Wish I had an upbeat report to write on the fishing scene in Loreto. Unfortunately, it aint so!! A buddy and I fished six day with Francisco Davis on the Pajaro and had little to show for some serious effort.
Weather/Water: 95 degress most days, varying humidity. Some light rain. Lots of storm clouds. Two of six fishing days were calm enough to run outside. Made it to Mercenares once and Almejas Reef another day. Mostly south winds in the early PM. One day saw heavy north winds (weird!) Heavy rain in other places it mostly missed Loreto. Water temps were super high. 87 degrees in the morning and 89 degress at mid-day.
Bait: Worst year I have ever seen for bait. In years past we have had no trouble making bait. This year it was a near disaster. Just to guarantee we had something we bought macks from the carnaderos early in the morning. $20/15macks. Unfortunately, these macks were caught deep and could not stand up to the hot water in the bait tank, so they died early. By 5:45 they were sold out so most fishermen got nada. Making Big eyes was difficult. Most morning we scratched about 6-8 before the bite shut off.
Fishing:
Day1: Fished west side or Carmen slow trolling Big-Eye for one 12# Rooster. Trolled/Hopped for another seven hours. Ended up near Mestiza and popped off one decent Dodo.
Day2: Storm blew out the entire fleet. Worked on my tan.
Day3: Very calm. Got into a very decent YT bite at the deep hole SE of Coranado. Brought 4 nice YT to the boat between 28-38# (Very good quality fish.) Caught one 90# class Sailfish at 250ft. while retrieving bait from the bottom in 500 feet of water. (Whazzup!!!) Caught another 90# class Sailfish trolling pink feather. Missed another strike from a Billfish.
Day4: Took a long boat ride out to Mercenares (Some call it Mercenarios) Long haul - Zero fish. Stopped off at San Bruno reef on the way back in and landed a decent 20# YT.
Day5: Back at the Deep Hole. A dozen pangas pulled in a total of 2 YT, fortunately including a nice 30# YT for myself. One commercial panga, deep anchored, caught 8 nice YT and made fools out of the rest of us. These guys are the "bomb" - hand lines, dead bait, no sunglasses or shade. We tried to use the same methods but without an anchor we had no success on dead bait other than a jack and some Pintos.
Day6: Made the long run to Almejas Reef. Some baby Dodo's - caught 3, released all. Nothing else going at all. Trolled/Hopped all the way back, for one more baby Dodo. Aye, Aye, Aye!!
We talked around town and most everyone was doing the same as we were. There were a few guys who managed to scratch some decent Dorodo. No patterns or locations just blind trolling. Seemed to be best around Coronado and close to shore. NO kelp/Sargasso to be found anywhere!! IMO a very strange and messed up year. Francisco says the worst year he has ever seen. That's saying a lot. So, if you go my recommendation is to buy bait early, fish hard, and hope for the best.
Weather/Water: 95 degress most days, varying humidity. Some light rain. Lots of storm clouds. Two of six fishing days were calm enough to run outside. Made it to Mercenares once and Almejas Reef another day. Mostly south winds in the early PM. One day saw heavy north winds (weird!) Heavy rain in other places it mostly missed Loreto. Water temps were super high. 87 degrees in the morning and 89 degress at mid-day.
Bait: Worst year I have ever seen for bait. In years past we have had no trouble making bait. This year it was a near disaster. Just to guarantee we had something we bought macks from the carnaderos early in the morning. $20/15macks. Unfortunately, these macks were caught deep and could not stand up to the hot water in the bait tank, so they died early. By 5:45 they were sold out so most fishermen got nada. Making Big eyes was difficult. Most morning we scratched about 6-8 before the bite shut off.
Fishing:
Day1: Fished west side or Carmen slow trolling Big-Eye for one 12# Rooster. Trolled/Hopped for another seven hours. Ended up near Mestiza and popped off one decent Dodo.
Day2: Storm blew out the entire fleet. Worked on my tan.
Day3: Very calm. Got into a very decent YT bite at the deep hole SE of Coranado. Brought 4 nice YT to the boat between 28-38# (Very good quality fish.) Caught one 90# class Sailfish at 250ft. while retrieving bait from the bottom in 500 feet of water. (Whazzup!!!) Caught another 90# class Sailfish trolling pink feather. Missed another strike from a Billfish.
Day4: Took a long boat ride out to Mercenares (Some call it Mercenarios) Long haul - Zero fish. Stopped off at San Bruno reef on the way back in and landed a decent 20# YT.
Day5: Back at the Deep Hole. A dozen pangas pulled in a total of 2 YT, fortunately including a nice 30# YT for myself. One commercial panga, deep anchored, caught 8 nice YT and made fools out of the rest of us. These guys are the "bomb" - hand lines, dead bait, no sunglasses or shade. We tried to use the same methods but without an anchor we had no success on dead bait other than a jack and some Pintos.
Day6: Made the long run to Almejas Reef. Some baby Dodo's - caught 3, released all. Nothing else going at all. Trolled/Hopped all the way back, for one more baby Dodo. Aye, Aye, Aye!!
We talked around town and most everyone was doing the same as we were. There were a few guys who managed to scratch some decent Dorodo. No patterns or locations just blind trolling. Seemed to be best around Coronado and close to shore. NO kelp/Sargasso to be found anywhere!! IMO a very strange and messed up year. Francisco says the worst year he has ever seen. That's saying a lot. So, if you go my recommendation is to buy bait early, fish hard, and hope for the best.
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