Marlin Article

This article in yesterday's LA Times Outpost blog provides a good discussion of some the potential impacts of sport fishing on marlin as they stack up off the west coast of Baja Sur in the fall.

Fishing for marlin and other species can be excellent from Bahia Magdelena South in the fall but anglers should use restraint. Flyfishing with a properly sized rod should minimize the frequency of gut hooked fish and allow for a quick fight and release. Keep the fish in the water - avoid the temptation to drag it over the rail for photos. In my experience fish get gut hooked mostly when bait fishing and allowing the fish to swallow the bait.


Anglers' high marlin catch in Cabo San Lucas raises concerns
1:34 PM, December 31, 2008
Pete Thomas

Outposts has been touching on the phenomenal marlin bite at the Golden Gate Bank north of Cabo San Lucas on the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula.

Just how good has the bite been?

Tracy Ehrenberg of Pisces Sportfishing boasts of the capture of more than 7,000 striped marlin this season, and of a 98.6% release rate. This is just from her fleet, so the overall tally must be incredible.

"After talking to captains with more than two decades' experience, they agreed that they have never seen fishing so good so long in one location," Ehrenberg reports.

Perhaps. But there's a troubling trend off Land's End. Crews aboard the top boats have been aggressively trying to out-perform one another, catching and releasing marlin as fast as they can, striving to make theirs the high boat for a given day.

Captains too. The more marlin flags they fly, the bigger their reputations become.
One-day, single-vessel counts have been as high as 30. When the marlin are bunched up that tightly they simply become too vulnerable.

Undoubtedly, many stripers die after being released. Certainly, most of those that are gut-hooked perish. If you've caught lots of marlin, you've seen at least a few disgorge their entire stomachs during the battle.

Out of curiosity, I asked Michael Domeier, president of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, to comment on this phenomenon. The researcher e-mailed back this morning:

"Most anglers believe that the stomach throwing is a natural event and that the
everted stomach is retracted/swallowed after release. It's possible that billfish have evolved a mechanism for disgorging prey items that they wish they hadn't eaten, or get rid of bones from large prey (bones may be hard to digest)."

"After about a decade of studying billfish with satellite tags, I can say that a disproportionate number of marlin that have thrown their stomachs die after release. I can't say exactly why these fish die, but I have a hypothesis: Fish that are captured with a thrown stomach have been gut hooked and gut hooked fish often die."

"I think the hook actually pulls the stomach out; when the hook/stomach reach the mouth the hook can lodge in the mouth. I have a picture of a black marlin that I took in Australia, the fish is jumping, the stomach is out and the hook can be seen in the corner of the mouth. When you zoom in on the head you can clearly see a tear in the stomach. I tagged the fish and it died."

Thankfully, marlin are now dispersing from the Golden Gate. But they'll be back next winter. Hopefully, the same serious marlin fishermen (and captains) who became powerful advocates of catch-and-release will give up the numbers game and exercise reasonable restraint.

Consider this a New Year's wish.

Ocean Oasis

Its been snowing off and on all week here in Southern Oregon. I really would like to be somewhere warm with big fish but for now this great video will have to do.

Marketing Baja

Here's a photo of the Beach at Coronado Island one of my favorite spots in Loreto Bay National Marine Park. The shallows that stretch from this beach over to the mainland can hold rooster fish and I have done well along this reef before but have also found plenty of nets here as well. There always seems to be something around at least a few barracuda or giant needlefish.

In continuation of my last post, I wanted to connect the articles on the poor tourist season in Loreto and the continued promises of the vultures bent on turning every beach into yet another "luxury" development. Forgive, my rant but I was heart broken to hear that a few of the timeshare sales people have migrated north from Cabo San Lucas and infected Loreto.

Check out this Baja Nomands forum for some of the ongoing discussion regarding the Mission Hotel. This cool hotel on the water front has been sitting abandoned and thrashed since the mid-1990s. Its a great spot, with the exception of the all night parties on the malecon on weekends, and I've always thought it could be great once again.

I copied this picture from the Baja Nomad Forum taken by Don Alley earlier this month.

The slick La Mission webpage says "Grand Opening November 2008" - you can even make reservations for next week!

