Baja Recap
2007

Reading all of the reports on the internet regarding the fishing conditions in Loreto, I was thinking this was not going to be a good year.  Not only were they reporting no dorado but the wind was severely hampering even getting out looking or finding the fish.

Kathy and I arrived in Mulege a week before out first guests were to arrive.  My intentions were to fish three or four days and take a good look at some new inland water.  The first day the wind was blowing but not hard enough to keep us inshore.  Victor and I found lots of bait, so for the time being that was not going to be a problem.  We ventured out into open water and trolled for about two hours hooking one dorado but no buddies showed up.  Since we had a strong outgoing tide, we headed for a new location to explore the shoreline possibilities.  We could see lots of birds were working over a large school of bait fish just off shore, when we got close, we could see an occasional surface swirl.  About the second cast I was into a very strong fish which turned out to be a pargo.  Boy can these guys fight.  We spent the next two hours catching pargo and triggerfish until the baitfish moved out into deeper water.  All in all not a bad day on the water.  The next day the wind was not an issue so we fished the open sea side of the shoreline.  Again lots of possibilities for some good inshore fishing exist.  Since our first weeks guests were to arrive in a few days we did find some good inshore fishing to keep them busy until the dorado fishing picked up.  We heard a report that some dorado were caught about 15 miles offshore the day before, so Victor and I decided to head out in that direction.  It was a perfect day, no wind and flat water.  We kept heading east until we got to an island about 22 miles offshore.  There were some sailfish and marlin but no dorado.  As we made our way around the back side of the island, we could see lots of birds working off in the distance.  Along the shoreline the water was extremely clear and visibility was good to 25 feet.  Lots and lots of inshore species to cast a fly to.  Out in the open water, there were plenty of bonito and “Toro” to 25 lbs.  It was just a matter of getting the fly in front of them and it was almost an instant hook-up.  Here is another excellent location to keep us busy.  We were having so much fun we lost track of the time, about 2 pm we decide to head in.  About two miles on the west side of the island, we spotted some grass, and yes, there were dorado underneath.  I did have a few hook-ups before they lost interest and since Victor dumped all of our bait back at the island, we had no way of keeping them interested.  Needless to say we were both happy that we found some dorado.  Looks like we are going to have a Dorado Tournament after all!

At the airport in Loreto, I talked to lots of disappointed fishermen.  Only a few talked about catching “peanut dorado”.  I was excited that we found a good school up north and couldn’t wait to get back.  As our guests made their way through immigration and customs, Kathy and I were waiting with cold water and cold beer.  All of them had been reading the reports on the internet so they were excited when I told them that we had found dorado the day before.  We just needed the weather to cooperate.

The first day of fishing for the group could not have been any better, no wind and flat seas.  Since Victor and I marked the location on our GPS units of where we found the dorado we headed straight out to the same area.  I think Harry Simon was the first to hook up on a dorado but there were only a few fish around and they lost interest quickly.  About mid-morning we got a call from on of the other pangas that they found a large school of fish under some grass.  We were the last panga to arrive and could see some of the others had fish on.  Not a bad first day with 19 dorado landed and Bob Souza being high rod with 8.  The next day the conditions were not in our favor, that miserable wind came back, the group ended up with 23 dorado landed but most caught by trolling again Bob was high rod with 8 dorado.  The wind continued the next day kept all but one panga fished inshore.  Ronald Simon was the only one to catch a dorado on a fly; it turned out to be the winning fish.  Over the next three days there was more wind but periods of calm so we could get out after the dorado.  At the end of the week we ended up with 65 dorado landed, 8 to 20 lbs. and countless inshore species.  Certainly not great numbers but I was pleased that everyone caught dorado on a fly.

It was time to go back to Loreto, first group leaving and the second group arriving.  Again I talked to quite a number of anglers that had fished Loreto and most had the same response, dorado were pretty much not existent.  The second group had the same question as the first, were there any dorado around.  I told them that if we had good weather conditions they were going to catch dorado.

The week started out the same as last week, good weather and flat seas.  We found dorado right away and ended up with 23 for the day.  Willie, using a popper, ended up to be the high rod for the day, landing 5 of the 6 that he hooked.  While his boat mate, Grady Lee went 0 for 4.  First timer, Steve Culp hooked the biggest fish of the day which turned out to be the Tournament winner.  Over the next three days, the wind came back and only allowed us to fish in open water for a few hours each day before we had to move to some protected water along the shoreline.  There was plenty of grass, in fact at time too much.  The dorado would not stay under one paddy and move from paddy to paddy.   We had to constantly move to find the fish, once located they would hook one or two then move again.  On the fifth day, the wind subsided and it was back to open water.  It was a fantastic day with 44 dorado to the boat.  I went out with Tom Knoth and August Abellar.  Tom landed 8 dorado, August 3, they even let me make a few casts and I had 4 dorado to the boat.  The water was pretty choppy the last day making it hard to locate the grass.  To our surprise, out of no where a sailfish grabbed Augusts' hoochie.  The line was screaming off of the reel and the sailfish was jumping behind the boat, it was certainly an exciting for moments before the line broke.  A short time later, another sailfish did the same.  When we saw the third sailfish come after August’s hoochie they grabbed their fly rods and started casting behind the panga.  But this time the sailfish was not interested.  So ended another week in Baja, with better weather we were able to land 128 dorado 8 to 20 lbs.







We’re hoping that you will join us in 2008 for another Excellent Adventure in Baja.

Thanks to all,

Al & Kathy
 

Steve Smith with a typical Roosterfish! 

   
                      1^st Group                                                                    2^nd Group

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