Vol. 36- Iss. 23 Pg. 30 October 27- November 10, 2017
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32 Oct. 27- Nov. 10, 2017 VOL. 36 • ISS. 23
Captain Mike( right) gives an angler aboard the Excel a hand showing off the huge wahoo he landed on September 30.
Photo courtesy of EXCEL SPORTFISHING, San Diego.
Heads Up! Using Cut Anchovies, Pt. 2
SALTY TIPS by Steve“ Hippo” Lau
BAJA ROUNDUP
Vol. 36- Iss. 23 Pg. 30 October 27- November 10, 2017
There I was, sitting at my favorite table at my favorite little eating spot, waiting for my order to arrive. Sure, I chewed on a few pieces of sourdough bread( with lots of real butter!), slurped up some of the free soup, and totally ignored the salad, but I was most eagerly anticipating the medium rare roasted hunk of beef that would soon grace the table.
Mmmmm, I can still see and smell that slab of bovine flesh now... YUM!
It is a fascinating study of how our personal likes and dislikes are transferred to something as mindless as a fish, I totally love that succulent piece of meat that comes from the middle of the cow, so somehow stripers must also love that juicy chunk of anchovy cut from the middle of the fish, right?
For years and years, after I learned that stripers had a greater weakness for cut bait than whole bait, my pre-trip bait preparation included the sectioning of a bag of anchovies into three different piles; the head, the body, and the tail.
On a typical 4.5” anchovy, the first cut would include the head going back to something like 1 / 2”-3 / 4” behind the gill, then the juicy primo 1.5” midsection, then the remainder was the tail. The head and tail sections would go into one container, and the middles were held in a box of their own.
At the fishing spot, I would take the heads and tails and toss them into the water. If I felt fancy, I would launch the pieces with a slingshot. Baiting up with the juicy primo middles, I would then cast the bait into the midst of the discards and wait for Mr. Linesides to appease his appetite.
Research has shown that all it takes to keep a gambler interested in a slot machine is to have it produce once in every 19 to 28 pulls, and I am conjecturing that all that is needed to keep a fisherman interested is a fish or two every few times he goes out. I caught what I felt was my share of fish using middles over the years, and by golly, I was convinced that using middles was the way to go.
Then, at some point, probably because I was fishing with Buddy-X, I got into the habit of cleaning my fish before I gave any away.
Buddy-X’ s fascination when cleaning fish was to look into their stomachs to check on their contents, much like what a fly fisherman does to those namby-pamby trout so he can match-the-hatch.
To my surprise, many of the stripers we caught had
stomachs full of anchovy heads! Since the discards were evenly divided between heads and tails, you may have suspected that there would be an even number of them inside the stomachs, but no; the heads outnumbered the tails by several factors!
As good as I thought the juicy middles would be( and they are!), there was a big problem inherent to using the bodies. Far too often, when it took a mighty heave to get the bait out to where the fish are, the sinker would go in one direction and the bait in another direction! Using heads practically eliminates the problem.
Over the last few years, two hooks have become my favorites to use with hooking heads, and that is the Owner wide gap wacky hook, and the other is the Gamakatsu Finesse wide gap hook, both in the 2 / 0 size. They are both thin wire but very strong hooks, and they are both really, really sharp.
To hook the bait, insert the tip of the hook behind the“ V” of the lower jaw and push up, being particularly careful to having the point coming out through the top of the skull directly between the eyes. Rigged this way, the bait should stay on however mighty the cast you make
Tuna And Dorado Lead Catches Along East Cape
A ccording to the staff at the
Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort on Baja’ s East Cape, water temps are ideal at 83 to 87 degrees.
The air temps cooled down a click this week, ranging from the mid-80s to low 90s. Winds were from the SE blowing up to about 16kph from time to time.
Although the water wasn’ t as clear as hoped, fishing has been great with all the yellowfin tuna and dorado you’ d want for backbreaking amusement. Hotel Buena Vista skippers keep seeing huge schools of both tuna and dorado up and down the Sea of Cortez.
Kenji Horii, visiting from México City, fished several
It’ s raw power, high-performance and ultra-tough construction are just few reasons why Baja love chasing big saltwater predators with PENN’ s Torque Saltwater Reel.
Built with a Full Metal Body and a rugged one-piece aluminum frame, the Torque’ s gearbox and drag system is fully sealed to protect these components from sand, salt and other fouling agents. The patented oversized HT-100 Versa-Drag™ system offers multiple settings so anglers can adjust the drag to meet the requirements for various situations. The high-strength
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Room for 4 nights, 5 days, 2 days of fishing, tackle, breakfast & lunch, 28 ft. supercruiser w / captain & mate
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Fish Baja’ s East Cape at
Martin verdugo’ s Beach resort
3203
Call Toll Free:( 888) 567-8552 www. verdugosbeachresort. com
E mail: martinverdugo @ prodigy. net. mx( 949) 226-7169 Or 01152 624 141 0054 times with Capt. Juan Garcia and mate Julio Cota aboard Regina. He landed tuna, dorado and red snapper inshore. Ken and Tucker Woychuk, visiting from New York City, fished 1 / 2 day inshore aboard Cazador with Capt. Manny Bocardo and landed a half dozen tuna.
Randy Parole, Scott Collins and Arch Asawa from Newport Beach had a great day aboard Dusty BII with Capt. Carlos and deckhand Valentin landing a dozen tuna and dorado.
Jackie and Eric McClellan from Kansas City with Brenda and Michele Cagliostro from Northern California spent three days aboard Vagabundo landing tuna, white bonito, dorado and amberjack.
BAJA TIP OF THE WEEK
100 % stainless steel bail system includes an innovative bail trip switch to allow angler to choose between manual and automatic mode. The eight bearing system provides smooth, hitch-free operation and the integral clutch sleeve works to eliminate back play during hook sets.
Many anglers don’ t think to bring a spinning reel on their Baja fishing adventure. When you hit the water and find sailfish sunning on the surface you’ ll be glad you brought your Torque spinner as you use it to fire weightless live baits at the resting billfish …. Can you say fish on?
A beautiful Beach Resort located half way between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas, right on the Sea of Cortez
Martin verdugo’ s Beach resort