acadist - 6-1-2008 at 10:47 AM
Got back from La Paz late friday night , everyone had a great time and the fishing was decent also. Things started well, checking in at the Denver
airport had my credit card ready to pay oversize charge for my rod case and I said "I checked the web site and it said a fisherman can bring two rods,
a tackle box, a net, and waders", I only have this rod case. The lady went over and checked with the supervisor and you could tell they were reading
the rules and were confused. She came back and said "it should be oversize but we are going to let you take it no charge" (saves $100 each way). I
told her I even sent their customer service an email and got no better answer. Got to Cabo and at the rental car place they pull up this little Chevy,
I look and the rear seat does not have a pass through for the rods. I start complaining, this is not the full size car I rented and was even confirmed
at the counter in the airport. The tried to tell me it is full size, I asked how do you expect me to get five people and our luggage in there? After a
brief conference they said we will get you a minivan and 15 minutes later we are on our way. Things are starting well. We drive to Los Barrilles and
have lunch at Tio Pablo's and back on the road to La Paz. Uneventful drive, good tunes because I packed the portable satellite radio, but of course,
get lost navigating the La Paz streets. See the bay, head that way and find our destination, Hotel La Concha. Nice suite; large bedroom, kitchen,
hideaway bed, large patio. Get in and settled and got the gear ready for the morning.
Wake up to a phone call at 5 am, we are late (our paper work says 5:30)! Everything is ready so we are out fast. get to the vans and ask Jonathan, he
says the desk should have given us a note, oh well, no big deal. Eat breakfast on the drive to Los Arenas and meet Calamar at the panga. He asks what
we want to fish for and I say offshore. We take a bouncy, wet, windy ride to the shark buoys. About half the way we stopped to 3 marlin tailing but
could not entice them to take our bait. Troll the rest of the way and find lots of seaweed, looking good. We get a hook up on the troll and Sarah
farms our first bite. We change from feathers to slow trolling bait around the weeds. After a while I see color swim past the boat and take my bait. A
short time later I have boated our first fish and, a peanut of maybe 10#, perfect for our dinner. First fish on my new Avet LX, love it! Slow trolled
for maybe another hour, nothing. None of the other boats we talk to have gotten anything either. Talking to Calamer find out they got their first
wahoo the day before (he had seen my wahoo lure in my box) so we decide to try for wahoo. We run over to where the commercial pangas catch bonita and
rig the gear with the wahoo bomb and a rapalla. We circle the bonita school and end up hooking and releasing three large bonita 15-20#. We decide to
go for the island and try for pargo next. Caught way to many needlefish and decided to end the day trying for roosters. Ran back to the shallows on
the coastline, as we pulled we could see the fish all around the boat. Got the bait wet and proceeded to catch many more needles. Did get a nice Jack
Crevalle but could not escape the needles and headed back in. At the beach and some of the other boats got some nice dorado and a wahoo but nobody got
alot of anything. The more successful boats fished inshore first, than offshore after the wind had died down.
Christine and the boys played on the beach at the hotel and had a great time. Got back and after a nap had the chef cook up half the peanut for
dinner.
Day two: woke up (on time) and got to the van and Sarah complaining she did not feel well. She decided not to go out. Get to the boat and Calamar
tells me we are going to catch marlin today, fine with me. It is much smoother with no wind so after getting bait we began trolling. The ocean is
showing alot more life today, lots of porpoise and we see a marlin tailwalking in the distance. We check out some of the buoys for nada. Continue
trolling and just I feel last nights' Pacifico catching up to me, hook up. Looks like a decent size dorado but spits the hook on a jump. Continue
trolling until we find the seaweed and as I am reeling in the lure, on again. I farm it and we begin to slow troll live bait. Continued in the same
general area and caught two decent sized dorado and farmed another, could not understand why none of the other boats we saw in the area worked it like
we did since we did have decent luck, 4 of our 5 hookups in the same general area. We decided to give the wahoo another shot, cruising past a buoy
something caught Calamar's eye and we pulled up a recently caught mako about 4' long. Took some pictures and headed back on our way. Pulled up to a
big patch of seaweed that had a turtle sunning on it, pulled it on the boat for a photo op and sent it back on it's way. Circled the bonita school
again but only caught one, the school was boiling the surface so it was easier to avoid in our pursuit of wahoo. No better luck than the day before.
Back to the shoreline for another whack at the roosters. We got close and pulled my lightweight rod out to get a hook on it, Calamar laughed, this was
my bait setup, 15# line and a Penn #9 reel. Got close in and my first cast I'm on! Nice 8# rooster! Fun light tackle battle. Proceeded to hook up the
next 5 casts in a row, what a blast, watching the roosters fighting over my bait and playing with each other all around the boat in maybe 15'-20' of
water. All the other boats around (at least 7 or 8) were either using heavier tackle or fly fishing with not the same success. Then we made the
cardinal sin, Calamar saw Dorado jumping right off shore and we ran over to try to hook em. No luck and when we came back all we got were P-nche
needlefish. It was fun while it lasted. We ran out of bait quickly and trolled back to the beach another great day on the water. Got back and found it
had been another slower day all around but another boat had caught 2 sailfish.
Christine, Sarah and the boys had another fun day playing on the beach, kayaking and being served on the beach by the great hotel staff. La Concha
was a great place with excellent service that we will visit again. Dinner at Carlos and Charlie's on the Malecon and fresh ice cream at the shop with
polka dot trees.
Day three: Beach day, went up the bay to Playa LA Bandera, a nice beach in a nice quiet cove. We picked up shells, kayaked, and tried a little
fishing in the rocks. A nice peaceful afternoon. Then we went to Playa Tecelote which is at the very end of the bay. The wind was up but we had a late
lunch of shrimp tacos (awesome flavor) and headed back to town for shopping and ice cream at Romeo & Juliets (awsome nutella ice cream) and back
to the hotel to rest and start packing.
Another fun trip to Baja! The ramp at Los Arenas, at The Giggling Marlin, is free and in very good condition. Something to remember for the future.
Also I got ripped off getting gas in Cabo. I don't know how, but I know when. Was watching the guy fill up and he asked me to check it was full. I
turned the key and checked the level, when I looked back at the pump the price was way high and it did not show how many liters. Lost the quick
argument and just got out of there before I did something stupid. Had two hours in Phoenix for customs and almost did not make the second flight,
security line was long and we walked right on to the second plane. Back in Denver and my rod case did not show up, the baggage people told us not to
worry and it was delivered to our doorstep even before we were out of bed the next morning.