Here's what it looks like on the their webpage:

So now in quiet little Loreto we have:

• annoying timeshare sales on the streets and in restaurants
• the failed promises of the Loreto Bay development
• word of large exclusive developments planned at San Bruno
• the beach closed off at Ensanada Blanca
• more marketing talking about sustainability in a place with limited fresh water
• and much, much more - San Basillo? Agua Verde? Conception Bay?

And here's the link that set me off to finally begin writing about this subject:

JW Marriott First Residential Development Comes to Baja, Mexico

Does this sound like a recipe for success? Loreto is an anglers town. No matter how many slick artist's renderings and fancy web pages are produced you can't change the fact that its hard to get to, there is limited water, the cold north wind blows all winter long, and in the summer its stifling with desert heat and Sea of Cortez humidity.

More to come...

Hurricane Norbert

Here we go again! This one looks like it could get big. Currently a category 3 hurricane, Norbert is predicted to build to a category 4 and then weaken before making landfall. The predicted path has been steady for the last few days. Everyone between Abreojos/Mulege and Cabo San Lucas should monitor the situation and get ready. I'm adding a link to the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration's Hurricane Preparedness web page to my link list.

Tropical Storm Lowell

Although it is dying fast over the relatively cool Pacific waters, Tropical Storm Lowell appears to be headed straight for Magdelena Bay. The region is just drying out from Tropical Storm Julio and could really use a break. Stay out of the arroyos for the next few days and be prepared!

August Dorado

Loreto is having a fantastic dorado season. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to make it down this summer. This picture is from an August evening trip a few years ago at the Bajo las Boyas northeast of town.

My good friend Francisco "Cuervo" Muñoz is helping me untangle a good sized bull dorado. I hooked the fish with a simple fly of blue/white synthetic hair and stick on Mylar eyes tied in a "spread fly" style with a little epoxy around the head to give it the tall thin profile of a bait fish. The fly was unweighted and tied on a 2/0 hook.

If you can I recommend getting down sometime in the next month. I like August better than June and July because there tend to be fewer people around. Its also hotter and there is a greater risk of tropical storms and hurricanes but its all part of the fun!

Baja Lunch

In Abreojos it can get windy. I like to fish the morning from the beach and then return to camp for lunch and a nap when the wind kicks up. This photo is a classic Baja Lunch prepared and eaten in one of the cabins at Campo Rene. Fideo soup from the dried package, quesedillas with ranch cheese and really good salsa, and an ice cold Modelo.

As you can see, The Baja Catch - one of the best Baja fishing books out there, serves many purposes around camp. Besides providing a wealth of fishing information including many remote spots, it also serves as a hot plate. If you are new to Baja fishing, especially beach and inshore fishing get this book.

Fishing Licenses

From the BajaBigFish.com webpage:

If you will find yourself fishing off the coast of BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR in the near future, consider yourself lucky because only in this state do we have the option to purchase our Mexican sportfishing licenses at the State Finance Office and not directly via the federal government's fund (CONAPESCA). What's great about this is that the funds from these licenses bought in the state STAY in the state. Right now the monies are going toward a fund called FONMAR which is usually used for marine conservation and education but now it is being used to legally overturn NOM 029, the Shark Norma. So as much as I love those travel clubs like Vagabundos del Mar and Discover Baja, and as much as it may be more convenient to purchase your license through these services, the fact is that the money for licenses paid this way stays with the feds who invent seriously stupid laws like NOM 029. Buy your fishing license though your local outfitter in BCS and your money will go towards preserving the Sea of Cortez fishery for the future. I see my Loreto-born children catching nice fish almost every day off our shores and I want their children to have the same chance so, BUY YOUR FISHING LICENSE DIRECTLY THROUGH YOUR BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR FISHING OUTFITTER. Do NOT buy it stateside because that money you work so hard for will go right to the feds who are in the back pocket of the commercial fishing industry.

Unlike the US where the fees for your hunting and fishing licenses are used to fund state fish and game agencies in the state they are sold in, funds from fishing license sales in Mexico historically have disappeared off to Mexico City never to be seen again. However with the creation of FONMAR, Baja California Sur is in a unique position to reinvest license fees in protection of the resource.

