Pat & Jim’s Most Excellent Baja Adventure: Part II

(ED: The Underground’s Most Excellent Saltwater Correspondent (Jim Troyer to the outside world) spent some time fly fishing his way around Baja, and wrote the whole story down for us. Like anyone else, we’re suckers for a good fish story. Oh yeah — click here to see Jim’s Picassa photo album .)

TU’s Saltwater & Cold Cerveza Correspondent Jim Troyer

Day 3: Kim and Craig set out at dark to fish the early bite on the beach north around Punta Colorada. I decided to stay close and fish around the boat ramp just below the hotel.

I heard from Matt, another fly guy that was down from San Diego with his dad that he had done well in the early morning and late afternoon fishing the boat ramp area. The boat captain’s dump their left over bait in the area which in turn bring all the fish in.

I was standing out their staring up at the stars and couldn’t believe how clear the sky was this early in the morning. I waited and watched, looking for anything to get going. As soon as I could see the water at first light, I noticed some bait working close in and stripped some line off the reel.

I threw a long cast out to the side of the boils and stripped….nothing. Just then, it blew up as a school of Jacks came busting through pushing the bait towards me on shore.

A quick double haul into the frenzy and started stripping as fast as I could….hook up! What ever I had on took some line and put a nice bend in the 10 wt. After gaining ground, I beached a nice Jack, took the shot and let him go….all before breakfast. The school was gone and so was the action…time for some coffee!

I decided to rent a Yak and take the looong paddle out to Punta Arena ( about 3 miles ) because that’s where the ” big show ” takes place. I ran into Kim and Craig and told them I was heading out to the point. They mentioned that they had some success with Kim sticking something big off the rocks which just smoked him ( probably a big Rooster ) at grey light.

I headed out to the point. It was a beautiful morning on the Sea of Cortez, flat glass and no wind. I had my two way walkie talkie with me and was able to keep in contact with Pat on the way out.

I cruised some of the shoreline looking for any signs of fish activity on the way but it was like a ghost town. The water was clear, light green with a white sand bottom and numerous troughs and holes mixed in….perfect hunting water for Jacks and Roosters! As I rounded the point toward the lighthouse, I saw Matt from San Diego with his dad and their guide John of Baja Fly fishing.

I didn’t see anything happening so I set up my 10wt. with the 400gr. head and started drifting off the drop off stripping a flashy olive/white clouser. The shelf off Punta Arena is amazing in the fact that it drops off suddenly from maybe 15 ft. to deep, dark , blue water and I mean DEEP, DARK, BLUE WATER!

It’s a perfect set up for large game fish to cruise off the shelf and come into the shallows looking for bait to feed on and then drop back off into the depths. I had some short hits which I heard later could have been Sierra or smaller jacks.

I ran a few drifts and heard something behind me. As I turned, I saw bait boiling with jacks blowing through them. I brought in my line and stowed the rod and pulled out the 10wt. with the intermediate head on it and started chasing the bait.

I had numerous shots at the Jacks and later Roosters, but couldn’t get them to eat. I would paddle up off the fish feeding and cast to the edge of the school and start ripping the fly….nada.

I tried leading the school and ripping the fly away from them and still…. nada. In the mean time, I heard Matt on the beach yelling, ” Dad, big Jacks coming through, get on em’ ” and I watched both of them pumping casts and stripping like animals to get the fish to eat.

The school blew through fast and Matt was yelling at me, ” can you see them?” From my vantage point on the Yak, I couldn’t but had more fish to chase. At one point, I was stripping my fly away from a school and saw something ” big and dark” chasing my fly.

As it got closer, it turned out to be a school of 15 or so Roosters from 5-10 lbs. zeroing in on the fly. I was chanting the mantra.. ” eat it, eat it, eat it ” and when they got close enough to see me and the boat, adios gringo :(

I discussed my situation with John that afternoon on what happened out at the point. He said, ” I saw you and it looked like you were doing everything right but wondered why your rod wasn’t bent ?” I mentioned I was using straight 20 lb. fluoro and could get the fish to follow but no takers. He said that when the water is that clear, you need to step down to at least 15 lb. and you should start getting bit.

Sure enough, we started fishing lighter leader and started getting bit. One thing they use down there is the Yo-Zuri Hybrid leader material which is a blend of mono and fluoro. They really like that stuff and it works. With Fluoro, you so much as get a nick in it and it will ” light up ” in that clear water and the fish will shy away from it.

Needless to say, a very frustrating day! By now Craig came paddling out around the point and Kim was outside dredging the deep water with his big tube flies. The action had slowed somewhat but every now and then it would blow up and the chase would be on again. I think Kim stuck something big out deep which chewed his fly but am not sure of how he did.

The boat traffic increased later with panga’s, super panga’s and cruisers running through the inshore with their clients trolling bait and just being inconsiderate.

It turned choppy, put the fish down and I called it a day and started to head back. Craig stayed out with Kim and said they would see me later. On my way back, I saw one lone Rooster, maybe 25-30 lbs. hunting in close so I watched, pumped out a cast well in front of him and stripped like mad only to have him snub me and go the other way….

Before dinner that night, we were wondering where Kim was. Craig came in earlier and mentioned Kim was heading out to deeper water off Punta Arena looking for the big boys. We were talking with some other guys who said they saw him quite a ways out there and that the captain stated, ” muy loco “…..

It was getting late and we finally saw him in the distance paddling in. I went down to the beach to meet him with a cold Pacifico and he had a look of ” utter disappointment ” on his face. He proceeded to tell me a story that I will let him explain when he adds some other info to this report.

Every evening, like clockwork, off in front of the resort, the bait would go off for about 15-20 mins. or so. Most everybody would be standing with a drink in their hand watching the show. One night I grabbed my rod and ran down with the head lamp and started casting along the beach but to no avail. The action was just beyond reach from the beach.

On another occasion, Kim ran to his room, grabbed his gear, sprinted to the beach, hopped in a Yak and paddled out in a matter of minutes. He was out past dark and all you could see was the dim light off his head lamp. He came in later with no luck but I’ll give him an ” A” for effort.

Stay Tuned for Part III

[tags]fly fishing, fishing, baja, saltwater fly fishing, roosterfish[/tags]