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Heading home from awesome Loreto trip
My son and I are on our way back from ten days in Loreto, our first time there. I am writing this on the plane home July 7. We had planned to take a memorable trip before my son started a new job in 2022, and consulted with Bill Kiene last year for suggestions. We talked to Carl Blackledge a couple times before deciding on Loreto and he offered advice on gear, rigging, flies, lodging, and the like. Without a doubt Carl’s suggestions contributed to our success and helped keep a lid on the cost, which was less than half what we had budgeted. Baja also offered us convenient travel from the West Coast and we were not disappointed by what we found there.
We averaged 15 fish per rod each day and some days each of us caught well into the 20s. We caught a couple hundred dorado (some up to 40lbs), and a few big roosters 12-15lbs, mostly casting top-water flies. We hooked two sailfish and landed one; an excited, premature hook-set pulled the fly out before the second sailfish could turn and properly set the hook. We also caught a few assorted others (cabrilla, skipjacks, yellowtail, needlefish) and saw hundreds of dolphin, dozens of manta rays, tortuga (sea turtles), and huge marlin.
We fished north and south of Loreto, as well as out in front of our beachfront hotel. Some days we took over an hour to travel to the fishing grounds. Early in the trip large sargasso seaweed patches floated at regular intervals and seas were calm but when the wind kicked up and broke up the sargasso, the fishing became tougher. Even with less sargasso we managed double-digits to the net every day.
Most of the fish were caught top-water, sight-casting Crease Flies and Airheads to dorado and roosters. In many ways fishing was like trout fishing; find cover (floating sargasso seaweed), sight cast to fish, and offer a realistic presentation. Differences include trolling to find fish, the sheer power of these fish, and the guide using sardinas to get the fish into a heightened state of aggression. We found sardinas were not always necessary on days the guide was unable to buy bait, we ran out early, or the guide was busy netting fish we could tease fish into arousal with our flies. Aroused fish are easy to spot, lit up with neon-blue pectoral fins and erratic, aggressive behavior. We have videos of multiple fish competing for a fly before one was hooked, then taking off on blistering runs with multiple jumps. Roosters were all sight fishing, casting to cruising fish in shallow water along the beach. Excited roosters and sailfish chasing down a fly with large combs or sails out of the water is exhilarating.
Dorado are eating machines and often compete aggressively for flies or sardina “bait”. Most of the time we fished alone but at times other pangas showed up. Watching boats fishing with conventional gear, I believe fly fishermen have an advantage, hook more fish, and have more fun. Fishing with top-water flies allowed us to watch fish rip through the water, sometimes from many feet away with backs out of the water, to slam our presentations like NFL linebackers playing zone. I don’t know if anglers using conventional gear can strip lures or bait fast enough to simulate sardinas swimming to escape predators and it looked like we consistently hooked far more fish than boats fishing with bait. Our pangero told us he likes fly fishermen because they catch-and-release most of their fish, preserving the fishery.
Baja is a brutal place for small fish, fighting to survive among larger fish with incredible metabolisms and birds from above. We were told dorado can grow 20 inches a year and only live 5 or 6 years. Birds cruised the skies and all but the biggest fish in the sea are “bait” do something bigger. A few times we had trouble keeping birds off our flies, and hooked one unfortunate booby.
Dorado are school fish, so we trolled large Chicken flies to find fish that typically brought schools of “compadres” with them to the boat. My son or I would hook a fish trolling, prompting the other to reel in, pick up a lighter rod set up with an OBS floating line and a Crease fly or Airhead. At times we hooked as many as 20-30 more dorado on cast flies before the school dissipated. We typically had two bent rods at any given time and we staggered netting and releasing fish because the guide told us one hooked fish in the water keeps the school around the boat. With near-constant doubles, we did not struggle to keep the school by our boat. Occasionally one of us fished sardina patterns on sinking lines when the school went deep, or to target larger bulls under the school when small fish were smashing our top-water flies. We caught the vast majority of our dorado on tan or olive Crease flies and have many spent flies stripped down to just a foil-wrapped foam body. When the fish are hot the fish are not selective but as the action slows, size and color become more important. Color, flash, and presentation seem more important to roosters, which were more selective.
We met some of the regulars who come year after year from all over. We were welcomed into the fold and they freely shared tips learned over the years. Carl Blackledge and his fishing partner Ted were there during our trip and we shared some meals and conversations with them. Meeting new people is always a great part of trips like this one. We could get by with my English but my son’s fluent Spanish added to the texture of the trip through jokes and lively conversation with our pangero and hotel staff. The trip exceeded our expectations in terms of getting into a variety of large, powerful fish we had not encountered before without breaking the bank. I estimate the cost was under $300 each per day with the room costing $110 for two of us, the guide was $250/day plus tip and sardinas, plus meals that ran $10-20. We plan to go back with my other sons.
I will try to attach photos. The orientation in the thumbnail appears rotated, but I don't see how to fix them even when re-saving them as rotated images. I apologize for that
