Boating & Fishing in Kino Bay.

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Fishing Report by Matt Curtis

Reporting Period: December 22, 2011 through January 22, 2012

Note: Missing dates normally mean that the wind contributed to boats not going out to fish. Cold water continued to be the rule in our area, except for warmer water (over 60 degrees) north of Punta Willard.

12/30 Dakota and Fish Finder - 14 Mile, limits of rock bass, Perrydize - San Esteban, big goldies and nice sheephead, Red Rover went to Esteban then to Willard where they found some warmer water along with yellowtail and goldies, Nightwings caught a couple of flounder at Christmas Tree.

1/3 Escape - Turner and Dead Man trolled up bonita and bottom fish including sheephead

1/6 Calm weather returned and 13-0-13, Wet Willy, Hannah Ryan, Mi Amor, Que Linda, Escape and Nightwings all fished the area around Willard and Queen's Rock for bottom fish but no yellowtail. Mi Amor, Que Linda, and Escape also tried San Esteban for more nice bottom fish. Red Rover made the run to San Pedro Matir for the only yellowtail of the day, sardinero, and bottom fish.

1/7 Perrydize - Turner and Dead Man, bonita, yellowtail and bottom fish. Escape - San Esteban and Turner for bonito and yellowtail.

1/11 Sea Shell - 14 Mile, spotted bass and one flounder over 10#. Dakota - Turner, bottom fish

11/17 Jayhawker, Dakota, El Sueno, Hannah Ryan - San Esteban for big goldies, big catches of goldies and sheephead. The Running Rebel caught a really nice grouper around of 43#. Perrydize also was at Esteban and not only trolled up some nice yellowtail, but helped with the shark population rehabilitation program by donating two and a half yellowtail to a hungry eight footer. HillBilly Yacht - San Pedro for a really nice catch of grouper and pargo. Red Rover - Queen's Rock for bottom fish and grouper.

1/21 Jayhawker, Last One - 14 Mile , limits of fat spotted rock bass

1/22 Gizmo - Queen's Rock, bottom fish, a couple of yellowtail, small grouper, one pinto bass over 20#.

Finally, on a side note, Gator bait and three other Kino Bay fishermen went way south to fish on a super panga and hooked four and landed two marlin. One was 110# and the other 280#.

Since there has been a dramatic increase in the catch of sheephead (one of my favorites), I thought I would add a few facts about them for this report.

California Sheephead, AKA "sheepie", goat, fathead, humpy or vieja, are in the wrasse family along with the parrotfish and hogfish.

Sheephead grow up to 36 inches and 36#, and range from Monterey Bay, California to Cabo San Lucas and in isolated populations in the Sea of Cortez. They usually are found at depths from 10 to 100 feet, and rarely over 180 feet in rocky areas or in kelp forests.

They have three color forms, all orange-red with a white side stripe and black spots as juveniles, all pinkish red with a white chin as females, and males crimson with black head and rear portion and a fleshy hump on the forehead. When seen in their natural habitat, they appear to be black and grey. California Sheephead spawn in the spring and summer and are quite territorial. All sheephead are born female and change to males about two-thirds of the way through their life span, depending upon their environment and food supply.

Another obvious characteristic are their strong jaws and protruding canine teeth which they use to pry food from rocks. They also have a specially adapted bone structure in their throat for crushing the hard shelled food which they prefer. Normally feeding on sea urchins, mollusks, crabs or lobster, and even sea cucumbers, they will take bait, especially live bait.

Hunting and feeding in daylight, they retreat to caves and crevices at night to form a mucous "cocoon" which hides their scent. They can live up to 21 years.

Reporting Period: November 26 through December 22,2011

Note: Missing dates normally mean that the wind contributed to boats not going out to fish.

