FLY FISHING FOR MIXED SPECIES

Sept. 12, 2005, Pam Bolles, Baja Big Fish Company, Loreto, Mexico Fishing Report:

I was out fly fishing at Loreto on Friday on a fly fishing venture. We had intended on going offshore to fish over a school of dorado we were sure we'd find. Once we got to Punta Lobos however we couldn't go much beyond it. The winds and swell were overwhelming so we decided to scrap the offshore and move inshore over the reefs.

Immediately off that point are triggerfish and giant needlefish. Francisco got two of them on hooked live sardina. They followed a lot but never hit my flies.

From Punta Perico we proceeded to try and find Dorado feeding close to shore. We did actually spot some in a few places but they would appear for a split second then disappear. Over reefs off Punta Tintorerra and La Cholla the winds prevented us from fishing comfortably and besides, there were no fish to be found; we chummed sardinas which should have attracted cabrilla, pargo, and roosterfish. We also tried fishing inside Puerto Ballandra, protected well from three sides and open to the West. No luck as the wind chased us in all directions and the water looked a green pukey off color. Absolutely no action there either.

Captain Francisco Muñoz went out fishing out of Loreto again on Saturday with conventional anglers and had similar results. Right now the water is the warmest it will be all year. We are interested in finding cool water, the opposite of what we do at the beginning of the season. The cool water is hugging the shorelines and there is a break starting to the south of Punta Perico and continuing East and out to sea. These should be the areas of focus.

On Sunday 4 September we saw many Marlin as we also did during the beginning of last week. However weather conditions have changed since then and fewer people are fishing offshore now.

As for Dorado there are more out there now, but the hard part is getting at them then locating them.

On Saturday and Sunday, 3 and 4 September the 13th annual Club Caza, Tiro y Pesca Dorado tournament was held. I entered as half of the all-girl team from Loreto. The other half was Misty Mattics of Loreto. On Saturday there were very few qualifying Dorado weighed in. Saturday was a rough day offshore. We stuck inshore and had ONE chance at a Dorado just a few hundred yards off Punta Tintorerra. We had been following birds when we saw a school of bait fly out of the water, a Dorado was right behind it. We hooked up what would have been a good contender fish and promptly lost it. That was all we saw that day.

Sunday was a very different day. The VHF started to report Dorado to tournament headquarters. The boat reporting said that they were just South and East of Punta Perico, so we picked up lines and took off like a tournament bass boat. Francisco decided to pursue them and tossed in sardinas. Dorado started to boil then disappeared quickly. We chummed some more without action then moved on further south. Francisco spotted jumping Dorado in the distance and something red in the water. He chummed near the red thing which turned out to be a red rubber glove. Soon dozens of Dorado were crashing our bait and we were all hooked up. Every single cast would get us a 6-10 pound male or female. There were many layers of them and the largest ones were way down deep. The small ones wouldn't let you get past them. Sardinas were definitely key in holding them at the boat. Misty and Francisco fished with conventional spinning rods and I with a flyrod. We were on the school for over three hours without another boat in sight. When it was over at 1:00 p.m. the official time to get lines out of the water we had caught and released over 10-12 fish each. I did just as well in size and quantity with my flies as Misty and Francisco did with live bait.

There were much larger fish present and in fact about a half a dozen of them at one time or another got to within three feet of the surface but none were in the least interested. With all the techniques we had covered the all girl team still couldn't catch a dorado worthy enough to bring to the scales. Maybe next year! The largest fish weighed in just over 27 pounds despite the radio reports of up to 50 pounds. All hooked up and caught qualifying fish were radioed in giving approximate size and location as per tournament rules.

Currently Loreto fishing conditions have been more like that first tournament day with rough sea surface conditions offshore and sporadic and short lived Dorado feeds close to the shorelines.

There's no shortage of sardinas inside and around the Loreto marina.

(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.