Baja

Sorry to intrude on the ten-best stuff, which is wonderful, but does
anyone here have experience in Bahia Magdalena, Loreto, or the East Cape
in Baja? That's where I intend to fish in January.

There's an interesting article in Fly Rod&Reel (jan/feb) about fishing
for Dorado out of Lareto. They caught lots of Dorado, but also a huge
Humboldt squid! -- among other things. The variety of fish (and
cephalopod) species on Baja is said to be impressive.

I'm taking conventional gear along with fly fishing tackle. It's hard to
throw 1 oz. jointed minnows with a fly rod. :-)

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 04:22:25 GMT, rw wrote:

Sorry to intrude on the ten-best stuff, which is wonderful, but does
anyone here have experience in Bahia Magdalena, Loreto, or the East Cape
in Baja? That's where I intend to fish in January.

There's an interesting article in Fly Rod&Reel (jan/feb) about fishing
for Dorado out of Lareto. They caught lots of Dorado, but also a huge
Humboldt squid! -- among other things. The variety of fish (and
cephalopod) species on Baja is said to be impressive.

I'm taking conventional gear along with fly fishing tackle. It's hard to
throw 1 oz. jointed minnows with a fly rod. :-)

Lucky bastid :-)

Speaking of squid:
Wonder what weight rod you'd need to wrestle one of these into the boat

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science....ap/index.html

/daytripper (now *that's* a squid!)

rw wrote:
Sorry to intrude on the ten-best stuff, which is wonderful, but does
anyone here have experience in Bahia Magdalena, Loreto, or the East Cape
in Baja? That's where I intend to fish in January.

There's an interesting article in Fly Rod&Reel (jan/feb) about fishing
for Dorado out of Lareto. They caught lots of Dorado, but also a huge
Humboldt squid! -- among other things. The variety of fish (and
cephalopod) species on Baja is said to be impressive.

I'm taking conventional gear along with fly fishing tackle. It's hard to
throw 1 oz. jointed minnows with a fly rod. :-)


I was watching a TV show last week that focused on the Humboldt Squid
off Mexico. It showed a diver that had designed his own body armor to
dive with feeding squid. They showed examples of squid hitting him and
trying to drag him down. He has been dragged some 40 feet down in prior
incidents. The strength and persistence of the squid was amazing. The
show stated their beaks could possible penetrate the rib cage and
deflate a lung under water.

I'd take a squid jig to just try it out, but wouldn't swim with the
squids after that.

FYI, The December Sal****er Sportsman has an article with a crew that
drive like madmen to make it down and up Baja in eight days. They spend
several days on the east Cape. All I can do is read about it.

Have a great trip.

"bugcaster" wrote in message
. ..
rw wrote:
Sorry to intrude on the ten-best stuff, which is wonderful, but does
anyone here have experience in Bahia Magdalena, Loreto, or the East Cape
in Baja? That's where I intend to fish in January.

There's an interesting article in Fly Rod&Reel (jan/feb) about fishing
for Dorado out of Lareto. They caught lots of Dorado, but also a huge
Humboldt squid! -- among other things. The variety of fish (and
cephalopod) species on Baja is said to be impressive.

I'm taking conventional gear along with fly fishing tackle. It's hard to
throw 1 oz. jointed minnows with a fly rod. :-)


I was watching a TV show last week that focused on the Humboldt Squid off
Mexico. It showed a diver that had designed his own body armor to dive
with feeding squid. They showed examples of squid hitting him and trying
to drag him down. He has been dragged some 40 feet down in prior
incidents. The strength and persistence of the squid was amazing. The
show stated their beaks could possible penetrate the rib cage and deflate
a lung under water.

I'd take a squid jig to just try it out, but wouldn't swim with the squids
after that.

FYI, The December Sal****er Sportsman has an article with a crew that
drive like madmen to make it down and up Baja in eight days. They spend
several days on the east Cape. All I can do is read about it.

Have a great trip.

Humboldt squid are eating machines! they live about 2 years and we catch
them over 50# off San Francisco. They are just now starting to study them.
A major explosion of them off Chile a couple of years ago crashed one of the
fisheries. Best to go on a party boat to catch them as they squirt lots of
ink when being brought aboard.

rw wrote:
Sorry to intrude on the ten-best stuff, which is wonderful, but does
anyone here have experience in Bahia Magdalena, Loreto, or the East Cape
in Baja? That's where I intend to fish in January.