The rain band that spun off from Hurricane Kenneth hit on Thanksgiving Day pretty well set the tone for late November and December. Cooler temperatures and windy days limited fishing out in the midriff area, but when boats were able to get out, respectable catches of yellowtail were made by trolling deep divers, especially pink. As usual, some boats really struck gold while others came up dry. I guess that's fishing. Even a few "lost" bonito showed up and bottom fishing did produce some nice catches of "goldies" and other bottom fish. For those willing to spend some time casting from the sandy beaches, flounder were the delicious reward, but corvina were still scarce. However, it has been noted that the gill net fishing fleet has been catching quite a few boat loads of corvina in the area.

Something that is probably influencing our weather and fishing is ENSO (El Nino southern oscillation), or the El Nino-La Nina cycle that effects weather around the eastern and western Pacific. This Fall has produced very wet, cool and moist weather in the southwestern US, including northwestern Mexico, typical of a La Nina event. Upon checking the NOAA website on El Nino, it was confirmed that "La Nina" is responsible for the weather we have experienced this season. Basically, La Nina is the opposite situation of El Nino. In an El Nino, the northeast trade winds blow more strongly along the equator toward the coast of South America. This produces a warmer and wetter than normal period in that region. It would also push more warm water and tropical sports fish further up the Pacific coast. Then we would have more of the warm water species like dorado, yellow fin tuna and wahoo showing up off the coast of southern California and to some extent, here also. With La Nina, the warmer waters retreat west across the Pacific and cooler waters well up to replace them in the eastern Pacific. That allows more cold waters to move south towards Central America and Mexico and keep the tropical species down south more. This is great if you want more albacore and blue fin tuna in southern California and northern Baja, but tough on our dorado fishing. All in all, it effects the migrations of most fish in the region as far as when they come or how far they get up this direction. At least we aren't having the flooding they are getting in the western tropical Pacific. Just in case you wondered if the cool, wet Fall and lack of big dorado last June to July was your imagination.

Reporting Period: October 25 through November 22, 2011

Note: Missing dates normally mean that the wind contributed to boats not going out to fish.
This last month has seemed a little unusual for November, with cooler than usual temperatures, more windy days, and even a couple of rain events. A large patch of cooler water formed south of Isla Turner with the lowest temperatures in the Sea of Cortez.

10/24 RED SKY - Dead Man and Turner, caught limits of bonita and sierra, GATOR BAIT - Esteban for limits ofmixed yellowtail, bonita and sierra, BOMBERO - Dead Man and Turner for yellowtail and a 20lb grouper
10/25 GATOR BAIT - Esteban for limits of bonito, yellowtail including one nice yellowtail , ESCAPE - Turner and Dead Man catching bonita and sierra, NIGHTWINGS at Turner and Dead Man for limits of bonito, sierra, and yellowtail, BOMBERO caught really nice goldies at Deep Reef.
10/30 REEL LADY - good bonita at Turner
10/31 JAYHAWKER, SPECKIN' AROUND - Dead Man for limits of bonito
11/1 - JAYHAWKER, NIGHTWINGS - Dead Man for limits bonito,LAST ONE, OVERCAST, HILLBILLY YACHT - at south end ofTurner caught yellowtail and bonito limits, GATOR BAIT - San Pedro for limits of goldies, and a 24- 30lb yellowtail and 20lb grouper, REEL LADY - big goldies at Esteban
11/6 7TH HEAVEN, WET WILLY, KNIGHTWINGS, BOMBERO, REEL LADY, HAY BALER - all fishing Dead Man, and South Turner for limits of yellowtail, goldies, bonito and some triggerfish
11/11 JAYHAWKER, EL PATO, BOMBERO at Turner for limits of goldies and spotted rock bass, BOMBERO also scored 8 white sea bass from 27 to 47# there, REEL LADY good yellowtail bite at Esteban.

