Rob, We were in Loreto, and July was a much better month this year than August. But that can change year to year- it's a roll of the dice for booking your trip.
Billfish migrate up the coast, so the farther south you are down the east coast, towards the cape, the sooner you see them. Same with dorado. THe Loreto area is a hot-spot for plankton blooms and Sargasso weeds (in good years), so baitfish are there in shoals and the weeds are a congregation point. The billfish follow the dorado in and then you have fishing paradise. If the conditions are not right in the area, they may concentrate somewhere else, like your area. Again, that's why they call it fishing and not catching. I'm with you- there's NOTHING like a billfish on a flyrod! DonO ----- Original Message ----- From: "rob poutre" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 9:24 AM Subject: Re: [VFB] Baja Report > 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
