FISHING FOR LOTS OF DORADO IN WATER TEMPERATURES TO 85 DEGREES

Oct. 6-9, 2005, Bill Sumner, Loreto, Baja Sur, Mexico:

After a slow Dorado fishing season in Loreto, there's finally some good news. Hurricane Otis apparently gave the bigger Dorado some time to congregate and my group was treated to excellent fishing for limits of 15-30 pound fish around the buoy at San Bruno north of Loreto. The surrounding area contained lots of sailfish and some marlin which were also hungry.

The ten person group for my fall fishing trip to Loreto included: Bill Sumner and RJ Ransom of Las Vegas, Tex Pegan and Steve Glentsch of Newport Beach, Gary Morrison with his sons Dan and Joe, plus Jeff Globberman with his sons Aaron and Matt, all from Canyon Country. We fished four pangas for three days out of the Loreto's Hotel Oasis with our regular captains Ismael Murillo and his nephew Luciano, plus hotel captains Francisco Martinez and Isidro Mendoza.

Loreto air temperatures were in the low to mid 90's, and water temperatures were in the 82-85 degree range. There was some wind every day, no really glassy days. Bait was readily available from the Loreto bait sellers, primarily caballitos and a few mackerel. It was easy to load up on caballitos by trolling in front of the Loreto marina at first light.

Every one of our four pangas had at least one wide open fishing day on the Dorado and other summer species.

On my first day on the water, my fishing partner RJ Ransom and I got 3 sailfish and limits of quality dorado (also mahi-mahi or dolphinfish) 19 to 28 pounds, with many additional Dorado releases using circle hooks. We also fought and released a striped marlin of about 100-125 pounds who put on a spectacular show. After hitting a slow-trolled caballito on my Trinidad 20 setup with 65# PowerPro Spectra, this fish jumped 29 times in succession after the initial hookup. We actually had a lottery going on how long he could keep jumping nonstop. Captain Ismael won with a guess of 25 jumps. What a great show!

After a great opening day, I devoted my second fishing day to trying to find the yellowfin tuna previously reported. No luck. My day two was a long boat ride with nothing to show for it except a single sailfish we ran into along the way in.

On my third and last Loreto fishing day, the wind came up and the water was pretty sloppy so RJ Ransom and I took the opportunity to concentrate on Roosterfish, something I have intended to do for a long time. We fished along the beach and bluffs at the north end of San Bruno for absolutely limitless Roosterfish, the great majority of which we released. The little guys were approximately 5-7 pounds. Several mid-sized fish averaged around 15-20 pounds, and RJ hooked the biggest rooster of the day estimated at 40 to 50 pounds. It took him 30 minutes to get the fish to the boat using a 3/0 with 40 pound test.

The fishing highlight of the trip was a gigantic Dorado caught by Gary Morrison and his two sons Dan and Joe. All three shared in the 50 minute battle to land this estimated 55 to 65 pound Dorado on a light rod and a Daiwa 50H with 40 pound test Maxima line. When they got it to the boat for the ninth time, they elected to set the fish free. Their weight estimate was based on it's length of 6 feet from nose to tail. All present agreed that it was close in size to the mounted Dorado over the reception desk at the Oasis which originally weighed 72 pounds. Whatever the actual weight was, Gary and his boys enjoyed the Dorado of a lifetime.

One final important item. The Mexican airport security people in Loreto have recently reinstated the prohibition on carry on fishing reels with line. Even though LAX security has no problem letting you go into Mexico with loaded reels, Loreto security says they have been instructed by TSA to block carry on reels with line going from Loreto back to LAX. Good taste prevents me from further comment on this subject.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from Loreto and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Loreto may be found at Mexfish.com's main Loreto page.