Punta Chivato

[rossman]

I decided to take a trip to the Punta Chivato area for a little camping and fishing. I got all packed up and was set to leave early Monday morning. Low and behold when I tried to start my truck I had a dead battery. This has happen three other times since I have been down here where the process of packing withe the dome light being on for an extended period that the apparently weak battery got drained. Well at 5 30 am there are not a lot of people moving around to give me a jump, so I improvised by jumping to my 12 v LiFPo sonar/GPS battery. Wasn't sure it had the cranking power to turn over a V6 but with one second of cranking it started right up. Since I was planning on camping in a real wilderness area I decided to try to purchase a new battery if I could find one on the way. Vizcaino was all closed up when I went through there and I stopped at two places in San Ignacio for no love. Got to Santa Rosalia and at my third stop there I found a battery. Installed it and off I went. I drove another 20 or so klicks to San Bruno and found a road heading along the coast suitable for a 2 WD truck but probably not a sedan. Drove 8 or 10 miles on this road and found a nice camping spot on a point, which was probably the point that is closest to Isla San Marco.

My camp



Isla San Marcos


Went out for an afternoon session. It was very warm compared to Asuncion. Amazingly I had cell service there and my weather app told me the local temp was 101. Water temp was 78.5. I was digging it but my dog was a little uncomfortable in the heat.
I managed to land a few roosters that were cruising around in packs. Every one landed were followed to the yak by massive schools of roosters. All were very small but fun on light tackle.

Rooster


Went back to camp after a couple hours to hydrate and make sure you he dog is as staying cool. Then I did a little snorkeling in the shallows. The boulder and cobble areas were filled with all manner of Cortez reef dwellers and the Sandy areas were carpeted with rays. It was looking down on a covey of quail as the scattered in every direction as I swam over them.

Did a little shore fishing and managed a few corbina and other assorted reef dwellers.

I hit the water again early in the morning and trolled Rapalas in some deeper water around some massive bait schools that would pop up. At one time I was about half way to the island and still only in 30 ft of water so that is a pretty shallow channel. Lots of currents and eddies with the full moon tide swing.

Managed a few of these.


And these


And these


But the shark's were a real pain. There hitting my Rapalas and spoons and pretty much everything I trolled. It one point I was trolling two Rapalas and both went off at the same time. The one that hit my spinning outfit hit so hard it broke up but off in my rod holder and then chewed through my line and took my Rap. The other one I got to the yak and promptly broke the Rapalas trying to get it unhooked. Pretty expensive 10 minutes.

Couple other weird occurrences. I decided to try to make some bait since loosing all this tackle was starting to annoy me. First drop with the sabiki I hook up with a Manta Ray with about a 4 ft wing span. Put up quite a fight and when I got him to the yak his tail was whipping around, and I couldn't remember if I hey could sting or not but I was sure he could leave a welt, so I cut him loose. New sabiki, next drop and I get 4 spotted and 2 triggers. Never did get any usable bait. At one point I was bringing my sabiki in and a school of some kind of Jacks followed it in and just swam around my kayak for a couple minutes. I immediately threw some iron and megabaits and surface stuff but they showed no interest. They were big fish, all around 3 ft long with forked tails. Not sure what they were. I don't think I have ever seen a jack cravelle (sp) but that might have been what they were.

I had more of the same type of action throughout the day on Tuesday and Wednesday morning and headed home Wednesday afternoon.

[chris138]

Wow rad report thanks Rossman! Usually those craevelle jacks hang out near drop-offs and ledges so maybe there was deep water nearby?

[makobob]

Originally Posted by rossman

I decided to take a trip to the Punta Chivato area for a little camping and fishing. I got all packed up and was set to leave early Monday morning. Low and behold when I tried to start my truck I had a dead battery. This has happen three other times since I have been down here where the process of packing withe the dome light being on for an extended period that the apparently weak battery got drained. Well at 5 30 am there are not a lot of people moving around to give me a jump, so I improvised by jumping to my 12 v LiFPo sonar/GPS battery. Wasn't sure it had the cranking power to turn over a V6 but with one second of cranking it started right up. Since I was planning on camping in a real wilderness area I decided to try to purchase a new battery if I could find one on the way. Vizcaino was all closed up when I went through there and I stopped at two places in San Ignacio for no love. Got to Santa Rosalia and at my third stop there I found a battery. Installed it and off I went. I drove another 20 or so klicks to San Bruno and found a road heading along the coast suitable for a 2 WD truck but probably not a sedan. Drove 8 or 10 miles on this road and found a nice camping spot on a point, which was probably the point that is closest to Isla San Marco.

