defrag4
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Loreto Dorado Tournament
I’ve been fishing my ass off down here in Loreto, Baja Sur the last few years and the town finally had their first official fishing tournament since
COVID shut everything down, over 30 teams entered, it was a small buy-in of $150 so no crazy money like Cabo but still pretty cool
My buddy Mike and I pre-fished 2 days ahead of the tournament looking for where the dorado schools were hiding, obviously they are pelagics so you
could be on them one day and the next day they are long gone, but figured we would be better at least having a general idea of where they might be
Launching in the morning of front of the house
We fished both to the north of town and to the south, Found some pretty decent fish especially for this late in the season, mostly hanging in the
current breaks coming off the local islands and points
On the day of the tournament we went out in my other friends, Alberto, boat who was our 3rd teammate, it’s a chitty old beatup panga with no
GPS/fish finder on it but it’s got a huge livewell and plenty of room for 3 bros to fish comfortably
I call it the Blue Whale, she’s one ugly SOB
Heading out on tourney day, Team Bandidos Del Mar!
We had loaded the livewell up with sardines using my castnet around the pier, we knew those worked well for dorado but we wanted to go for the
monsters. Big Bait = Big Fish. So we stopped on one of our deep bait spots and sabiki jigged up some big mackerels
[IMG]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSLHO3BWSdOK3W3d5xeQL72yAHb-e8nCrcZww&usqp=CAU[/IMG]
Got about 10 of those in the livewell and headed out to the spot
Fishing was slow as hell the first few hours, no bites, no birds, no nada
I had figured it would be a slow morning as we we’re coming up to slack tide right when we got there, around 10am the current started picking up,
within 10 minutes I saw birds start migrating off the islands, within 20 minutes I saw a bunch of them busting bait on the surface a few miles out to
sea, we pulled up our lines and blasted out to them.
We arrived to a scene out of NatGeo with a huge ball of bait getting blasted by birds, skipjack tuna, and sea lions
Alberto threw out a sardine and got bit instantly, from the fight we knew it was a skipjack, not our target species but at least some action after
hours of nothing, he gets it 1/2 way to the boat and all of the sudden his rod doubled over and starts pulling drag like crazy, wtf!? Shark!? Nope! We
saw a sea lion surface about 30 yards out with a skipjack hanging out his mouth, Betos line attached, chit! He wrestled it and tried to get him to
spit it up, eventually the line goes slack and he reels in all that remains lol
I throw out a line and pick up another skipjack on a sardine
I move us a little further out of the commotion and start circling the bait ball, Mike puts on a whole live mackerel, free lining it out of the back
of the boat
All of the sudden he gets bit and line starts dumping like crazy , ooo buddy!!! I’m watching his line dumping off the reel and look back and see a
friggin HUGE fish jump out of the water
DORADO!!!!
I literally gasped like a schoolgirl and covered my mouth in shock at how big it was.
Mike saw my face and knew it was serious, he said he didnt even want to look!!! lol
I cleared all the rods off the deck and told Mike, buddy BE COOL!!!
We were fishing w very light drag on 5000 series spinning gear and the fish had already dumped more than 1/2 the spool, we could see him jumping way
out there in the deep blue trying to spit the hook
I jumped on the controls and we started chasing him down, Mike gaining back line as we went.
After a 20 minute fight Mike gets him up next to the boat, the most intense moment to come, as you know many many fish have been lost on the gaff
shot, after some debate between me and Alberto on who’s going to take the shot, he grabs the gaff, I’m on the controls and Mikes on the rod,
we’re all working together to get the perfect angle for the gaff shot.
We get him lined up and Beto takes a swing, BAM! 💥 right through the neck, he pulls the giant head into the boat, we all erupt in cheers for a
second and then disaster!!
The friggin hook of the gaff pulls free from the rest of the gaff, now we got a huge dorado half in the boat with a gaff hook hanging in his head!! We
all run to the front and grab him by the gills and wrestle him in!!
Success!! You could hear us hollering all the way back in Loreto!!
Damn fish was as big as Beto
We put him on our scale and he weighed 28+ pounds! A monster fish especially at the end of the season. We knew this fish could take the whole thing.
We fished a few more hours and caught a few more, nothing big enough for the tourney scales but good eating nonetheless.
We motored back to the marina, and met some of the officials at the dock, we knew it was a good sign when we opened our fish bag the official went
“Hijoleeee”
We took him to the scales and official weight was 28.6 pounds, 2nd biggest fish brought back that day was only 17lbs, we were in 1st place baby!!!
