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jplee3
08-18-2008, 09:20 AM
Got back from BOLA on 8/16. Basically spent all day driving down on 8/13 and all day driving back up on 8/16. So we got the fishing in on 8/14 and 8/15.

http://media5.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080813/103349.jpg
only in mexico :D

It was pretty phenomenal. I'll definitely be going back [hopefully] next year! Dodo fishing was GREAT but yellows were hard to come by. We targeted dodos the first day and yellows the second. First day raised the bar for my fishing experience. It was off the hook!

So here's a 'condensed' report of how things went down.

8/14: we got into the water around 5:30am with a local guide and started makin bait. We made enough but it took a while. For some reason the macks were hard to come by. Around 7:30am we started making our way towards the south side of Isla de la Guarda (big island). We stopped off at some point looking for the yellow bite but couldn't find any with our irons. My buddy did pickup a smallish bonita though.
http://media5.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080814/080147.jpg
baby bonita

The panguero had us reel em in and we spent the next 45 mins heading to the dodo hotspot. Finally we get there and there's a sense of excitement in the air. The water was glassy where we were about to troll and our guide had us get two setups ready to troll. One was on my Penn Senator 113h and the other was on my saltist 40. We put a couple live mackerel out in the water and let em go. First my friend then me. After about 10 seconds of starting the troll I immediately feel a bend in my rod. The panguero, Pancho, tells me to give it more line (and let the dodo swallow it). I guess that's how the natives do it! Anyway, I eventually have the dodo hooked up and get to fighting it. It was amazing. This was my first and I had a blast watching it jump out of the water and go crazy! Finally brought it to gaff after 5 minutes or so.
http://media3.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080814/085215.jpg
First one of the day brought in

Immediately we throw another mack in for the troll and this is where all hell breaks loose. Basically for the next half hour or so all four of us (incl the panguero) were hooked up at some point and all fighting fish. It was so ridiculous. The entire school was following the boat and all you had to do was slap on a mack and throw it out.... BAM! HOOKUP! At one point, my buddy Pete hooked up on something HUGE. My other buddy and I had to help him at a couple points cause he either didn't know what to do or was getting tired. This was a bull dodo pushing 60lbs. I weighed it when we got back with my 50lb scale and it pushed the marker all the way to the bottom. So it was at least 50lbs.
We pretty much filled out the cooler in about 30-45 minutes of chaos. At that point we were forced to retire because we couldn't fit any more fish into the cooler. We were in one of the smaller pangas - if we were on a superpanga we'd definitely have more room but we were trying to save $$$ too :)
http://media5.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080814/105053.jpg
Look at all those fish!

http://media3.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080814/110514.jpg
My buddy and his big bull

http://media3.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080814/110532.jpg
all three of us with the prize

http://media4.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080814/110722.jpg
more of the catch... i love the colors!

http://media5.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080814/122516.jpg
a nice sized squid found in the belly of one of the dodos! it was mostly mackerel that was found in their bellies though.

http://media4.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080814/173740.jpg
just a few fillets. brought my foodsaver down. unfortunately, water seeped back into many of the sealed fillets overnight from the melting ice --- ughhhh...

8/15: we started around 5:30am again and tried making bait but had lots of issues. the Panguero lost his sabiki rig cause he didn't tie it on well (or his line just snapped) :O. All we had was my buddy's sabiki so the panguero used that. I had a small sabiki but it was too small and the fish would just break my hooks off >:(. So in the end, we just weren't prepared for baitmaking. We went to another bait making spot in search of macks and actually brought in a few. I had two on my small sabiki but they pretty much broke the last of the hooks off and got free. Ugh. Lesson learned: bring several sabiki rigs!!!
Anyway, we gave up on live bait and just went out in search of yellows. This day was less than phenomenal. We picked up about 10 firecracker yellows with the largest pushing maybe 20lbs. We also picked up an assortment of smallish cabrillas, barris, and spotted bay bass. We finished off the day trolling for dodos with the last of the macks we had. Picked up a couple and headed back.

http://media3.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080815/061656.jpg
a Bahia sunrise

http://media4.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080815/134335.jpg
Yellows!

http://media5.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080815/134717.jpg
good panguero/guide but pretty bad photographer :D

After getting back and getting the fish cleaned, we asked the owner of the boat (who normally would be the captain but was out of town at the time) if his wife would cook for us. One of my friends who has been to BOLA before went with this guy and was saying his wife will cook up the fish we catch. We had her fry up some of the dodos we caught - it was the best! Fresh fish tacos from the day's catch!

http://media4.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080815/145123.jpg
GOOD STUFF!!!

