No, this isn't some kind of Baja health alert! This is about the latest technique of fishing sweeping the Baja peninsula - "Saltwater Flyfishing". After many false starts over the years, Saltwater Flyfishing has become a viable fishing option. Anglers seeking new challenges and the availability of quality tackle designed for the saltwater environment have both contributed to the rise in popularity of flyfishing in salt water.

It is easy to understand this excitement. Fishing with a flyrod either from the beach or a boat combines the best of conventional light tackle fishing with the sophisticated techniques associated with flyfishing. With conventional tackle you are limited to the stock lures available at your local tackle store, but the selection of flies is limited only by your imagination. Size, color, and style can be combined to match the bait the fish are feeding on and if you take up fly tying then your options increase even further.

Fly rods, which can be broken down into four pieces and combined with relatively small reels, are great for traveling in Baja. Think of it, all of your fishing tackle requirements for a trip to Baja packed in a small overnight bag. Try that with a conventional set up!

The popular misconception is that fishing with a flyrod is difficult. Fishing with a flyrod is not difficult, just DIFFERENT!! When most people pick up a flyrod for the first time, it is as though they are fishing with a fly swatter with an attitude. Because of the differences in design, it will take a while to master the concept of casting the line and not the lure. However, with "how-to" videos, books and expert instructions from your local fly shop, you will get the hang of it in no time. Long casts are great, but those will come with practice. And experience has shown that if you can cast thirty to fifty feet you will be able to catch fish in Baja on the fly.

With over 850 species of fish swimming around Baja, the opportunities for the flyrodder are almost limitless. Remember when you first started fishing, it didn't matter what you caught as long as it would bite. Then over time you became more and more selective and what you caught had to be large and taste good. Come back, if you will, to the flyrodder's world where size and taste aren't the criteria. The take and the fight are the primary considerations.

When a school of jacks or roosters bursting into a ball of sardinia has your heart pounding, you run down the beach as fast as you can with your flyrod clenched firmly in your fist. You cast and start to strip the fly back toward you. The ravenous rooster stops your fly in mid strip and takes 150 yards of your backing faster than you can think "I'm bit". Suddenly you are running down the beach again to keep from giving up your last 20 yards of backing to a disappearing rooster. It's touch and go during the next twenty minutes as you work the fish closer and closer to the beach, all the while praying that the 12 pound tippet you are using doesn't part. Finally, there it is! What you would have sworn was a twenty pound rooster turns out to be a seven or eight pound fish with a big heart. As you remove the fly and hold the fish upright in the surf while it recovers, you see the fish still chasing the bait down the beach. Quickly releasing your catch, off you go running for the school of fish moving down the beach, you realize you are hooked! From this day forward you know you will never look at a beach in Baja quite the same way. There will always be another species to entice.

Whether you fish from a tin boat, so popular in Baja, or have a lager platform, the flyrod will provide you hours of nonstop action. Some species largely ignored by the conventional angler offer up great flyfishing. Skipjack, bonito, barrillete, and triggerfish are often available when nothing else is biting and these fish are gangbusters on the fly. When the tuna come charging the boat, you cast a fly into the melee and hang on. A tuna on a flyrod is an experience that will remain with you long after the catch. When the dorado congregate around debris, buoys or sargasso, reach for your flyrod and tie on a popping bug and watch a twenty pound rainbow-colored acrobat inhale the offering and go leaping toward the horizon. Striped marlin and sailfish readily take a fly and will give you the fight of a lifetime. A billfish on the fly is an experience that has been accomplished by very few anglers but is unmatched in the thrill of the fight.

Saltwater flyfishing has definitely come of age and any serious Baja angler should add this technique to their arsenal to take advantage of all that Baja has to offer. Whether the beach, boat or both is your bag, take the time to visit your local flyshop and pick up some equipment so you to can explore the world of "Baja on the Fly".

Gary Graham, author and feature writer, resides on the Baja Peninsula's East Cape where he owns and operates Baja on the Fly, the largest Outfitter offering quality fly-fishing 365 days a year in Baja and Mainland Mexico. He may be reached at email: bajafly@bajafly.com, or his website Baja on the Fly,