BajaNomad - surf fishing Bahia de Concepcion

surf fishing Bahia de Concepcion

absinvestor - 2-22-2011 at 07:23 AM

I'm just curious. I often surf fish (with pretty good success) the Pacific Ocean side of Baja but seldom see anyone fishing from the beach at Santispac etc. Has anybody had any luck "surf" fishing the beaches around Santispac? If people do beach fish Santispac do they use bait or lures?

Cypress - 2-22-2011 at 07:33 AM

absinvestor, It's barren, a few small rays and needle fish here and there. :no:

Might be some fish on the east side of the bay?

Marc - 2-22-2011 at 08:05 AM

Nada

bajaguy - 2-22-2011 at 08:17 AM

Abs........check your u2u

Russ - 2-22-2011 at 08:44 AM

Surf fishing has always been my passion but in recent years around Punta Chivato I've really lost my enthusiasm. I suspect the Bahia Concepcion is much the same. There are still days when I can catch something but it seems the net boats are pounding the same areas over and over. Even the snorkelers are commenting on how few colorful reef fish they are seeing now. There were 3 net boats go out this morning from our small fish camp. I can only imagine how many go out everyday from Mulege.
Edit:
I use Krocs, Castmasters, Hopkins, scampi type plastics & hard baits (rapala types). Trigger fish will get to the bait before other fish.

[Edited on 2-22-2011 by Russ]

absinvestor - 2-22-2011 at 09:01 AM

Bajaguy- check your U2U- I am not great with the U2U so let me know if you don't receive and feel free to ask any other questions. Ron

absinvestor - 2-22-2011 at 09:04 AM

Thanks for the info. Guess I need to get a boat if I want to catch dinner around Bajia de Concepcion. Ron

LaloinBaja - 2-22-2011 at 11:37 AM

Try to fish around the Punta Prieta n the East side pf BC...I've caught dinner cabrilla there many times...And yes you need a boat...Watch for afternoon winds if your launch is small...Squid Strips work well as well as white scampi...Buenaos Suerte...Lalo

absinvestor - 2-22-2011 at 11:49 AM

to LaloinBaja- thanks. I am an early morning , fair weather person so hopefully I will avoid the afternoon winds.

GrOUper-GAr - 2-22-2011 at 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cypress
absinvestor, It's barren, a few small rays and needle fish here and there. :no:

Might be some fish on the east side of the bay?

I caught a 9 inch :no:

Barred Pargo there once !!
and thats just Sad...

captkw - 2-22-2011 at 02:15 PM

conception has been cleaned out !!!

GrOUper-GAr - 2-22-2011 at 03:01 PM

the act of "Fishing" can still be fun though. :yes:

GrOUper-GAr - 2-22-2011 at 03:03 PM

[Edited on 2-22-2011 by GrOUper-GAr]

SmallestSpotted.jpg - 47kB

captkw - 2-22-2011 at 03:35 PM

had to laugh at that one.......

Marc - 2-22-2011 at 08:02 PM

GrOUper-GAr, !
Anyone who walks on water should do better than that :lol:

GrOUper-GAr - 2-22-2011 at 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Marc
GrOUper-GAr, !
Anyone who walks on water should do better than that :lol:

BUT It was a Miracle to catch anything at all !
Plus, it fried up nicely on the car's cigarette LighTer :tumble:

-GroUPEr

Snorkeling was pretty fun too

Snorkeling.jpg - 39kB

Bob H - 2-22-2011 at 10:55 PM

This video has been around before. But, it is very appropriate for this thread.

Shore fishing the Sea of Cortez, in 1952~ WOW

Just getting there was quite an adventure. Then, the shore fishing was fantastic... check it out if you have not seen this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaiBWGc8PM8&feature=relat...

Cypress - 2-23-2011 at 09:35 AM

Bob H., Thanks for sharing the video.

The Dead Sea - Bay of Conception

Pompano - 2-23-2011 at 10:49 AM

If I posted the photos of all the great fishing I have had in the Bay of
Conception during the 60's, 70's, and part of the 80's...

... it would make you sick to see what it has become today. Very, very sad.

Perhaps it would be a wake-up call...to what the future brings unless we change it?

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PANGUERO NETTING AND LARGER COMMERCIALS DRAGGING!

watizname - 2-23-2011 at 11:05 AM

Right now, they're doing to Punta Chivato what they have done to Conception. Refer to Russ' reports of the net boats out of the fishcamp each day and the pics he had of the nets in the estuary, and right in front of the hotel. Soon, all any of us will have left will be memories and photos of "back in the day". I wish there was something we could do.

Pompano - 2-23-2011 at 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by watizname
Right now, they're doing to Punta Chivato what they have done to Conception. Refer to Russ' reports of the net boats out of the fishcamp each day and the pics he had of the nets in the estuary, and right in front of the hotel. Soon, all any of us will have left will be memories and photos of "back in the day". I wish there was something we could do.

Good thinking, watizname, but they were doing all that to the Punta Chivato area at the same time as Concepton Bay...'back in the day.' It was just more concentrated and easier fo them in the Bay of Conception.

