38 June 8- 22, 2018

VOL. 37 • ISS. 13

80’ s, there was much talk about the“ universal outfit”, the one rod and reel combo that could do it all. Much of this had to do with the fact that many of us didn’ t have all that much moolah and so the search went on for the most versatile outfit we could get for the money.

After much debate and research, our conclusion came down to this; a Calstar 500 or 870 rod, a Penn Jigmaster 500 reel, and 30 lb. test monofilament line. Such an outfit could handle sturgeon fishing, drifting bait for striped bass and halibut, trolling for salmon, jigging for rockfish, and even live bait fishing for albacore. It was certainly versatile enough for bay area fishing back then, and it will still perform workmanlike duties now.

I still have that same outfit sitting in the corner of my garage / man cave, and perhaps someday I’ ll put it back into service. But times have changed and so has the tackle.

This was recently brought out when I was able to hitch a ride aboard my FB’ s( Fishing Buddy) boat in the south bay. As you devoted FishSniffer fans may have read in the other parts of the publication, halibut fishing has been doing well, with larger butts being caught as of late.

I was encouraged when he told me to bring“ something light” and I had a feeling that meant my A-rig outfit of which I have been writing. In this case I brought my Wright & McGill Skeet Reese Alabama Rig rod coupled with the matching Skeet Reese bait casting reel loaded with 30 lb. braid.

Many years ago, I taught FB how to tie a sliding three way rig and that was what we were using that day. To tie this rig, thread the main line through a Slydo and tie on a good ball bearing snap swivel. I usually modify the Slydo by removing the snap and tying on

a 15” piece of 15 lb. mono that ends with a common snap swivel for the torpedo sinker.

The leader to the hook consists of a four or five foot section of 20 lb. fluorocarbon with a loop on one end and a very special hook on the other. Instead of hard tying the leader to a swivel, I use a loop so I can quickly replace it after landing a fish. For halibut fishing, my rule is one fish, one leader.

The hook; now that is a very important part of this rig. In the old days, the universal hook for this job was a 94150 live bait hook, a heavy wire short shank hook from Mustad in size # 2 / 0. No doubt this was the # 1 hook in use back then, and it’ s still in use, but times have changed!

The hook I have been using as of late( thanks to my black bass fishing buddies) is the wide gap wacky hook. This hook( very similar ones are put out by Gamakatsu, Trokar, Eagle Claw, and VMC) is made from very thin but strong wire, is dangerously sharp, and has a very small barb. Hooking up live bait( in this case, small jack smelt and anchovies) is ridiculously easy, and when a halibut takes the bait, slips into their tough jaws with very little effort.

The Skeet Reese rod had more than enough oomph for the halibuts( which don’ t run very fast nor far) and the little reel held more than enough line for the relatively shallow 15’ to 25’ deep water we were fishing. The five or six pounds of drag we used were well within the strength of the wacky hooks, so there was no fear of the hooks bending out.

I’ m pretty sure such an outfit may not be welcome on a party boat, but if you have access to a private boat or a six pack charter, it is big fun fishing with a rod / reel / line combo that weighs less than that Penn 500 weighs by itself!

Dorado( or mahi-mahi as they are called some places or dolphin fish as they are called in other places) are one of the world’ s most popular gamefish, and it’ s no mystery why that is.

They are spectacularly colored, fight hard and jump when hooked, and taste delicious. They are abundant in Baja and because they are a fast-growing, short-lived fish, they are hungry more often than not. They die of old age around 5-6 years and attain a maximum weight of around 90 lbs.

In terms of offerings, most dorado are caught on trolling lures such as rubber skirts meant for marlin or sailfish or feathers meant for tuna. They also hit trolled plugs such as Rapalas.

If dorado are concentrated in an area, either through chumming or because there is a piece of floating debris, a wide variety of lures may be cast to them. A favorite is a popper, which they will readily eat. If they are fired up they will pretty much eat anything.

Dorado mostly eat fish so traditional baitfish such as sardines and Pacific mackerel work well. Larger fish will eat larger baits. Dorado have relatively small mouths, but it always amazing how they can somehow still engulf relatively large baits.

“ he wind is finally dying down

as I write this report and right now the weather is pretty good with

sunny days and breezy evenings,” reported Capt. Jerry Chapman of JC Sportfishing.“ Today the weather is great, but with some afternoon winds on the pacific side and at night it’ s been pretty cool at night. Day time highs in the low 90’ s and lows in the 60’ s.”

“ Some nice size striped marlin tipping the scales at close to 200 lbs and that is a good size striper. Our sport fisher the Bob Marlin landed 6 marlin this past week with plenty of great angling action,” Chapman reported.

“ Conditions and marlin fishing has gotten much better this past week and you will probably hook into one if you

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E mail: martinverdugo @ prodigy. net. mx( 949) 226-7169 Or 01152 624 141 0054 are here or coming down this coming week. We have had great luck all week with striped marlin and the guys have been landing them from Grey Rock all the way out to the 1150. Pitching live bait has been really effective this week, also guys have been landing the striped marlin with lures and ballyhoo,” said Chapman.

“ Dorado are starting to show up in the area and we should start seeing large numbers of them soon. It hasn’ t quite kicked in but it is getting better and you can tell with a little more time it is going to get red hot! There are a few being caught, but it isn’ t like it’ s off the hook, but we are optimistic over this next week for things to pick up,” said Chapman.

The Patterson family took a trip to the Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort this May and rounded up some quality tuna.

Photo courtesy of THE HOTEL BUENA VISTA BEACH RESORT, East Cape, Baja.

A beautiful Beach Resort located half way between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas, right on the Sea of Cortez