More Baja Fly Fishing Goodness: An Article about Dan Blanton
By Tom Chandler on Aug 1, 2007 in Travel
No sooner had we finished running Jim Troyer’s four-part report on his trip to Baja than up pops a short article about a Baja fly fishing pioneer — Dan Blanton. Blanton’s message board remains a model for how a message board should be run, and this excerpt from Dallas Morning News Outdoors Writer Ray Sasser’s story suggests today’s Baja is a piece of cake compared to the “good old days.”
Blanton used to load a 14-foot aluminum boat on top of his truck and lead a caravan south along Baja. In 1970, his California buddy Ron Dong, famous for inventing Ron’s Crease Fly, burned out a clutch traveling the dusty road.
“We left Ron’s rig with a mechanic, who had no clutch and no way to get one,” recalled Blanton. “A couple of days later, we were at our fishing camp when we saw a cloud of dust headed our way. A guy roared up in a souped-up off-road vehicle and said he was on a racing crew with the Baja 500 and heard we were having mechanical problems.
“He wrote down the parts number for Ron’s clutch and had the parts flown in on the racing team’s next plane from California. The truck was repaired when we headed for home. It was a true adventure in those days before commercial air service.”
Baja remains a fast-growing destination for fly fishers, who love its cheap, readily available tequila large numbers of gamefish. See you at the duty-free liquor store, Tom Chandler.
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