Mexico Fishing Reports

Fishing report for item #268.

Fishing Report:   DORADO FINALLY SEEM TO HAVE DECIDED TO STICK AROUND - AIRLINE FLIGHTS DROPPING? - FIRST PERSON STORIES - PHOTO GALLERY - PHOTO OF THE WEEK

IFYOU ALWAYS WANTED A DORADO...

Had a really nice week here with a combination of good weather, good water, good bait and that all added up to some really solid fishing. Dorado continue to be the flavor-of-the-month with a good range of fish north of La Paz. Still alot of schoolie sized mahi in the punk-sized 5-10 pound class (marlin candy), but larger fish starting to show up with more regularity in the 15-30 pound class. Still more marlin around than I have ever seen in any season. Lots of smaller fish in the 50-120 pound class, but we've had a season of some real monsters that came early. Steve Dougherty of Santa Ana battled one black marlin on the panga estimated at over 800 pounds for a long long 4 hours. At about the half-way point, the single speed reel and rod broke in half at the reel seat leaving Steve holding two-pieces and holding on for life. (See the storybelow) I"ll let him tell the story below...you need to check it out!

By the way, Las Arenas has been on the slow side, but things are looking up. Wahoo bit again and alot more dorado are showing up now as well.

AERO CAL PRICES TAKE A DIP?

I know Aero Cal never did do their 50 percent off sale this year, but they did keep prices pretty low most of the season. However, fish brother Mike Danner tells me that Aero Cal has dropped prices on selected dates to $250 round trip out've Los Angeles. Might want to check it out! If you need help, you can check with our travel partners at Beneficial Travel at 626-281-2988 or e-mail to benetrav@aol.com and ask for Kathy.

FIRST PERSON STORIES

Got some great stories this week, amigos...

First, lets go to fish brother Steve Dougherty from Santa Ana. This is as good and exciting as it gets:

You may have heard about my battle with Mr. Black Marlin. What an awesome
sight and experience. I have some great pictures of the fish flying out of
the water and trying to fly into the Panga.
Ceaser did a great job. The long story short; We were trolling with a
whole Skipjack that I had just caught. After it was out about 10 minutes the
reel starting my favorite song. I knew something with big shoulders was on
but had no idea it was anything as big as it was until it blasted out of the
water about 50 yards behind the boat. It was a huge Black Marlin about 13
feet long. I watched in amazement as it flew out of the water time after
time. The skipper started yelling 600, as it jumped more he yelled 700. As
it got closer he yelled 700 maybe 800.
About one hour into the battle I thought my arms would fall off. I asked
the skipper -- how much longer, He just laughed and held up three fingers.
Another hour goes by and hes still grinning like he won the Lottery. As my
fishing buddy was trying to cool me down pouring water over my head Mr. Big
started another of his many air flights. I continued to fight the fight
when the rod came out of the gimble and smacked me right in the family
jewels.

Still hanging on in major pain the battle continued. At about the second
hour things got worse, the rod broke off at the handle. There I sat with the
handle and reel in my hand thinking its over. The skipper sprung into
action with plan B. We peeled mono off of the reel and let Mr. Big go for
a swim. After we had plenty of line on the deck we cut it from the reel and
begged for the Marlin to take a break. Fortunately he obliged. We peeled
line off of my roller pole and spliced it to the line that we had just cut.
Now I had my Tiagra 2 speed in hand and continued the battle.
At about 2 1/2 hours the fish was at the boat and seemed as tired as I was.
As I sat there drowned in sweat with seven blisters on my left had I thought
it's over at last.I wanted to reach down, pat him on the head and tell him
who the boss was.

Wrong! The Skipper stuck the flying gaff and all hell broke loose. As the
fish charged out of the water again and the rope to the gaff tightened the
gaff hook straightened out like it was made of butter. As the gaff flew back
at us and line started peeling off again I knew I still had more work to do.
Another hour went by Until Mr. Big was at the boat again. We could see
color as I played tug of war with him. I think the fish put the parking
brake on at this point.

At 3 1/2 hours into the battle the line broke as we were trying to pull
the fish next to the boat. I was exhausted and relieved it was over. I had
mixed emotions. I was both disappointed and glad that the fish was free.

I got to see this beautiful creature and now have many photos of it. This
was definitely a thrill of a lifetime. The fish left us to hopefully live
another day and perhaps give someone else a chance to pay him a visit.
I will e-mail some great photo's to you soon. Thanks again. I'm looking
forward to my next trip.

This Weeks Fishing Pictures:

JIM MORAN - From Pasadena CA. Always wanted to catch a big rooster and got one off Las Arenas Beach





ME - Pulled a couple of pargo out've the pargo hole while fishing with John Tessman one day. These fish have frustrated folks for year...me included. But got a bunch to the boat this time.





JERRY FUSCIK FAMILY - Rolled in from Long Beach CA. Check out the variety they got on a single day fishing Las Arenas including striped marlin, amberjack, jack crevalle, dorado and pargo.





JIM DAVIES - Tuscon AZ, got another of those big roosters we've been getting this year.





JAN BENNETT - From Henderson NV, got an assist holding up this nice bull dorado with Wayne Wilcox, his amigo from Downey CA





PHOTO OF THE WEEK

I normally tell you about the photo of the week, but I'll let Chris Rico of Cypress CA tell you about the fishing he did with his wife Kristine. They were worried about hurricanes before coming down. These are really beautiful photos they took...










As much as it hurts to say...ya we got home ok. Wish we were still down there. What hurricane??? The weather is perfect in La Paz, hell I even went outside and jumped into the jacuzzi. We couldn't ask for a better day of fishing Saturday at Las Arenas. I asked the capt. if the wahoo were biting. He said not much lately. I wasnt gonna let my brand new purple and black Rapalas go to waste, rigged with wire leader just like my capt. told me to do last year when we were out. I decided I'm gonna toss them out for the hell of it. 0745 and were trolling the CD-18's...I asked the capt., aren't we going a little mucho rapido:)...then bam double hook up. It took Kristine way too long to land the beast, but this thing must have been 50+lbs. Capt. needed a little help getting it on board. I lost the second hook up and pretty much destroyed my Rapala...that wahoo nearly straightened the hook!! We managed to land one more nice one, then spent the rest of the day catching sailfish and jack crevelle. The next day we loaded the ice chest with some decent size Dorados on the La Paz side. Those things are all over the place. Fishing so good right now I wish I never left. As for the Marlin, I seen a bunch being caught along with a couple pargo here and there. Haven't laid into a Marlin yet...next trip I'll be ready.

Thanks Again,

Chris and Kristine

That's my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan's
Tailhunter International
Website: U.S. Office:
3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Phone: 626-333-3355
FAX: 626-333-0115
E-mail: riplipboy@aol.com

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