bill erhardt - 4-25-2008 at 03:21 AM
Tuesday, I ran east of town about 40 miles and started trolling for marlin at daybreak. I found no marlin, but did have my limit of dorado before
8:00 a.m. I ended up catching four, including the one in the attached photo, before abandoning the effort to a building 2' - 3' chop and heading back
to the marina before noon.
Yesterday, Thursday, I launched at 5:30 and headed back to the scene of the crime. About 30 miles offshore and well before sun-up I spotted a pair of
marlin tailing on the surface, the first I have seen this year. I rigged feathers and made a couple of passes while they remained on the surface, but
could provoke no interest. Trolling on east toward the canyon in calm, glassy water I found more tailing marlin; singles, doubles, triples, and
groups of four, and later in the day many single jumpers, but none of them were interested in anything I had to offer. I did catch four more dorado
that found my marlin feathers more appealing than did the marlin. Two of them from a school under diving frigates.
So, now there are choices in addition to the bruiser yellowtail that have been hanging around Catalana for the past couple of months and the generally
smaller versions that continue to pop up closer to town around Coronado and Carmen. The dorado were mostly peanuts with none over about 18 pounds.
It is only a matter of time before the marlin run out of whatever it is they are full of now and maybe then a nice petrolero will look a little better
to them.
baitcast - 4-25-2008 at 07:43 AM
Looks good,sounds great,right now I would kill for a " peanut" like that everyday of the week
Rob
Pescador - 4-25-2008 at 07:43 AM
Well send those guys up north to Santa Rosalia, my tackle and my body are tired of battling yellowtail this winter and I could use a nice relaxing
dorado or billfish. Hopefully things will warm up a little and we will get to see some before we head north to Colorado for the summer.
flyfishinPam - 4-25-2008 at 09:36 AM
Yeah Bill your stories went all over town. I wrote the following yesterday. Glad you found Dorado but not glad about giving people the idea that
just anyone can do it right now. I understand you regurarly put over 100 miles on your boat in search of fish every day. While that is fine, not
everybody has the financial ability to do this nor the time and the last ting I want to sell to clients is a boat ride in search of fish they may
never find.....
portion of our current report...
OFFSHORE; DORADO AND BILLFISH
This is the second offshore report of the season and there is a lot of sargasso out there but that doesn't mean much unfortunately, unless it stays
with us for several months. There is also a lot of sargaosso still anchored and growing on the rocks at La Cholla reef, the bajo off Coronado, San
Bruno and points North and South. This is encouraging for good sargasso structure in summer. We have already caught our fisrt Sailfish of the season,
and this doesn't surprize us as every year we land a Sail in late April. This one was caught on Monday April 21st by Verda Boyd of San Francisco. Last
year on April 21st, Verda also caught a 130 pound Sailfish off Punta Lobos so this was a repeat of last year exactly on the same date! She was
trolling a mirro-lure when the fish hit. The sailfish was revived and released.
On Tuesday a local private boater who fishes solo most of the time, went out an unspecified distance and found a school of Dorado. Rumor has it that
he traveled 30-40 miles that's rumor for ya! He limited out in a matter of minutes and released an unspecified number of other Dorado from the same
school. The fish are reported to have weighed up to 20 pounds. And since the story is going all around town in various ways, shapes and forms I just
want to add one thing...gee thanks! Now the incoming charters patrons are all gonna wanna go out and hunt for the one school of Dorado swimming the
center of the SOC in April when they can limit out on 40 pound class Yellowtail instead. What I am not interested in doing is putting over 120 miles
on our boats in search of a school or a rogue individual that may never be found. I do not take pleasure in charging people for a boat ride and I
actually will lose sleep over it, so please leave the guiding up to us and trust us when we refuse to take you out on a Dorado trip in April. Wait
until the water temps rise some more and that warm water mass moves in closer. If this sargasso keeps up I would expect 2008 to be a good year. Just a
little something about myself...What I tend to do as a fish reporter and chartermistress is knock down expectations so that when you actually get out
there its BETTER than you would expect it to be. This way our charges are justifiable. I believe in truth and honesty in reporting and in the selling
of our products.
....not that Bill's story was untruthful in any way, I just want to point out how difficult it can make all of our jobs right now, mine, Arturo's and
all the independent pangueros. The season is still early to determine what kind of a year this will be but it should be of no surprize that the first
pelagics of the season are making their way North. I sure hope they keep coming and stick around.
fishbuck - 4-25-2008 at 10:29 AM
Fishing insanity is starting to set in every I read Bill or Don's fish reports.
Bill makes it look easy but thank you Pam for the dose of reality.
I will continue to scheme on how I can get to Loreto. If the netters don't scoop everything it looks like Loreto is ready to go off!