I lived in the Casa Grande at Pta. Chivato in the late 70's. The dragging had already diminished the Bay of Mulege back then. This Bay includes Pta. Chivato. What has been left since then arethe final dregs. A lot of us back then protested strongly many, many times to the local environmental authorities, the Mulege harbor captian, also La Paz, even to the new office in Cabo, to the then governor, etc...all were graciously accepted ....and ignored. It was a wake up call for us, then, and we renewed our energies. It was of course, a huge waste of time 'back in the day.'

Mosty, the pangerous, draggers, and seiners are working outside these days...searching further and further for whatever pays a peso. Even the once plentiful urnchins and sea cukecumbers are gone...forever. Harvested for the Asian trade...all the way down the Cortez.

No more big ray concentrations in the Bay of Conception..I have not seen sharks in the bay since the 80's. Hundreds of thousands of birds..everywhere. Seals and sea lions were common sights on a day's boat ride. Porpoise and whales...all over the place. The bay floor was carpeted with bay scallops. Conch were just a short dive under you..anywhere. Clams, chocolotes, the big yellow botajones, all littered the ocean floor. Underwater noise from shellfish was all croaks, snaps, and squeals..LOUD. Shrimp? Unbelievable that they could disappear so fast.

Every game fish in the Pacific was here..in untold numbers. Everything...literally every species of fish..came here to spawn. Hence the name..Conception Bay. Bahia de Concepcion. I have so many old photos showing I could catch dozens of species right from my sea wall at high tide. Tuna, roosters, yellowtail, snapper, cabrilla, snook, and others. In the channels , sails, marlin, more tuna, dorado everywhere, yellowtail predominated the southern deep water of the bay (one never went outside the bay back then to catch fish ..unless you wanted to go for the adventure.)

I hate to say it, but ..What once was ...Is no nore. Those of you who were not here to see and hear the marine life are spared the gut-wrenching experience of comparing it to today's disappointing silence.

No small wonder so many are leaving Baja fishing behind them..for places like Panama and others who at least are trying to protect the resource.

Yes, still a good anchorage for the shrimpers and seiners at Chivato, though. And a small panga base camp. I just went thru the area by boat yesterday and took over 200 photos..shrimpers, netters, seiners...and the multitude of new homes built there. I am hoping none would buy shrimp or other products from these rapists.

monoloco - 2-23-2011 at 01:56 PM

Mexico could take a lesson from Panama.http://www.fishingrssfeeds.com/node/9888

Pompano - 2-23-2011 at 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by monoloco
Mexico could take a lesson from Panama.http://www.fishingrssfeeds.com/node/9888

The current fishing mode and the determined attitude of the Panama government to improve it's marine resource is one of my main reasons for travel there.

watizname - 2-23-2011 at 05:08 PM

My first ventures into Baja during the early 80's were awsome. Apparently the decline had started, but you couldn't tell it if you hadn't been there earlier. Fishing for anything was a no brainer. Probably why I had so much fun. But if the mexicans would just leave something, the stocks would start to come back. Not to the state they were during the hay days, but at least recover a little. As it is, the cleanest thing in Mexico now is the floor of the Sea of Cortez. A shame.
As shown with the Halibut and White Seabass along the So Cal coast, with a little care, stocks will rebuild, slowly, but it can happen. IF they would just leave SOMETHING. That's why the photos of the pangaros in the estuary at Chivato were so devastating to see. It's like they're sopping up the last juices of life in the Cortez.

Cypress - 2-23-2011 at 05:19 PM

My first fishing experience on the Sea of Cortez was 2007. Suppose it'll be my last. They've got to outlaw the nets. I don't see how the netting has lasted this long.

Russ - 2-23-2011 at 05:52 PM

Pompano, Is this you? Taken yesterday

pompano?.jpg - 47kB

David K - 2-23-2011 at 05:56 PM

I thought Roger was in Italy??? :wow:

Russ - 2-23-2011 at 06:06 PM

Me too but I thought his last post said he was here yesterday. After re reading it I don't know where I got that thought???
That boat has a side console like his but it isn't a the same make. So I wasn't sure. Also the profile's not right either. Oh Well

David K - 2-23-2011 at 06:16 PM

He gets around, doesn't he!?

Pompano - 2-23-2011 at 06:20 PM

I was out fishing yesterday, Tuesday Feb. 22nd, 2011...all day. I had luck making bait, but that's about it.

I fished mainly jurel hard for 5 hours straight using darts, yoyos & all kinds of iron at some spots that were good producers last season. I also fished the live baits in many different zones...on the rocks even.

Nada, zippo, nothing, not even a pick-up.

There must have been a couple dozen others out there from Chivato to Pta. Teresa. I heard of 2 yellows caught .... total.

Finally gave up on the yellows and went to a good pinto rockpile..where I almost bombed out again. Thankfully, 2 scrawny pintos gave up their life to keep me from selling my boat. Viva pintos! Good to eat..and good for those lockjaw days.