There's an interesting article in Fly Rod&Reel (jan/feb) about fishing
for Dorado out of Lareto. They caught lots of Dorado, but also a huge
Humboldt squid! -- among other things. The variety of fish (and
cephalopod) species on Baja is said to be impressive.

I'm taking conventional gear along with fly fishing tackle. It's hard to
throw 1 oz. jointed minnows with a fly rod. :-)


RW,

I've not gone yet, but I have looked into it. I've watched a
presentation, by Jay Murakoshi. He holds annual clinics/trips to Baja. I
may go next year.

Are you planning on a DIY trip, or looking to hookup with an outfitter.
At the very least, your going to have to hire a panga operator.....or
fish from the beach. What I know about this type of fishing is, the
standard scenario is bait and switch. Every morning, the pangas pick you
up, pick up sardina from the local bait boats, then take you out in
search of fish. Ethical or not, "chumming" is the accepted method. ;-)
Gear suggestions are 8-12 wt rods, and quality reels with good drags.
I'm told, minimum, 200 yards of backing. More drag, and backing capacity
the better. Also, take backups. Destroyed rods and reels are the norm.

You may want to check out these sites for more info. I do know timing
can make or break a good trip.

http://www.fishabout.com/
http://www.bajafly.com/

brians

briansfly wrote:

Are you planning on a DIY trip, or looking to hookup with an outfitter.

Strictly DIY. It's not primarily a fishing trip, but I'll be down there
for most of January, and I need something to relieve the boredom. :-)

At the very least, your going to have to hire a panga operator.....or
fish from the beach.

That's my plan -- hire pangas and fish from the beach.

What I know about this type of fishing is, the
standard scenario is bait and switch. Every morning, the pangas pick you
up, pick up sardina from the local bait boats, then take you out in
search of fish. Ethical or not, "chumming" is the accepted method. ;-)

I'm a "whatever works" type of fisherman. I'm taking fly tackle,
baitcasting (i.e., "conventional") gear, and an ultralight spinning rig.
I'll fish flies, jointed minnows, skirted squids, swim baits, actual
bait -- whatever it takes.

Gear suggestions are 8-12 wt rods,

I have a 7 and a 9wt. I'm not planning to go after marlin. The best I
hope for is a nice Dorado, and that would probably be on the baitcasting
rig.


http://www.fishabout.com/
http://www.bajafly.com/

Thanks, Brian. I'll check those links out right away.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

rw wrote:


I have a 7 and a 9wt. I'm not planning to go after marlin. The best I
hope for is a nice Dorado, and that would probably be on the baitcasting
rig.


i assume the pacific dorado behave the same as our atlantic dolphin. if
so, you might want to take your fly rods and some gummy minnow or crazy
charlie type streamers. they are schooling fish, and very aggressive on
the baits. once you hook-up with one, reel it in within fly rod casting
distance, put the rod in a holder and allow it to play. other fish will
follow it, school around it in a feeding frenzy, and strike anything
resembling bait. also, when you spot a good weed line or other floating
"stuff", there are usually some dolphin holding under it that you can
coax to the bait. in nc, we call this style of fishing "bailing
dolphin" and the small dolphin caught as "bailers" or "peanut"
dolphin...the charter boats do it frequently to make the customers happy
with a trip that hasn't produced anything by trolling for the bigger
quarry.

hope you'll post some photos...

jeff

jeff wrote:
rw wrote:


I have a 7 and a 9wt. I'm not planning to go after marlin. The best I
hope for is a nice Dorado, and that would probably be on the
baitcasting rig.


i assume the pacific dorado behave the same as our atlantic dolphin.

I'm not optimistic about catching Dorado because January is supposed to
be the worst time of years for them, and July the best. It's possible,
though.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

rw wrote:
jeff wrote:

rw wrote:


I have a 7 and a 9wt. I'm not planning to go after marlin. The best I
hope for is a nice Dorado, and that would probably be on the
baitcasting rig.


i assume the pacific dorado behave the same as our atlantic dolphin.


I'm not optimistic about catching Dorado because January is supposed to
be the worst time of years for them, and July the best. It's possible,
though.


i'm unfamiliar with dorado migration patterns. we catch dolphin in the
spring through fall. they return to south florida and the caribbean in
winter...though some remain out in the warm waters of the gulf stream
off nc year round. i suppose the colder water currents around california
affect baja? anyway...don't forget to post photos and i look forward to
reading your review of the place and the fishing.

jeff