Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Current Weather & Fishing Report - 04/06/25

"Windy here in Loreto.  Harbor master CLOSED the marina - closed today.

Tomorrow looks about the same.  Tuesday MIGHT be doable, then some good weather."

MarkT, you hit it on the HEAD!!!  "They have been WHACKING the yellowtail.  The weather change might reshuffle the desk".

We plan on fishing Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday.  Need to speak with our boat capt. & hear what he has to say.

Almost done packing, leave SFO tomorrow at 8AM.

Wayne

Quote from: Joel.B on April 06, 2025, 11:30:36 PMAny day too windy for boats- If you have room for one shore rig, you can head south to Puerto Escondido and have some protected fishing from shore for Sierra, Machete, roosters...also drive north to Bahia Concepcion, beautiful water, wriggle toes in sand for clams, scallops, used to be good fishing wherever there are rocks but...

Joel.B!!!

Thanks SO MUCH!!!

Are you SURE you DON'T want to go along!!!!!!

GREAT RECON.

We are Wheels UP at 8AM Monday.

Wayne

Safe travels Wayne looking forward to some fun reports! - john

Have fun!

Quote from: Joel.B on April 06, 2025, 11:30:36 PMAny day too windy for boats- If you have room for one shore rig, you can head south to Puerto Escondido and have some protected fishing from shore for Sierra, Machete, roosters...also drive north to Bahia Concepcion, beautiful water, wriggle toes in sand for clams, scallops, used to be good fishing wherever there are rocks but...

Sounds like a good idea except for the clams and scallops. Don't think that foreigners are allowed to harvest shellfish.

-J

I have heard the same thing about lobster and abalone.  Absolutely need an official  receipt if you have any in the cooler.

The commercial clam fishery is a lot more pressured now with closures to control the total catch.  The commercial clam diver  that I know wouldn't be very happy seeing tourists out there harvesting.  How that would all end, I don't know.  They are probably more laid back at the more remote beaches.

My preference is to follow the fishing regulations and also support the legal commercial fishermen.

Good luck on your adventure with your son.  It sounds like a great trip!

 -J

Joel.B!

I'm just one man! I am NOT Alan Tani, who works on a hundred reels during the off-week between two long-range trips!

I am NO Fred Oakes either, who drops 120 pine trees before dinner time.  But I'm back, rested and ready to show all a bit of our EPIC trip to Loreto. 
So here we go...

First off, we did NOT do the CBX - board crossing - during our time of pricing out tickets - my wife Jennifer hopped on her computer and found an Alaska Airlines flight from SFO to LAX to Loreto for FAR LESS Money than what Jerry and I were finding on the internet.

After leaving LAX we did our boarder crossing at 31,000'!!  Alex, I THINK that is San Felipe below, but I don't know.  Either way, we were thinking of you with this photo!!!





We arrive at Loreto - already 88 degrees.



Inside shot of the Loreto International Airport.  Cool & comfortable inside.



And a BIG THANK YOU to whoever on this site - the arrival entertainment committee - set up this refreshment for us!!!



A short drive across the dry river bed (arroyo) - we are in Loreto proper



The mission in Loreto was the first mission of the Baja California - and it is in great shape today.  Built in 1697



    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misi%C3%B3n_de_Nuestra_Se%C3%B1ora_de_Loreto_Conch%C3%B3

How's your Spanish???  I had a great chance to work on my version of Spanish this week.



The Church has a large footprint in this town.  The church bells chime each 15 minutes, and at the hour as well.



Near the mission are 2 plazas - the old Plaza and the new Plaza





2 PM and time for lunch.  We grabbed this restaurant, and I was amazed at the number of Americans and English-speaking people here.  Clearly, we were not alone.



My lunch tacos pastor - pork with fresh pineapple.  Delicious!



THEN, out of NOWHERE the flies arrive, and the waiter placed this sterno can-lit-with limes and cloves on the rim, however this works, the FLIES WERE GONE!!!



Now, I'm on vacation, and REELY don't want to think.  So,  using this currency app on my phone, it made figering out PECOS to USD so much eashier for this 68 year old guy.



Now, it's getting hot, and being in the shade is the thing to do.  Beautiful, isn't it?



Time to get loaded up with food and drink for the week, so big question here, WHERE does El Pescador shop for food in Loreto???



At the local El Pescador Supermercado (Super Market - I'll save you the Spanish translation!!!)

And the chili looked fantastic!!!







Alright kids, you have something to chew on, I need to offload more photos from my phone to my computer, sort them, delete the blurry ones, and prepare for my next photo dump for you all.  More is coming.

Wayne

Quote from: El Pescador on April 22, 2025, 01:51:03 PMAfter leaving LAX we did our boarder crossing at 31,000'!!  Alex, I THINK that is San Felipe below, but I don't know.  Either way, we were thinking of you with this photo!!!





Wayne

thats coool and its correcto amigo, that small town you saw was San Felipe, in the 2nd picture you can see two big mountains near to the sea, those are the Mount Kila and Mount machorro, which normally appear on many pictures of San Felipe.

Thanks!  Great report so far, Wayne!

Best, Fred

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.

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

well done, gentlemen!!!!!

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

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

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