Mag Bay Trip Report

[Tower Todd]

Mag Bay On Fire!

The Striped Marlin, Wahoo, Dorado were on fire the last several weeks and some small Yellowfins thrown in for good measure. I went down as part of a crew change / delivery crew for the 11th annual Riviera Rondevous hosted by Ellsworth Marine from San Diego, California. The boats all arrive in Mag bay for a fun week of fishing / relaxing and a one day fun fishing tournament. The boats either anchor out or side tie to the 125’ Luxury Mothership “Royal Pelagic”. The Royal Pelagic is a converted Alaskan crabber that has 6 staterooms, full dining and bar, chef, media room, small workout center & three center console style skiffs from 17-21’. She holds approx 40,000 gallons of fuel and can keep the fleet supplied during the week & longer.

The Marlin Count For 6 Days Of Fishing For 7 Boats Was An Incredible 377 Stripeys! (Not all boats fished all days)

The tournament was won by the boat “Cut Loose” who had two couples onboard and let only the ladies fish. Extra points were given for catching a “slam” that included marlin, wahoo, dorado and mahi. They did not catch the most fish, but caught the right kinds for the win.

My adventure started by arriving on the mothership on Wednesday and hanging out and fishing the bay for a couple of days while the Riviera events winded down. Then Friday I went fishing onboard “Ohana”, a 51’ tournament rigged sport fisher that earlier this season won the Zane Grey tourney in Catalina. The fish were biting South of the Entrada near Tosca Light. When we arrived at the grounds, the birds were diving and the marlin were busted on bait just like albacore do! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing….Marlin after marlin feeding. We started pitching live greenback macks and hooking up left and right. All fish were caught using circle hooks for easy releases. We managed 6 off of the first spot, then moved to run and gun mode to located more feeders. We would spot tailers and cast from the bow pulpit (there is a bow bait tank), or from the pit or often from both and get the double or triple hookup. Total chaos as the fish are hooked, leadered, released, boat spinning, more tailers spotted, etc. Packs of 4 marlin 3 boat lengths at 3 O’ Clock, Tailers and 10 O’ Clock. In between spotting tailers and feeders we put out the jigs and would get slammed, then we’d slow to reel one up and spot more tailers and baits would start flying again. We’d catch a wahoo or two or small football yft during the jig periods as well. The day ended with 22 marlin released, several more hooked and lost and tons raised or spotted along with 2 or 3 wahoo and 5 football yft’s!

Saturday was our official departure from the Royal Pelagic and crew change. We went into port at San Carlos and plugged the fuel tanks for the run North, dropped off the Ohana’s regular crew and took on our new crew and restocked the galley and cerveza provisions. San Carlos is a mostly commercial port and the pier is arranged for side tying to a old rusty Mexican fishing vessel. While filling the tanks from an agonizing slow pump / hose arrangement on the of the commercials tied nearby was offloading his catch of swordfish. We never kept a count, but the were offloading for several hours. I saw at least 25 swordys offloaded and snapped a few pictures before getting busted by the Mexican Dock Master in Spanglish and hand signals that pictures were forbidden. One of the locals told me the catch was from 120 miles South of Cabo San Lucas and caught on long line gear.

The boys from Ellsworth Marine and the Riviera Gang have been hosting this gathering for 11 seasons and have made some good friends in San Carlos. One of them is the local Pemex official. We entered her office and she had prepared an incredible fresh scallop ceviche for us. She asked if we wanted some beer and when we nodded in agreement, she jumped in her car and ran to the store. In a few minutes she returned with a batch of Tecates and a bottle of tequila. Then she upped the ante and brings out a heaping bowl of fresh shrimp! Talk about about a great way to get to know the crew your about to spend the next week with!

We finished our fueling and party in San Carlos and headed out into the bay to anchor for the evening to make bait and BBQ some dinner. Two of the left over Rivieras who were not headed directly home side tied to us and we all started making bait for the next day. As evening turned to darkness, we could hear great music coming from the Jana Lynn. We walked over to Capt. Gary had an electric guitar and full amp setup and was jamming all the hits like The Eagles, Led Zepplin, Skynard, The Who, etc. A nice way to end the day.

Sunday morning we woke early and our bait wasn’t looking real good. They were still swimming, but had blueish colored backs instead of the bright green tint we’d like to see. Our plan had been to head just out of the Entrada and fish straight out. The previous action had been about 20 miles to the South. On the way we talked with some other boats who said the action was only about 10 miles South, so we decided to head for that area. Upon arrival the marlin were everywhere tailing and feeding. You could see 3 or 4 tailing down a swell and get ready to pitch a bait to them, when one would come closer and you’d quickly change plans and cast to a different spot. We managed 14 marlin this day, lost several more and had a ton on drive by’s that would come up to the bait and turn at the last second due to the poor condition of the bait. On one occasion we had pitched a bait to a couple of tailers. As the bait was soaking for approx 20 seconds, two more marlin came tailing between the boat and bait and the line got hooked on their fins and swam away towing the bait from their tail fins! With good quality baits I think we could have really made an epic day out of it. We probably saw between 75 -100 marlin on this day. We headed just North of the Entrada and anchored up in Santa Maria. We made more bait for the next day and this time they were perfect little baits and in very strong condition. The sportfisher “Dos Equis” side tied to us this night.

