Days 13/14, Lucky 13?

[JerryInLodi]

No way, day 13 was a bust. 60 miles on the boat, 16 gallons of gas, no fish.

Day 14 was a different story. With a co-pilot it would be easier. We motored out to where we had heard the waters were infested with billfish, 60 degrees and 13 miles out. At mile 11 we came to some real patches of grass. It looked like it was going to be classic dorado fishing.

We crept up on the first paddy and found five dorado. Both of us cast but they seemed uninterested. Maybe just too much stuff going on. The water was teaming with turtles, baitfish and a couple of seals that barked as we approached.

This was the first of five paddies so I put down the trolling motor and we moved from paddy to paddy but found nothing under the rest. I set the motor to take us back to the first paddy and made a 90 foot cast. I was hooked up on the second strip. A nice female of about 15 pounds but she seemed reluctant to stray far from the paddy. My wife cast and then LDR'ed two fish in a row. (She had picked up my rod and I didn't tell her that I had bent the hook open to encourage a quick release.)

My fish was at the boat in ten minutes. My mate netted it, a quick picture and then back in the water.

We motored out another three miles and saw tons of billfish cruising but no more dorado. We were happy though, we had seen a little of what Mulege had been like in, "the good old days," with the sea teaming with marine life and classic dorado fishing.

We came in early and decided to hit the water early tomorrow, 6am instead of the 8:30 routine of the last two days.

[Katz]

WOW!! Rough seas out there from the look of the picture!

Kraig

[JerryInLodi]

I think you could have fished the paddies with an air mattress if you were towed out!

[Darian]

Hey Jerry,.... Great picture (By the way, who's the guy holding the fish ).
Good luck tommorow AM. Have you told your mate about the slightly opened hook, yet

[JerryInLodi]

Re, the opened hook, no, some things are better left alone. She likes my rod better than hers, it's lighter. Although both rods are, "10's" it seems that rod makers can't agree on what a rod number means. I'll just shift the fly from her now ex-rod to mine tomorrow which she'll be using. Does that make any sense at all?

I have to admit that having that stiffer rod shortened the time on the line for the fish landed. With my rod, when she finally does sink her fly cleanly into a fish she'll be worn out if it's anything over ten pounds.