2004 Baja Recap

Willie Wins!!

Like anywhere in the fishing world, timing is every thing and Baja is no exception. With the much anticipated dorado tournament just days away, the captains and I were busy preparing and planning for the group arrival. We had heard about the slow fishing when we arrived in town, so at the Captains meeting we discussed other options. They told me that the fish had moved north. Victor and I had decided to spend a couple of days pre-fishing the area. In that way we could figure out where we would need to launch the boats, how far we need to travel to get bait and where the dorado were holding out at. I was no stranger to the area, spending several weeks each year fishing the area, and neither was Victor. The launch, bait and availability of dorado was certainly a lot better than in Mulege. The only problem that I had to overcome was transporting everyone the 35 miles north. Talking to my friends in Mulege, we worked out the transportation details. Looks like we were set.

Kathy and I drove into Loreto early Saturday that way we could do a little shopping before the plane landed. The plan was for Kathy to ride in the van and me to transport several of our anglers with me. I ended up taking Willie and Norman for the two hour drive north. It was good to finally meeting Norman, since we had been emailing back and forth for months before the trip. Kathy spent time getting to know the rest of the group as we made our way to Mulege. It was basically an uneventful trip except for one person in the van thinking that they were going to run off the road at every turn.

Once at the Las Casitas Hotel, it was time for the group to unpack and relax before dinner. We had already made the decision to go to the pig roast at the Serinadad, a favorite dinner spot on Saturday night. The food was excellent and the mariachi band was too!

On Sunday, three anglers, Tom, Willie and Norman, had booked the extra day of fishing; I got them up at 4:30 am so they could eat breakfast and pack a lunch. It was a 45 minute drive up the road to meet the boats. As we drove up to the launch we could see the boats were already in the water, it didn’t take long to unload their gear and off they went. Now back to Mulege and get the rest of the group up so we could go on our kayaking adventure.

It was a fantastic day on Conception Bay, a slight breeze and warm weather. Kathy and I had the keys to Ecomundo’s so when we arrived we immediately unlocked and started getting the kayaking gear ready to go. With a few last minutes instructions we were ready to go. Since we had two extra kayaks, we invited two young gentlemen from Switzerland to join us. They were very excited. Kathy and Salvador were busy getting the kitchen ready for the clams. We snorkeled around the island and saw many different species of fish. This was Bob’s first snorkeling experience; he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. After a quick beer, we headed out to the clam beds. Years ago Roy showed me an easy way to gather clams, after showing the group we made busy work of gathering clams. Donna was a real trooper; even though she wasn’t a clam eater she stuck with it and collected her share. Back at Ecomundo’s, Kathy and Salvador were busy making the clam sauce. Salvador met us on the beach with a pot in hand and a brush. A brush I asked Salvador, he said “the clams needed to be cleaned”, I followed with that’s not the way Roy did it but it didn’t matter to him. The cleaned clams were excellent with Kathy’s pasta sauce.

Tom, Willie and Norman were waiting for our return. They were out fishing and I was excited to hear what had happened. Tom and Willie had gotten into a few fish trolling and had some shots at a few dorado but no hookups, while Norman landed three dorado on his fly rod. That was good news.

At our gear check meeting we went over rules for the dorado tournament and made the hoochies that we would need for the week of fishing. We also drew numbers for the captain assignments.

Since we had moved the boat 35 miles north we needed to get up an hour earlier than normal that put wake up time at 4:15 am. Our transportation van arrived by 5:00 am every morning and we were on our way at 5:15 am for the ride north. I had fished out of this area many times in the past but it had been a few years. When we arrived the captains were busy getting the boat ready to go for our 6 am departure. It was just a short ride out of the bay to where we picked up a few mackerel in the morning. And a short ride out to where we picked up dorado or skipjack (more bait). Actually this area gave us more fishing time for dorado because the fish were so close to the launch area. The first day out Willie landed a good dorado, while his partner Charlie had more than his share of bad luck, several break off and tackle malfunctions.
Tom and I caught several dorado trolling and had a good shot at a few dorado but Tom needed to work on his casting. The rest of the group had similar success for the first day.

It seemed like every day the fishing got better with more hookups and break offs. I remember one day in particular where we came upon one of the other boats in our group that had a fish hookup, they had a school of fish around the boat and the second angler (Glen) hooked up, we moved closer but still giving them some room to fight their fish, I looked down and saw a few fish around our boat and I told my partner to start casting, I heard a loud scream and looked up at the other boat to see Glen had broken off his fish, Willie got a grab but missed the fish, in the other boat Alan was still fighting his fish, Glen had re-rigged and was ready to go again, the big school of dorado was between the two boats when Glen hooked up again, this one made a long, long first run, Glen stopped the fish and was getting some line back when it turned again to make another run, POW, we could hear the noise from our boat when the fly line broke, Willie was hooked up again and this time it was a good fish on a popper, Alan landed his fish but the school was too far way from them to make a cast, I yelled at them to move closer since the fish were still next to our boat, they made no more that two casts apiece and they were into their fourth double hook up for the day.

Since Willie had landed the biggest fish on the first day, he had the honor of riding every day in the captain’s seat of the van. Every day he was challenged but every day he rode in the big chair.

Usually the winning dorado for the tournament is caught on the final day but not this year, Willie’s fish hung on from day one.

Javier and his staff prepared a huge meal for our banquet dinner. We always invite all the people that help us make this trip an unbelievable experience; it’s our way of thanking all of them.

The final day we had decided to fish out of Mulege to take advantage of the excellent shoreline fishing. We were not disappointed, every one caught lots of fish including several roosterfish, ladyfish and even a couple of dorado.

Well so much for another trip to Mulege, everyone had an excellent time and some will be returning next year. You know that Willie will be one of them to avenge his 1^st place fish.

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