Things have changed at the place now called the East Cape, especially for fly fishing, the quiet sport. It's no gentleman's game here. You throw all that out the window when you fish these beaches, where the bullies are roosterfish and jack crevalle. When you go toe-to-toe with them, you must fight dirty.

You carry no-nonsense Clouser Minnows, and a rod with little or no sentimental value. Best of all, you cruise the beach in a 300cc, 4-wheel ATV, looking for the telltale combs of roosterfish plundering balls of sardinas, or the silvery gray shapes of jacks ghosting through the surf.

Fishing from an ATV is a radical new way to tackle salt water, but it makes perfect sense. In Mexico, there are no private beaches, and a 40-mile string of public sand runs along the Sea of Cortez to the rocky tip of the Baja Peninsula. For an angler on foot, the prospects are bleak. The white, soft sand makes walking tiring, and reflects the heat of the Mexican sun like tinfoil. The fish are sometimes far apart, and always moving quickly. And if you do see a fish, one shot is all you'll get.

On the ATVs, however, you ride like a knight on a quest, with your rod tucked under your arm and pointed forward like lance, and your eyes constantly scanning the water for the Holy Grail of inshore Pacific gamefish--roosterfish. On the bike, the wind keeps you cool, and you cover miles of water, stopping only to cast when you have a target.

ATV Tactics
Because the fish move so quickly along the beach, and the window of opportunity is so short, you'll use the ATV not only to move from place to place looking for fish, but also to actually put yourself in casting position. A fish coming right at you will likely see you your tall moving profile, and disappear into deep water before you have time to make a shot. But with a fish moving away from you and parallel to the shore, you have a good chance at a hookup. The fish will likely continue on the same course at the same speed, and you can use ATV to put yourself ahead of the fish.

Roosters--especially big ones--power down the beach at a fast clip. Even when they hit a ball of bait they don't usually hesitate or take another pass. You must go full throttle to get the jump on one. Nothing gets get the adrenaline pumping more than drag-racing a 20-pound rooster down the beach.

A fly-caught roosterfish taken from the beach is a rare accomplishment.

Jacks in groups of one, two, or three move more casually, sometimes stopping, or deviating from their course to feed. You won't have to go as fast, but that's a good thing because jacks are harder to see, and you'll have to keep one eye on the fish, and one eye on where you are going.

Any fish in these clear waters will be a little spooky, so when you make your approach, move off the shoreline in an oblong trajectory that keeps you away from where the fish are, and brings you back to the water along the anticipated course of your target. If you drive too far ahead of the fish, you'll lose track of it and miss your chance. Stop too soon and the fish will pass you before you can cast.

Even when you time it perfectly, you'll barely have enough time to make a cast, so everything must be choreographed for maximum efficiency. Park the ATV--leave it running--and sprint down to the water's edge. Your rod should be rigged and ready to go, with the line already off the reel lying in neat coils in your stripping basket. (Always ride with your stripping basket on, and your line ready to cast.) With one false cast you must lay your line at an angle so the fly will be moving across the path of, and away from your oncoming target. A fly moving toward a fish will always spook it.

If the fish snubs his nose at your fly, or you don't get a good shot, you still have another shot--or possibly many other shots if you remembered to leave your motor running. When the fish passes, hop back on the ATV, gun the engine, and race ahead of the fish to make another shot.

Sometimes anglers will chase big roosterfish a half mile or more down the shore casting, racing ahead, running down the sand to make a cast, and then leaping back on the ATV for another go-around. Sometimes the chase ends in a hook-up, but more often, fish will spook, or just move out of sight into deeper water. Sometimes you'll just have to give up the chase for a chance to catch your breath and get a drink of water. It's an exhilarating, high-octane combination of off-road racing and fly fishing.

Tackle and Retrieve

Sunset at Punta Colorado is a magical time.

Roosters are smart, voracious predators. If they get a chance to closely examine your fly, they won't take it. The most commonly accepted technique is to throw large baitfish imitations and use a fast, two-hand retrieve with short stops.

When throwing a large herring or sardine imitation you'll need an 11- or 12-wieght rod and a 400- or 500-grain head--not because you need to get the fly deep, but because the extra line weight helps you throw a big fly with more line speed.

Jacks prefer smaller flies (1/0 and 2/0 Super Clousers). Sometimes they' crush a fly on a fast retrieve, at other times, it pays to hop-and-stop your fly seductively in the shallow water along the shore.

You'll need a simple three-section leader ending in 16-, 18-, or 20-pound test tippet for most of the beach fishing here. A nonslip mono loop connection to the fly creates a wounded baitfish action on the retrieve. If you are serious about a world record (always possible) a prepared class tippet with a 40- or 50- pound abrasion-resitant (Ande) bite tippet near the fly helps prevents break-offs on light line-classes.

On the Fly Expeditions
There are four resorts/hotels in the East Cape area: Rancho Leonero Resort, Buena Vista Beach Resort, Rancho Buena Vista, and Las Arenas Resort. Their accommodations are excellent and they provide a variety of activities for their guests-including fishing-but they do not specialize in fly fishing.

Gary and Yvonne Graham's Baja on the Fly Expeditions (www.bajafly.com) is the only strictly fly-fishing outfitter on the East Cape. Their Orvis Endorsed store is on Main Street in nearby Los Barriles, and the Graham's home is right on the beach, just a mile south of the Buena Vista Beach Resort.

The Grahams have lived on the East Cape for more than a decade, so they have all the local knowledge and expertise to make your trip successful. They use professional, English-speaking, American guides who can help you spot the fish, recommend fly patterns, and give casting advice. Baja on the Fly books rooms at all the local hotels.

Boat Fishing
Baja on the Fly Expeditions does beach trips on ATV and also on a large, slow-moving pontoon boat that is easy for two anglers to cast from. The boat starts the day in the early morning in front of the hotels where the sport cruisers buy their bait.

Predators--jack crevalle, roosterfish, and ladyfish--know about the early morning feast spilling between boats, and crowd the area, busting on escaped sardines and other baitfish. The fish can be picky with so much bait in the water, and the light is low, so you can't see your target. The best you can do is watch for fleeing bait, cast your fly in there, and do your best imitation of an anchovy in mortal danger.


Marauding packs of ladyfish send both baitfish and anglers into a frenzy.

When the feeding frenzy is over, the boat slowly motors along the beach, and the anglers on board blind cast around rocky points, while the captain throws bait to lure targets closer to the boat. It's amazing how many different types of fish you will catch around the rocks and ledges just off the beach. At some spots, you will see vast schools of fish right below the boat, and every cast brings a new species: needlefish, trumpetfish, pargo, and various subspecies of grouper and snapper, all brilliantly colored and willing to take a fly. There are more than 850 species of fish in the Sea of Cortez.

Baja on the Fly also offers offshore trips in larger sport cruisers for marlin, tuna, sailfish, and dorado--all on a fly rod. Before he became a fan of the long rod, Graham was an accomplished conventional-tackle billfish angler, with world records, and first-place tournament finishes to his credit. In 1978, he fought a broadbill swordfish for 13 hours before finally landing the 209-pound beast, and today he still has a soft spot for game fish-albeit with a fly rod.