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Chupacabra
Nomad
Posts: 476
Registered: 7-11-2013
Location: La Jolla, CA
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Pacific Coast trip - lots of pics
I usually head down to Baja on surf trips, but with the extended flat spell we’ve had I decided to do a surf fishing and longboard fishing expedition
in some areas around the central pacific coast that I haven’t had time to explore much. I left home in San Diego around 6:30AM and after a mostly
uneventful drive south, I decided to make my first side trip to La Lobera.
Anyone who has been to El Rosario has seen this sign just north of town; I finally decided to go check it out. The road heads west a few miles to
the coast in a beautiful area that looks a lot like the coast of La Jolla or Sunset Cliffs:
As I was checking out the collapsed ceiling of a sea cave, a Mexican family showed up; they were the only other visitors I saw. Not many seals or
sea lions when I was there.
Moving on, I pulled into El Rosario and fueled up. I was ultimately heading for Bahia Asuncion so at this point I had the choice of heading into the
hot desert or taking the road west to Punta Baja and spending a cool evening by the water. I chose the latter and set up camp on the bay south of
the point:
There were even some little waves so I was able to get a surf in, then a nice stroll on the beach and a nice sunset.
There was an osprey keeping an eye on my camp:
The next morning I ate, broke camp, and drive straight down to Bahia Asuncion. I made a quick loop through town to check it out then headed NW out of
town to Punta Loma, which is about halfway between Asuncion and San Roque. It was a long drive so I set up camp, explored the area around the point
and the beach, then ate and went to bed. Here is my camp at Punta Loma:
The following morning I awoke and after some coffee I started casting from the beach in the area where the reef and sand came together, and
immediately started catching fish: big corbina and yellowfin croaker on the gulp worms, then corvina on the chrome Krocodile jig. The corvina were
thick and aggressive so the action was pretty much nonstop. I picked up a couple of halibut and a few of those weird little greenback needlefish as
well, it seemed like everything was biting. I don’t think that beach gets fished very often, if ever. Sorry, no fish pics since I was solo and
releasing everything. I would say the corvina were in the 2-5 pound range, super fun on 6# test. This stretch was super productive:
Around 11 or so the wind started coming up and I headed into town and chatted with Shari at La Bufadora. She has this kitten that needs a ride to San
Quintin to find a permanent home; unfortunately I wasn’t able to take it because I had a number of other remote destinations on the list before
heading up that way.
I decided to stay at Shari & Juan’s campground, Campo Sirena, for a couple days to take advantage of the shower and wi-fi. I met with Lucas, who
kind of watches over the place, and we ended up going for dinner at the nearby restaurant.
The next morning I headed southeast out of town to Choros. This is a beautiful beach with a surf break, but there wasn’t much swell so I paddled out
on my longboard with my rod and started fishing. Immediately I was into small 1-2 pound class sierra. They were super aggressive and they were fun
to catch for a while but then I got bored of them and started targeting calicos. The calicos are thick on the reef and big. I was hooking up almost
every cast using rubber swimbaits and these were toad bass. The boiler rocks and inner reefs are too far out for shorecasting but too close in for a
boat, so I don’t think this fish ever see a lure and they grow old and fat. I probably caught 20 or so (all released) then had enough and explored
the beach. It’s probably one of the nicest beaches in the area:
The fishing co-op has a warning sign to anyone thinking about taking lobsters or abalone:
They also have watch house that looks a little worse for wear:
The reef at Choros:
A little bit later I drove down to Punta Prieta and San Hipolito to check out those areas for surf potential. The prevailing NW wind is offshore at
Hipolito and there were some perfect, albeit micro-sized waves peeling off. This place has potential and I would definitely check it out during a
swell.
The next day went back over to Shari and Juan’s place and fished off my longboard right out in front. The calicos were biting pretty well, but not
quite the quality of fish that I was getting over at Choros. Juan asked me to keep one fish for his uncle who likes cabrilla, and the rest were all
released.
After fishing Shari, myself, and her friend Beth went out for lunch at a new mariscos restaurant called Blady’s that just recently opened right on the
beach. They had ceviche de pulpo, which is my favorite and it was quite good!
After lunch I decided to head over to San Roque and check that area out. It’s only about 15 minutes or so from Asuncion, and I met up with a guy
named John there who has been renting a house there for a few months. There was also a German couple who have been living there for nine months. San
Roque is a beautiful place with a big sand beach leading into a Mediterranean looking point. I was going to paddle around the point and see if there
were any yellowtail but John explained to me that his kayak got attacked by a large hammerhead shark the day before after he bled out a yellowtail on
the water. You could clearly see the upper and lower jaw bite marks on his kayak…so I decided to stick close to the inside rocks. Caught a bunch of
calicos that were all released.
San Roque:
Heading back to Asuncion, I stopped at Punta Loma to see if the corvina were still going off. They were! I kept two fish this time and filleted them
up right there on the beach. Back at camp I made a batter from flour and water, rolled the battered fillets in panko crumbs, and fried them up. I
had plenty of fish so I invited Lucas over and we gorged ourselves on fresh fish tacos.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Asuncion area, but the next morning I packed up and started working my way back north. I decided to head to Punta
Rosarito (aka The Wall) to check out the fishing. They gave a pretty comprehensive writeup of the area in The Baja Catch, but I found it less
promising than they obviously did. I caught some very small halibut and tiny bass, but considering the bad roads, wind, and overall difficult
conditions I wouldn’t make this a fishing destination.
