Hey DonO, I'm new here, but impressed by the content and enjoying the banter. However, your posts about your trip have incensed me, possessed me and enthralled me!!! What a trip and what a dialog, drawing all of us into the boat with you. I only hope that someday we to can experience the thrill.
Thanks, Joe P.S. Now let's hear the bar stories!!! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Don Ordes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002 2:48 PM Subject: Re: [VFB] Trip report- part 6b Dorado on the fly!!! > > The water had chopped up by now, so I got > soaked again on the way back from waves breaking over the bow. But we did > spot one sail as we were coming in, so maybe the last day? > > Part 6b > > > So the next morning we headed for Coronado again to look for roosters and > that sailfish. But no roosters again, and no Mr. Sailfish. Actually, he > had moved south an was spotted and raised by our trip leaded's boat. But no > take. We trolled coastline again, trying to raise roosters and taking in > the sights- reef fishes, sea turtles, rays and sealions. After a couple of > hours, we decided to go out and finish the trip on dorado. > After a few miles, we caught up with the other pangas, and they were on > fish, and now so were we. Jim cast-caught a couple while I was > experimenting with new flies and not having much success. And then the feed > was off- first no takers, then no fish- like someone blew the halftime > whistle. So now it's trolling time again. Jim trolled the green machine > and I tried different stuff. Jim has another hook-up! Rats! I'm getting > trounced here. OK. Try for an amigo. Humpf! No amigos. Jim lands the > fish and we start trolling again. Instant replay. Jim is now up 6 to zip. > I'm looking bad here. And he's using my fly design to beat me. Some > face-saving, I guess. One small, but liveable, drawback of these giant > flies is that they have to be maintained. That means combing them out after > each caught fish or good hit, as they can get tangled up and foul on the > trailer. Small price to pay so far. But by now I'm not loaning Jim my comb > anymore, as he doesn't have one. "Hah! This will stop you!" I thought. > So Jim finger-combs the fly, and still very messy, puts it out again and > catches another fish!!! Grrrrr! > > So I finally put out my 14wt because it has a green machine marlin fly on > it, and it IS the hot fly today. We're out there together now, and Jim gets > a hard bump- but no hook-up. Bump again. OH, no! Is it going to be 7 to > 0? But they go away. Ok, I have a chance. Then Chencho calls out > "Grande!", and points back to the left. Sure enough, snaking across the > water 50 yards away was the unmistakable dorsal fin of a bull dorado, and a > huge one at that. But he was headed right for Jim, who was on the left. > OH, NO! Jim gets a hard bump, but nothing there. I breathe, and hold on. > He does spot mine, and heads for it. A solid, smashing take and a jumping, > reel singing run on the surface that, like I said, would have done any > sailfish of marlin proud. Cartwheels, backflips, gainers, twists- were all > in his trick-bag. But none worked for him. I had initially regretted using > the 14wt, as it hauled in that 51 pound dorado last year in Buena Vista in > less than 20 minutes, so I fugured to haul this 40 pounder in pretty fast. > Not to be. This guy gave me a tougher battle than the 51 pounder, with a > lot more stamina, taking an hour to land. And ol' Don was workin' hard too > in the noonday Baja sun, but ain't it great!!! So my one fish for the day > proved to be the bruiser of the trip, as big as any caught. And what a > beauty! A typical brightly lit up bull with flourscent blue dots all over > him, including his huge fin. We saluted him, took a photo, and then let him > slip back into the blue deep. A warrior gets to fight another day. (Jim > did catch some bruisers on this trip on other days, and we'll have to check > out the photos.) After that, Jim caught one more in the 30 lb class, and we > called it a trip and headed back for lunch and Frozen Margaretas. > > And that, as they say, is the rest of the story. Hope ya'll enjoyed. > > DonO >
