Loreto, Baja Fishing April 7-14, 2025

[Gfish]

Wow, that California mission church is much nicer looking than the one near where I grew-up(Mission San Jose) and it's 100 yrs older. Ours was an adobe brick church and quadrangle, finished in 1806 after being founded in 1797. MSJ got damaged in a big 1868 earthquake, replaced with a Gothic wooden building, then got toppled again in the 1907 earthquake. They did a nice restoration of it in the mid-80's.

[El Pescador]

Alright!  You READY to go FISHING??

It's a calm day before sunrise at the marina.



Pangas being pulled by a large assortment of trucks, cars & jeeps - they unload pangas two at a time.  Busy time in the marina.





Here is our panga.



I wore my Crocs that my beautiful Grandchildren festooned with push-on decals - IF ANYONE asked WHY the decals, I told them... "Ask me about my Grandchildren!!!"  AND I had photos to share with them!!!



Here we are, Wayne and Jerry, lifelong friends and fishing buddies.  Jerry taught me how to fly fish at the age of 14. His Dad taught him at age 9 on the Madison River in Montana.



Sunrise!!!



Time to MAKE BAIT -



It is close quarters trying to get our bait for the day.



Here is our guide for the day - Panini - bringing up our needed bait for the day.



The ONLY Bait the Yellowtail eat is BIG Green Mackerel.  Big enough, that IF we didn't catch fish, we could cook these up for dinner!!!!



We are back underway - headed to the fishing grounds.



We are headed East to the northern tip of Isla del Carmen - we fished the east side - open to the Sea of Cortez.



BUTT BEFORE Fish'n - Breakfast!!  Panini's wife made us Machaca Burritos with homemade Salsa.  Machaca is dried beef with onions, potatoes and tomatoes.  I say Deliciouso!!!!



The yellow thing is a Cush-IT.  Great to save your soft underbelly from a metal rod butt end. If you don't have one, BUY ONE.

I was TRYING to pipe the salsa onto the top of the burrito I was eating, AS THOUGH I was at Taco Bell!!, then Panini showed me how to unroll it halfway, pipe in your salsa, then roll it back up, pinch the bottom, and get eating!!!!





Bait has been out for 6 minutes when Jerry gets hooked up.



First YELLOWTAIL of the day.





We are trolling at 2 mph. Easy cruising waters.



OK!  Question!  Which looks better - Horizontal or Vertical??  Let me know.





Now what worked for me was this reel & rod combo.

Reel is the Baja Special I acquired from Dominick after Sal gifted him THE TANK.

I've used this reel on every trip to Baja.  And have added Cortez Conversions modified bridge assembly and as of last week, had Tom install the metal side plates since I didn't want to have a petered screwdriver tip track across the side of the plate!!!  Tom did a beautiful job. AND thanks to Alan for allowing to us drop off the reel for Tom and for Alan sending the reel back to my home.  It's quite a system Alan has set up for all of us!!!!







The boat rod I used was a Phenix Black Diamond 20 - 60 lbs. rod - combined with my highly modified Baja Special, it was the PERFECT set up for 25-30 lbs. Yellowtail.  Perfect!!!



One of my many Yellowtail I caught.  Over 2 days, I had 18 hook ups, landed 16 YT, and kept 5 fish to bring home.



Most of the photos of ME are on Jerry's phone, and we need to exchange photos for sure.

I also landed 2 Pargo, this one we enjoyed for dinner, Man o'man, I think Pargo will replace my local Rockfish was my FAV fish!!!!



Guyz, I've got plenty more photos, and I'll most more over the days to come.

A great trip for 2 aging lifelong friends. 

Wayne

[alantani]

well done, gentlemen!!!!!

[Brewcrafter]

Awesome photos!  I know conditions were a little rugged when you first got down there but looks like you were rewarded with some real "Chamber of Commerce" type weather conditions for fishing! - john

[Joel.B]

MACHACA!!!

Machaca is just the style of drying and shredding the product. The dried beef is cecina de res - they dry it on clotheslines and then pound it into fine fibers in a molcajete for "machaca de res". Fried with potatoes, peppers and eggs is my favorite thing in the world.   Fish, lobster, shrimp... they dry these in screen cabinets for machaca that is quite good.

 I once (as a much younger man)  had a kilo of machaca de res and a kilo of chorizo seca confiscated at the border and it was saddest day of my life. I asked the man to please eat the machaca and not just throw it away. He said it would not be wasted, even if he had to hand it to somebody through the fence.

[Swami805]

Great trip, those pargo are delicious. Thanks for taking us along

[Vintage Offshore Tackle]

Great report Wayne, the next best thing to actually being there!

[Hardy Boy]

Nice work. I'm glad you got some great fishing in. The wind got me the one and only time I've been there .... but fishing was good once one good get out.

Cheers

Todd

[foakes]

Excellent photos and commentary, Wayne!

Thanks!

Best, Fred

[Donnyboat]

You nailed it again Wayne great report as always, cheers Don.

[steelfish]

MACHACA!!!

 I once (as a much younger man)  had a kilo of machaca de res and a kilo of chorizo seca confiscated at the border and it was saddest day of my life.

haha, I can picture this scene and totally understand why.


nice pictures and great fishing   

[Dominick]

Great job Jueno.  I am one of the recipients of a nice hunk of yellowtail.  I will have Jueno over for it cooked Dutch style, baked with cream, spices and saffron. I found the recipe on the internet and it reads well.  We'll see.  Thank you Jueno for the fish and the excellent report.  Dominick

[Brewcrafter]

Great job Jueno.  I am one of the recipients of a nice hunk of yellowtail.  I will have Jueno over for it cooked Dutch style, baked with cream, spices and saffron. I found the recipe on the internet and it reads well.  We'll see.  Thank you Jueno for the fish and the excellent report.  Dominick

Oh Man, now I am looking forward to one of those Dominick posts with photos of him and Wayne and awesome mouth watering cuisine!!!  -john