JANUARY DORADO FISHING AT ISLA ESPIRITU SANTO

Jan. 12, 2007, Betty Hill-Crofoot, boat WICO, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

It is hard to believe the Dorado are still around La Paz's Bonanza Beach, just off Isla Espiritu Santo.

Even with the cooler winter temperatures and all the wind we have had, the dorado are still hanging around this southern Baja fishing area.

John Ferlin, a friend from Bellingham, Washington, and I caught a nice calm fishing day Wednesday and decided to try our luck. We tried a bit of trolling to start off with and even though we saw bait boiling all around us we couldn't get a strike.

Finally we decided to try live bait with the small sardines we had been able to purchase that morning.

John had a nice big bull Dorado hit his bait, but after a few minutes it jumped straight up, shook his head, and was gone. I guess that's why they call it fishing!

Later, we decided it was time to wrap it up and return to the marina but I made the decision to put out four Cabo jigs and troll as far as Tecolote Beach before I was willing to give up.

We were in shallow water, 25 feet, and just off the beach when one of the outriggers went zinging. I yelled at John to take it while I started cranking in the other lines. We got a photo of John, the Cabo lure, and the nice 20 to 25 pound Dorado we brought home to La Paz.