Bob Uecker's Archived Fish Report
This is what happens to
Loco Primo who won't stop telling Fish Tales!
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October, November 2007
Every year at this time, while the kids are in their first quarter
back at school and things are cooling off up north, we have a
big drop off in the number of visitors that we see here in the
Riviera Maya. This gives us a time to get important things done
like scheduled maintenance on diesel motors, refurbish a few boats,
and for me…fish! Like the plumber who never gets around
to fixing leaks at his own house, I seldom get a chance to fish
during our busy season because there is much to do and the boats
are usually filled with happy guests. And that’s the way
we like it.
But this time of the year, I take the time to get out on the
boats and have fun - and the fish our cooperating. While this
is not our migratory fish season, we do have a healthy resident
population of billfish and dorados (mahi-mahi), and the wahoo
are in respectable numbers now, too. Last week, I had the annual
“Loco Primo” visit. This is a week of intense fishing
with two of my cousins, Tim (Loco) and Marty along with two of
their friends. All four have a voracious appetitive for fishing
and for keeping the local breweries in business.
Sticking with the former, there were 4 days of fishing, during
which time was caught sailfish, dorados, wahoos, kingfish, and
some nice size yellow tail snappers. And of course, we lost a
few as well, but fear not…those that lost the fish were
indeed given the appropriate ration of grief. No feelings were
spared. But at the end of the day, everyone had a great time and
we had fresh fish for the table. It didn’t hurt that two
of the group are accomplished chefs…one from Germany and
one from the USA…so we had a nice variety in which the fish
were prepared. I’m talking fried, tempura, baked, grilled,
sashimi, cervece…you name it. I am just now finished with
the leftovers. All in all, it was a week that reminds me of why
I like fishing so much and why we have so many clients who come
back year after year to fish with friends. While you can’t
always guarantee that you will catch a lot of fish, fishing with
friends in Mexico is always a good time, uninterrupted by phone
calls, traffic, and all of life’s other annoyances.
Time to get back to work.
Bob and Glenna
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tournament picture of the two winners and their blue marlins.
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August 18, 2007
Its been a busy summer.
We’ve had boats in no less than 7 tournaments, purchased 2 more
boats for the fleet, and brought in new types of tackle to start
testing. All activities that we enjoy around here, especially
the tournaments. Making it even more enjoyable is the fact that
two of the tournaments were run out of our beautiful home of Puerto
Aventuras. In early July, the inaugural Puerto Aventuras Bill
Fish Cup fielded over 60 boats…not bad for a first time event.
We fared well in the tournament, placing boats in first (Captain
Santiago Canto on the Reel Stripper) and second (Captain Pasqual
Jiminez on the Marlin Magic). These same two boats also qualified
us to enter into the finals to represent Mexico at the international
bill fish tournament in Africa in January, 2008 . The finals were
held in mid-July and, as luck would have it, the event was also
held in Puerto Aventuras. Captain Pasqual on the Marlin Magic
came in second in the national competition, just missing coming
in first by a few pounds, placing him and Captain Rick’s as first
alternate to represent Mexico in January.
Along with all of the other
activity,summer also brings with it hurricane season.
While June and July have been quiet, as I write this we are watching
Hurricane Dean swirl its way west through the Caribbean. Hopefully,
through the grace of God, it will miss us. However, its time to
get off the computer and start battening down the hatches just
in case.
That's if for now….heading
to the marina.
Bob and Glenna
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May-June, 2007
 Well….the
dorado are here!
Some also call them mahi-mahi or dolphin fish but call them what
you may, they are here in big numbers. Some afternoons clients
are getting tired and either stopping to bottom fish to take a
break or simply calling it a day to come back and rest their arms
and hands and have a great meal of the day´s catch.
One example - an angler from Holland who comes every year and
fishes for several days asked me if I had any tape. I asked him
why he needed it. He showed me his right hand and it had a few
blisters on his fingers…right about the spot where the reel handle
hits. Sure enough, he had gotten them the day before as a result
of the 6 dorados and one wahoo he had gotten the prior afternoon.