Monday we headed NW towards Thetis Bank. The marlin action had been further to the South but we heard reports of a good Wahoo bite. We were a few miles ahead of Dos Equis when we arrived at the bank and quickly put about a 30 pound Hoo in the box. Feeling good that we already had meat in the box before they even arrived we called them on the radio. They arrived a few minutes later and instantly hooked one up and began bringing it to the boat. Just behind the boat, a sea lion pops up and devours the hoo and they get the lure and wahoo’s head! Not too discouraged they immediately hook up a triple on hoos and 2 of the 3 get stolen by the sea lions. We decided to troll away from the bank to get away from the sea lions. About 5 miles away we hook into a real nice Hoo. It comes over the rail at about 70 pounds! Then we bang a 50 pounder. We ended with 4 Hoos and a Mahi. We ran North about 150 miles from Mag to San Juanico to let off out crewmember Jack and his boy who had been onboard for just a couple nights. At San Juanico Jack’s wife made us an incredible breakfast and we just kicked back for a half day before heading North again. Monday night we anchored at Hipalito Bay. Entering Hipalito was littered with lobster pots.

Tuesday morning a couple of local Pangaleros approached us and asked to trade some T-Shirts for some fresh seafood. We gave them a couple of shirts and some hooks and loaded up on fresh lobster. I found out later this is a big no no, but we consumed the evidence before there was any problem. Today was our first real travel day, where we needed to make it to Turtle Bay for Fuel before it got to late. The ocean had laid down over the last couple of days and the run North was smooth. We arrived at Turtle Bay and were immediately approached by a Bayliner Capri and a smaller panga, both representing competing fueling operations in Turtle bay and each trying to steer up their direction. We fueled with the “Anabell” witch is a fuel tank with a boat hull built around it. To fuel you tie up to their bouy, then come along side and they start the pumps. Pretty simple and quick. While the boys were fueling, a couple of us started making more bait. As we departed Turtle Bay there was a huge bait bal with feeding porpoise and pelican crashing everywhere. Pretty cool to see. We ran to the South end of Cedros Island dodging lobster traps the entire way. Once at Cedros we fished around the kelp and caught some nice bottom fish. We released all of the bottom fish so we could focus on yellowtail. We struck out on yellows, but began to troll our jigs as we went North on the inside of Cedros. We caught and released a ton on Bonito until we got tired of them and put away the gear for the night. We BBQ’D the lobsters for dinner and as darkness fell we worked out a “wheel watch” schedule to drive through the night. My shift was from 10-midnight, so right after dinner I went and crashed out in my bunk. At 10PM I was awakened and took over the helm. It was totally flat and clear with stars everywhere. I had the Sirius stereo cranking some good tunes. In the distance in several directions I could see lightning. The area around Cedros is where the warmer Baja temperatures and the cooler Northern temperatures collided and that night was spectacular! In the morning we had steamed about 80 miles and we bumped the Ohana up to 24 knots. We ran to an area off of Collenet and stopped to drop for Red Snapper. We baited out hooks and dropped 300 ft and instantly started hooking up. One of the crew wanted a bunch to take home and freeze for the winter. We fished for about an hour and landed approx. 30 snappers.

From here we just cruised at 24 knots to San Diego and checked in to immigration and customs. All of the immigration and customs people were really nice except for one. The customs guy with the sniffing dog was a real jerk. We had warned him about the slippery gelcoat on the covering board above the cockpit. He boarded the boat and did his search, but when unloading his dog jumped up on the covering and slipped all over the place. It was pretty funny to us. It would have only taken a moment for us to lay a damp towel out for the dog to step up on, but Mr. Macho didn’t need any help from us! It was a great trip and I can’t wait for next year.

Next season the Royal Pelagic mothership won’t be used as the Ellsworth Boys have purchased their own 156’ Ex Crabber that is currently being converted into a long range mothership and should launch in March. The construction work is being done at a shipyard in Ballard, WA. The new name of the vessel will be “Pacific Provider” and have two 34-36’ gameboats on deck, jetskis, center console, laundry, workout, fine dining, wet bar, and tons of fuel. The name of the company is Eastern Pacific Yacht Club.

(Sorry The Pictures Are Out Of Order & The Large Size)

[Jer]

Very nice fish and scenery. Great shots!

[dodoman]

the pictures says it all. wow.
havent been there since june.

i see some fat hoo,s being caught, congradulations.

[Finnseeker]

Todd, excellent report, I have fished mag every year and it does not get any better. Great report and fishing with amazing pics. I am however discouraged with the killing by the long liners of all those swordies and pics you showed south of Cabo. This will effect the fishery in years to come. Next time shoot me the boat names so we can cross reference and check them against the gov regs and licensing.
We trying to work on this with TBF

[Tower Todd]

Chris,

PM me your email and I will send you the couple of shots I have of the boat and thier numbers.

Todd

[Finnseeker]

Originally Posted by Tower Todd

Chris,

PM me your email and I will send you the couple of shots I have of the boat and thier numbers.

Todd

You got mail

[Tower Todd]

Finseeker,

Sent the photos.

Thank You

[SeaBiscuit]

Great report and pictures Tower Todd. Thanks for taking the time to share your incredible Mag Bay experience.
This is definitely a 5 start report. I hope it does not get lost in all the noise of this forum.
Great stuff!
SeaBiscuit