It Just Keeps Getting Better / La Paz

[Tony Buzolich]

I think I may have said this last year as well but it’s true. Most of you know about fishing the same creek or lake time after time. After a while you get to know the area pretty well and know what to expect. The same holds true for saltwater as well and in this case bluewater.

This year I had three of my friends along who had never fished bluewater at all, Jim Fujii and his two sons Doug and John. All were new to saltwater but ready for whatever adventure came upon us. It didn’t take long to learn the routine.

We’d been hearing reports from Jay and others about the cold water and the lack of bait. As I always take my group down late in the season I was a bit more optimistic about the conditions with the warmer temps of July. Bait was still a problem.

Each morning after getting in our boats we’d head out to the island to get live bait to use for chumming. Without bait the only thing you can do is troll, and that’s not fly fishing. This year the bait was holding clear up to the top of the island and not much anywhere else. This often turned in to a 2 hour plus boat ride before you could actually start fishing.
Ladyfish were also common close to shore and around the bait boats

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Soon enough after getting bait, bent rods were the norm. Here Bill Siler is hooked up using his 16/17 weight Cam Sigler on a big dorado. Mike Pienta is putting the max on his 12 weight.

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The area around the bait boats was often one of the best places to start casting. Roosterfish and jacks would all hang around the boats waiting for a misplaced sardina to land in the water. Here, Doug Fujii holds up a beautiful 25 pound rooster.

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After fishing the shore areas we’d move farther off the island looking for dorado or skipjack and yellowfin tuna. The tuna’s were always in the same usual spot at the southern tip of Cerralvo but the dorado required a bit more looking in order to find them.

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This year, with the water being unseasonably cooler than expected, the dorado and tuna were slower to arrive. Not much in the way of floating debris or sargasso either to attract the fish.

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What was unusual to the good though was the number of marlin that were showing. Each day every boat would spot several finning and cruising on the surface. I was lucky enough to have two grabs that almost chewed through the 70# leader without ever getting tight to the hook. Steve Purpura, in another panga, did unbelievably better. He cast to the closest of a pair of marlins and actually got hooked up. What was amazing is that he had picked up his spare rod which turned out to be a 9 weight striper rod with only 20# test leader. Here’s Steve fighting his first marlin on a fly rod.

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Jim May, in the boat with Steve, was actually able to leader the fish three times without using any gaff before finally being broken off. This was definitely a caught fish.
Almost everyone in my group was able to take all of the major species during the week. I had never taken a good roosterfish and this was my targeted goal for the week. Fortunately the first day out got me a 40# ‘er and several days later two more in the mid to high 20's.

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Jack Crevalle (Toro) have just started to show in better numbers as well. Here Jim Fujii holds up a nice fish.

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As the week went on more and more dorado began to show. Here’s Bill with that nice 44 #er he was tugging on.

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John Fujii landed this beautiful bull on his backup 8 weight.

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Everyone seemed to end up getting plenty of dorado by the end of the week. Some were saved for dinner at the hotel that night, a few were brought home, and a lot were released to grow and fight again.

If you’ve never fished for bluewater species on a fly, La Paz and the Isla Cerralvo area along the East Cape of Baja has to be one of the best. All of my guys are already talking about next July’s trip and can’t wait to go. Get on down there.
TONY

[Darian]

Hey Tony,.... Great job on Pez Gallo!!! Beautiful fish!!! You guys really hit it right. That Yellowfin Tuna is what I'm gettin' ready for.... :cool:

[Jay Murakoshi]

Tony,

That yellow fin looks like it was caught off Punta Perico. Nice football size YFT. I can't wait for October's big brutes. I'm going down with the heavy guns... a 10wt and 12wt. That should be sufficient. Heck, I've got all day but only give them 15 minutes to the boat or I break them off. Last year's October trip was HOT.... the first three days, everyone was into the HOT tuna bite and right off Punta Perico, about 150yds from shore. Then they moved in front of the old Las Arenas Hotel. If you got tired of getting your arms ripped out of socket, you could drift just about anywhere south of Punta Perico for small dorado. Small, I mean 12lbs to 22lbs. This year could be different but with the tuna there right now, I think it could be a good tuna bite.

