HARD WON DORADO--Rachel Edwards fished several days out of Loreto on Peter Hamann's 17-foot boat Tailbanger and they caught some nice tuna, some nice inshore fish, and finally this nice dorado on their last day of fishing. Photo courtesy Peter Hamann.

TRAILER BOAT FISHING TRIP

July 2-8, 2005, Peter Hamann, Loreto, Mexico Fishing Trip Report:

Well, my girlfriend Rachel Edwards and I towed “TailBanger” (17’ Gregor Center Console) down to Loreto for the week to try and get some fish, sun, cerveza and some RxR.

Fortunately we accomplished all of it! First night's stop was in San Quintin where we slept in the car after a few shots of Don Julio tequila and a beer.

We woke up around 6 a.m. and got on the road to arrive in Loreto around 7 p.m. with no problems. One crazy thing was we did see a big drug bust at the military check point south of Guerrero Negro. They were ripping the truck apart with picks while another guy was STACKING the bricks of marijuana on the side of the road. We actually started to slow down and they waved us on, and we weren't going to argue.

The first day, we just got all the gear ready, hit the grocery store, gas, and squeezed in a few naps.

First day of fishing greeted my girl with her first Striped Marlin and of course a nice safe release. A few other billfish were lost due to hooks pulling so we called it a day and relaxed at Coronado Island.

The next fishing day was a big struggle on getting bait. The bait guys got no bait all night and we tried to jig up some off Coronado but ended up with everything but Mackies. We began to head out from Coronado and started spotting billfish on the surface all over the place. Unfortunately they would slap at the dead bait all day but wouldn't take it. So since we weren't far out we decided to head back in and try to get at least one mack...had no luck. So out we went again with lures behind the boat and proceeded to watch our lured get smacked all over the place. Every group of marlin we trolled by would shoot right up on our lures and start smacking at them...it was an amazing site to see. Some would take the lure and rip the line off with one large leap and pop the hook out. We finally had a big Striper come up and take the lure without even smacking it but unfortunately due to a line issue (maybe tip wrapped) it snapped right at the boat. Despite the loss we had a blast watching the Marlin go crazy over our lures...if only we had bait! All the other boats blew right passed all the billfish first thing in the morning too, so we worked it all by our lonesome about 3-7 miles out from Coronado Island. After fishing we snorkeled around and feed the eels our dead bait and dove around some great stingray schools.

The next day we got bait and decided to run out 40 plus miles with a neighbor "Neptune" because of a bank he knew about that had been holding Dorado. We kept in radio contact but finally saw some fish breaking the surface at the 40 mile mark and decided to drop the troll lines in and head over to it. While Rachel was driving the boat I dropped the Mr. Jig (12” dorado pattern) back and began to drop the next feather back when the 1st rod starts to SCREAM! And I mean this thing was screaming. The 200 yards of mono top shot was emptied down to the spectra by the time we stopped the boat. After an hour battle on 50 lb we got the 43 lb tuna to the boat. We cleaned up the battle blood and started to look around more to find some more boils about an hour later, this time it was Rachel’s turn. Same Mr. Jig fired off and produced a 47 lber for her. After this fish and cleaning all the blood the wind had come up and we decided to call it a day and head for the Coronado beach and some great snorkeling.

Wednesday we decided to take off the day and check out Mission San Javier, say hello to the Torres family, and check out Tripui and Ensenada Blanca. We chose the right day to take off because by 10 a.m. the wind was ripping! The mission, as always, was amazing. Hard to believe it's 300 years old with how well they keep it.

The next day we headed out again to a beautiful sunrise and glassy conditions, which quickly changed to some moderate wind. Despite this we were still able to fish the shoreline and get some quality Pargo and Cabrilla trolling Rapalas and deep plugs. Again we topped it off with a visit to the beach and some cold cervezas.

The last day they ran out of bait just before we got there at 5:15 a.m. So we headed out and luckily were able to jig up 3 mackerel and some other miscellaneous bait. Unfortunately, the water dropped big time from all the wind to 74.5 from 80.1. We trolled a bit in the same area we had seen the marlin but had no love. I decided to head east of Carmen Island to see what was out that way, more due to it looking more glassy and nicer. It’s always much easier to spot the marlin in calmer seas. After a few hours and a stop at a boat that was having engine problems, we finally spotted a Striper feeding on the surface. Dropped back a live mackerel and was on a few minutes later. This one was bigger and jumping like mad. Unfortunately after about 20 minutes the hook pulled on his 24th jump. Got some great video of it but no still shots. Started to head out farther and found a trash line and decided to troll along it. Not 5 minutes in the water and Rachel picked up a quick Dorado on the black and Purple feather. After that we trolled a bit more and decided to head into Carmen for some shore fishing. Since it was our last day and we still had to pack we wanted to make it a half day. On Carmen we picked up some 4 lb Cabrilla and a Pargo as we worked into the lee side.

Decided to stop where the water was really calm to fillet the Dorado when suddenly the surface started erupting! We pulled up and could see the Jack Crevalle schooling all over the surface as I tossed my line out with a Yo Zuri mackerel pattern. I was hit instantly and battled this hog for 30 minutes before the lure finally pulled out of his mouth. This fish must have been big because the others came in after about 10 minutes of fighting. We fished the school some more and Rachel got her turn at battling these toads and nailed an 18 lb Jack on the digital scale.

Soon the school died off along with the wind, but we had to call it a day and head in. It was a great half day to end this amazing trip! Loreto is a beautiful place! And if it seems Rachel hooked more fish and lost less than me...well then it seems right. Either way it was a blast! On the way home we were greeted with a nice fog bank spilling into the desert at sunset...just icing on the cake!

(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.