I.G.F.A. Records caught by our clients

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This 57.5 pound Dorado (Coryphaena hippurus)  is still a current I.G.F.A. record!

Loreto, B.C.S. Mexico, 21 July, 1997:
Dr. Don Childress came to Loreto for a "cheap fishing trip" in July of 1997 to do some fly fishing. It was our first summer in operation and he fished for several days with Captain Antonio Romero Murillo. On his second to last evening here he and I met up with the folks from American Fly Fishing out of Sacramento, CA. They were scheduled to depart the following day but Don still had another day so they gave him some flies and some 16 pound class pre tied offshore tippet. It just happened that this was the same tippet that he used to land the record Dorado. On the afternoon of the 21st, Antonio radioed me with instructions to meet them at the marina "with a camera and a scale". These were the days before inexpensive digital cameras. We weighed the great fish on land and the 60 pound spring loaded scale read 57.5 pounds. We did not know it was a potential record until we reported the catch during a call to the USA. Since the scale wasn't certified it was sent in with the record application. The class tippet ended up testing 20 pounds and not 16 but the fish still weighed heavier than the fish that held the 10 Kg (22.1 pounds) record at that time. This bull dorado took nearly two hours to land and was caught on July 21, 1997 aboard our boat "The Alex". To this day you'll still see Don's name in the 10 Kg class men's division in the I.G.F.A. record book.


The first of our series of Yellowtail (Seriola lalandi dorsalis)  records.

Loreto, B.C.S. Mexico, 25 April, 2003:
Lyle Lewis had made several trips with his fishing buddy Randy Tiemann. They always came to Loreto during the summer Dorado season but in 2003 their next trip took place during the Yellowtail season's more agreeable weather. Lyle and Randy spent several days fishing for Yellowtail and were becoming humbled by the challenge of hooking and landing one with a fly. On the 25th of April, the sea surface conditions to the North were flat and calm and the Yellowtail were on a hot bite. There were several other boats fishing the area and one of these boats had other clients of ours that had already been stalking the elusive 10 Kg class tippet record Yellowtail for a few years. Lyle caught and released a few Yellowtail while the guys in the other boat watched. They they informed him that each of those fish released was likely a record. So Lyle caught another two fish and brought them back to port. Captain Francisco Muñoz radioed me with a famaliar request. "Bring the camera and scale to the beach in front of the Hotel La Pinta". His 15.0 pound Yellowtail outweighed the published record at that time so we processed our second record. Again, I sent the same spring loaded scale to the I.G.F.A. along with the record application. This record was broken the following year but Lyle's name appeared in the 2004 record book. Here's Lyle's version of the story.


Our Second Yellowtail (Seriola lalandi dorsalis)  Record

Loreto, B.C.S. Mexico, 28 April, 2004:
Lyle's record (above) was broken the following year, this time by his fishing buddy Randy Tiemann. Up until this time we had been concerned over the rapid increase in the Sea Surface Temperatures and how it would affect the quality of the Yellowtail fishing; however, at the end of the day I heard a familiar request on the VHF, "I'm coming back in, bring the camera and scale to the beach in front of Hotel La Pinta". On the beach, Randy's Yellowtail weighed in at 21 pounds on the same spring loaded scale that had been used to weigh in our previous records. This fish took Randy's Chartreuse four-eyed Clouser minnow at about 40 feet below the surface and within a stone's throw of Punta Perico. The Sea Surface conditions that day were not exactly ideal but Randy's fish weighed in a full six pounds heavier than Lyle's of the previous year. We made the required measurements, submitted plenty of digital photos and the scale to the I.G.F.A. along with the record application. Unfortunately Randy's name never appeared in the book as a larger Yellowtail (23 pounds) was caught two months later off San Diego, CA. I never did get my scale back that time.

The Current 10 Kg Class Tippet Yellowtail Record

Loreto, B.C.S. Mexico, 28 April, 2006:
Exactly two years after the date of Randy Tiemann landing that 21 pound Yellowtail, Mark Bachmann landed a record for himself. Mark Bachmann and Patty Barnes, owners of The Fly Fishing Shop of Welches, OR. fished for several days in April of 2006 with their regular captain, Eulogio Davis Sanchez. They hadn't been paying too close attention to the size of the 10 Kg Yellowtail record at that time which was 23 pounds. Both Mark and Patty had caught and released several Yellowtail that weighed heavier than the current record and it wasn't until we showed them the record book that they started to take it seriously. I was sure that Patty would be the one to land a women's record because at the time they were pretty much vacant but as it happened she was unable to land anymore Yellowtail on the fly. While I was working in the shop I got a call on the VHF from Captain Eulogio similar to what I had heard before, "I'm pulling the boat off the ramp now and on the way to your shop. Have your camera and scale ready". Only two weeks prior to that date I had just received our set of newly certified scales as we had just become an I.G.F.A. weigh station. This was the first time the 60 pound scale had been used. We measured and photographed, noted all pertinent details and completed the record application, but this time my scale stayed in Loreto. The record was approved just before the 2007 I.G.F.A. record book went to press and Mark's name appears as the winner of the men's 10 Kg class tippet for the California Yellowtail.


Current International Game Fish Association World Record Game Fish taken off Loreto
  • 25% of the current IGFA records taken off Loreto were caught while the angler was fishing with The Baja Big Fish Company
  • the other 75% were taken before The Baja Big Fish Company went into business (Oct. 1996)
Conventional Pound Test Line Class
Species Line Class Weight of fish Date
Black
Skipjack		 Women's 20 pound 13 lb. 3 oz. August 20, 1988
Yellowtail Women's 4 pound 17 lb. 8 oz. April 15, 1989
Wahoo Men's 50 pound 158 lb. 8 oz. June 10, 1996


Fly Fishing Kilogram Tippet Class
Species Tippet Class Weight of fish Date
Yellowtail Men's 3 Kg. 15 lb. 3 oz. January 30, 1973
Yellowtail Men's 6 Kg. 32 lb. 8 oz. March 14, 1972
Yellowtail Men's 8 Kg. 32 lb. 0 oz. March 27, 1973
Yellowtail Men's 10 Kg. 31 lb. April 28, 2006
Dorado Men's 10 Kg. 57 lb. 8 oz. July 23, 1997

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