Picking Up 6/5

[Baja Fly Fisher]

Looks like the fishing is picking up or at least today. All the boats caught a variety of species. Roosters, dorado, wahoo and a milk fish On contrary to what people are thinking about what "chili cono's eat this one ate a mackerel. Edwin was trolling a live mac out at the "Roca Montana" and hooked into this milk fish on a live whole mackerel.. Oh yeah, he also hooked into a huge blue marlin but lost it. Another boat lost 4 wahoo and landed one. The boat I was in caught 4 dorado over 20lbs the largest being around 25/28lbs. Walt also caught a dorado on a bare hook. The previous dorado ate the foam body off the hook and he was going to change it during the "hot" bite. I told him to cast the bare hook which had some flash still left on the hook.. First cast and a we saw was a HUGE "V" wake chasing the hook. Pull the hook off the water and cast again and hooked into the larger dorado. Needless to say, Walt was shaking with adrenaline rush
Hopefully tomorrow the bite will continue and into next week.
HOT, no noticed. The temperature around 105 degrees. Tomorrow expected to be cooler 103 degrees, a light wind

http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae72/jaysflies1/P6050156_zpsb8e58544.jpg (http://s959.photobucket.com/user/jaysflies1/media/P6050156_zpsb8e58544.jpg.html)

A nice milk fish… Bait or fly - it doesn't matter

http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae72/jaysflies1/DoradoHead65_zps0d8f47fb.jpg (http://s959.photobucket.com/user/jaysflies1/media/DoradoHead65_zps0d8f47fb.jpg.html)

Colorful dorado head

Jay

[SteelyD]

Jay,

That dorado picture is awesome…..so cool to see the yellow coloration in the eye! One more week to go for me and the crew. Are you still getting some ballyhoo for bait?

[Baja Fly Fisher]

Yes, ballyhoo is still the bait of choice. With fishing conditions changing, maybe the sardine's might show up before I leave, I hope, I hope, I hope. But these big dorado are chowing down on anything that is swimming, even bare hooks. Tomorrow is the last day for the group and I hope it goes well for them. I know where my 6 boats are heading in the morning

Jay

[mems]

Aloha Jay, Doug is going to go nuts over the milkfish. Our flight is on alaska airlines, see you tomorrow. Glad the fishing is picking up. I've got some mac nuts for you and the captains. Let me know if you need anything last minute, Don.

[Baja Fly Fisher]

Another good day today, but not quite as good as yesterday. Some dorado up to 30lbs but a lot in the mid 20's I also had a good experience with a whale shark today. We had one right on the surface and swimming around the buoy. I got a lot of underwater footage, actually I touched the back of the whale shark. I tried to get Edwin to dive in and swim with it, but his excuse was he didn't have any goggles and snorkel It was pretty neat to see this creature up close

Mem's see you tomorrow late afternoon. I'll probably go out with you either sunday or monday.

Jay

[dougisnow]

ok I'm now a member of this wonderful forum, Mems and Jay! can't wait to get down to Baja, only 7 more days away for me and my boys!!! keep the beers cold and the fish hungry! see you soon!
-D
btw nice milkfish!!! i'll bring my algae flies! wait, this one ATE a live mackerel?! :rolleyes: come on! where was it hooked?

[JWilli]

I am one of those lucky guys that fished in Jay's group this week. I fished with Walt (great guy) and we had lots of luck with dorado. The last two days were absolutely incredible. Yesterday, Walt got his biggest dorado ever. Today we both scored grande dorado. At one point we had a triple going on with another boat near us. We all landed our fish. For the week, the weather was hot with only one windy day and we got our fill of good fishing.
I am wishing all of you headed down to La Paz good luck. Jay's trips are outstanding. I am coming back next year for sure.

