Help me pair my rods to reels for fishing Colonet....

[oldmanjoe]

   Looks like a Warsaw grouper , nice fish !!!

[jurelometer]

SoCal can verify, but from my experience, pretty  much any super jumbo grouper out of Loreto is going to be a gulf grouper (Mycteroperca jordani) There are some other possibilities, but usually you have to go farther north or south.

Gulf grouper has been on the enviromentalists endangered species lists for awhile.  In 2019, it was  designated as  endangered under the Endangered Species  Act in the USA.   By my non-legally trained reading of the act,   it is illegal to bring into or possess the USA, or even for a US citizen to take on the "high seas" (whatever that means)  when outside of the USA.  There are hefty maximum fines listed, but no  minimium.  See section 9 and 11:

 https://www.endangeredspecieslawandpolicy.com/assets/htmldocuments/blog/4/2019/04/Fed-Reg-listing-rule.pdf

Last time I checked, the Mexican sportfishing limit was still two.     While gulf grouper  (once common) are now a very rare catch,   US citizens still catch the odd one in Baja and bring home.

Just a matter of time before somebody gets nailed.  It could get ugly.


-J

[pjstevko]

With the news of massive amounts of bluefin near Colonet and the SD fleet attempting to target them this past weekend I'm gonna go ahead and bring 6 setups....

Tanked Extra Narrow 501 on a PCH 801H
Shimano Speedmaster 12ii on a PCH 801XH
Shimano Speedmaster 16ii on a UC Predator
Penn Fathom 40nld2 on a PCH 741 XXH
Penn International 16Sii on a PCH 741XXXH
Shimano Saragoza 10000 on a Black Hole Challenger Back 801H

[Rivverrat]

     Just noticed you have the new GP Predator. That rod should do very well. With a Fathom 40 that rod will dish out anything the 40 can give & then some. That reel will blow out well before the rod.


       I have an intense interest in your thoughts after fishing this rod... Jeff   

[pjstevko]

I'm thinking about:

Switching the Speedmaster 16 for the 40nld2 on the Predator...
and
Leaving the International 16S at home

Thoughts???

[MarkT]

Thoughts?  Yeah, you really need to go fishing!

I'd take the 16s on the 741xxxh if you think there's a shot at good size BFT, otherwise, yeah. it should stay home.
I'd put the 40nld2 on the Predator.  On my last trip one of the guys got a 150# on his Talica 16 fishing 40#.  He was glad for the extra capacity of the 16 over the 12.

[pjstevko]

Since it's the first trip were they are searching for bluefin this season I'm gonna bring it all since theres no way to tell what size fish we could stumble upon

[MarkT]

Good call since at this point you have no idea what you'll be fishing for and neither do they!

[SoCalAngler]

I think it is pretty safe to say on a day and a half trip to Colonet, which I think you said it was, you will spend little to no time searching for BFT. If you happen to run into them they boat MAY take a shot at them but don't expect to spend much time in trying to hook them. I say this because of a few reasons, first the distance needed to travel to Colonet and the length of the trip. Second, trips like this are known for bottom fishing mostly and maybe some yellowtail and that's what the guys signed up for, not to do a recon trip looking for tuna. Also, most people bring gear and tackle for the type of trip planned, sure some of it crosses over for different applications but gear targeting rockfish and tuna are pretty different. How would you like to show up for a tuna trip only to go and rockfish? Well, the same could be said for the guys that are set on catching bottom grabbers. I bet you would have some PO'ed people on the boat if the whole game plan got flipped. Lastly most of your travel will be done at nigh not giving the captain or crew a chance to spot tuna off in the distance such as foamers, jumpers and bait balls.

Good luck on your trip.

[MarkT]

I've had that experience going the other way.  On a 10 day and end up at San Clemente or the Tanner bank fishing next to the overnight fleet for BFT.  If I wanted to do that I'd have saved money by just doing an overnight trip.  I caught BFT, including a cow, doing that but I'd rather have had a few more Wahoo from further south!