Santiago
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Report from Loreto
Six of us fished three days in Loreto, two to a panga. General drill was meet our skippers at 5:30 at the marina, buy or make bait, and direct the
captain on what type of fishing we wanted to do that day.
Here is a general report:
Day 1: I teamed with Mike, a once die-hard conventional Cabo marlin/tuna fisher turned fly guy. We headed out to Point Lobos at the far tip of Carmen
and turn left (north) and found a buoy that they caught some small dorado the previous day. Mike got two on the fly, very, very small and we could
not get any on flylined bait. After an hour, we bottom fished at a 200' spot and I got a 20# skippy, we moved to a 300' spot and I got a 29#
yellowtail. lots of red snapper and pinto bass in the mix, most in the 10# range. Neither Mike or I like this dropping 8 oz sinkers and bounding it
off the bottom, real boring fishing. We soon told our skipper to try for roosters and we went to the middle of Carmen and trolled baits for a couple
of hours for about a gillion needle fish but no roosters. On needle went about 5', crazy big.
Day 2: I teamed up with my long-time fishing buddy Steve and we said "Roosters" as soon as we left the bait sellers. Went to the same spot on Carmen
as the day before and started trolling south near the shore. Saw one rooster boated (20-25#) but did not get bit ourselves. Both Steve and I had
never caught a rooster before. About 9:00am our skipper said we would move and off we go heading south. about 5 minutes into our run he suddenly
stops the motor and yells "marlin". We circle the marling, he hooks each of us with baits and we throw them out - immediately I get bit with the first
marlin of my life and it's on. The marlin turns in our direction and just screams past us going in our direction about 20 yards to our starboard side
jumping and peeling line a blue that our skipper estimated in the mid 100# range.
To understand/appreciate what happens next you need to know the gear I had hooked it on: a Seeker Black Beauty yellow tail rod (20-40#) with the new
small V40 ProGear spooled with 300 yards of 40# braid topped with 200 yards of 40# mono, a large swivel with 5' of 50# mono leader tied to an Owner
bait hook - that's it. The two Uni knots at the swivel were mine, and the hook knot (unknown) was by the skipper. This rig did just fine on the jurel
the day before.
I go to the front of the boat and while standing, Steve wraps my back brace on me (I have a hernia that I had not got fixed yet and a pulled groin on
the other side) and then a standard fighting belt - not gimble-butt. Within 30 seconds I am well into the braid, maybe half way and the work begins.
Over the next 30 minutes I get the fish almost all the way to the boat (captain helps a little by following) but then the run starts and I'm all the
way back to only maybe a 100 yards of braid left. This happens at least twice, Steve maybe thinks three times and at 45 minutes my head and upper
body core is starting to overheat and Steve starts pouring water all over me and helping me drink some as well. At 60 minutes my legs give out and I
sit on the front upper deck with my feet braced to the gunnels - a bit like a fighting chair; the captain keeps the boat situated so the fight is
always on the front starboard side. I mention to the captain and Steve that I hope the blue does not die because we are so under rigged.
At 75 minutes I can no longer take it and ask Steve to take over, strapping the fighting belt on him. The blue is no longer on the surface but has
sounded and the rig just is way under powered to bring him up, it's a tortuous procedure to pull up very carefully, reel down only to lose the 6' you
gained on the next pull up. I collapse in the back of the boat and drink a liter of water. 30 minutes into Steve's turn we start to gain some line
and the fight is now only in the top shot. From time-to-time we will see color only to lose 50'-75' on the next sounding run. Steve hands me the rod
and from then on we trade off every 15 minutes.
At 2 hours the captain gets about 100' of rope and his gaff and makes a loop in the rope and wraps it around the gaff in a way I do not understand.
Finally, at 2.5 hours with me on the rig we get the marlin beside us and the skipper reaches over and does something (I can't see) and the marlin has
a lasso around its tail, he puts the boat in gear and starts going about 10 miles/hour, pulling the marlin backwards - Steve turns to me and says
"he's going to kill it". No sooner than Steve says that, the motor is back out of gear, the fish is pulled back and the skipper grabs his needle
nose pliers and tells me to grab the gaff. I do and then see that he has gaffed the fish near the tail - he goes to the front of the marlin and I
think he will pull the hook and release but instead he starts stabbing the marlin in the brain, killing it. He cannot pull the fish into the boat and
insists I help him so together we can barely get it over the gunnels. Steve gets a photo of me laying on the floor next to the blue and the fish is
at least two feet longer than I am. It weighs out at 135#; 50# of smoked meat.
