DonO~ I'm curious where you were in Baja. If that was an off year for billfish on the east cape I'm completely amazed at what a good year must be like. We saw dozens of bills (sails, stripes, and even a blue) everyday we went out. I'm so hooked on it I can't even hardly sleep some nights just thinking about catching another marlin on a fly rod.
I am also signed up for next year. Going July 21st-28th. I went to a place called Rancho Leonero. I can't think of a place I would rather spend my time. This time, however, I'm targeting wahoo. Love tying those flys! Rob P. --- DonO <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > We had a great time in Baja this year. The fishing > was 'off', and towards > the end of the dorado season, but we still got into > a school of smaller > ones, in the 3lb to 10lb class- great fun on 9wt. or > less. It was fast and > furious top-water flycasting, and awesome-hair > sardines were the ticket. A > combination strip and drag was the only way to > entice a strike, but then > they raced each other to the take. We must have > caught between 25 and 30 > like this. > > My buddy caught a couple of skip-jack tuna (one on > my squid fly), which took > 40 min. each to land, and a couple of nice cow > dorado. The billfish were > very few and far between. We sighted one marlin and > one sailfish during the > entire trip. Only one boat (a cruiser) got one > small marlin and one small > sailfish (60lb class), and they had to go out 25 > miles to get them- too far > for a panga. Other wise, no one was catching much > of anything- even the > baitfishers. In fact, we were the only blue-water > flyfishers there for the > whole trip. > > So why did we have a great time? For me, being out > on the ocean is a great > time- period. My fishin'buddy Chuck was great > company- he had a story or > joke to match any experience- "That reminds me of a > story..." was his > favorite phrase. We saw whales, porposes, sea > lions, turtles, a leaping > marlin, leaping manta rays, and lots more. The > water chopped up for a > couple of days, which was hard on my back, but > otherwise the weather and > seas cooperated. > > When the opportunity was there, we fly-fished by the > book. Unfortunately, > there were not too many opportunities to do so. > Just too few fish (although > we did catch the 25 or so small ones BTB, and the > tuna). Also, we couldn't > find any Sargasso-weed, a favorite haunt of dorado. > My favorite method is > casting poppers along the edges of the Sargasso > rafts. One of the reasons > a local American gave us for the 'poor' fishing is > that the Pacific water > was warmer this year than the Sea of Cortez water, > so the fish didn't come > in to the gulf in anywhere near the numbers as > previous years. We even had > no success raising the bug bull dorado on my Green > Machine as a teaser, and > that has never happened before. > > We did some bottom-fishing a few times just before > we went back in (water > about 30' deep), and had some very fresh snapper and > grouper for late > lunches ( a good way to use up unused sardines). > While catching lunch, we > also caught some trumpet-fish, which look like a > giant needle-fish with a > trumpet-like tube-mouth. I also caught a > stone-fish, whose spines are > deadly. We also caught some giant trigger-fish- one > had to go 10lbs- and we > had them made up into 'saveechie' (don't know how to > spell it). They are > uuugly, but the meat was like lobster in texture. > In all, we probably > caught 30 to 40 'bottom fish', gave some to the > guide, took a few back, and > released the rest. That was probably more than all > of the other boats > combined. These fish are real bait-stealers, but I > grew up fishing these > guys, so I was right at home, except for the fly-rod > part. > > We motored right up to a colony of sea lions- cows > and pups- on the rocks, > and they had no fear of us. I got some great > photos. The big bull was just > around the corner, by himself, and I got a couple of > shots of him, too. I'm > using one of these photos as a screen-saver right > now- neat stuff. > > Already signed up for next year. > > DonO > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
