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GP
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| Joined: | Tue May 23rd, 2006 |
| Location: | Denver, CO |
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Posted: Fri May 26th, 2006 02:12 pm |
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I'm a new member here but have been reading this forum for awhile. We're planning a boys fishing trip to San Carlos in Sept and I'm looking for advice on what type of fishing gear to buy for myself and my 14 yr old son. I haven't seen specific info on the previous posts here, if I missed something just point me in the right direction.
I have some saltwater experience but mostly the charter boat on vacation type. I think we'll start going to SC once a yr so I want to buy enough to enjoy the trips but don't need the fulltime angler best of everything setup either.
So far I bought a Penn combo with the 4/0 113h reel and a spinning outfit with a cheaper shimano reel that can hold up to 15 lb line. Both were really, really good deals so I'm keeping them unless someone tells me they are useless there. The Penn combo was $99 and the spinning set was $20. I'm thinking that 40lb line on the trolling rod is about right.
I'd like advice on line weights, leader weight, wire or mono leader, hook size, swivels, lures you name it. Also any advice on fishing techniques or locations is welcome. We aren't going for billfish but would be more trolling and bottom fishing. I have yellowtail, dorado, and grouper in mind. If I can get a general, works most of the time setup, I think it would be good. As time goes on, then I can add some more specialized items. Also I would expect most of our fishing there to occur in summer or early fall.
I know I'm asking for alot of info but I'll take anything I can get. I've read most of the websites for fishing in the area and gotten a good idea of what to expect but figure that the people on this forum are the best for hands on experience.
Thanks again.
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Bill Peszka
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| Joined: | Thu Oct 27th, 2005 |
| Location: | San Carlos, Mexico |
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Posted: Fri May 26th, 2006 04:47 pm |
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If you plan to charter, the charter boats provide good quality rods and reels for the type fishing that you want.
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GP
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| Joined: | Tue May 23rd, 2006 |
| Location: | Denver, CO |
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Posted: Fri May 26th, 2006 04:52 pm |
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| Duh, I forgot to say that we are bringing our own 28ft boat from Denver. The plan is to do our own fishing on our own boat.
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Matt Blair
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Posted: Fri May 26th, 2006 05:44 pm |
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I'm no professional but have been re-rigging some of my tackle. Guys, chime in if I'm wrong on something here.
I would recommend hiring a captain to take you out your first 5 times. They can show you the right areas, and help you catch a lot more fish. Remember, they probably have buddies out to sea the same day, and can talk via radio to find where the fish are. A captain should cost around $65 a day + tip. A captain is probably your best investment compared to any other gear. You can ask the Marina San Carlos office about captains.
Reels- your senator will be fine for trolling. 40# mono is good. Hi Vis or florescent yellow is a popular color because the captain can see where the fish is in the water. Use 150# leader for lures (you never know when a marlin might hit, and 150# should handle a smaller one.) I use mono leader, but flourocarbon leader is popular because fish can't see it as well. There was a whole discussion on leader material. The Senator should be fine for bottom fishing. You may want to look at a higher gear reel (5:1:1 or 6:1:1) We have a Shimano TLD 20-40S that works great for bottom fishing. It is spooled with 30lb mono.
Lures:
6" to 8" feathers - great for dorado, tuna and billfish sometimes (Colors - purple/black, mexican flag...very popular, white/blue, your favorite colors.)
6" to 8" cedar plugs - great for tuna, and others may hit. (same kind of colors or natural wood).
8" to 12" plastic - they come in a ton of different head shapes, colors etc. Billfish and larger dorado tend to like these. Once again, all fish hit everything on a given day in my experience.
Hook size:
I seem to use one size smaller hook than the length of lure. Example: a 7" feather would work well to have a 6/0 j hook, and a 12" lure could use a 11/0 hook though a 9/0 or 10/0 would probably be fine.
J Hook vs. Circle Hook - If you are trolling a circle hook is probably better unless it is a dead ballyhoo. Basically, if you think the fish is going to try to swallow the hook vs. attack or bite it, use a circle hook. Circle Hook = swallow; J hook = attack or bite.
I may be wrong here, so say Stuart, Steve, Craig or somebody.
For bottom fishing, a 7/0 hook with chunk bait would work fine. There is a certain type of rig that has three hooks spaced about 14" apart. Fernando is the king of hooking up big bottom fish, so he would know best. Use big weights...not sure the actual weight.
