El Ranchero del Mar

I thought I had these yellowtail pretty well figured out. Wrong.

Boy, did I hit a slump. I've been fishing all my life and never have I had a slump like this. From Alberta's Bow River to the dock at Disneyland's Tom Sawyer's Island I've always been able to get bit.

I could not get bit here in Loreto this April.

Four consecutive trips out to the north end of Carmen, and not a single confirmed, legitimate bite.

The fish were there, although the fishing was not good. Typically you'd see fleets of Loreto pangas, and every now and then you'd see one panga with one bent rod. Fish were breezing and boiling, but they'd dissapear withing a minute. Maybe there were simply not that many fish. Maybe they were thinned out to much by the netters. Maybe there were tons of fish, but there is a great deal of bait in the water to keep them full. I don't know.

So of course I've tried different things. Smaller baits. Larger baits. Bananas. No bananas. Heavy line, light line. Green line, clear line. Socks, no socks. Different colored shirts. Clean underwear.

Last time out at Carmen, with Bob on Mi Suerte-that's his suerte, not mine-he I got my usual NO BITES and he put three in the boat, including one toad I estimated at 50-60 lbs that even weighed 36lbs on a real scale.

Jose Luis told me that I needed to see a bruhaha or something like that. In Constitucion. For some kind of "limpiado." That sounded about as much fun as when I saw the La Paz urologist with "all the latest American equipment."

Sunday I had a flash of good luck though. I took my Kayak out to Juncalito, to that small island...as I aproached the island, and the water got shallow, I could see the bottom and then a whale shark slowly swam right by my kayak I tell you it was literally breathtaking it had to be several minutes before I could move or anything.

Yesterday...time to go for broke. I went to the south end of Catalan with Manuel Torres, a real master at putting the yellowtail in the boat.

And the "no bite" jinx was over. El Ranchero del Mar was back! The fish were up on top, and I was feeding them one after another. They'd take the bait, run with it, then spit the bare hook out. Yep, I'm back in the saddle again, my usual yellowtail fishing self.

And...I actually landed three. Although I wonder why they call it "landed" when we weren't on land...but I digress. Manuel caught his limit, of course. We each caught one of those really nice ones, too.

Oh, and the jinx. Not bananas. Maybe the camera? I didn't take one.


Meanwhile, Manuel's brother Luis was out in a big Parker looking for dorado.It was windy and rough and conditions were poor for trolling and they only got a couple. But they saw many marlin.

MARLIN! I'm TARGETING them this year. With my EAL lures and Oval hooks.:moon:

Hilarious report, Don. I loved it.

Just to let you know, visiting an American urologist with "all the latest American equipment" is no fun at all, either.

Your most entertaining report ever!

When the dorado come in thick, would you use your techniques to "herd" them further north.