[Edited on 11-9-2021 by defrag4]
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defrag4
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With 2 hours left before the scales closed we nervously drank Pacifico’s on the dock and watched the boats return, most coming home empty handed
with nothing big enough to enter the scale, 1 more big fish came in that was ~20lbs, but at 4 the scales closed, we were top dog for the day!!
Needless to say we partied our ass off that night, everyone at the marina buying us drinks and shots and wanting to hear the story of the big fish, we
fed them some bullchit lines on where we caught it as we planned to head back to the same spot the next day haha but we told them our technique at
least
Slow start the next day, we were the last ones to leave the port as everyone was too damn hungover to get their chit together, I didnt want to hear no
crying because I got my vaccine shot the day before day 1 and started the morning with a 120F fever and feeling like complete chit!! Still went
fishing!
lesss gooooo
headed back to the spot again, same story, nothing going on in the AM, my buddies were dying of hangovers the whole time so I eventually got them to
pound some beers and get their head in the game, we picked up a few more fish in the PM, but no monsters.
Such is the life of a fisherman, 1 day your a golden god of the sea, next day you wonder if you have any friggin clue wtf you are doing out there...
We headed back to the marina with our tail tucked under, we gave away our fish to one of the dock workers and settled in to watch the rest of the
boats come back, so far there had only been 1 fish weighed in for the day at ~17 pounds. 1.5 hours to go until the scales close.
I wore a groove in the planks of wood at the marina as I paced back and forth, watching every boat coming in and searching the captains face for clues
on how the day went, most looked like mine did that day, which was a good sign.
1 more big fish came in at the last minute, it was close but no cigar.
At 4PM they closed the scales, WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAHHHH BABY!!!!!!
Drinks all around at the marina as the local panga captains congratulated us on our win
the officials told us to come back to the hotel around 6PM for the official ceremony
My mom just so happened to arrive this same day so I ran home and grabbed her and my wife, changed my clothes and headed back to town. I wasn't sure
what the hell they did with our fish from the day before and was wondering where it went, when we arrived to the hotel, I found out lol
We had a big ass party with many drinks and celebration, and all around good times.
and I finally got one of those Big Checks Id always dreamed of!
We didnt really even know wtf we were going to win in the tournament until they were handing us stuff, in the end we got about $5000 USD between the
main prize and side jackpots, and about $5000 worth of prizes, new maui jim sunglasses, clothes, hotel stays, fishing trip and some certificates entry
fees into other tournaments, including the infamous BISBEE tournament down in Cabo which I think is worth like $2000 alone.
Honestly I was just stoked on earning the respect of the local pangueros who have been watching me learn and improve my skills over the years, winning
one for the hometown crew and sending all the yachties home crying
I gave Alberto the big check and trophy to put up in his office for his fishing tours, show off to the clients that they are fishing with a winner!
All the rest of the weighed tourney fish was donated to the local orphanage/old folks home, and I believe a portion of the entry fees as well, which
was pretty cool
Viva Loreto!!
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JZ
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Sweet photo's!! You are always living your best life!
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luna negra
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Great story - congrads!
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100X
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Outstanding! If I had heard your scream I would have swam out to help!
A life of fears leads to a death bed of regrets.
Find someone who will take care of you, and take care of them.
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watizname
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b-tchin!!!!
I yam what I yam and that\'s all what I yam.
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boe4fun
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Mood: Circling the drain........
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Great story and pics, thanks for sharing. Back in 2010 volunteers from our La Paz clinic (we make prostheses and orthopedic braces) entered in the La
Balandra Rotary Club Jurel tournament (the Rotary Club sponsors our clinic). Myself, Jim, and Tere fished and we took biggest fish, biggest fish
caught by a woman, and first fish weighed at the scale. Total jackpot was around 3 grand USD, which we donated back to the Rotary Club to help with
their humanitarian projects in and around La Paz. Great day on the water and wonderful memories to boot!
Two dirt roads diverged in Baja and I, I took the one less graveled by......
Soy ignorante, apático y ambivalente. No lo sé y no me importa, ni modo.
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basautter
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Whoa....very cool!
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BajaRun
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Good Job !!
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BajaBlanca
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What an awesome story! Congrats all around!
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gulfmako
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I saw the panga and thought, I recognize that boat. Sure enough, we have camped at Alberto's mid town campground a couple of times in the last 3
years. We have had great fishing in the area, but just have not been able to get out with Alberto. We will definitely make it a point to take a ride
on the blue panga next time we are in Loreto.
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