Carl Blackledge's daily reports for his Loreto, Baja, Mexico trip - 2019

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Friday, 6/21/2019

Hey guys,
I am writing this report from the Oasis Hotel in Loreto, Baja, Mexico.

I was very lucky today to have caught 3 marlín and one sailfish, plus a Dorado around 20 pounds all the fish were caught on the chicken flies...the sea was flat, the weather was perfect, everything went smooth as silk today.

Hopefully we will find the big packs of dorado tomorrow.

over and out
Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Saturday, 6/22/2019

Greetings: Today was extremely windy with corresponding rough seas but I managed to hook three Marlin (and lost 'em) and land one really small Dorado. We found Sargasso but there was "nobody home" beneath it. But even in these less-than-ideal conditions, our friends in another boat hooked four Marlin and landed three out of the four. Their luck changed when they changed over to the pink Chicken fly. The exciting thing was that neither guy had ever caught a Marlin on a fly before, and they even had a double hook-up! Fantastic!
Best,
Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

6/24/2019 Monday

Greetings: It has been really windy here the past couple of days and it has also seemed like the fish have been moving around with the choppy seas. That being said, we are still hooking 3-5 Marlin a day while we are trolling on the hunt. Tomorrow (Tues.) we are going to take the boats in a different direction to try to find some Dorado and Sargasso. We're hopeful that as soon as the fish settle down we will be all over them again.
Best,
Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

6/25/2019 Tuesday in Loreto, Baja, Mexico

Greetings: Today the seas calmed down and we found Sargasso that had come back up to the surface and sure enough, the Dorado were there and we pounded them. We landed 32 on cast flies, then went in search of Marlin. We found one Marlin that wasn't hungry, then went back and got a few more Dorado. Other boats got a few Dorado and hooked and landed Marlin. Another boat went after Roosterfish and reported catching a few small ones and one big one coming in at about 50 pounds. The Sargasso back on top is a really good sign so hopefully more Dorado will take up residence!
Best,
Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargassum

Sargassum (Sargasso) is a seaweed that floats in patches in the tropical salt water.

If you find any, even a small patch the size of your living room, you might find a few Dorado under it.

Outboard skiff guides will cruise or troll until they find some "weed" and then toss some cut or live bait out by it.

If there is any Dorado/Mahi Mahi/Dopphin fish under it they will come up and feed wildly.

Then you just catch you popper or streamer up to the grass and that stripping.

.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

6/27/2019 Thursday in Loreto, Baja, Mexico

Greetings: Today five of the boats in our group headed out in a completely different direction and we were all trolling the Chicken flies trying to locate Dorado. Our boat didn't find any Dorado, but other boats came across a small group and caught a few up to 25 pounds. None of the boats found any large groups of Dorado. I did have a great day with Marlin (while trolling) and hooked four perfect-sized fish (around 60-70 pounds) and managed to land three of them. The ability to find and catch different species of fish in these waters without having to navigate really far is one of the things that makes Loreto such a fun place to fish!

Best,
Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

6/28/2019 Friday in Loreto, Baja, Mexico

Greetings: When I posted yesterday's Dorado results I hadn't yet heard that one boat had some fantastic luck after they found some Sargasso. They landed over 80 Dorado on cast flies over the course of about 4 hours. Today a bunch of us headed out to that same spot but only a few Dorado were found. We went searching for Sargasso and most of us hooked Marlin and Sailfish while trolling our locator flies. The seas are flat and the weather is perfect so we're hoping to find Sargasso with "Gold" beneath!
Best,
Carl Blackledge

[dynaflow]

Wow....that's sensational fishing Carl.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Every year is different, every week is different, every day is different and every day is different for each boat, and every day is different

for each person in the boat....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

6/29/2019 Saturday in Loreto, Baja, Mexico

Greetings: Today there were lots of Marlin showing themselves but they weren't very aggressive with most boats landing only one. Many boats found Sargasso today and reported landing between 20 and 35 Dorado. My boat landed around 30 smaller Dorado, and my boat partner hooked a crazy one around 25 pounds but he broke the fish off landing it. The air temperature has crept up to around 100 and the seas remain flat.
Best,
Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

