfishing. The 51 has been pretty dead this year compared to years past. Sure, you can catch lots of goldspots and some sheepshead, but the diversity of the catch (snapper, black/white seabass, halibut, yellowtail, sardineros, etc.) hasn't been as strong as in the past. Spring may change that a bit, but it wasn't a very productive fall/winter at the 51. Seemed we ended up going elsewhere on most trips - 53, 43, 44, Witches Hat, etc.

There are still fish there if you're willing to go out and catch them. I'd also say the summer grouper catch on the closer reefs has been as good or better than it's been in ages. Again, plenty of fish there to catch and I suspect this year will also be decent for grouper. There's a 200+ lb. model at the 18 that owes me a new rod. He... will... be... MINE!
 

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
No, I don't. They've got dolphin fish and dorado BOTH listed (same fish) showing different times for them. What's up with that? The first fish on the list, triggers? Year round. Same for rock bass. I can't tell if the gray is the "supposed to be there" or the "not supposed to be there". Grouper is the perfect example; exactly the opposite of when they are really there. We catch them primarily May-Sept. Rest of the year? Very hit or (mostly) miss on the closer reefs.
 

Kenny

Well Known Member
Well there is shark left, and plenty.
Actually the sharks are in real trouble in the Sea of Cortez. It wasn't that long ago when it was not uncommen for a shark to take the better part of a nice fish, and right next your boat. Today you can't hardly catch one if you try.
 

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
True that. Very rare to catch a shark. Every now and then, I luck out on a certain secret reef during a certain time of the year and it's loaded with blacktip reef sharks, which are very good eating. I never keep more than two. Other than that, you're lucky if you occasionally see a stray mako or hammerhead come around the boat once in a great, great while.
 

Kenny

Well Known Member
Some people say that the huge numbers of the smaller ray's is because they are not being preyed on by sharks any longer.
 

azfish

Well Known Member
True that. Very rare to catch a shark. Every now and then, I luck out on a certain secret reef during a certain time of the year and it's loaded with blacktip reef sharks, which are very good eating. I never keep more than two. Other than that, you're lucky if you occasionally see a stray mako or hammerhead come around the boat once in a great, great while.
Black tips are delicious, I have never had the hammer or the mako. I wounder what they taste like?:fish:
 

azfish

Well Known Member
I bought a heavy duty rod and reel, I want to try it out on something big 120lb test. Should be fun.:gofish:
 

jerry

Well Known Member
Some people say that the huge numbers of the smaller ray's is because they are not being preyed on by sharks any longer.
In front of the Mayan Palace i used to see more Rays than anywhere else.....I wonder how many escapees from the timeshare pitch have been nailed while trying to escape by sea?
 

Kenny

Well Known Member
It's been years since I told this story on the old forum, and so I think I'll tell it again.

I was bringing down a native born and breed AZ boy for his first trip to the sea of Cortez and he was seriously afraid of Sharks for some reason (Jaws?) He kept bringing them up, and I told him over and over that the likelihood of even seeing a Shark was slim, not alone getting bit by one; and what he needed to watch out for where we were going (north end of La Pinta) was Sting Ray's. It was June and the north end, except for the rocky shoals, was always thick with them that time of year.. I explained what they looked like, and how to walk when wading. I stomp, and shuffle. Anyway when we got there I started rigging up the poles as he made his way toward the water. I was going to put him on some Bone fish, there's a lot of them up there in the spring, and I wanted to make sure he had some action since he was not a fisherman. I was getting things ready when I hear him yelling my name. I looked up, and saw he had waded out to where the water was about up to his knee's, and that was about 25 yards out in that spot. He then yelled "Hey, what are are these fish that are swimming away from me as I'm walking along, there's lots of them". I yelled back, "what do they look like". He yelled, "There kind of round and flat, and not to big". I knew then there was only one way to get Jim's attention, so as loud as I could I yelled, SHARK!!
 
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jerry

Well Known Member
The guys at the fishcamp South of Santo Tomas say the shrimp fishing has been terrible this year all the way down the coast.No big ones.Another guy told us the shrimp from the farms farther south taste bad.
 
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