MULTI-DAY FISHING VACATION AT RANCHO LEONERO

Sept. 24, 2006, John Carroll, Rancho Leonero, East Cape, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

We arrived at Rancho Leonero on the Tuesday the Sept. 12th to beautiful weather and lots of fish at the fillet table. There were a few reports of Marlin and lots of Tuna and Dorado around. This was our first trip there and my wife and I thought the place looked great. We were told by others that it is usually full of bougainvillea and many more palms along with many other trees and plants that were gone. We hit the pool and bar for the remainder of the day to find a friend was there with a group of firemen from San Diego.

We went fishing on Wednesday for Tuna down near the Gordo bank for limit fishing in a matter of two hours on fish ranging from twelve to forty pounds. I mostly fished light tackle and landed a brute of 40 pounds on fifteen pound P-Line. It took all of 50 minutes and was a great time.

My wife landed a number of fish to her content and had a great time. Our friend Dustin hooked a marlin in amongst 48 other boats on a two and a half inch Sardine and landed it. We mostly had light tackle in the water and it just so happened he grabbed a Torsa 30 with 40 pound on it. The fish never jumped and we released it after a 30 minute battle.

We took Thursday off as it was our 22nd anniversary together. We roamed the East Cape beaches and just had a great time around the Rancho Leonero resort. My best friend Scott and wife Shannon flew in late and we planned the next days fishing.

Fishing on Friday, we were out early for Tuna again and had fun with the same fishing going on all around us but we just couldn't put it together this day. We ended up with lots of Bonito and maybe six Tuna. Scott caught a Tuna and many Bonito on the Fly Rod and was pretty stoked.

Hurricane Lane was sending some pretty heavy surf through the area and we were thinking our stay may be over by morning. The resort was constantly letting us know the latest information about Lane and what we would need to do in the event it came our way. It was very calming to say the least.

All sportfishing boats on the East Cape were now out of the water and ready for the storm. The resort was boarded up for the most part and ready as well. We had no wind and only a few clouds in the distance.

On Saturday morning we awoke to pangas being put in the water and pure sunshine. Lane went to Mazatlan and we were gonna be just fine, sorry Mazatlan. We rented quads and visited the other resorts around the East Cape and had a great day.

On Sunday we tried a panga, but it had a broken bait tank, after $30 in bait was gone, and a 15 year old captain who didn't know much. He wouldn't listen to anything we wanted, we speak Spanish, so we opted for home very early.

Gary the general manager of Rancho Leonero took care of everything and said he would set us up with a boat the very next morning. The customer service we received at Rancho Leonero was incredible start to finish and in particular after the panga incident.

We fished Monday out at the Gordo area again and were done in an hour and a half with 14 fish to 40 pounds. Again on Sardinas and one on a little jig. We snorkeled at Cabo Pulmo for a little while and called it a trip. I was more than impressed with the service and accommodations at Rancho Leonero. I am planning a trip back soon.

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