East Cape, Baja, October 2012

[TonyFriend]

Just back from annual fishing holiday at the East Cape, Sea of Cortez, Baja. This year the fishing was, well, unusual. We planned to fish four days. Start off fishing for tuna and Dorado (Mahi Mahi) until we have enough to bring around 50lb of meat home. Then get into "fun fishing" (Not that tuna and Dorado aren't fun, it's just that fishing for billfish is purely "fun"). The tuna had all disappeared, so off we went on the first day with the trolling lures set for Dorado, a dead ballyhoo hanging on a light rig (two 10-15Kg rods, 40lb leaders). Those two rods had an Avet JX and a Fin-Nor Marquesa MA20, both worked over by Alan, with the drags set to 10lb at Strike.

Actually, every reel we had on the boat (5) had been worked over by Alan.

Day 1: We troll all day. All that happens is a 60+lb marlin hits one of the garfish on the light rig with the Avet JX. The deckhand asks me what's the leader, and I tell him 40lb. He looks at me with a look that says "Oh no!". The rig works perfectly and we get the fish into the boat, photo and released. No Dorado caught.

Day 2: We start bottom fishing. A big Sailfish hits the bait. I'm in the head, so my wife plays it. It ends up about 80lb (and unfortunately dies). Then another small Sailfish hits a garfish, and I get that to the boat. As the day comes to an end, a marlin hits a garfish on a light rig with the Fin-Nor Marquesa MA20. My reaction, honestly, was "not another billfish". Deckhand asks me about the leader again, with the same reaction. I get the fish to the boat, photo and released. Estimated at around 80lb. No Dorado caught.

Day 3: Yup, you guessed it. The day starts with a Sailfish hitting one of the garfish baits. We got that to the boat, then a bit later, we had a double hookup of Sailfish, one for me, one for my wife. One of them hit a 5" soft plastic swim bait I had out. We got them both to the boat. Then as the day came to an end - you're not going to believe it - a marlin hits a garfish bait on the light rig with the Fin-Nor Marquesa MA20. Deckhand doesn't even ask me about the leader this time. After a really good fight in which the marlin stripped off about 200 yards of line in one run, I got it to the boat, photo and released. That's eight billfish in three days, and we weren't trying for billfish. No Dorado caught.

Day 4: We found the Dorado. Ended up with five, all caught on the same light rigs. Biggest was around 30lb (and that's a big Dorado) and three other big fish. Wife and I shared the fun.

So: 3 Marlin, all on light gear, all released. 5 Sailfish, three on light gear, four released. 5 Dorado, all on light gear, and all in our freezer.

As you would expect, all the reels worked beautifully. No jerkiness, no breakoff, no failure. It's such a pleasure to fish with gear that you know you can rely on. I think that having the fast (6.0:1) reels on the light rods let me take up the slack faster, reducing the chance of slack line getting wrapped around the marlin bill. Certainly we had no problem with any of the three marlin, which is where I would have expected to have a problem.

It's times like that that I really appreciate Alan.

[saltydog]

Great catches looks like everyone had a great time.
William

[Dominick]

Tony:  great fun.  Congratulations.  I leave for Baja in 19 more days.  I'm excited.  Dominick

[redsetta]

Great story and pics Tony - thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Justin
PS Good luck in Baja Dominick. My sister-in-law's down there at present and weathered yesterday's storm.
Lots of wind and rain, but the aquifers are replenished so all's well...