BajaNomad - Lopez Mateos / Thetis Bank 9-13-09 10 days after Jimena

Lopez Mateos / Thetis Bank 9-13-09 10 days after Jimena

bill erhardt - 9-13-2009 at 07:33 PM

I trailered my boat to Lopez Mateos yesterday and fished today in the Pacific around Thetis Bank. The road into Lopez was no problem towing a boat. It is no longer necessary to detour off the paved road anyplace between Insurgentes and Lopez. The army is no longer on site, and the residents seem to have control of the situation. Water, electric service, and telephone are all available 24 hours/day. Clean-up continues on down trees, wires, and damaged and destroyed structures. At least one insurance adjuster was in town working on Sunday.
I launched at first light and went to Thetis Bank to see if the wahoo had returned 10 days after the storm. I found no wahoo, but 10 miles outside the boca did find porpoise, birds, and yellowfin tuna that averaged about 25 pounds. When I boated fish number five I did not even think about stopping, invoking instead the "necessity because of hurricane exception" to the Mexican sport fishing regulations (if there is not such an exception there should be). I returned to the marina with eleven tuna in the box. The boca was bumpy on the way out and more so on the way back in. Primo Lopez Mateos fishing guide Ruben Duran, who along with everybody else in town is still involved in clean-up and who knows everybody in town, took the fish for distribution to people he knows who have a Particular need. In a town that has had no fish for the past week or so, there is about 250 pounds of fresh tuna on the grill tonight.

The mountains and desert between Loreto and Lopez are green after the storm

9-13-1.JPG - 49kB

bill erhardt - 9-13-2009 at 07:36 PM

Whimsy at the Lopez Mateos dump.

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bill erhardt - 9-13-2009 at 07:38 PM

Fishbox full of yellowfin

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bill erhardt - 9-13-2009 at 07:42 PM

Ruben Duran with fish

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bill erhardt - 9-13-2009 at 07:45 PM

Boca de Soledad was churlish this afternoon and visible from about five miles outside

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Diver - 9-13-2009 at 08:07 PM

You are a good man, Bill Erhardt.
And a darned good fisherman to boot !!

Great photos !! Thank you !

Sharksbaja - 9-13-2009 at 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Diver
You are a good man, Bill Erhardt.
And a darned good fisherman to boot !!

Great photos !! Thank you !

Right on Diver!

Bill good report, whazzup with the locals? Material losses or launch/cleanup conditions are keeping them in? :?:

bill erhardt - 9-13-2009 at 08:54 PM

Sharks.......Cleaning-up, and more pressing needs for available funds than gas for the outboard, mostly. I saw only one other boat on the water today, and none when I was over last Monday. There was little damage to pangas in the storm and the ramp was not affected. I think that shrimp season opens over there next week which will get fishermen back on the water.

DianaT - 9-13-2009 at 10:54 PM

That was a really great direct donation to the people.

And the pix are nice.

Mexitron - 9-14-2009 at 04:24 AM

Way to go...and nice pics too!

shari - 9-14-2009 at 08:10 AM

really great to hear a positive story how this area is getting back on it's feet...and about all that yummy tuna on the grill....well done!

Paula - 9-14-2009 at 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by shari
really great to hear a positive story how this area is getting back on it's feet...and about all that yummy tuna on the grill....well done!

All that tuna on the grill is a good thing, but I think it is better cooked on the rare side! :dudette:

Cypress - 9-14-2009 at 11:25 AM

bill erhardt, Thanks for the pictures and the report. :bounce:

oladulce - 9-14-2009 at 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bill erhardt
Boca de Soledad was churlish this afternoon and visible from about five miles outside

"Churlish" ?? What do it mean?

Being a non-boat owner, I never get to see the perspective from any farther out than my kayak will go. Thanks for the view.

And I thought I had seen it pretty green on that stretch of hwy by the Agua Verde turn-off but I've never seen the thick tropical-looking undergrowth in your photo #1. wow

bill erhardt - 9-15-2009 at 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by oladulce

Quote:

Originally posted by bill erhardt
Boca de Soledad was churlish this afternoon and visible from about five miles outside

"Churlish" is not really a nautical term (I don't think). Just anthropomorphizing the generally nasty disposition it was showing that day. After a couple hundred passages one tends, at least I tend, to personalize the relationship with the boca. With the confluence of surf, wind waves, tidal flow, and various tide stages over constantly shifting sand, it seems to have a mind of its own. Passing in and out can be anything from a non-event to a hair raising experience, but it is always good to raise the pulse rate a beat or two. Sunday, crashing breakers were throwing spray many feet into the air which was visible from a distance as a series of explosions in an unbroken surf line.