Resisting Gill Netters on the East Cape

While I thought things were getting a little better on the East Cape, apparently the inshore gill netting continues.

Gill Net Controversy Erupts

Loreto Books

Anyone interested in the Loreto area should read two books:

Loreto: Future of the First Capital of the Californias Edited by Paul Ganster, Oscar Arizpe, and Antonina Ivanova

Loreto, Baja California's First Mission and Capital of Spanish California by Ann and Don O'Neil - available from Baja Books and Maps

As their name suggests Baja Books and Maps carries a wide variety of Baja related books and maps and is a great source of information.

Baja Conservation Links

There are a lot of people doing great things in Baja California. A couple of groups that could use your support are:

Eco Alianza de Loreto is a recently formed group that I look forward to working with in the future.

Propeninsula is a conservation leader in the region especially with the protection of sea turtles and is a member of the Grupo Tortuguero. Propeninsula hosts the annual sea turtle conference in Loreto. Generally in the last weekend in January, the meeting is always a good time.

Iemanya Oceanica works to protect sharks and rays in the Sea of Cortez. These species are critically important to the ecological health of the sea. Several Sea of Cortez guides who specialize in fly fishing are former commercial shark fishers and the one's that I have spoken with prefer the life of a sport fishing captain to the difficult life of commercial shark fishing. The long lines and gill nets used by shark fishers indiscriminately kill many sport fish and damage the ecosystem than sport fish depend on. Hopefully, low impact fly fishing can provide livelihoods for more of these hard working and knowledgeable tiburoneros. I urge everyone to release sharks and until populations of these long-lived and slow growing species can recover, avoid targeting them at all.

The American Fisheries Society has a Mexican Chapter. I plan on contacting them soon and seeing what I can learn about scientific research on fish populations in the Sea of Cortez.

Roncador

Here's a decent sized yellow-finned croaker from the surf at San Cristobal between Cabo San Lucas and Todos Santos. I have caught croaker on the Pacific side from this area north to Abreojos. Known as Roncador in Spanish, they take smaller shrimp imitations off the bottom. There was a deep spot in the sand, you can see it directly behind me in the photo, that produced many fish over several weeks but unfortunately it filled in and I had to find another spot to fish. Fortunately, the search for a new spot led to finding the rocks where the giant roosterfish hung out.

Palometa

This Palometa (Yellow Jack) is another of the many fish that have fallen for the 1/0 Clouser Minnow in brown/yellow/white with gold flash. This fish was caught in Puerto Escondido on a very calm January day. Over the last couple of years Puerto Escondido has been spared the pervasive gill nets that plague many inshore areas of the Sea of Cortez and is providing an outstanding fishery. Hopefully, this area will continue to serve as an example of what inshore fishing in Loreto Bay National Park could be like.

Last March, my buddy Dave C. found some great shore fishing here for small yellowtail and roosterfish. Unfortunately, Pam from the Baja Big Fish Company (http://www.bajabigfish.com/) recently reported that staff of SINGULAR, the government agency managing the half-built marina facility, told her that no sport fishing was allowed in the bay. Dave said that during his March visit one of our favorite fishing spots was fenced off. Hopefully, this trend won't continue. This is one of the few sheltered spots on this section of the coast and some of the best fishing in the area that is accessible by car.

I strongly urge everyone to practice catch-and-release in this small bay. Be part of the solution.

¡Toro!

¡Toro!

Also known as Jack Cervalle, the Toro is a great game fish. Often travelling in large schools, these fish are ferocious predators. Working together, schools of 100s of similar sized individuals will circle and trap bait against the shore. I have snorkeled through schools of Toro attacking sardinas and watched as they pinned the bait to the beach by forming a curtain from the surface to the bottom. At regular intervals Toro would dash into the bait school, grab a sardina, and then return to their place in the formation. Dragging a minnow pattern through a school of feeding Toro draws ferocious hits. This one is a smaller individual - note the 1/0 clouser minnow in its mouth. I'll post some bigger ones later. This fish was caught during the spring at El Cardonal between La Paz and Los Barriles.