The Wall only breaks in winter so it was entirely devoid of surfers and completely empty. I had my choice of stone fortresses for camping that night
In the morning I kept pressing north along the dirt roads toward Santa Rosalillita, stopping at a particularly nice beach along the way to stop and
stretch. I decided to try a couple casts and much to my surprise I hooked up on the biggest fish of the trip, a 15-18 pound class halibut! This was
easily the biggest halibut I’ve ever caught in the surf, and was released to fight another day. It was just south of this beach:
I stayed overnight at Cielito Lindo in Santa Maria, which is a cool old resort costing only about 21 USD for a huge room with two beds. I wandered
down to the beach and played around in the dunes.
The next day I continued north and took a final side trip out to La Chorera and the surrounding area. The entire area was amazing clean and
completely trash-free! La Chorera is a picturesque little village on the pacific where even the chickens get beachfront property...
After that side trip it was straight north and back home. Another great trip!
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WTF
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5847
Registered: 7-18-2011
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Always dig your reports. Thanks man.
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15937
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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Mood: Everchangin'
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that bluff in your pic just south of StaRosy is the same place, 12 years ago, my son and i pulled 4 ten+ pound halibut out of the water 30 feet from
shore one night on the way north. we set our tarp up off that bluff and slept in the sand.
3 of those fish were left to swim again, albeit with sore jaws!
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15937
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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Mood: Everchangin'
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P.S.
keep up the good work finding all the gems Baja has to offer. Shari is one of the best!!!
Once the surf season is upon us, please be gentle with the locales, but by all means, enjoy the F@CK out of it!!!!!!
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StuckSucks
Super Nomad
Posts: 2306
Registered: 10-17-2013
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Loved the write-up and photos - more is better. And I loved the COPS steeker on the sign:
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Maron
Nomad
Posts: 458
Registered: 4-14-2014
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WOW, what a trip. Thanks for the report and pictures. On behalf of the fish, I thank you for releasing them.
Peace
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13033
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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love your pics man...and really enjoyed our time together. Look forward to your next visit hopefully there will be surf! Pretty cool to have ANOTHER
chupacabra in town!!!
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AKgringo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5814
Registered: 9-20-2014
Location: Anchorage, AK (no mas!)
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Mood: Retireded
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Quote: Originally posted by shari  | | love your pics man...and really enjoyed our time together. Look forward to your next visit hopefully there will be surf! Pretty cool to have ANOTHER
chupacabra in town!!! |
Shari, Why don't you add here, the photo of Chupacabra with his fish that you had with your fishing report?
Some folks might not have seen it already. To me, it looks a bit like I imagine Peter Pan would appear if he was forced to grow up!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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Excellent trip report and pictures, thanks.
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13033
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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AK...you are so right about Peter Chupacabra Pan...delightful in every way! and definitely a fish whisperer! Here he is in all his glory...bringing us
lunch from our backyard....
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64486
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Wonderful trip report and photos! Thank you very much!!
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4Cata
Nomad
Posts: 115
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: Yosemite area
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Mood: Siempre alegre!
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Great shots and better captions! Many thanks!
Agaveros, silk in a bottle, a beautiful bottle!
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fdt
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4059
Registered: 9-7-2003
Location: Tijuana, Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Yeah, what if it all goes right
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Thanks for the report. Those pacific coast places are on my next to do in Baja list.
A well informed Baja California traveler is a smart Baja California traveler!
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El Jefe
Super Nomad
Posts: 1027
Registered: 10-27-2003
Location: South East Cape
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This is the quality of report I hope to find when I click on Baja Nomad. Thanks so much for giving me something fun to browse with my morning coffee.
Well done!
No b-tchin\' in the Baja.
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Lee
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3455
Registered: 10-2-2006
Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
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| Quote: Originally posted by El Jefe | This is the quality of report I hope to find when I click on Baja Nomad. Thanks so much for giving me something fun to browse with my morning coffee.
Well done!
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I'm digging all this too. Chupa is that man! Great post.
(There's a espresso shop in Eugene, Oregon, called Wandering Goat where I order a blend shipped called: Chupacabra. Tasty.)
US Marines: providing enemies of America an opportunity to die for their country since 1775.
What I say before any important decision.
F*ck it.
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MMc
Super Nomad
Posts: 1679
Registered: 6-29-2011
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Mood: Current
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Thanks for the report! Glad you had a good time.
"Never teach a pig to sing it frustrates you and annoys the pig" - W.C.Fields
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Udo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6323
Registered: 4-26-2008
Location: Black Hills, SD/Ensenada/San Felipe
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Mood: TEQUILA!
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Superbly presented trip report.
Your narration before a photo was spot on!
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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Chupacabra
Nomad
Posts: 476
Registered: 7-11-2013
Location: La Jolla, CA
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I'm glad everyone liked the report! I love reading reports on here myself, it gives me something to do while I'm at work...
************************************
WTF
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jbcoug
Senior Nomad
Posts: 709
Registered: 9-24-2006
Location: Vancouver, WA
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Mood: Needing Baja!
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Thanks for the great report! I passed very closely to a number of these spots in Feb. Next spring I will have follow up your leads. You never know
what is around the next bend in Baja!
\"The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.\" Andy Rooney
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Tioloco
Super Nomad
Posts: 1403
Registered: 7-30-2014
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Gracias for the report. Another reminder of some of the greatness of baja
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