A Dorado Fiesta

Report: The Dorado were plentiful with multiple hookups and feeding frenzies galore. At one point, four out of five of us were hooked up at once. An all-around success in many ways.

Ian's Vittles and Hootch Corner

In addition to eating it raw, each of us will take a turn at cooking fish of course, so Ian had the tasty idea of having us post our recipe online so he can generate a shopping list. Let's also put what particular duty free shopping plans you have so we don't duplicate our fine efforts.

Questions Forum

A month to go and I can't wait to rip some lip and beat fish around the back and head with the end of a gaff. Some might even end up in the boat. I've created this forum so we can post all our last minute questions and find answers. Ask away.

Fishtasticness is Happening Right Now

Jonathon at Tailhunter International just posted a report that should get the juices flowing. Here it is. Thanks to Ian for giving me the heads up on this.

FISHING RODEO AS WAHOO JOIN THE FRAY WITH TUNA AND BIG DORADO!

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of July 5-11, 2009

I’m not sure where to start!!! I usually try to “understate” the fishing to some degree. I mean…fishing just CAN’T be good ALL THE TIME, right?

Well, just when I thought it couldn’t get better…IT DID! First we had a killer dorado bite going on that seemed off the charts. Then about 2 ½ weeks ago the tuna exploded in a surprising bite that covered waters north of La Paz…around Cerralvo Island…and several points south…such that anglers were getting limits of tuna in an hour or two of fishing!

Then, this week…WAHOOOOOOooooooooo!!!! What can I say. Guys fishing tuna on live bait were suddenly getting chomped by free-swimming wahoo. Zing-powie! Then guys started throwing bombs and trolling Rapalas and other lures and the wahoo went nuts! Guys would get bit several times…lose a few and get one or two to the boat! Several boats took 2, 3, 4 wahoo each. These fish went 25-50 pounds in a bite like I can’t remember! These fish were not picky. They loved the trolled lures, but for once did not seem picky about the colors…purple/black…green mackerel…blue mackerel…fire tiger…bright orange…all got hit! Just check out the photos and I’d have posted up even more photos, but just did not have enough space!

Will it continue? I have no idea!

But what a bite. On two occasions, I heard clients tell me they got into dorado so thick that two fish actually jumped in the boat (not kidding…I saw the fish!) One hit a guy in the back while he was hooked up and the fish fell back in the water. We had some big roosterfish too. As for marlin and sailfish…we had several striped marlin and several sailfish caught and released. But Ryan Hershey from Colorado hooked a fish estimated to be 700 pounds (Captain’s estimate) that we have to give high-5’s to…HE RELEASED THE FISH! Good on you! Barry Wood from Orange Co, CA had on a 400 pounder that spooled them faster than the boat could catch up! Barry said, “When I saw it, I knew I wanted no part of it!”

Tell ya what…if it’s any indication, I’ve been vacuum sealing 100-200 bags of fish here at the TAILHUNTER/ FUBAR every afternoon and this does not include all the fish that the anglers are telling me they are releasing!

The Audacity of Big Fish on a Fly Rod

If you’re serious about doing a little fly fishing, I have some really stout 1/0 & 3/0 hooks (Owner Aki hooks) and a decent amount of tying materials. Clousers and Decievers, along with some Enrico Puglisi style flies are probably good bets. I also have some medium sized 1/0 & 3/0 rabbit strip flies, which I tied for Tarpon (Black Death & Purple Death flies). I like the Puglisi flies, as they are made of synthetic hair and don’t hold the water (lots lighter for casting). Barbell eyes are good, as they will get the flies down several feet pretty quickly and keep them down, as you strip the flies in (and you’ll be stripping as fast as you possibly can in most cases). You may want to get or tie a few offshore poppers as well (I have not tied any and don’t plan to, as they are a pain and take too much time). I have a good 12wt reel (Nautilus CCF 12 with a 12wt sink tip line & an extra spool with a 12wt floating line) which should pair nicely with your new 12wt rod.

What kind of rod did you get (is it really, really fast and does it have a very stout butt section…….it needs to be fast and stout to double-haul a heavy 12wt sink tip line)? Oh, by the way, be practicing your double hauling technique with a heavy line and heavy weight (think of a fly that weighs about as much as a small wet sock) on the end of a really heavy fly line. You’ll need to be able to double haul and throw almost all, if not all of a fly line, with only a few false casts. The sink tip is like a shooting head and you only need the sink tip plus about 5-10 feet of the running line out, in order to throw the entire fly line; if you double haul effectively (you may already know this stuff from your salmon fishing trips). Ian and I discussed the fly fishing possibilities a bit and I agree with him. Landing a good sized fish on a fly rod takes a long time compared to the heavy gear we usually troll offshore. We should have a fly rod rigged and ready to go and only use it if we get into schools of smaller fish or we’ve caught so many fish that nobody cares if we hook something sizeable on the fly rod and we’re out of commission for an hour or two, fighting the beast.

