The following morning, the group met in the hotel restaurant for a continental breakfast at 5:45 am, then we were loaded into taxi cabs for the eight mile drive to the Star Fleet, owned and operated by Bill Heimpel and his family since 1953. The Star Fleet consists of 13 diesel powered cruisers. Some of the boats are 34 foot Luhrs twin diesel cruisers and the rest are custom made 42 footers.

Laurie and I would be joined by long time Fish Sniffer subscribers Don McFarlane of North Highlands and Yuri Vargo of Rancho Cordova. We were told our boat would be the 42 foot cruiser Orion skippered by Jose and his mate, Juan. The rest of the group consisted of John Hunga, Curt Corda and Paul Noden, all from El Centro, who would be fishing on the Gaby, a 34 foot Luhrs, and Lowell Horwedel of Otterbein, Indiana, Len Glazer of New York and Tom Denly of Boston. These three would be fishing on another Luhrs, the Sophia.

About an hour into the ride, Juan rigged up a couple of the heavy set-ups with trolling lures, a 12-1/2 inch Zuker on one rod and a smaller Tuna Clone on the other. When we hit the blue water a half hour later, Juan rigged up a couple dead mullet on the 50 pound set-ups and ran them off the outriggers on the flying bridge. A fifth rod was rigged up with another dead bait and ran off the middle of the stern.

The real action began around 10:00 am when we hit our first dorado of the day about 20 miles out. The fish hit a dead mullet on one of the outriggers. Juan grabbed the rod, opened the spool and let 30 or 40 yards of line rip out behind the boat. As we all watched in amazement, a big bull dorado broke water about 100 yards behind the boat as he set the hook and handed the rod off the Don. Don fit the butt of the rod into his fighting belt and the battle was on! He skillfully worked the rod, pumping the tip into the air, then gaining a few feet of line every time the rod was lowered. This was a good-sized fish and it made several hard runs every time Don had it near the boat. Finally, the fish began to tire and it was brought to the gaff and hoisted into the boat. It was a brute of a fish weighing 42 pounds.

As Juan lifted the fish into the boat, he suddenly realized another fish was swimming alongside. He grabbed one of the 50 pound rods, quickly rigged up a live mullet and fed it out behind the boat. As we watched the small fish swim near the surface, a sudden flash of bright yellow and purple exploded out of nowhere and line began screaming off the real. Juan let the fish run for about 10 seconds before he kicked it into gear and laid into the fish as Jose gunned the throttle.

Now it was my turn, as I took the rod from Juan and watched another big dorado leap high into the air. This fish put up a similar fight and probably took a good five minutes before I had it alongside the boat. As I waited for the gaff, another dorado grabbed a live bait and we were into a double hook-up. Juan handed the rod to Yuri, then gaffed my fish, a 37 pounder. Soon Yuri had her fish alongside the boat and that made it a total of three fish to start off the day.

For the next few hours, we hit several small pods of dorado, hooking another half dozen fish and landing four more. We headed in around 1:00 pm with a total of 7 nice dorado, most of them in the 12 to 20 pound class including the two big fish weighing 37 and 42 pounds.

We arrived at the dock around 3:00 pm and found the rest of the group had already arrived. To our surprise, fishing was much tougher for them, with the Gaby reporting a skunk and the Sophia checking in with two dorado.

The following day, the winds of fortune changed direction and the other two boats had fantastic days while we encountered a blown engine and had to wait for one of the other boats to make the long run to pick us up. While we still managed to salvage the day with a few dorado, the Gaby brought in a 125 pound sailfish caught by John Hunga of El Centro, along with 8 dorado. The Sophia found identical success with a 92 pound sailfish landed by Tom Denly of Boston, along with 8 nice dorado to 20 pounds.

Day three proved a success for all of the boats. Laurie, Don, Yuri and I fished aboard the Capella with Captain Erasma and deckhand Ricardo. Don landed a 96 pound sailfish and all four of us landed 2 dorado each. The Gaby brought in 3 dorado and the Sophia checked in with 6 dorado.

That evening, we all enjoyed a fantastic meal of fresh dorado covered with shrimp sauce, rice, vegetables and the best tortilla soup I have ever sampled at the restaurant in the Las Flores. Frank surprised the top three fishermen with trophies for their catches. John Hunga took first place with a 125 pound sailfish. Don McFarlane took second place honors with his 96 pound sailfish and Tom Denly grabbed the third spot with a 92 pound sailfish.

Laurie and I had the next day and a half to enjoy the many fine restaurants, shops and endless beaches of Mazatlan. I must say the food was fantastic at every restaurant we went to and it would be hard to choose a favorite. We both highly recommend the restaurant in the Las Flores Hotel, Ponchos, the Shrimp Factory, Panamas and Cowtown.

Another highlight of the trip was the local aquarium where we enjoyed a bird show, seal show and fish feeding along with numerous exotic plants and a wide variety of iguanas roaming free throughout the gardens. Other tours available include jungle tours by boat only 4 miles south of town, tours of the shrimp fleet and Pacifico Brewery, city and shopping tours and a very interesting looking overnight tour of the fire opal mines of Tepic City.

Our accommodations were excellent at the Hotel Las Flores and the crews were all very professional and courteous at the Star Fleet. We did run into a small problem when it came to dealing with the fish we caught the first day. If you plan on keeping some fish, make sure you bring a cooler to the boat because you will have to transport your own fish back to the hotel and find someone in the snack shack to put it in the freezer for you. That means you also need an ample supply of zip lock bags for freezing.

Also, remember to keep an eye on your fish. We brought 7 dorado in to be cleaned the first day and the fish cleaners only gave us back four of the fish. I noticed our two biggest dorado and another still hanging. When I pointed to the three remaining fish, the guy at the cleaning table said, "Oh, those are for the Captain." Don said "no way" and they cleaned the rest of the fish and loaded the fillets into our cooler.

Finally, bring lots of small bills, mostly 1's and 5's for tips and small purchases. You will need to tip a number of people throughout the day including the taxi drivers, fish cleaners and staff at the hotel.

For more information on booking a trip to Mazatlan, contact Neptune Adventures in Jackson, CA at (888) 875-4700. They are the booking agent for the Las Flores Hotel and the Star Fleet. You can also visit their website at www.neptunetours.com.