7/7/2019 Sunday in Loreto, Baja, Mexico

Greetings: The fishing here in Loreto has been very slow this past week largely due to high winds and rough seas. Only a few Marlin and a few small Dorado have been caught (reports from our group) and I did get one nice Marlin yesterday. Today we decided to go to my favorite honey spot for Roosterfish and found more smaller Roosters than I have seen in a long time, and we really beat 'em up on cast flies and got maybe 15 all together. That was also a nice break from going way out to sea and getting beat up in the boat. We also got a radio call about Dorado and so we left the Rooster hole and ended up catching two Dorado, one small and the other decent size. Tomorrow we're going to go to a different Rooster hole and use a different rod and line set-up hoping to catch some larger Roosters on cast flies.
Best.
Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

7/8/2019 Monday in Loreto, Baja, Mexico

Greetings:

Today we had nice weather and mild seas and our boat found a new honey spot with tons of smaller Roosters. We caught at least 40 on cast flies; small Airheads and Belly Dancers worked like a charm. Also, there were reports from other boats that about 40 smaller Dorado were caught all told. We're still holding out hope of finding some larger fish of both species.

Best,
Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Looks like a good year for Baja........still the best value in salt water fly fishing.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

7/9/2019 Tuesday in Loreto, Baja, Mexico

Greetings:

The weather was great today and we did get a lot of Roosters again on cast flies but we were hoping to find some bigger Dorado. We found two decent-sized, however we were trolling. My boat partner caught a little Marlin (about 60-70 pounds) and that was his first billfish. Yesterday he caught his first Dorado and Roosterfish on cast flies. We're hoping the water temps. will heat up more before we leave, which is better for Dorado but we're still having a lot of fun and every day is different.

Best,
Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

7/10/2019 Wednesday at Loreto, Baja, Mexico

Greetings:

Today we headed north and found Dorado after reports from another boat. My friend in that boat caught 24 Dorado on cast flies and his wife caught 4, however we weren't so lucky. We did check out a lot of new water and will go hunting again tomorrow.

Best,
Carl Blackledge

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

7/11/2019 Thursday at Loreto, Baja, Mexico

Greetings:

Today it was like Disneyland in Loreto. We headed out early to the Rooster farm and caught a bunch of small ones, but after about a half hour we got a radio call, "Tuna! Tuna! Tuna!" So we high-tailed it east for about an hour and as soon as we slowed down we started to troll our Chicken flies and happened upon a bunch of jumping Sailfish. We tried to chum them up a bit so we could cast but they ate all the Sardines and went down. Then we went back to trolling and in a few minutes my boat partner hooked a Sailfish, fought it, but lost it near the boat. A few minutes later he hooked a giant Dorado and lost that one as well. Shortly after that he hooked a really cool Marlin, which also escaped. At that point I changed the color of my Chicken fly from blue to pink. In a few minutes I got a Marlin while trolling and landed it, then hooked and lost two more in the space of about half an hour. Then we had about a half hour lull when suddenly a lone Marlin swam up to the boat and really put on an aerial display. What a show! It's amazing how high those young Marlin (probably 80 pounds or so) can jump! We also saw lots of loner Marlin sunning themselves but they just didn't want to eat, so we decided to pack it in.

As soon as we started to reel in the trolling rods I felt a big tug and screamed "Fish On," which was immediately echoed by my boat buddy who was fighting his own fish! Mine was a real beauty about as big as the jumper we saw earlier. My buddy's fish came off while I was fighting mine, but in the process of this crazy battle of man vs. fish he broke his rod, the fish came into the boat and started eating the Sardines, and subsequently escaped, and my buddy went into about a 100 MPH overdrive trying to reel in the line on the broken rod and rescue his casting rod! At the end of the day I hooked 4 Marlin and landed 2, and landed a dozen little Roosters. My friend did about the same with the Roosters and will have some terrific memories of epic battles, even if they were the "ones that got away!"

Best,
Carl Blackledge