My camp

Attachment 15710

Isla San Marcos
Attachment 15711

Went out for an afternoon session. It was very warm compared to Asuncion. Amazingly I had cell service there and my weather app told me the local temp was 101. Water temp was 78.5. I was digging it but my dog was a little uncomfortable in the heat.
I managed to land a few roosters that were cruising around in packs. Every one landed were followed to the yak by massive schools of roosters. All were very small but fun on light tackle.

Rooster
Attachment 15712

Went back to camp after a couple hours to hydrate and make sure you he dog is as staying cool. Then I did a little snorkeling in the shallows. The boulder and cobble areas were filled with all manner of Cortez reef dwellers and the Sandy areas were carpeted with rays. It was looking down on a covey of quail as the scattered in every direction as I swam over them.

Did a little shore fishing and managed a few corbina and other assorted reef dwellers.

I hit the water again early in the morning and trolled Rapalas in some deeper water around some massive bait schools that would pop up. At one time I was about half way to the island and still only in 30 ft of water so that is a pretty shallow channel. Lots of currents and eddies with the full moon tide swing.

Managed a few of these.
Attachment 15713

And these
Attachment 15714

And these
Attachment 15715

But the shark's were a real pain. There hitting my Rapalas and spoons and pretty much everything I trolled. It one point I was trolling two Rapalas and both went off at the same time. The one that hit my spinning outfit hit so hard it broke up but off in my rod holder and then chewed through my line and took my Rap. The other one I got to the yak and promptly broke the Rapalas trying to get it unhooked. Pretty expensive 10 minutes.

Couple other weird occurrences. I decided to try to make some bait since loosing all this tackle was starting to annoy me. First drop with the sabiki I hook up with a Manta Ray with about a 4 ft wing span. Put up quite a fight and when I got him to the yak his tail was whipping around, and I couldn't remember if I hey could sting or not but I was sure he could leave a welt, so I cut him loose. New sabiki, next drop and I get 4 spotted and 2 triggers. Never did get any usable bait. At one point I was bringing my sabiki in and a school of some kind of Jacks followed it in and just swam around my kayak for a couple minutes. I immediately threw some iron and megabaits and surface stuff but they showed no interest. They were big fish, all around 3 ft long with forked tails. Not sure what they were. I don't think I have ever seen a jack cravelle (sp) but that might have been what they were.

I had more of the same type of action throughout the day on Tuesday and Wednesday morning and headed home Wednesday afternoon.

What no cabrilla or grouper? Bummer, that is usually a vary productive area. Glad the battery situation is taken care of, no fun when they don't start. See you soon.

[Zed]

Youve seen Jack crevalle. I got one at rancho leonero when we were there. And right at the dropoff coincidentally.

Im still waiting on a shark pic. What kind were they?

[rossman]

No idea on the sharks. Sort of brownish coppery color. Very smooth skin. Teeth but not scary ones.

[svendawg]

Sounds like you had a good trip.
Your living the fisherman's life

[rossman]

Originally Posted by makobob

What no cabrilla or grouper? Bummer, that is usually a vary productive area. Glad the battery situation is taken care of, no fun when they don't start. See you soon.

I worked some bouldered weedbeds with shallow running Raps and lost two big fish and the only two lures of that type that I had. NO action on top water stuff or surface irons so I gave up on that fishery.

[YakHanded]

all of those posted fish woulda been first for me other than the bonito - killing it Rossman! nice trip! camp doesnt look to shabby either

[walrus]

Your reports are wicked, after reading one it takes me ten minutes to get focused again on what I was doing . Keep them coming, it's good for us to know life can still be an adventure.

[octico]

Great report thanks for sharing!

[Ojos_raros]

bas ass report! estoy bien celoso

A little south of there, theyre gettin wahoo!!

[tattuna]

Awesome adventure Ross. I would never guess the channel was that shallow. Tons of potential out there, cool to see you exploring it.

[rossman]

Originally Posted by Ojos_raros

bas ass report! estoy bien celoso

A little south of there, theyre gettin wahoo!!

Thanks man. I got a report from one of the local guides here in Asuncion a couple weeks ago that the pangeros out of Abreojos were picking at some wahoo. Found it hard to believe because the water is icy cold here yet. Mid to high 50s. Maybe these chubascos will push a little warm water this way.

[Dannowar]

the magic of baja. so rad

[King Saba]

Badass trip. I like!

[GregAndrew]

Looks like another great camping spot. WTG Ross.

[monstahfish]

Very cool to see a black skipjack. I caught a ton of them in panama last year and they are super fun on light gear and fly. We have a similar species called false albacore on the east coast and they are probably my favorite fish.

[kurt]

Great report. You sure bring a lot of firewood with you.

[taggermike]

Great report. Trolling all day for marlin can be fun, but that inshore stuff is so action packed. Some many species its like a ictheology field trip. Keep the reports coming and more photos please. Mike

[Zed]

Originally Posted by kurt

Great report. You sure bring a lot of firewood with you.

Choked on my breakfast.