[Baja Fly Fisher]

Here are a few more photo's from this past week. The group is on the way to the airport and my new group will be here later this afternoon

http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae72/jaysflies1/BillLum_zps24b274e2.jpg (http://s959.photobucket.com/user/jaysflies1/media/BillLum_zps24b274e2.jpg.html)

Bill with a nice dorado

http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae72/jaysflies1/JWilli_zps049f713e.jpg (http://s959.photobucket.com/user/jaysflies1/media/JWilli_zps049f713e.jpg.html)

Jwilli with a big bull

http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae72/jaysflies1/Jerome_zpsc0f2e1e3.jpg (http://s959.photobucket.com/user/jaysflies1/media/Jerome_zpsc0f2e1e3.jpg.html)

Jerome with a big bull dorado caught at the beginning of the week

http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae72/jaysflies1/photo3_zpsab6b9c2b.jpg (http://s959.photobucket.com/user/jaysflies1/media/photo3_zpsab6b9c2b.jpg.html)

The whale shark. Photo take by Edwin. I have 20 minutes of video that I will be putting together and posting to vimeo

All in all a great week to be in Baja

Jay

[k.hanley]

Say hey Participante,
I'm really interested in hearing more about the whale encounter. Very cool!

Good looking Dorado. I see Bill is still heading south and having a great time.
Cheers, K

[Baja Fly Fisher]

As soon as I get home, I'm compile all the footage and create a video and place it on Vimeo. I have a lot of underwater footage of the whale shark. It's now the law in baja that you can't not touch any whale shark.
Bill is now up to two weeks along with Edwin Low. I'm sure next season I'll have a few more clients extending their stay.
Like Bulla and I keep telling you, you gotta get back to baja

Jay

[Darian]

Just a quick report to add some photo's and observations. First, it was hot. 106 most every day. Only one windy day and I missed that one with an upset stomach. By the end of the week, I was worn down but still excited to fish each day. Glad we got out of there before the really hot air temps arrived....

I noticed the MilkFish photo. The way Edwin described it, I didn't think it was that big. It sure is a beauty....

Here's some photo's:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o31/jockscot/stSideRDCF_zpsdb93986e.jpg (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/jockscot/media/stSideRDCF_zpsdb93986e.jpg.html)
An RDCF destroyed by Dorado. Several others were lost or destroyed as well.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o31/jockscot/Salty%20Flies/DSCN0110_zps57f6e8ef.jpg (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/jockscot/media/Salty%20Flies/DSCN0110_zps57f6e8ef.jpg.html)
These Ballyhoo flies were in demand by Dorado but the tail was too long. An added trailer hook solved the problem.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o31/jockscot/35er10_zps2e07e0e7.jpg (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/jockscot/media/35er10_zps2e07e0e7.jpg.html)
Good Dorado!!

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o31/jockscot/25er_zps6f040276.jpg (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/jockscot/media/25er_zps6f040276.jpg.html)
Another good Dorado!!

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o31/jockscot/1518er10_zpsc88c964d.jpg (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/jockscot/media/1518er10_zpsc88c964d.jpg.html)
Rare Rooster for us. We only caught three between us....

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o31/jockscot/DaFly_zpsfedcafd3.jpg (http://s116.photobucket.com/user/jockscot/media/DaFly_zpsfedcafd3.jpg.html)
Funny story on this fly. A decent sized dorado was cruising around the boat with a group of fish. It had a fly embedded in the upper side of the head. While casting a fly, Efren (our Captain), hooked and landed the fish. Then he noticed that his fly was caught inside the bend of the fly hook embedded in the Dorado. So, he had landed that fish by the original fly/hooked into the Dorado. Talk about luck....

The only bait available was Ballyhoo/Halfbeaks. Ballyhoo require a lot of work to net. They're not there in dense populations. Netters capture less numbers for their efforts than with Sardina's. The fish would hit them but not with the same enthusiasm reserved for Sardina's which were absent.

Fly fishing was tough. If you were the first boat in an area with Dorado around, the first few casts would be successful. After that, the fish would not take a fly but would take live bait. So, the first few casts were very important if you wanted to hook up. After initial casts were made, many Dorado would actually approach my flies and nose them but not commit. This was maddening at times.

we trolled one day for Wahoo around the southern and of Isla Cerralvo without much success. Some Wahoo were caught but not by our boat. Fishing or trolling bait was a good way to improve the catch rates. There were some Marlin around as well.

Regardless, I still love La Ventana/Muertos to hang out or fish in. Something about the desolate/remote area that I find relaxing/restful (except when the fish are active). I sure hope Alaska/Horizon Air starts flying into La Paz again. The 3 hour van ride to/from San Jose Del Cabo is a bit trying. Still one of the best values down there.