One last thought – The Clousers and Decievers should work well in the shallows on snapper & most other inshore species, so we should be able to throw a few flies in the evenings, even if we don’t throw any offshore. When I was fishing the Yucatan a couple of weeks ago, we did this. Throw the fly, let it sink and then make the first strip and expect a strike on the first strip or the first drop between the first & second strip. The almost immediate strike was really consistent. If I didn’t have a strike with the first 4 strips, it was time to pick it up and recast.

Ian the Collaborator

Of course Ian thought to contact past charterers and get some insider info on fishing. Everybody does that don't they? Great job Ian. Here is a response:

You guys ought to have fun.

Your biggest concern in Sept. will be hurricanes. We were delayed a day or two last August. The boat is comfortable in pretty snotty seas, but we’ve only seen that one day in probably 30 days on the boat.

The fishing should be good all around Isla Cerralvo that time of year. We’d recommend hiring Raul as a captain so he can keep you in the fish, communicate with other boats and arrange for live bait where available (muertos bay and punta arena pangueros). He’ll fish dusk-to-dawn, but you should offer to spell him at the wheel occasionally so he can nap or take a shower. He trolls while you nap and eat.

You’ll be able to anchor for the night in Muertos Bay (they have free internet and phone at the 1 restaurant—El Cardon). Other Anchorages are La Ventana, Punta Arena de Ventana, coves in and around Isla Cerralvo, Isla Espirito Santo and up North at Isla San Francisco.

We like to go north sometimes because the islands are so remote and we’re usually all by ourselves. Everybody will try to steer you to the “South” meaning Muertos Bay and La Ventana to fish the 88 and Cerralvo. The fishing here is usually very good. The only down side is that there are a lot of other pangas on the good spots—but with a lot of boats on the water, someone usually finds the fish and calls it in on the radio.

There’s a fish bag under the front cabin bed. It is good for keeping fish fresh all day (add a little bit of ice and salt water to create a slurry). At the end-of-day, fillet the fish and put on ice.

We usually arrange with Raphael to come out and bring ice, fuel and sometimes take a cooler of fish back with him so it keeps better. Of course, we give him a good tip for driving an hour out of La Paz. He can also meet you at Playa Tecolote, at the top of the Peninsula. There are beach front palapa restaurants there we like to spend a lazy afternoon at occasionally.

Have fun!

Dean

Field Test of the Penn Senator 113

Taking no chances with the high risk of fishing equipment failure in La Paz, I embarked on a field test last weekend, in which I painstakingly sought out deep enough water to fully deploy the 113. And having properly weighted the line so as to sufficiently test it's drop speed, I proceeded to, with the help of a willing member of the San Juan animal testing school, retrieve the deployed line while alternately pumping the rod, turning the handle and adjusting the drag. As expected, I was pleased with the test results.

Sidebar: Snorkeling is Allowed

I'm sure we will have a few moments of down time in a La Paz anchorage - maybe the one pictured here. Yes a few rare minutes in between the offshore gaff fest and the inshore night lip pull will offer a great opportunity for snorkeling. If you have a mask and fins, certainly bring them. Just hold off on that chum bag Dave - until we are all out of the water please.

Photo Caption Contest # 2

UPDATE: Ian WINS spot number one in the rotation. His caption is clearly in a league all its own. (psssst. Joe. Make sure you put the lines out when we hit 60 feet of water so we can get that little tunny out of the way first.)

Congratulations to Ian, a rising star in the dynamic world of fishing trip blogging.

Fish Wish List

Ian told me the other day how much he would like to catch a triple digit yellowfin tuna. It got me thinking about how much fun it was to watch Joe catch his first marlin because I knew how much he wanted it (especially after he put me in the marlin club first near Bimini by handing off the rod when we thought we had a sailfish.) So tell us more about your fish wish list in the comments below. And by the way Ian, this underwater picture was taken near La Paz.

Fishing Booty Call - aka Inventory

The fishmaster of the legendary Sea Fortuna, Jose Wahoohabay, has called for an inventory to determine how far and wide our gear is spread over this great land. Post your gear list below.

Destination: Isla San Francisco

The crew of the sailboat, Whisper, took this great shot north of La Paz. "The Hook", formed by the spit of land on the left is a beautiful Sea of Cortez anchorage. A low point with salt flats and "Agate Beach" is visible on the upper right. If we find fish to the north, this would be an excellent anchorage. And I'm sure that point out there holds some huge pargo who would be up for some midnight bowling.

