East Cape Fishing 6-8-2016

Wednesday we went fishing on a panga named Scorpion.  Our Captain was Jorge who we have met on previous trips.  And we had a great day on the water!! 

There was a panga tournament, of which we were not a part.  We were one of the first boats away from the dock (the first panga too!) and ran north towards the shark buoys.  We did not end up that far up the coast and stopped about Ensenada del Muertos.  Mike hooked a  3 to 3.5 foot, 30 lb wahoo and had it on board by 7:30 AM.  We kept seeing bait balls disturbing the water so we know there were other large fish in the area.  No one was catching anything so we moved a little farther from shore.

Mike's Wahoo

Eventually around 9 AM, with some trolling, we hooked a small female dorado which I caught.  When we saw her size, we chose to release her back.  This year there is a new conservation direction on what size fish you and keep and exactly how many.  We believe this is a great idea.  During the past few years, there have not been strict guidelines and the area may be getting over-fished.  Better to throw her back, let her spawn, and then catch her next month when she's 20+ pounds.

While we continued to troll, nothing was biting.  We decided to head to port about 10:45 but continue to troll on the trip back.  That is when Mike got to catch his striped marlin - all 175 pounds of him (the fish, not Mike).  It took him between 35 and 40 minutes to bring this bad boy to the boat!  He  put up a VERY good fight.  We released him after this photo.  He was as tired out as Mike at this point.

Mike's Marlin

We took 1/2 of the wahoo and gave the second half to Jorge.  Our 8 wahoo filets were prepared by Tio Pablo's Wednesday night -  half garlic & capers and half Veracruz (tomatoes, onions, peppers & olives).  The cost of our meal was $8 each and included our fish with rice, beans and tortillas.  Can't beat that.  We took the leftover Veracruz home and had burritos on Thursday.  Friday night the other 8 filets made it to Tio's as well for more Veracruz.  Their prep is AMAZING!!!  More burritos on Saturday.  Maybe tonight dinner will be beef. 

Next week we will be bottom fishing for snapper and grouper and maybe try for another wahoo.  I will have gills by the time we make it back to Texas!!