FISHING IS SLOW FOR BOTH DORADO AND TUNA

June 12, 2005, Don Bear, Loreto, Mexico Fishing Report:

Dorado and tuna fishing at Loreto has continued to be very, very slow this week, but there has been a flurry of yellowtail the last few days. Loreto weather is warming up, but the ocean temperatures have stayed just below 80 degrees to a low of 76 degrees. Ocean conditions have been mostly calm with afternoon winds causing whitecaps.

Dick and Susan Muhl of Timaru, NZ, and I fished Monday, Tuesday and Friday with Paulino Martinez and our 3-day total was 1 dorado of 30 lbs., 1 sailfish of about 75 lbs. (tagged and released), and 1 yellowtail of 10 lbs. We spent about 90% of those 3 days trolling feathers and bait for dorado without seeing any except the one we caught. Clearly, the allocation of our time was not optimal; we should have given up the hunt for dorado and tuna and bottom-fished for cabrilla and yellowtail. Our searching covered much of the water north of Pta. Lobos to a few miles north of Isla San Ildefonso.

Yellowtail fishing at Loreto has been a different story. The John and Howard Moorers group, consisting of 7 fishermen, fishing with Paulino Martinez, Javier Martinez, Chopi Murillo and Alvaro Murillo on Friday and Saturday in 6 panga-days have caught 7 yellowtail, 1 broomtail grouper and 5 leopard grouper. The yellowtail have come from La Lagrima and other spots close to Isla Coronado. They were good sized, ranging from 25-35 lbs. Bait has been primarily jurelitos, either purchased from the carnaderos or caught trolling directly in front of the Loreto marina.

On Friday, the Kent Baker group of 6 fishermen, fishing with Martin Davis and panguero Francisco, caught 5 yellowtail, 2 cabrilla and 1 pargo. They fished at San Juanico and various spots between there and Loreto. Most of the yellowtail from San Juanico were small at 10-15 lbs.

The Baker group, fishing yesterday with the same pangueros as on Friday, went to the west side of Coronado and bottom fished the entire day. They caught 44 cabrilla, pargo and triggerfish, as well as innumerable barracuda and needlefish, which they released. All fish were caught on live and dead sardines. The Bakers consist of three brothers, Kent, Gerry and Mark, and one son each, Ted, Jeff, and Greg. Kent is my neighbor here. Their trip is the annual "Baker Clan" event.

On Tuesday there was a 50-lb. wahoo caught by panguero Tito Gaviota, one of Arturo's captains, in an unknown location. He drove by to show it to me. It was big!

(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.