Hook - 4-25-2008 at 10:47 AM
Bill, did you see any net boats out there?
bill erhardt - 4-25-2008 at 11:29 AM
Hook...... No, I've been out quite a bit this spring, including a two day trip down to El Bajo last week, and have yet to see a net set. I imagine
that the netters are targeting yellowtail that are schooling in shallow water around the islands. The dorado that are showing up now are occasionally
in schools, but more often swimming singly or in pairs. If form holds, they will increase in size and number over the next two or three weeks and
then move in closer to shore and start schooling up under whatever structure they can find, natural or man-made. The traditional way to catch them on
the Baja is to wait until they school under structure and then soak bait for them. Not, as I find them trolling feathers for marlin offshore,
although often the big bulls will be found offshore swimming alone, particularly in the early spring. In recent years it has been long lines, not
nets, that have taken many dorado, as well as marlin, in the middle of the SOC. On a trip across to Guaymas last spring the last 50 miles was a
veritable maze of long lines. Ostensibly they were targeting sharks, but I saw nothing but dorado hooked up.
Pescador - 4-25-2008 at 11:43 AM
Bill is right on the money, all the fishermen are working all of the islands right now with nets for egg bearing yellowtail. For a long time they
were unable to work the rocks and the yellowtail were doing fairly well, but in the last couple of years they have learned to hold them tight in to
shore and go in and finish them off with hookah diving rigs. They lift the net up and over all obstructions. Guess what, that means Cabrilla, Pargo,
yellowtail and anything else that swims gets killed and sold also. Guess when they finish off the yellowtail and cabrilla, they can start in on the
Spotted Bay Bass.
bill erhardt - 4-25-2008 at 12:32 PM
I just remembered this picture I took of a net I found 3 or 4 years ago at first light around San Bruno Bajo on the way to Pulpito in search of
yellowtail. In the dim light I spotted a panga that appeared to be adrift with nobody in it. I swung by to take a look and was in the net before I
saw it. Actually, I cut the throttle just as I hit it and the net was not badly fouled in the prop. As I came to an abrupt halt, the head of the
panguero tender appeared over the panga gunwale. He saw what was happening and went back to sleep. No serious damage was done, although I considered
some surgery to the net as I untangled it.
Hook - 4-25-2008 at 03:05 PM
Agreed about the long lines, Bill.
But what we sometimes forget is that wrapping huge schools of sardines can affect sportfishing, too. The sportfish dont go, where the food ain't.
Of course, that's not illegal. But it can put a big dent in the northern migration.
Roberto - 4-25-2008 at 03:56 PM
What are the water temps and clarity in the areas you were looking for the Marlin, Bill?
bill erhardt - 4-25-2008 at 05:14 PM
Roberto...... Where the marlin were concentrated yesterday the surface water temperature in the morning before sun-up was around 72 degrees. In
mid-afternoon in flat seas the temp rose to around 78. The water was clear and blue, but there was a distinct bue/green break about a mile to the
south that according to Terrafin extended out to Catalana. This is a picture taken around sun-up shortly after I started trolling with Catalana in
the background about 20 miles to the south. In the glassy calm the tailing marlin could be seen a half mile away.
Roberto - 4-25-2008 at 06:13 PM
I bet -- a picture to die for, Bill. You sound like quite the fisherman. Thanks for the post.
Skeet/Loreto - 4-26-2008 at 05:23 PM
Bill Thanks for the Great Fish Report.
I fished out of Muelge last week and found it to be as it was 29 years ago.
Yellowtail all over the Top with Millions of Bait, lots of Birds and schools of Dolphins.
If you want a Boatfull go out and spend the nite and Fish in Close at First Light. From San Nicholas to Muelge we only saw 6 other Pangas all were
Mexicano, 2 to a Boat Handlining.
Also my Friends got into an AmberJack Boil the day before.
Got to visit with Bill and Betty twice. Bill sure looks Good. Tried to talk him into coming back to the Texas Panhandle for a Visit.
Good Fishing
Skeet/Loreto
bill erhardt - 4-27-2008 at 05:37 AM
Skeet........ I gave the fillets from the dorado in the photo above to Bill and Betty, and was rewarded with some fresh laid eggs and home grown
tomatoes. Didn't know you were friends. I saw no other boats, Mexican or gringo, when I was fishing for marlin/dorado last week. It is sure nice to
have some variety in the area after four months of yellowtail whether you want them or not. Some time in the next month a few yellowfin should be
making their way up the canyon. I found tuna six or seven times out of Loreto last year, but none over 15 pounds or so. The next order of business
is for the marlin to get hungry enough to beat the pesky dorado to the feathers. Maybe manana.........
Skeet/Loreto - 4-27-2008 at 04:52 PM
Bill: We have been Friends with Betty and Bill when they arrived in Loreto in 1973.
Bill gave me a Lesson in Pool the first week he had it installed.
Bills Family is one of the Panhandle of Texas Families of many years.
I would sure try for those yellowfins early this year at Los Arenas. With all the Bait in there will be lots of Early Dorado as you know.
Skeet/Loreto