Loreto, Mexico in the Off Season
About the Sea of Cortez and Loreto, Mexico
The Sea of Cortez:
Area: 61'776 sq, miles
Length: 700 miles
Maximum Depth: over 2-miles
Number of Fish Species: over 700
Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico:
Population: 20,385
Established: 1697 as a Jesuit mission, became capitol of Las California, until 1777.
How to get there: Direct flights from LAX by Alaska Airlines (2 hr. non-stop)
Typical Loreto, Mexico fishing trip in the off-season if you know your way around.
Day 1: After flight from PDX to LAX to LTO: Checked into Mi Cortez Zone duplex 5:00 p.m. It is half a block walk to the marina. Taxi driver couldn’t find it for a while, but finally did. TMO, "typical Mexican outfit". Be sure to make hotel/motel reservations at least a month in advance. Went to dinner at the Giggling Dolphin Restaurant, which is always a great place to eat.
Day 2: Walked to the Marina. Met boat at 6:30. Went south east. My lucky base ball cap blew off my head and sunk in the first half hour. Bummer for me. It was Patty’s day. She hooked a huge dorado (maybe 50-pounds) At the end of the airport runway, no more than 300 yards from the beach. We both hooked several small dorado. Then headed south. Hooked several small roosterfish up to 5-pounds. Patty landed several of them. My tally for the day was one small roosterfish and one 4-pound green jack. We ate our evening meal at The Orlando"s Restaurant. As always, it was great food and atmosphere.
Day 3: Met boat at 2:00pm, ocean was rough, Patty landed a dorado. I landed a couple of small jacks. Ate our evening meal at Orlando's Restaurant again. It is a short walk from our motel room. Walking around Loreto has always been very safe, even after dark.
Day 4: Met our guide at 6:30 a.m. then went way north. It was my day. I hooked about a dozen dorado and landed seven; the largest 25-30 pounds. Also landed a huge (over 50-inches) needlefish, which ran way into my backing and jumped several times. It was great fishing. I'm starting to get my mojo back. Patty landed three medium size dorado. Heavy cloud cover in the evening, with sparse rain. The weather is changing. Ate our evening meal at the Blue Anchor Restaurant. It was okay.
Day 5:No fishing today because of wind. Lounged around, wrote web stuff, edited pictures, walked downtown, had lunch. Went for a long walk along the beach and did some shopping.
Day 6: No fishing today because of the threat of strong wind. The weather report was wrong, and the weather was perfect. Lounged around the hotel, took a long siesta, finished a book about Clint Eastwood, edited pictures with my computer, walked downtown, had lunch at Orlando's Restaurant.
Day 7: Met our guide at 6:30 a.m. Cold, blustery day, went way north with the boat searching for fish, no birds, no bait, no dorado, but landed some nice pargos (snappers). Quit early in the afternoon as the water got rough.
Day 8: Met our guide at 6:30 a.m. Went down the south side of Isla del Carman to the salt mine and landed three dorado by the wrecked ship, all 15-20 pounds. Came back down the north side of Carman and hit 4 more dorado that were feeding on a huge school of bait next to some shear cliffs. The largest about 30-pounds. Caught some other smaller shoreline fish, mostly snappers and sea bass. It was a great day of fishing.
Day 9: Met our guide at 6:30 a.m. Went south working out into the smaller islands toward the southern tip of Isla del Carmon, encountered a school of bait on the down-tide side of the island and spent most of mid-day catching dorado from 8-18 pounds. We didn’t keep track of exact number but figured we landed at least a dozen fish apiece. As we were leaving another boat pulled in and our captain had to brag about our good luck, which I thought at the time was a big mistake (as it turned out to be).
Day 10: Met our guide at 6:30 a.m. Met our guide at 6:30 a.m. The weather report predicted bright sun and smooth seas, which in fact did happen. Our guide asked us if we wanted to go way south the island of Monserrate and look for Roosterfish. We agreed. About a mile from Monserrate I noticed some small black flies buzzing around the boat. When we stopped to investigate some fish that were working the surface of the water along the shore of the island the flies descended upon us . Finally, we neared the shore of the island and encountered a school of small roosterfish and pargos feeding over white sand. Patty was lined up and immediately hooked a medium sized Pargo. Then a thick cloud of flies descended upon us. We moved around the corner, upwind of the island and encountered a school of large dorado. Patty got one about twenty pound. And then the flies found us again and they drove us away. On the way back north we tries the island that was hot fishing on the previous day, but there were five boats in our pet spot.
Day 10: Time to go home, which we did with no drama on the way.