About Baja

[Jay Murakoshi]

I've received a number of emails asking me why I'm not posting a lot or no baja reports.
Well, week after week it's been the same news, no bait, no fish, cold water, green water, warm water here and why not there. In my almost 7 weeks here, this has definitely been the worse of the years.
This past week, there were a few dorado caught, a couple roosters, some lady fish but no sardine's. Today start a new week with different clients. Word was yesterday they ( the conventional guys) caught some dorado and tuna on the Las Arenas side. Ahh, things are starting to look up. Wrong! After launching the boats, we made bait right at the beach, no not sardine's but ballyhoo and lot's of them. After loading up, we made a decision to try the shark buoys and see if could hook into a few dorado. We had a pretty stiff south wind which made the ride rather bumpy and wet. At the third buoy, I stuck a dorado on a taco pescado crease fly but it came unbuttoned. We checked out 8 more buoys before deciding it was time to turn around. The swells were running around 5' to 6' with short intervals. One of my boats got a 15lb dorado at there third stop. And that was the only dorado taken today.
It didn't sound like the trolling were doing much better. The roosters were not around today, only saw three on the eat but no hook ups.
Like I said it been this way for the past 7 weeks. One question I've been asked a lot is
" when do you think the bait will come in" Or " I'm going to baja in July, will the bait be there". No comment

Boy, we had an exciting ride back from the beach today. They are running an off road race from Todos Santos to Tecalote. Part of the race run right through downtown Las Planes. There were hundreds of people lining the streets getting ready to watch the off road vichicles come roaring through the town. And just at the last TOPE out of Las Planes, this big a$$ off road vehicle come flying by us on the left side and didn't even slow down for the TOPE and to add to it, he scared the hell out of a car coming the other way. He had to be traveling 75mph or more. Then way back in the distance, we saw two headlights fast approaching us in the side mirrors and next thing it flew by us. Salomon had to pull off the road and for those of you who have been here, know that there is not much to the shoulder.
I told Salomon that we were not in first place anymore but third. The intersection to La Ventana and El Sergento was where they made the turn, went through the towns and continued through the mountain ranges. It came back on to the main road around the big intersection where we make the left turn in the morning. From there they left the road again and drove down an arroyo for miles until they reach the power plant, from there i have no idea which direction they went
Oh the other exciting thing is the President of Mexico is in La Paz for a visit. Federal's all over this city, helicopters flying around, lot's of check points in and out of town. Next weekend is the G20 meeting in Cabo. That's going to be a mess. I have a group of guys flying into San Jose and I'm sure there will be all kinds of check points and detours.
Hope to have a couple photo's up from last week and hope to post a lot of photo's this week.

When will the bait be here

Jay

No, Baja is not dead

[Flyboy_AK]

Thanks for the report Jay. I am glad you counseled Salamon that third place is OK. LOL I had a good visual of your buoy fishing with those type of seas. Probably nobody fighting over getting the bow to cast off of! Fishing is fishing. Anywhere. There are no guarantees. I look forward to next year, bait or no bait.

[Darian]

Got back from the annual Baja trip Saturday night. Had to get my thoughts together for this item. In some ways, this was the trip from Hell (for me) and in others a really great time.

On the flight down, I noticed the green water all the way down from the Mulege area. Not a good sign. Upon landing, I found that my checked luggage was missing and that someone (one of the other anglers) had picked up my Fish Pond rod container mistaking it for his own. No problem for me but, not knowing whose the other container was, I didn't pick it up. So, his rod carrier ended up in the Mexican Customs Office and my luggage was still missing. I placed a tracer on the luggage with Horizon Air and met with Jay M., and Wade, the owner of the other rod carrier. When we asked if we could go into the La Paz Airport Customs area, we were denied access (even tho I'd seen the carrier in that office). With the help of a horizon employee, a Customs Supervisor arrived and we the carrier was returned to Wade.... (Whew!!!) At least that one was solved.

Made a stop at WalMart (that's right) and bought some underwear and a pair of shorts, then went to the hotel and borrowed a reel (Galvan [a very good reel BTW], line, leaders, flies, etc.,) and fished on Sunday. Monday, Horizon called and said my luggage was being held hostage by the Customs Office in Cabo and that I had until 6:00 PM to pick it up (it was approximately 3:00 PM then) or Customs would return my luggage to LAX. Long story short, I talked them into letting me pick up the luggage next day, rented a car, drove to Cabo and retrieved my bag. Horizon covered the cost of the rental/gas. Driving in MX is an adventure but that's another story. Now, I had all of my own equipment/flies, clothing, etc. Whew!!!! Another save....

Here's an obligatory sunrise over Las Arenas:



Each day started with a period of trying to net bait. If bait was plentiful and nearby, this period lasted about an hour and involved a lot of effort on the part of the Panga Captains while we (clients) drove the boat. The bait was Ballyhoo and an occasional Mullet (The best available, BTW).



Then it was off to wherever we thought the fish were. The first day was the long ride north for bait and fishing. Saw some Dorado but little or no love from the fish. The rest of the week, bait was close and plentiful. We covered the area around Muertos Bay without much luck. Saw a bunch of Roosters. Lots of follows. My partner caught one:



The remainder of days available to us after the day we lost, were out to the Shark Bouys and wind/waves. Amazingly, there were some Dorado out there willing to play (not many but enough). I didn't land any of them, breaking a 10 weight rod at the boat while trying to land a green fish (shnookie mistake ). I had anticipated using a fly that might be a good ballyhoo imitation and brought a few. The Dorado liked them but the fly was too long and strikes were missed. Oh well.... My partner, on the other hand caught a large Dorado on bait:



So, the fish are there but you've got to be willing to work for them under some tough conditions. For example, I was attempting to initiate cast from the stern when a wave caused a lurch, my foot slipped on the wet deck and I landed flat on my back between the chairs. Sheepishly, I got back up and blasted out my best cast of the day....