In between the panga rides and during our downtime we just explored the area and snorkeled a bit. We fished off the rocks and shore as well. It's ridiculous how easily those spotted bay bass bite down there! You can pretty much throw in anything and you'll get bit. I threw out a few swimbaits that got absolutely torn up. My buddies also picked off some spotties once off a kastmaster and off another swimbait. Unfortunately we weren't able to find any triggerfish. I really wanted one of those as I hear they make great ceviche. Oh well.
http://media4.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080813/191650.jpg
http://media5.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080813/193115.jpg
http://media4.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080813/193147.jpg
http://media3.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080814/193455.jpg
HUGE mussels - we boiled them but they were just too ginormous. It grossed all of us out and we ended up throwing them out. The clams on the other hand, were delicious. Too bad we didn't find more of those.

We stayed at Guillermo's at the beachfront BTW. It was decent accommodations and they supply an AC unit for each room. We had to bring our own stoves though to cook. Our neighbors next door were really nice and let us use their heavy-duty propane stove to grill and fry up some food.
In terms of rod transportation, I bought the Bazuka and it worked out great [thanks Nessie Hunter!]. It was easy enough loading the rods up and strapping it down. It was secure the whole way... no problemo.

On our trip back home, we encountered this:
http://media4.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080816/064132.jpg
Be safe driving to and fro guys!

http://media4.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080816/210604.jpg
Yellowtail sashimi!

Good times! I'll be back here for sure next year!
http://media3.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080814/053112.jpg

CoffeaRobusta
08-18-2008, 11:41 AM
Man that looks really nice down there. Good fishing, nice landscape, who could ask for more? Let me know the next time you head down. I'll go too! Thanks for sharing.

chris
08-18-2008, 12:08 PM
super sick trip thanks for sharing

JapanRon
08-18-2008, 12:32 PM
Hi jplee3,

Congrats on getting all those fishys. Most excellent report and pics.

Thanks,

JapanRon

one_leg
08-18-2008, 02:53 PM
Great report from a real nice trip.

Thanks for sharing with the rest of us.

O_L

sansou
08-18-2008, 05:32 PM
Killer trip & nice job on all the great looking fish! It's apparently quite a drive, but it's definately on my "to do" list hopefully soon. Thanks for sharing!

Manny
08-18-2008, 07:28 PM
Looks like a great trip with the fellas. I went to Castros in Mex a few weeks ago for my first ocean trip on the penga and I totally got sick. How do you avoid the sickness? I took the meds for a day in advance and still lost it. I wish I would have had a trip like yours. Nice job.

deanhall32
08-18-2008, 07:51 PM
One of the best reports I've read in awhile. Beautiful photos and a very detailed report. Nice going guys!

steve092
08-18-2008, 09:14 PM
Nice job on that bull dorado!

RedKnight
08-19-2008, 10:56 PM
Wow -Thats one trip you'll be sharing with the grandkids. Makes me want to call my boys and take a roadtrip. Thanks for sharing.

flyngby
08-25-2008, 05:46 PM
Looked like a great trip down south.

Nice variety and 1 of by favorite fish the Spottie and no lockjaw.

Hmmmm!!! Maybe I will have to get south of the border for the first time before I become ancient history!!!!!

Thanks for the post!!!!!!!1

Steve

Badfish2
08-26-2008, 02:28 AM
Got back from BOLA on 8/16. Basically spent all day driving down on 8/13 and all day driving back up on 8/16. So we got the fishing in on 8/14 and 8/15.

http://media5.dropshots.com/photos/304397/20080813/103349.jpg
only in mexico :D

It was pretty phenomenal. I'll definitely be going back [hopefully] next year!

yeah, that looks dangerous.

chivo
09-18-2008, 01:54 PM
I went fishing for a week down there about 8 years ago and it was probably the best fishing spot i've ever been too. By the looks of the pics it must have been quite a trip. Giant squid, sea bass, yellowtail and cudda were the highlights of my trip.I'm glad you posted your report, it brought back memories.Good times with good lines.

Nessie Hunter
09-20-2008, 10:57 AM
Awesome, dont know how I missed this??
Good job on some of the best tasting fish the sea has to offer...

Glad the advice helped.
Now you have a way to transport rods all the time...

calico killer kevin
09-23-2008, 02:12 PM
Is that an f'ing seal in the cooler! Sweet, way to kill em.