Species:
trolling - For the months you are fishing, your best chances trolling will be dorado, tuna, skipjack and billfish. Skipjack don't taste great but fight well. Don't be afraid of catching a marlin or sailfish. If you have a captain on board, they will show you the safe way to release it.
Bottom fishing - San Pedro Island is good, south and north points. There are a bunch of spots that seem to be random on about a 240 heading from Marina San Carlos. Watch where the panga fisherman are. Again, a captain can show you the best places. Snapper (Pargo), Cabrilla, Triggers, and a bunch of other fish can be caught. Many of them make delicious meals.
That's all I have to say about it. Wish I was there now.
Happy fishing. Matt
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bartmanaz
Administrator
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Posted: Fri May 26th, 2006 05:44 pm |
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GP
What you have is a pretty good start. I usually do not use a spinning outfit when trolling so if you can pick up one more of the penn combos you'll have the beginning of a spread to troll with.
For your time frame of late summer and fall you will not find much yellowtail action but may find some yellow fin tuna action and if you get into a ball of them the spinning rig will come in handy.
As to lines, etc, the 40 pound test will work nicely with the 113H. Might consider 30# to add more line to the spool. I would go no lighter than that for tuna and dorado. Bear in mind that it is not uncommon to encounter billfish when trolling for dorado and tuna and they will bite the same lures the dorado will and a sail or marlin will put some strain on your tackle.
As to leader I usually size leader to the lure and hook. Putting heavy leader on lighter lures tends to degrade the action of the lure. A rule of thumb is to size the hook to the lure and the head of the lure should fit thru the gap of the hook. Then size the leader to the hook. I would look at mono leader in 100#, 150# and then for larger lures go to a 250 or 300# leader with appropriate crimps, swivels, etc. Buy the best quality terminal gear you can afford. I only put wire leader on jigs that are specifically targeted at wahoo and they are not that common in San Carlos compared to the others. Hooks for lures should be ss and I like Mustad 7691 for lure rigging.
Lure selections should include small feather or skirted lures, some in a medium size skirted lures and perhaps one or two large ones. Popular brands include Mold Craft, 7 strand, Zuker, Pakula, and JAS Lures made in Mexico. Stuart, our regular fishing board denizen has his own line of lures called Dulcecita. Pm him for a catalog or you can download it in PDF at
[url=http://www.sancarlosmexico.com/Dulcecita Catalog.pdf]http://www.sancarlosmexico.com/Dulcecita Catalog.pdf[/url].
A couple of cedar plugs are also recommended.
Now after you've bought all of this stuff, lied to your wife about how much it cost you, found out you've overloaded the boat, you'll be ready to start fishing. I am also going to suggest that if you do not have a chair on the boat buy a very good quality gimballed fishing belt and matching harness. Braid makes good ones and there are others. Your 14 year old will bless you for it the first time he ties into a billfish or big bull dorado. One other thing-reel clamps-if your reels did not come with them add them.
Others will add their thoughts to this. But this will get you started.
Tight lines
Bart
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bartmanaz
Administrator
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Posted: Fri May 26th, 2006 06:17 pm |
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At one time in my life I rigged lures for resale on behalf of a lure manufacturer. To make my life easier, I developed a rigging chart so I would not have to hunt around for the right size of each component to match up. I use mostly Jinkai leader so this chart is skewed to that brand. I had to dig in the archives but I found the chart and have published it on the web site. You can find it at the following link in MS Excel format:
http://www.sancarlosmexico.com/BartsRigChart.xls
Hope you find this useful. The key is on the far right-size the hook to the lure and the rest falls into place.
Bart
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Matt Blair
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Posted: Fri May 26th, 2006 06:29 pm |
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Hey Bart,
Could you repost that link? I didn't work for me. That sounds like great info as I re-do all of my lures. Thanks!
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bartmanaz
Administrator
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Posted: Fri May 26th, 2006 06:33 pm |
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Sorry-had to change the name of the file to eliminate the ' to get it to report properly. Try it now.
Bart
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Phantom
Member
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Posted: Fri May 26th, 2006 10:22 pm |
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| Hey GP, were from Littleton and try to get down there a couple of times a year. We'll be there the 31st of May and can't wait. It's a GREAT place, the people,the food, the fishing,the fishing,the fishing are awesome. Did I mention the fishing? Send me your e-mail and I'll give you the report.
