The fantastically eroded Clarion Island, its iron-rich cliffs jutting from the waves, is known for its phenomenal tuna fishing. It’s only 5.5 miles long and its highest point, Cerro Gallegos, is 1,100 feet above the sea.

We arrived early on Feb. 20, and by 8 a.m. had tagged 20 wahoo with plastic dart tags. At 2 p.m., we anchored, and snagged 18 yellowfin that weighed between 90 and 150 pounds. At the end of the day, 18 yellowfin and 38 wahoo were swimming around the island with tags.

On the 21st, we were up and fishing at 5 a.m. Hey…when you love fishing, you LOVE fishing! Our echosounder and sonar showed schools of yellowfin, but when silky sharks darted around the boat and began eating the bait and the hooked yellowfin, we pulled anchor to motor around the island. Our count for the day: 25 yellowfin and 19 wahoo outfitted with plastic dart tags.

The next day, we anchored with a school of large yellowfin around the Royal Star, but pulled the anchor early as sharks showed up for breakfast. We began drift fishing for yellowfin at about 9 a.m.; for nearly three hours, we caught and tagged yellowfin weighing between 90 to 125 pounds. Our total: 60 yellowfin and 11 wahoo with plastic dart tags and 12 large yellowfin with archival tags.

The last day we had a little competition with sharks, but by early afternoon managed to find a school of yellowfin that the sharks hadn’t noticed. By 3 p.m., we deployed the last of the plastic dart tags and archival tags in yellowfin. By 4:45 p.m., we had stowed all the fishing gear and were on our way back to Cabo San Lucas.