FISHING AT THE HOTEL OASIS WITH CAPT. ISMAEL MURILLO

June 21, 2004, Bill Sumner, Hotel Oasis, Loreto, Mexico:

I just got back from Loreto.

Our Loreto fishing group totaled 13 fisherman. Ron Spencer and I arrived Loreto Sunday June 13, and fished seven days.

The main body of the group, three private planes, arrived at Loreto on Thursday, and fished three days.

Special guest Jim Gray flew from New York to join my group this year. His first time fishing in Baja did not disappoint.

Stayed at the hotel Oasis and I fished with my long time Loreto captain of 22 years, Ismael Murillo.

Loreto fishing weather was nice for June, not too hot, high 90's, and breezes most every day. Water was cooler than normal and generally a little rougher than normal. No really glassy days. Both mackerel and caballitos very plentiful. Many boats catching their own bait vs. buying.

Loreto fishing results: Overall, excellent fishing with a wider variety than a normal June.

On our first morning of fishing -- Monday, June 14 -- I saw something I have never before seen in 22 years of fishing Loreto. It was a true "family" of sailfish. By family, I mean a total of 9 or 10 individual sailfish swimming in a very tight cluster at first light. They family included Mom & Dad (est. 120-130 lbs. each), 3-4 teenage offspring (est. 90-100 pounds each), and 4 or 5 of the cutest and tiniest little sailfish I have ever seen (est. 36 inches in total length and no more than 20 lbs.)

We hooked 6 fish (all the big ones were hungry), two spit the hook, brought 4 to the boat, and released them all in perfect condition. One of the two lost fish was one of the babies. I happened so fast that I couldn't get a picture of it jumping, but that tiny little miniature sailfish was a sight I will never forget.

That sight more than ever reinforces my belief that the Loreto fishing vacation area is a sea life nursery area and maintaining it as a national park is of vital importance to the health of the Sea of Cortez.

By the end of the week, the dorado arrival was well underway and rock solid. Earlier in the week, however, many boats looking for dorado were still coming back empty or full of small schoolies. There were a few scattered catches of really big dorado including a 58 pounder by a first time Loreto visitor from Montana (didn't get his name). Boy is he spoiled.

The real dorado breakthrough occurred Friday when Captain Ismael found the main school of quality size fish. They swarmed the boat just like the little ones, but they were in the 15 to 25 pound range. Within minutes, the entire Loreto fleet was there and everyone was hooked up. Jim Gray of New York, who was fishing Baja for the very first time, got his first sailfish just before we found the dorado school. Then, he was treated to a full-on dorado frenzy involving 26 boats with every rod hooked up. To top things off, I hooked a small marlin right in the middle of the dorado madness. The whole scene was simply picture-perfect Loreto fishing in June.

A very pleasant surprise for me was the larger than normal number or marlin mixed in and a very large population of sailfish. They were literally jumping everywhere. Sailfish are my favorite -- great show without all the work of marlin. Overall, there were more billfish than dorado during the early part of the week.

There was a lot of talk about small blue marlin, but my group caught all stripers. This year there was a large number of smallish stripers -- 75 to 85 pounds -- that were very manageable on regular tackle.

Both Ron Spencer and myself caught a small marlin on our little Shimano Trinadad 14's (beefed up with Extreme Smooothie drags). What a hoot to catch a marlin on that little setup. Then, Ron Spencer made the mistake of casting his bait to what turned out to be a full sized marlin who promptly spooled the Trinadad 14. Ron viewed it as a perfect ending -- he doesn't like fighting the larger marlin

On Saturday, Jim Gray and I devoted one day to yellowtail. We motored the two hour (forty miles) to Punta Pulpito and were rewarded with wide open yellowtail fishing. They were large fish for that area and for this time of year. Usually in June, one would expect lots of smallish yellows in the 15 to 20 pound range. We caught nothing under twenty pounds and several which were in the high twenties, maybe even in the low thirties. My friend Jim Gray of New York was astounded at the shear brute strength of these fish. It's always such a treat to see the look on a someone's face when they hookup their first Loreto yellowtail.

We found the big school of dorado 26 to 27 miles out a little south and east of their usual location for June. More off of Punta Perico than Punta Lobo and about ten miles outside.

Marlin and sails were all over the place including mixed in with the Dorado. It's going to be a great billfish year for Loreto.

My entire group fished out of Loreto’s Hotel Oasis, as we have since 1982. I've been using Capt. Ismael Murillo all that time. And, we now regularly use his nephew Luciano Murillo, a great up and coming captain.

(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.