Punta Quebrada

[rossman]

I took a little trip to the Bahia Tortuga area this week for a few days of camping and fishing. I camped in a small fish camp called Punta Quebrada which is about half way between Bahia Tortuga and Punta Eugenia. Excellent sedan type road into the area and a nice protected launch point. I got there on Monday afternoon after a non hurried 3.5 hour trip from Asuncion. Set up camp and prepared for and early morning launch.
I left the beach at daybreak and a paddled to the closest point and started exploring the areas that had lobster buoys. Found an area that looked promising with a high spot of around 60 ft of water and dropping off fairly quickly to 120 ft. The high spot was covered with bait and calico and a good number of Sierra and pesky needlefish were in the area. About 8 i hooked up with a yellow on a jig in fairly shallow water and thankfully he mad a run for deeper water. Got him landed, taped and released. A very nice fat 38 pounder. About an hour later I hooked and landed another nice 35 pound fatty. These fish were built like offensive linemen. Massive head and shoulders. I then headed to the beach and was back at camp for breakfast at 10:30. Spent the rest of the day hiking and beach combing and of course the obligatory siesta. There were some cool looking cave formations in the surrounding Hills. My brain wanted me to try to get to them but my 68 year old body won the battle.
Launched again at daybreak on Wednesday and headed for the same area. Very easy 1 mile paddle. By the way, the Vagabond out of San Diego had anchored up on my spot for the late afternoon bite and overnight. They moved on just after sunrise. About 7 i hooked up with a big fish and landed a beautiful slug that taped out at 44 lbs. I gave this one to a local pangero who had played the part of a cheerleader during the battle. He offered some lobster in return which I turned down since I was packing up and heading home and my ice was almost gone.
About an hour later I had another hookup and again landed a thick 41 pound yellowtail. This one slurped the jig so far into it's gullet that there was no chance of retrieving in. I harvested it with the hopes that someone at the launch would take it off my hands. That turned out to be not a problem. I even got my jig back after they cleaned it. They had a couple digital scales at the launch and was pleased to see the actual weight within a few ounces of taped calculations. This fish had a girth of close to 30 inches.
All in all the place turned out to be an incredible fishery and I will visit it again. A quick 2.5 hr drive and I was back in Asuncion.