LORETO "CALF"--It isn't a cow, but Bill Erhardt worked hard, fishing solo offshore for this 27.5-pound yellowfin tuna, one of seven caught last week from schools of tuna making a rare appearance in the waters northeast of Loreto. Photo by Pam Bolles.

LOCAL BOATS STRUGGLING FOR A COUPLE OF DORADO PER DAY

June 4, 2005, Bill Erhardt, Loreto, Mexico Fishing Report:

Dorado still have not shown up in force in the fishing waters off Loreto, but most boats are managing a couple or so a day. Often a long boat ride is necessary to get those dorado, however. Blue water is far offshore and the clumps of sargassum that looked so promising in April have not formed into paddies. In fact, the sargassum has in large part disappeared altogether.

The real fishing story in Loreto this week has been scattered schools of yellowfin tuna accompanied by wahoo concentrated in a ball of warm water 40 miles northeast of the Loreto city ramp. There have been reports of wahoo in the area for a couple of weeks, and early this week local fisherman Andres Cota landed one about 25 pounds.

I fished three days last week.

On Sunday I fished east of Isla Catalana with Ed Lowery. We fished an area that about this time last year started producing marlin, big dorado and at least one wahoo. The water from Puerto Escondido to 15 miles east and north of Catalana was green and held steady at 77 to 78 degrees all day. We fished all day without getting a bite.

Wednesday, after Andres' wahoo, I fished northeast of Loreto where Andres scored the wahoo. I arrived at the warm water at 6:30 a.m. hoping that Andres' fish left a hungry friend out there ready to participate in the early morning bite. The water temperature at that early hour was 78 degrees. For 2 1/2 hours I trolled wahoo lures. No wahoo, but a dorado around 15 pounds did bite a wire rigged petrolero. At 9:00 I switched to marlin feathers. No luck with marlin, but over the next five hours I caught four yellowfin tuna and another dorado a little over 35 pounds. The largest yellowfin was 25 pounds. I saw no porpoise in the area and although the tuna were occasionally boiling the surface they attracted the attention of no birds. At the end of the day trolling back to the Loreto marina, a blue, white and pink marlin lure rigged with monofilament that had accounted for three of the yellowfin was bitten off by a wahoo. The water temperature when I headed in was 80 degrees.

Friday, although Terrafin satellite images indicated that the warm water concentration was starting to dissipate, I went back to what was left of the warm water northeast of town. Again I started out trolling for wahoo and again I had no luck. When I switched lures in midmorning instead of marlin lures I went to a cedar plug and a polar bear hair fly which has worked well for yellowfin on the East Cape. The yellowfin were still in the area and over the next four hours I caught three, the largest 27 1/2 pounds, and a small dorado. On the way back to the barn, about 22 miles out, I caught another dorado about 30 pounds on a marlin lure. Water temperature in what was left of the warm water ball peaked at midday at 78 degrees.

Starting my fourth season fishing out of Loreto, these yellowfin are the first I have caught. Although not yellowfin "cows" a la Puerto Vallarta by any means, these Loreto yellowfin calves have been a nice change of pace.

(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.