11/15 PERRYDIZE, EL PATO, ROSIE, 1 3-0-1 3, and JAYHAWKER fished the Turner area and mostly good catches of large goldies and spotted rock bass were made. A few bonito were still around to be caught too, but they had mostly moved on, REEL LADY good yellowtail at Esteban
11/16 GATOR BAIT - Esteban for big goldies and sheepshead and other bottom fish 11/18 JAYHAWKER - Esteban for bottom fish but were blown off by rising winds and ended up at Turner for bottom fish, and BOMBERO caught nice yellowtails at Turner 11/19 NIGHTWINGS caught 3 nice flounder from the beach just north ofKino Estates 11/20 RED ROVER - Esteban for limits of yellowtail, PATYJUAN went to Turner for bottom fish, REEL LADY -good yellowtail at Esteban
11/21 TZIGANE caught a 1 3.5 lb flounder at Santa Rosa (Christmas tree)
1/23 REEL LADY - good yellowtail at Esteban

Winds kept the numbers of boats down a lot of the time this November and water temperatures had dropped quickly south of Turner and Esteban. It was a good month for yellowtail and bonito and some of the nicest goldies have been caught in a long time. Fishermen who got out to Esteban were rewarded with excellent catches, but rough water kept fishable days restricted.

1. Lures - most success we have have had has been with Kastmaster types of spoons, Krocodile spoons and lead-head bucktail j igs in white and chartreuse or blue, white and orange. We cast them out allowing time to sink to the bottom, then reel in at moderate speed giving jerks with our rod tips as we do so. The idea is to keep them near the bottom.
2. Habitat - near shore where sandy beaches and rocks mix or off areas of pure sand. They are usually in pretty near shore, within 20 yards at the most.
3. Timing - I haven't made up my mind on this one because I have seen them caught at any time of day from 0730 to 1 600 hours, but often in short concentrated "bites". Even the tide doesn't seem to effect them (unlike corvina that seem to prefer times around high tide). Some of the biggest fish I have witnessed were caught at low tide or halfway between slack tides. The main thing is that low tide sometimes exposes your lures to more weeds and rocks, so lure-loss is more frequent. Rough surf or fast currents make the fishing difficult and they don't seem to bite as well.
4. Misc.- the strike feels like you are hung up for a second, then they begin to pull and shake their heads. It is not subtle, as you might feel when fishing dead or live bait for them. Larger fish will definitely take line in the fight, just let them and work them in steadily. I found out the hard way, but the best way to land them is to slide them right up on the shore with a wave. If you try to gaff or net them, they will go wild at your approach and shake their heads fiercely often breaking the line. If fishing off rocks, be aware of any nearby places to get to them or slide them up out of the water. Beware of their teeth, both in their mouths and on their gill rakers under the gill flap. In the last few weeks we have caught or seen caught, fish from 2 to 21 pounds. Since the corvina tournament fish weighing 11 .5, two of 1 3.5 and a monster just under 21 pounds have been caught. Unfortunately nothing over 8 pounds for us, but they are out there. The other best hint I can give is to fish for them often and for good lengths of time. Sometimes it just takes persistence. We have had many trips without a bite, but when they do come on it is well worth the effort.

Reporting Period: September 30 to October 21, 2011

9/30 PERRY DIZE went to Cross Roads for limits of dorado.
10/7 GATOR BAIT went to Turner for limits of sierra, bonito, and some yellowtail
10/14 PERRY DIZE fished at Deadman for limits of yellowtail and bonito
10/16 PERRY DIZE went to Deadman and Turner: limits on bonito and yellowtail
10/19 LAST JUAN went to Turner area: limits on yellowtail and bonito, also some sierra
10/21 GATOR BAIT and 13-0-13 went to Dead Man and Esteban caught good numbers of bonito and some yellowtail; NIGHTWINGS fished Dead Man and the south end ofTurner for sierra and one decent bull dorado NOTE: Jim Bailey deserves a special nod for his contributions to the nutritional health of the sea lions of Isla Esteban. I know more boats were out there for the bonito and yellowtail bite, and assume they did well too.

