Bagged my first Baqueta, Loreto BCS

my friends and I here in Loreto been slaying the Dorado for a few weeks now, they are thick and super close to shore so easy to catch either slow trolling sardines or fast trolling with feathers/plugs, no monsters but fun to catch and great eating size








We were getting bored with Dorado (good problem eh?) and the weather finally cooled off enough (low 90s! lol) to try and sneak in some bottom fishing

Spent most of the night tinkering with my rods/reels and tying up some high test double-dropper rigs, basically 80 pound floro double dropper rig with 9/0 circle hooks

Our buddy said he knew a secret spot for baqueta (gulf coney grouper), a prized species here in Baja, and we were going to check it out. Unfortunately, buddy had 1 too many cervezas the night before and was a no call/no show at 630AM launch time, if you say you are coming fishing, you better be dead or worse if you dont show up! THE WORST!

With our plans in peril, my friend with the boat swung by the marina early in the morning and saw some of the usual old salt marina crew hanging out and chatted up one of his friends dads he saw there, he told him we were trying to bag some baquetas but didnt know where they were hiding, luckily dad wasnt doing anything that day and offered to come with us in exchange for free beer, score!

We launched off the beach in front of my house (Loretos marina still closed) and headed out



I had heard that calamari was like grouper candy so picked up some frozen stuff that we were planning to use for bait,


but dad said we would have better luck with sardines. Luckily I brought along my cast net, we snuck around the beach in front of Loreto Shore and came across huge schools of bait, unfortunately they were in too deep of water and my casts were for naught, we eventually used the boat to push some of the school up closer to shore and after 2 casts we blacked out the livewell, Vamos!

We headed out and past Isla Coronado, dad cut the motor and told us to bait up, I asked him the name of the spot and he said it was called piedra El Faro (lighthouse rock) and pointed to a far away lighthouse on the tip of Coronado.

Sunrise over Coronado never gets old



Dad never once looked at the GPS or depth sounder, I asked him how the hell he knew we were on the right spot, he pointed to the lighthouse then he pointed to the farrrr away tip of a shore point about 15 miles off in the distance. You line those 2 up and your on the spot. Alrighty then!

We were fishing double dropper rigs with live sardines and a 12oz weight to get down to the bottom, i checked the depth and we were in ~250ft of water.

Within no time we were getting bit, pulled up some piernas (whitefish), pinto (spotted cabrilla), and a few other bottom fish, but not the trophy. We fished there for about 30 minutes and dad said vamos!

Moved onto to another spot, bit deeper, ~350ft and started pulling up more piernas, bit bigger this time, but still no grouper, 20 minutes there and dad said vamos! I like this guys style!

We headed out quite a ways towards the gulf, bobbing around in the middle o the sea I could see we were about 5 miles north of the tip of Isla Carmen

I checked the depth, 550ft! Oh damn... this will be a workout with my single speed TLD25. Dad rigged us with double sardines on each hook, switched out our 12oz weights for 16oz, and we dropped and I watched and waited forever for the line to finally hit the bottom and stop feeding off my spool.

Within 3 minutes I felt a little hit.. hmmm i hope i still have my bait! 550ft on a single speed is a long damn way just to check bait lol

A few more minutes go by... all of the sudden I feel my rod load up and double over, I quickly try to reel up some line and set the hook and shes gone! noo dammit! but a good sign there is something here!!

As I am reeling up to change my bait, my buddy gets bit and he is doubled over, his sticks and he spends the next 20 minutes reeling up an anchor



Our first baqueta! sweeeet!


I drop down some more sardinas... stick my rod in the holder while I grab another beer, turn around just in time to see my rod doubled over, rush over and grab it, start to reel, SHES STUCK! and shes big!! Horse her away from the rocks and then start the long wind to the surface, I can still feel her shaking from time to time down there, feeling anything at the end of 500ft of mono is a good sign

after about 25 minutes of hauling I see a big old balloon breach about 20ft off the bow, shes a hog!! No scale but i guess shes around a ~25-30 pounder (maybe 40 when I tell my friends the story)





we caught one more smaller one and called it a day



came back to the house and cleaned up the fish, got some hugeeee filets off the big boy, my friend kept the other 2 for himself and cleaned up the piernas to sell online for some gas money

Another successful day fishing in Loreto!



now that baqueta is crossed off my species list I want to try fishing for some billfish, I caught a black marlin last year on my birthday, hoping for a striped/blue or sail here soon

[Edited on 9-2-2020 by defrag4]

Quote: Originally posted by bill erhardt

Great report and pics! Glad you made it out. I just drove to the marina this morning and it was good to see no chain across the ramp. The attendant said that as of yesterday launching is available in Loreto 24/7 for gringo sport fishermen and anybody else fishing from their own boats or with a local panguero, or for those who just want to get out and savor a day on the water. Maybe this signals the beginning of a return to some semblance of normalcy.

Quote: Originally posted by Alan

Great Report!... and great catch. Congratulations

Thanks Alan, good thing is they taste MUCH better than they look

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Cool pics. Looks a little rough.

Quote: Originally posted by Lee

Redefining pura vida. Nice. How's town?

went out again yesterday, way outside ~30 miles or so, blind trolling picked up a few dorado of decent size, still on the hunt for some monsters!