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GP
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| Joined: | Tue May 23rd, 2006 |
| Location: | Denver, CO |
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Posted: Tue Jun 6th, 2006 07:27 pm |
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I want to thank everyone for the responses. I've been busy at work so it took me longer to post this thanks. Lots of good info that I can use!
Thanks again to all.
Gary
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racer59
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Posted: Fri Jan 4th, 2008 03:10 am |
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GP wrote: I'm a new member here but have been reading this forum for awhile. We're planning a boys fishing trip to San Carlos in Sept and I'm looking for advice on what type of fishing gear to buy for myself and my 14 yr old son. I haven't seen specific info on the previous posts here, if I missed something just point me in the right direction.
I have some saltwater experience but mostly the charter boat on vacation type. I think we'll start going to SC once a yr so I want to buy enough to enjoy the trips but don't need the fulltime angler best of everything setup either.
So far I bought a Penn combo with the 4/0 113h reel and a spinning outfit with a cheaper shimano reel that can hold up to 15 lb line. Both were really, really good deals so I'm keeping them unless someone tells me they are useless there. The Penn combo was $99 and the spinning set was $20. I'm thinking that 40lb line on the trolling rod is about right.
I'd like advice on line weights, leader weight, wire or mono leader, hook size, swivels, lures you name it. Also any advice on fishing techniques or locations is welcome. We aren't going for billfish but would be more trolling and bottom fishing. I have yellowtail, dorado, and grouper in mind. If I can get a general, works most of the time setup, I think it would be good. As time goes on, then I can add some more specialized items. Also I would expect most of our fishing there to occur in summer or early fall.
I know I'm asking for alot of info but I'll take anything I can get. I've read most of the websites for fishing in the area and gotten a good idea of what to expect but figure that the people on this forum are the best for hands on experience.
Thanks again.
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No Sniveling
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| Joined: | Thu Oct 27th, 2005 |
| Location: | Rio Rico, Arizona USA |
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Posted: Fri Jan 4th, 2008 01:31 pm |
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Racer,
You didn't add a question or response to the quote?
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Stuart
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| Joined: | Wed Oct 26th, 2005 |
| Location: | Tempe, Arizona USA |
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Posted: Fri Jan 4th, 2008 04:14 pm |
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Bart's chart provides some good info. I use Jinkai for nearly all my lure rigging. If you use the Jinkai aluminum sleeves, they are size-keyed to their mono leader as shown in the chart and listed on the sleeve package. Pretty simple to follow. I also bead the leader under the skirt and use spring wire loops on the hooks. I use only Owner or Mustad SS hooks.
While Bart's chart is geared to hook size by species, I use a different rule of thumb. The opening of the J hook you are using on any given lure should be equal to or slightly bigger than the size of the lure head. In other words, you should be able to slide the hook over the diameter of the lure head itself. For most lures, that's usually a 7/0, 8/0, 9/0, or 10/0. I rarely go larger than a 10/0 hook on any lure. At least, for San Carlos fishing.
I also base leader weight on the size of the lure or the fish I expect to catch with it, but find I use 200 or 220 on nearly everything, with the exception of larger (12-14") or heavier lures (my heavily weighted jetheads). I use 300 on those. Reason for staying with 200 or 220 is that I've had many billfish grab the smallest lure I have in the spread.
I had to laugh at Sportfishing Magazine showing a picture of a nearly 4 ft. dogtooth tuna rigged with something the size of a grappling hook and the caption "Too big for bait?" Well, hell yeah, it's too big for San Carlos, unless you want to spend all day trolling around a huge dead fish. But the picture was actually taken in Australia, where they rig something this huge for grander black marlin, so I suppose it's appropriate for there. What I'm getting at here is "rig for the area you intended to fish." You could rig every lure you own with 400 lb. and 12/0 hooks, but 200 lb. and a 9/0 hook can probably handle the biggest fish you'll catch in San Carlos.
Matt - you were a bit confusing on circle vs. J hooks. Think of it this way - bait (ballyhoo, whatever), use a circle hook. Bait is likely to be swallowed. For trolling lures, use a J hook. Lures are more likely to be attacked.
And slowly this thread turns into another "I can't fish, so let's just talk about fishing advice" addition to the forum. 
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