I just need to get confirmation for the fishing from more people, so I would appreciate any and all input from fishermen, either at the club happy hour or by email. My email is mtt.curtis@gmail.com, so PLEASE let me know how you are doing out there. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sport Fishing the Islands and Reefs near Kino Bay

• One of the most significant land / sea features for sport fishing in this area are the " Madriff " islands.
• Almost 50 islands of various size make up the "Midriff".
• Another sea feature in this area is the colder water (colder than the waters found to the north or south in the "Sea of Cortez").
• Colder water provides a large natural food factory and habitat for sea life.
• Some of the deepest water in the "Sea of Cortez" is to be found in the "Midriff" area.
• 3,000 foot depths are located just west of San Pedro Matir.

The following are a few of the favorite fishing locations for Kino Bay. The distances are in nautical miles (as the crow flies) from the North Ramp. If you have the lat/long any of these points, please email them to me, as well as additions or corrections.

Place Name Distance Latitude/Longitude Barrel point. 23   Battleship rock 25   Crossroads 14   Colorado point 19   Deadman rock 18   Deep Reef 19   Dog Bay 15   Eagle Nest 23   Fourteen mile reef 10  N28  41.667 W111  54.881

Place Name Distance Latitude/Longitude Monument point 17   Narrows / Christmas tree 12   Patos Island 40   Queens rock 30   Red rock point 1.5   San Esteban Island 30 N28  43.4   W112  32.3  San Pedro Martir 40 N28  22.5   W112  15.2  Turner / Cactus islands 17 N28  43.0   W112  16.8 Willard point 32

A few of the more popular game fish found in the area and the water temperature ranges for some of them:

Radio procedures and Etiquette
This information complements of Don Webb

PROCEDURES

1. Use channel 24 as a contact channel, and then change to another channel for your conversation. Channel 24 is a repeater channel located at Club Deportivo, and can be accessed by any hand held radio in the community.
   • You can go to any other channels that works for you except Channels 16 ( an international emergency channel ) or other channels in the 20`s, ( repeater channels ).
   • The only exception to this is when dealing with Rescue One, Calling for the "First Responders","the boat launchers, or making community announcements with "Rescue Ones permission. Then you stay on Ch. 24.
2. " Clear Text " is used by most all emergency service organizations and is used by "Rescue one".
   • "Clear Text" eliminates the old 10 code and other numbered codes that were used years ago.
   • "Clear Text" simply means that you speak the English language in a short and concise manor. The same is true when speaking Spanish.
3. Always give the name of who you are calling first, then give your name.
   example: If the "Red Rover" boat was calling "Rescue One", He would say " Rescue One this is Red Rover
4. Never use extra words. Use only the words you need to clearly state your message.
5. Never use " truck driver " type language. This is very unprofessional.
   • examples of what not to say: " You got your ears on"-" come on back"- "Hey good buddy"- "over and out"- "roger dodger "etc,etc.
6. Always hold the transmiter button down for a second or two before you start to speak.
7. When you have a particularly long transmition, take a short break by simply saying "break" then let off the transmit button for one or two seconds, and then continue. This will save you the possibility of burning up your transmiter, and would allow for other emergency traffic to get through.
8. Place the mike close to your mouth and then speak in a normal, calm voice.
9. Always check your volume and squelch buttons before using a radio.
   • The volume needs to turned up so that you can hear it.
   • The squelch button needs to be set to the point that the squelch noise just barely quits making noise.
10. Sign off by simply giving your name. You do not have to say "over" or " clear", etc.

ETIQUETTE

• It is very rude to call someone, and give your message without waiting for them to respond.
  • You should always wait for them to respond.
  • To do otherwise is suggesting that you feel the party your calling has nothing else to do but sit next to the radio and wait for your call.
  • This is not the case, and in addition to being rude, you often have to repeat your entire message.
• It is considered rude to call someone and not give your name.
• It is in poor taste to use profanity on the radio.