Beers all around, it's now almost noon and we tell the skipper to take us in. The 20-minute ride in is very quiet as we contemplate what we have just
done. Behind my wrap-around sunglasses I tear-up while the skipper is just beside himself with glee. A $1000 peso tip is handed over.
That afternoon, the boys at the hotel bar were evenly divided between “No big deal”, “You probably killed it anyway with such light gear” and “I can’t
believe they don’t do complete catch-and-release here”. Much later that night Steve asks, “How many times did you think of cutting the line?” and I
answer “Three times”. I should have done it.
Day Three:
Rooster only day and we get the same skipper; we make sure we release the #40 rooster we get. On the way in another blue starts jumping and streaking
about 200 yards off our bow and the skipper cuts the engine and looks at me; I shake my head as I want nothing to do with it. Later around the pool
another group comes in as says they got a blue and released it.
Good.
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Howard
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Thanks for taking the time to report. By any chance do you know the water temp?
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing
George Bernard Shaw
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Santiago
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78/79 from what we were told. No sardinas, macs and big eye only. Lots of fly guys in the hotel bemoaning their fate.
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Howard
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No bueno por Dorado.
What hotel did you all stay at? Where did you eat?
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing
George Bernard Shaw
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Santiago
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La Mision and ate there as well. Very nice place, but a bit too upscale for me. Awesome AC at night. A number of snooty, well-to-do Mexicans from
the Federal District were there looking down their noses at us as they lounged around the pool in $500 bikinis and hi heels. Sheesh.
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BigBearRider
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Mood: 
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Quote: Originally posted by Santiago  | | La Mision and ate there as well. Very nice place, but a bit too upscale for me. Awesome AC at night. A number of snooty, well-to-do Mexicans from
the Federal District were there looking down their noses at us as they lounged around the pool in $500 bikinis and hi heels. Sheesh.
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They were probably upset because there is no "Federal District" anymore.
Nice stories. Thanks for posting.
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TMW
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Wow that is a fish story for sure, great work getting the Marlin in. It wore me out just reading it.
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Hook
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Nice job, Santiago, but where are the pics?
Of the $500 bikinis, of course!!!!!!
So, another bad year for dorado, in the Sea of Cortez. Most of us remember when Loreto was the dorado capitol of the whole Sea.
It's been officially another bad year for dorado, here. Of the three tournaments that enforced a minimum weight on dorado (two at 12# and one at 15#)
NONE managed a weighable dorado.
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Howard
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Mood: I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.
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Yes, the Mission does have incredible air conditioning and good pillows but is as you said, a little snooty. Great and powerful drinks at Happy Hour
though.
I am hoping for a later Dorado bite in August or September when hopefully the water warms up.
Glad you had a good time.
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing
George Bernard Shaw
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woody with a view
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Lets see some pics! Dont forget the bikinis either! Great story.
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Santiago
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 [/URL][/img]
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fdt
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Fantastic!!!
A well informed Baja California traveler is a smart Baja California traveler!
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Raven
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Thanks, Santiago! Great report.
A buddy & I are going down next week. Good to know what to expect.
Staying at the Oasis (15th year), but may have to cruise by La Mision to catch the scenery..... 
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Enrique2012
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Not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but... that's a striped marlin.
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BajaBlanca
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You are a great storyteller - it felt tiring just to read the saga!
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Santiago
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Yes, I think you are correct. The skipper and a few guys on the dock said blue. Having no other experience, I repeated what they said. Looking online
at the differences, it is a stripper.
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Hook
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Strippers, bikinis around the pool............just why DID you guys go down there w/o the wives??? 
Fishing? Yeah, right..............
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Howard
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Mood: I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.
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| Quote: Originally posted by Santiago | | Yes, I think you are correct. The skipper and a few guys on the dock said blue. Having no other experience, I repeated what they said. Looking online
at the differences, it is a stripper. |
Wow, a fish that's a stripper! Did it do a pole dance? Did you have to throw dollar bills at it? Did it have an attitude?
Sorry, couldn't help myself
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing
George Bernard Shaw
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Fishndad
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I wouldn't feel too bad about keeping the Marlin as long as it used for food (either yourself or locals) and not just discarded. Feel the same about
all sea creatures trigger fish to Marlin and everything in between.
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