Troyer Has Blast Fly Fishing Baja. Underground Not Invited.

Tom,

Here’s my report from Rancho Leonero on the East Cape of Baja. If anybody is interested in going down there, they can check out the website: http://www.rancholeonero.com

If they want a good guide for the area, they can contact Jeff De Brown at: http://www.thereelbaja.com

Back from the Ranch….

Just returned from the Ranch. We landed just after Hurricane John blew through and got lucky with the weather.

The fishing was pretty good inshore throughout the week. The cruisers and pangas that headed outside had only fair luck and had to travel quite some distance to get into fish.

I fished from one of the Ranches kayaks all week and found it the way to go. On the second day, I was fishing out front off the second reef and got HAMMERED and broke off on 20 lb. floro by two fish on two casts.

I was fishing a 2/0 “Amigo” which is basically a olive/white clouser with a red throat. The inshore fishery is amazing and you’re always guaranteed to hook something.

The wife and I got a tip from John Ireland (the owner) to fish the beach and arroyo south of the ranch a few miles. It was a loooooong walk down there and the water was still dirty on the inside from the hurricane.

Fish were working just outside in the cleaner water so the kayak was my next option. On the way down, I chased or should I say “ran as fast as I could” to catch the blitzes going off just down the beach. By the time I got there, the fish were gone. The Jacks or “Toro” would chase the Sardina towards the beach in an all out frenzy… pretty amazing stuff - and NOBODY AROUND!

The next day I paddled down to the beach/point that I nicknamed “Sardina Alley” because of the tremendous amount of bait in the area.

I was sitting in the Yak just off the outlet of the Arroyo and fish would be busting all around me…..it was flat out crazy!

The fish are moving so fast through the area, you only have seconds to cast the fly and start stripping before they are gone and then appear somewhere else.

I got slammed by one fish that took me on the “Baja Sleigh ride” for 20 minutes before I even saw it. It turned out to be a nice Jack that went 9 lbs. on the Boga. I used nothing but my 10wt. and nothing under 20 lb. on these fish.

There were a group of people on quads on the beach that watched this crazy fly guy getting towed all over the place….funny stuff.

I ran into Jeff De Brown of “The Reel Baja” who guides in the area. He’s a great guy and kept me informed on what was happening on a daily basis. He had clients for three days and one day I ran into them down at “Sardina Alley” in a panga.

I would usually get up early, have some coffee and breakfast, say good bye to the wife and head out in the yak. The morning I met up with these guys was flat glass and calm…perfect East Cape weather.

It usually took me about 1/2 hr. to paddle down to the point. The birds were working right on the shore but I didn’t see anything going on off the beach so I paddled around waiting for something to happen. Jeff and his clients were just off the Arroyo so I paddled down to see what was going on.

Jeff was casting out a big surface plug and ripping it back through the water while the pangero tossed in some Sardina. The fish were blowing up and chasing that thing while he had his clients cast into the frenzy… pretty cool to watch.

He yelled over to me to come on in and join the fun. I didn’t want to crowd their water but they insisted to come and fish with them. As Jeff put it, “this isn’t a steelhead river, come on down.”

It was a blast sitting on the yak 60′-70′ off the panga casting into the frenzy with these guys. There were a bunch of small Roosters and some bigger Jacks thrown in. I got SLAMMED again by a big fish that on the strip, boiled on the fly, ripped line and broke me off on 20 lb. again…the guys in the boat were going nuts after seeing that!

There was one instance were a big school of Jacks came busting through behind the panga and the water just exploded with bait… flat out amazing stuff! I hung with these guys for a bit longer and then they headed south in search of bigger Roosters.

I had the opportunity to meet Dennis Spike or “Spike” of Coastal Kayak fishing who lives at the ranch. He and John Ireland are great friends and John has allowed him to build a kayak program and guide the ranch waters.

Spike’s a great guy and was really pumped when he found out how I was doing off the yak with the fly gear. We would sit around and discuss the differences between fishing the fly and bait. He gave me alot of info. on the surrounding ranch water and structure.

The day before we left, Jeff gave me a tip to try the water off the dock north at Buena Vista. He mentioned there were a bunch of big lady fish and Jacks in the area. The paddle didn’t look to far but once I got going, it was a looooooooog way down.

I had mentioned to Spike the day before where I was going to fish in the morning and he said, “have you tried one of the bait tubes?” Nope, what’s a bait tube?

He preseded to show me a 2′ long, black pvc tube with holes drilled all through it and capped at one end and a threaded screw off cap on the other. He said, “what you do, is give the guys in the panga $5 bucks to fill it and then hang it off the Yak as you paddle.”

This way you leave a scent in the water where ever you go. He also mentioned that when you find fish working or want to fish, throw out a few Sardina to get the action going and cast your fly… fish on!

I took his advice the next morning and Jeff was kind enough to take the tube out to the panga on his way out with his clients in search of a Marlin or maybe some tuna.

The tube rides pretty good strapped to the side of the Yak and the Sardinas stayed active for quite some time before they all died. By the time I got down to Buena Vista, I was pretty tired but started fishing the Sardina Crease fly on the intermediate line and had numerous hits but not by the fish I wanted.

The Needlefish are a big problem and it was hard for me to get through them to the other fish. The fly was getting chewed up, my leader had to be checked constantly from their teeth and I forgot to bring my wire leader material with me in the yak.

It was still fun all the same but they are a big pain in the &^%$#@! The wind started to pick up so I headed back south to the ranch.

It was blowing pretty good, so I hugged the shore in tight looking for some good water. Just north of the ranch is a small rocky point that on the backside of it is some really good transition water…..light to dark and sandy bottom.

I would paddle out off the beach a bit and drift in all the while casting parallel to the beach and stripping through the trough with an intermediate line and weighted Sardina clouser.

On my first drift, I got a good hit. On the second drift, I did the same thing and WHAMMMMO, fish on! I set the hook and saw it flash as it went ripping around the front of the boat. I lifted the rod tip to get it out of the way and the fish flew out of the water and spit the hook.

It was a nice Rooster! At least I didn’t get broke off.

By now the wind was blowing pretty hard and I was getting hungry so I paddled back and called it a day.

Overall it was a great trip. I met a bunch of really nice folks and the true spirit of Baja still lives on.

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