They looked like they might smart just a bit, but he was largely
undaunted. We dressed and taped the blisters, and off he went
for another day of fishing. A true angler!
That's if for now….heading to the marina.
Bob and Glenna
APRIL 2007 April
is here and with it comes the annual migration of pelagic
fish chasing the swarms of baitfish. Leading the migration this
year are sailfish and white marlin. While the numbers aren´t
large yet, the fish are. We´ve had several happy clients
request replica mounts for sailfish in excess of 92 inches.
Captains are reporting seeing some nice size blue marlin playing
in the baits, but they haven´t been biting yet…probably
because of the recent full moon. Hopefully as it wanes, they
will be hungrier during the day. Should start seeing the Dorados
soon.
Seems like the word is
out, too. For the first time in several years, we are
seeing a large number of large private Sportfishing boats coming
in from the U.S. The HRD (high rent district) part of the dock
is vibrant with multi-million dollar battlewagons. Decked out
with all of the newest fish catching gadgets, their owners and
crews are out there mixing it up with our boys competing for
the big ones. More often than not, experience wins out over
technology as our billfish release numbers are running a bit
above the private fleet….not that we are keeping count
or anything.
MARCH 2007
 March
came in like a lion this year as we were hit with southwest
winds in excess of 26 miles per hour that shut the port down for
the first 3 days of the month. It gave us some much needed time
to do a little preventative maintenance on the boats, scrape a
few hulls, and put together a few new pieces of tackle that we
can put to the test.
Fortunately, mid-day on
the 3rd, the winds died down and began to swing to the
north as a cold front from Florida swooped down. By Sunday the
4th, we were back fishing with a vengeance. Often along with a
northern front comes a batch of bill fish. This was one of those
times. Sunday morning, sailfish were seen by guests and crew free-jumping
just north of Puerto Aventuras. While they were more than happy
to check out what we were offering in the teasers, there were
few serious takers. Not what we wanted, but they put on a nice
show.
Sunday afternoon,
however, they found their appetites as about half of the boats
had at least one hook up. Adding to the excitement was the fact
that the 38’ Betram, Marlin Magic, not only picked up a sailfish,
but also a white marlin. Of course, with only 1 ˝ hours of daylight
remaining, the crew set out to find a blue and accomplish something
that we have never done before in the Riviera Maya…a March Grand
Slam! Unfortunately, darkness set in before we found any success
with the blues, but the clients on the boat had a great time in
the hunt and have already made plans to come back and try it again.
The next day, of
course, we happened into 2 blues….such is fishing. While this
is still early in the season, based on some early runs of sailfish
and the bite being experienced up north, we have high hopes for
another good billfish season. Can’t wait to find out.
Our NEWEST BOAT- Finatik
DECEMBER 2006
The Girl in the Picture is Pia (We didn't get the name of the sailfish) in April, 2006.
Photo sent in by Timo In a recent
issue of Marlin Magazine, an article was dedicated to the
top women blue water anglers in the world. The article was a great
tribute to these women and illustrates the fact that deep sea fishing
is a sport that can be enjoyed equally and successfully by men and
women. This fact is born out by our experience at Captain Rick's.
We see thousands of anglers on our boats each year and if you check
out our wall of fame in our office in Puerto Aventuras, you will
see some great pictures that our clients have shared with us that
feature many of our female anglers with some great trophies.
Recently, one fine lady angler
was able to take advantage of our unusually productive fall sailfish
bite. For some reason, perhaps due to the unseasonable cold fronts
that have been coming down from the north, we have seen some very
high off season billfish activity. In fact, a few weeks ago some
of our captains ran across a large school of sails late in the day.
In a matter of about an hour, 4 of the boats circled the fish and
were able to catch and release 17 sails, a number typically unheard
of except during the spring migration.
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