FOOTBALL TUNA CAUGHT OFFSHORE BY BAJA FISHING BOATS

June 18, 2006, Don Bear, football tuna and some dorado caught at Loreto, Baja, Mexico:

Fishing out of Loreto on Saturday, Kent Baker of Loreto and Escondido, Calif., and Dick McBride of Escondido fished with Captain Paulino Martinez and me on my boat.

We caught 8 football-sized yellowfin tuna about 14 miles northeast of Punta Lobos and 17 miles east of Punta Perico. Most of the tuna came on black-purple feathers, but a couple of them came on sardines that Paulino netted on the north side of Isla Carmen. At one point we had a triple tuna hookup, providing some interesting deck-dancing.

The water temperature off the Loreto vacation area of Baja was consistently 81 degrees, plus or minus a half-degree. We did not see a dorado all day, but there were a number of billfish in the area which we chose not to bait.

Dorado fishing at Loreto has been hit-or-miss, with some boats being in the right spot at the right time and others striking out.

On Thursday Paulino led his fishermen to 6 dorado to 56 pounds and was back at the Oasis by 10 a.m. His brother, Francisco caught 5 yellowfin tuna to 25 pounds on the same day in the same general area, only farther out from Punta Lobos.

Fishing on Saturday, Paulino came across a dead sea lion and caught 5 dorado to 35 pounds.

Pangueros "Chanto" and "Huero Cata" also caught several more dorado at the same spot before the bite went dead.

Panguero Antonio of Arturo's fleet caught limits of dorado and a sailfish north of Isla Coronado.

On Wednesday, Paulino's customers caught 5 yellowfin and 1 marlin, but on Friday they caught only 1 dorado and lost a large marlin after a ten-minute hookup.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from Loreto and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Loreto may be found at Mexfish.com's main Loreto page.