Questions: Should I bring my glow-in-the-dark lingcod jigs? Do you think we'll get sharks in shallow like we do in the Bahamas? Does Joe's fish dance work at night?

Hey...I Can See our Boat From Here

A very cool picture of the Baja Peninsula to put our fishing grounds in perspective. Cerralvo Island is the large southernmost island in the Sea of Cortez. We'll be fishing around it and the islands just north and west.

...a Dash of Video for the Anticipation Stew.

Check out the Mosquito Fleet's promotional video for fishing La Paz. It's interesting to see how close they are to shore when they are landing some of the offshore fish.

Photo Caption Contest #1

Everyone knew Dave had a fishing problem when he yelled "Stand aside - here comes the human gaff!"

Think you can top that? Post your caption below.

...and now meet his friends.

Mr. Sardinas has a few friends he likes to hang out with. Here they are at one of their many get togethers in the fall near La Paz. A passing diver caught them cavorting about. Just look at them partying like that..waiting for the delivery man to bring their "Mexican Flag" in thirty minutes or less.

Questions: Will there be "bird piles" to give them away like we see in the Bahamas? Are there frigates in the Sea of Cortez? I'm assuming yes but tell me what you've all seen in your travels there.

Meet Mr. Sardinas

Sardina or Flatiron Herring, Harengula thrissina: A prized and primary component of a purchased “scoop of bait.” Caught in the surf zone during the winter months, with water temperatures below 78 degrees, early morning in 5 to 10 foot deep water, utilizing a net cast by a panguero bait salesman. Size varies from 3 to 6 inches and they are virtually weightless. This very small “beast” is the mainstay of the Los Cabos sport fishing industry and a very simple rule of thumb is that if you have "sardinas" in your panga you will have a highly productive day, and if you don’t you won’t without major effort and a great deal of luck! Survives a panga “bait tank” at a high level provided that an adequate amount of water per sardine is present. Photo courtesy John Snow.


Questions: Would frozen sardinas be useful? I can probably bring some from here. Can we catch them ourselves? (Do we still have the net?) Should we anchor near the panga fleet on some days and buy them?

Do Fisherman Like La Paz?

ummmm...Yes! You might ask Mike B from Ohio. Here's what he had to say after he fished it.

"I caught the pargo at the south end of Cerralvo Island on 50-pound line. It was a great fight. The fish immediately went into the rocks. I could not budge him. I tried every trick in the book to coax him out. As I hung on and waited, I looked down and there was a layer of hundreds of needlefish and below them were hundreds of amberjacks."I could see at least 50 feet down. I hung on for about 15 minutes. I was just about ready to pull until the fish came out or broke off when I felt a slight movement. I pulled up hard and reeled down fast a few cranks, he was out of the rocks. I worked hard to get a few more cranks to get him away from the rocks. The fight was on. It took me about another 15 minutes to get him to the boat. When I saw him I knew he was something special."I love fishing around Cerralvo Island. I'm going back for a week this summer."The day I caught the pargo was my favorite day fishing ever. That day I started out early in the morning at the north end of Cerralvo. Immediately caught six bonita. Then I caught a 20-pound dorado. Then I caught three yellowfin tuna back-to-back-to-back. Two of them were about 80 pounds each and one was about 60 pounds. Then I caught a needlefish. Then a large sailfish."After all this I needed a break. I asked the panguero what else can we catch? He said pargo? I said okay. So I rested while we cruised to the south end of the island. I hooked a sardine in the butt so he would swim down. The pargo hit it right away. After I landed the pargo I caught four amberjack in a row."This was all by 11:30 a.m.! I told the panguero to take me back, I had had enough for the day. I went back to the pool. My wife asked why I was back so early. I told her I came back to spend time with her. The truth was I was beat, and she laughed and knew I was fibbing."Baja is great! I spent 15 days down there. Five in Cabo, five on the East Cape, and five in the La Paz area. I have tons of fish stories. This was my first trip down there. I am from Ohio but love ocean fishing. I go somewhere a couple times a year. By the way I really like the book Baja Catch. I read it twice before I went."

The seed has been planted.

I talked yesterday to Bob, owner of the Sea Fortuna. He's holding the boat for us Sep. 12 - 19, 2009. He'll mail me a packet with more details and a contract. I'll let you all know when we get to the tipping point for commitment and deposit. In the meantime, to whet your appetite, re-visit the Bimini Bound blog here. And please respond to this post - and start your own post too. Because planning is half the fun right?