Great photo's, are you posting more

Jay

[Tony Buzolich]

Jay,

I've still got a couple of guys that haven't sent me their pics yet. Once I get all of them together I'll send you a disc too,
TONY

[Rockman]

What a great report & photos. I too, have never fished the salt with the fly. But these types of reports could change that. When I was young, I never got sea sick, but I do now. Would love to hear others tricks to avoiding this problem so I could feel better about spending the money to make one of these trips. The scope patchs seem to make me sick also. Thought about the pressure point bracelet, how many of you guys have had success with it.
Any and all ideas are appreciated since I would truly love to make this trip a reality.

Tight Lines
Rockman

[Jay Murakoshi]

Try taking a couple capsules of ginger root before going out and a couple when you're on the water. I don't get sick but a lot of people whom I talked with about the ginger root says it really works.

Jay

[k.hanley]

Say hey Rockman I feel your pain. When I 'm down there working with Jay I typically suck on fresh ginger. Yup. I buy fresh ginger root, cut it into small chunks, put that in a baggie and bring with my tackle bag. I just pop a chunk in the morning during the van drive and use a supplement chunk later in the boat if necessary. Don't chew it -- just place it like a plug in the back of your cheek and suck on it. Works for me.
Cheers, Ken
PS: I also carry Meclazine tabs if the weather conditions get really nasty. Almost never use them. Only been sick one time down in BAJA. Looking at my green gills made Jay laugh for weeks!!!!!!!!!!!

[Darian]

Try Bonine. This product contains Mechlizine HCI, an antiemetic. It's used in the medical profession for enabling patients on chemo to eat without having stomach upsets. No apparent side affects and it seems 100% effective for me.

I'm one of those that can't take Dramamine or Marazine as they knock me out. Bonine doesn't do the to me. It's fairly cheap, too. :D

[Tony Buzolich]

Rockman,
I used to get the worst case of motion sickness just thinking about getting in an airplane let alone a boat. Trolling in a cruiser for big fish with diesel rolling around still gets me. But as has been mentioned, Mechlazine is by far the best stuff available. It is a key component of Bonine. I buy straight mechlazine over the counter from any drug store.
I take one pill a day starting one day before my trip, and take one each day until I get home. Take it in the morning with your vitamins when you brush your teeth and you won't have any problems.
TONY

[Jay Murakoshi]

Hey Darian, what do you think - do you think Ken would've been feeding those big sea lions this year with some of the swells and big chop we had. If he was in my boat, tuff luck, you'd be suffering alllllll day. That one day coming out of Muertos, and heading to the island with those BIG rock'n and roll'n swells, yep partner ya would've been GREEN

:-(

Jay

[Jay Murakoshi]

Opps, forgot... Do you remember the day Willie got the big YFT and how bad it was. You just about lost your cookies that day. and then the day I hooked the sailfish on the 9wt. you for sure would've of been calling RALPH "-)

Gotta love the baja

J

[Darian]

WOW!!!! I remember the mixed seas on the Tuesday that we had to get off the water to beat the T-storms approaching last October.... That was really interesting. Renee wouldn't get up into the bow. I was fishing when Efren said, "time to go, Jay's on the beach." :lol: Don't think I've ever seen anything like that before. Surface winds, wind waves and conflicting swells with rebound waves off Punta Perico.... :shock:

The last time I really got sea sick was when I was Shark fishing with Paul Cronin in San Diego. Good size, long interval swells, calm day and a dead boat. I took a Dramamine tab and slept most of the trip.... :\\ Did manage a Blue Shark on the fly but couldn't get enough oomph going to get up when Paul saw some Yellowtail passing the boat.... :lol: :lol: