| Offshore Sail Report
Sea of Cortez
October 13th, 2009
Report by 'HWK' |
We arrived at Rancho Leonero on Tuesday the 13th around noon, and
settled in for 2 weeks of fishing and snorkeling. The wedding took its toll
on us and we were looking forward to relaxing and getting some rest.
While we were down on the beach fishing the staff set up a romantic
candle light dinner for the 2 of us on our patio that was absolutely wonderful.
As they were bringing the salads, free roaming horses walked up and hung
out which was very entertaining. Halfway through dinner a rain shower came
thru to add to the mood, our first night at Rancho could not have turned
out better.
The next morning we woke up early to watch the sunrise and to fish
a little. The conditions were not looking good with sandy water and high
winds. The ladyfish were cruising close in and we managed to land a few with
the occasional needlefish mixed in.
Gia had a made a new friend that followed her up and down the
beach waiting on a free meal.
The rest of the day was spent swimming, fishing and taking naps. After
talking to Paco, the charter manager we decided to book a panga and head
out in the morning and see how the inshore fishing was. At 7am we get to
a spot a mile or 2 in front of the lodge and find the locals catching Humboldt
squid. We quickly drop squid jigs and are rewarded with a mid size Humboldt.
After tugging on a few Humboldt’s, we throw out the jigs and
start trolling for dorado. The action was non-stop and we are able to locate
them with the jigs and cast swim baits to them. The 140 tailwalk gunz in
black was irresistible to the small dorado and we quickly have our limit.
That afternoon the wind picked up to 20/25, and were glad we came
in early for lunch. Our good friends from California Geoff and his father
George showed up, and we relaxed at the bar with some amazing guacamole and
cold beer.
The next morning we went back out on a panga, and ran down past the
light house looking for tuna.
A boat across from us managed to catch a small yellowfin, but as luck
would have it we never hooked up. Before heading out jigs were dropped and
a few triggers and others were caught.
After fishing for an hour or so the wind started to pick back up and
were forced to head back in the growing seas. By the time we made it around
the corner the swells were 6 and 8ft, and the 30 minute ride out turned into
a wet 3 and a half hour ride back. Exhausted and beat to hell we showered
and head to the bar for a much needed cold beer and guacamole.
With the wind picking up in the afternoons we decided to take the
day off and just hang out and snorkel and get in some kayak fishing.
The weather forecast was looking great, and Stephen and Kim came in
early with a nice 80 class yellowfin, so plans were made to head offshore
in the am to find dolphin pods and hopefully find the big yellows. We left
at first light and ran to Buena Vista for larger baits.
Our captain Oscar knew his stuff and was a true hunter, and I knew
right a way that the day was going to be good. The first dolphins were around
10 to 15 miles out, but we found no tuna with them. We found 3 or 4 pods
with no tuna but we did see several sails, so change of plans, lets catch
sails. Oscar and his deck hand Artenio dropped the jigs back and had a live
bait rigged and we were on our way. 15 minutes later Gia is hooked up to
her first sail.
We trolled around all kinds of floating debris, and tossed handfuls
of sardines at them with no life to be found.
After 20 minutes I get my Sail,
..and then Gia gets another Sail,
Every 15 or 20 minutes a sail would come into or spread, and we were just
tearing them up.
After the 3rd sail each we decided to film some of these fish. We
ended up catching 11 sails and lost 3. By far the most epic sailfish bite
I have ever seen.
With the weather getting bad we headed in around 1:30.
Hurricane Rick was moving in and we had no plans on riding this storm
out, so we packed it up a week early and headed back home.
- HWK
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