One of the benefits of getting to know the captains and taking care of them is that they might provide some great stuff to eat like barbequed Mahi and salsa fresca with homemade tortillas for breakfast, mmm, mmm!!!:



In spite of all of the weird stuff that happened to me on this trip (I didn't mention all of them), I won't hesitate to go again. I really do love it down there.

[mems]

Aloha Darian, glad you got your bags, what a bummer. Looks like you made the most of it. That is a nice bull mahi, I bet that put up a good fight. I was wondering, with little of the regular bait, sardinas, do you think the pelagics are more eager to hit a lure/fly than normal. Is it a question of just finding the fish? I know the fish we find at the bouys here in Hawaii are rather skiddish if there is a lot of boat pressure. If you are the first ones there then they tend to be suicidal for a while, then the bite slows and you need to change tactics. Have you guys ever tried a chum line or chunking. I know it might bring in sharks, but at least you would get more action. I think baja is wonderful and have been a little taken aback by all the negative comments like, "baja is dead". I know Jay is making the best of it, and I see you did too. If things like bait are cyclical then next year should be wonderful again. In the mean time the captains might need to learn some new tricks for keeping fish lit up and eating. Thanks for the post, Don.

[Darian]

Aloha Don,... I'm a bit more philosophical about losing my luggage, now. Wasn't overly happy then.

I would say that Baja is definitely not dead. It may've degraded over the last decade as suggested by Grant but if that's the case it would've been really unbelievable before. Some degredation seems natural considering commercial and recreational fishing pressures....

I've been going down there annually since 2004 and only encountered a period where fishing was tough on two occasions; both involved green (cool) water (2007/2012). In a couple of areas (Muertos Bay), the color of the water was a deep chartreuse and almost opaque. Only dark patterns provided a silhouette in that water. We did see fish down there but not even bait worked there. The Terrafin info showed the east side of the gulf was warm (red/orange) while the west side was cool (greenish/blue).

All of the life we've seen in the past (Manta Rays by the hundreds, seals, porpoise, Whale Sharks) are still running around in that water. Ahi made an appearance on the day we missed fishing and were noticed under the porpoise. Then they disappeared.

The fish are there, tho, not in as many numbers. However, those that are there don't seem to have much interest in eating right now. Of course, their regular food supply (Sardinas) are absent outside of the Bahia De La Paz. Your observation about Dorado around buoys appears correct to me. The last two days, we were the only boat out there and found numerous fish and a few that wanted to eat. Renee, my partner, caught the large Dorado on a Balyhoo. So, you just have to be persistent. We covered a number of Shark Buoys on each day. Fish were only on a couple but when located, they would play.

I'd be willing to bet when the water warms/clears, the bite will turn on. Maybe a hurricane or tropical storm would provide enough run-off to warm the gulf.... Don't wish that off on the people down there, tho.

In past years, when Skippies were there, we would catch one, tie it off over the stern and bleed it into the water creating a trail in the current or while motoring with success. When certain species (billfish, Mahi, Ono, some bottom fish, etc.) would come into the trail, the captain would use a combo of crushed and live bait to keep them around. The captains are trying everything they know to catch fish with no love. They're working very hard each day out. Tough for them.... We tried trolling, bait casting with jigs and plugs plus flies. The only consistent producer was bait. While flies were second. The best producer was a Sabiki rig that caught a lot of bait around the buoys....

Geez!!! That seems like a lengthy answer.... Gotta catch my wind. Take care Don. Good to hear from you....

[mems]

Hey Darian that is what I figured the situation was down there. I know Jay's captains know how to fish and will work hard for the clients. I was just blown away how low tech they were and how much of a live bait fishery it was. I think radar, to find birds, gps to mark pinnacles and reefs and fish finders to locate schools would come in handy considering how shallow the waters are there. I always was amazed how cooperative the captains were and how they would work together throwning bait to keep the school around and no one got bent out of shape if another boat showed up to fish the school. It is very different here in that regards.
It is interesting that there are no black skipjack around. Usually that makes up and important part of the food chain for the larger pelagics. I think it will bounce back and I think most flyguys will still have fun and be able to catch fish there. That light house is one of my favorite spots on the planet.
I bet you were happy to be staying at La Paz after going down to Cabo to get your bags. By the way that seemed pretty prick to me not to deliver your bags to your hotel. Anyway glad you'll had a good time, Don.

[Jay Murakoshi]

Alaska Air is really dropping the ball this year. My buddy Jonathan had 5 ice chests and his luggage lost when he arrived in la Paz and he came directly from LA. And this past week, Gary Bulla arrived with his group and his bag was not on the plane. The bad thing for him, he's going to Mag Bay for a week with no equipment. I haven't heard if his bag went to Cabo. Now, they are having the G20 this week in Cabo so security is tight, really tight. Just like it was here last week when the president of mexico visited La Paz for a couple days. They have completely closed down the marina, no boats in, no boats out and that means fishing cruisers.
Now to the fishing? What fishing, still haven't seen any sardina's in 7 weeks. I mean it's really amazing that when I first arrived, we had big roosters, sardina's then POOF! there gone.
Take a look at the terrfin reports, there is cold waters from Cabo to Mulege and it doesn't look like it's leaving any time soon but who knows. They could reappear as fast as they disappeared. Even the conventional boys didn't get a lot yesterday. Renee's dorado and rooster sure does look good. Maybe the rest of this week might be productive.

I'll report later, that's if anything shows up

Jay