This fishing day on the Cortez has to be around number ..ah, who knows?..figure almost 40 years with 6-7 months a year residency at mi casa...fishing at least 3 times a week (back in the day, I fished daily, even gunknoling for days on my old Pompano cruiser)... so let's make it well over 1000 days of fishing. Yup, over 1000 days of fun at sea..and almost all of those were successful 'catching' days.

But these last few years fishing..and watching what is still happening to the Cortez... have just been too depressing. Like watching a loved one die without being able to prevent it..it eats out your heart.

I was so bummed, that yesterday was the only day in all my Baja fishing days that I intentionally did not top off my boat's fuel tank to be ready for the next ocean trip. My own little personal protest, I guess. Feeble and unnoticed, but meaningful to me.

Oh, I'll get over it in a few days for sure...I'm an optimist, not a pessimist and cannot remain ashore for long. 'The sky is not falling..but today's ceiling is pretty damn low!!'

I'll mope for the regualtion period at Ana's and the Jungle..peeing and moaning...,then I will just run on up to Tortuga or down to the Cape...and find my karma again...Hope is the best cure for what afflicts Baja...and me.

Panama is great and I will enjoy the superb fishing.... but Baja is still Home!

805gregg - 2-24-2011 at 09:23 AM

I got a conch in Baja Conception in 1973, I don't supose there are any around now.

Pompano - 2-24-2011 at 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Russ
Pompano, Is this you? Taken yesterday

Hi Russ,

Yes, that is indeed me 2 days ago..Tuesday. I will be posting some photos of that day soon.

Can't blame you for thinking I was back in Italy. I have crisscrossed the Atlantic so many times lately I am beginning to recognize certain ship outlines!

hah..neat shot of the old camerabug!

GrOUper-GAr - 2-24-2011 at 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pompano
But these last few years fishing..and watching what is still happening to the Cortez... have just been too depressing. Like watching a loved one die without being able to prevent it..it eats out your heart.
I was so bummed, that...
Oh, I'll get over it in a few days for sure...I'm an optimist, not a pessimist and cannot remain ashore for long. 'The sky is not falling..but today's ceiling is pretty damn low!!'

1000+ days on the sea !
that's incredible Pompano.
I'm not sure most people can fathom that number.
(its not a contest, but can anybody else say that?)
To see the amazing beauty you must have been witness to over the last 40 years... :wow:

Personally, I have seen some wonderful wilderness scenes on the cortez(in less time, and in considerably less fruitful years).
I can only Imagine what you've enjoyed.
I love the water so much, my friends describe me as a "full-time ocean observer & part-time everything else."
I dreamed up till recently, if Lucky, maybe someday, i could own a place down on Baja's Cortez, along a WARM fruitful coast, enjoying_______.(fill in with your dream activity here).
But one cannot "full time Observe a Goddess" as she is being R@PED.
Your Optimism is commendable. And though I'm not a pessimist, I pride myself on being a realist.
So I feel your pain when you say:
its "Like watching a loved one die without being able to prevent it..it eats out your heart."
because realistically,
MY DREAM is squashed.

wsdunc - 2-24-2011 at 02:01 PM

Has east cape been spared the ravages to the netters and seiners to some degree because there were some attempts at conservation earlier, and it is a nore open body of water than the bay? Somebody please tell me that although its not like it used to be that east cape is still a viable recreational fishing ground? Bahia Conception sounds very sad, I always loved Punta Chivato.

Pompano - 2-24-2011 at 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by GrOUper-GAr

Quote:

..I dreamed up till recently, if Lucky, maybe someday, i could own a place down on Baja's Cortez, along a WARM fruitful coast, enjoying_______.(fill in with your dream activity here).
But one cannot "full time Observe a Goddess" as she is being R@PED.
Your Optimism is commendable. And though I'm not a pessimist, I pride myself on being a realist.
So I feel your pain when you say:
its "Like watching a loved one die without being able to prevent it..it eats out your heart."
because realistically,
MY DREAM is squashed.

GrOUper-GAr, you know you have to follow that dream...if it's important enough. What I feel about Baja is vastly different than what any others feel..inlcuding you. So what if the fishing is lousy at present?..Baja is so much more then fish. I like to fish, yes...but.. I LOVE TO BE IN BAJA.

You are the master of your destiny. Don't let a bad fishing report sway you from your paradise.

YES! Fishing down at the Cape is many times better at all times of the year than up here near Mulege..and a lot of other northern Cortez places. If it were even a two hour drive from my place, I would be fishing there every day...but unfortunately is more like 7-8 with boat trailer..a wee bit far to commute.

Hey..the moon will hold water in a day or two...who's up for some fishing?

Cypress - 2-24-2011 at 04:51 PM

Pompano, That's the spirit! Good luck. Will be looking forward to your report and pictures. Regarding the plight of the Sea of Cortez. The Colorado River no longer introduces tons of nutrients into the Sea of Cortez. The further fish migrate up in to the Sea of Cortez, the less there is for them to eat. They'd probably starve if they escaped the nets.

watizname - 2-25-2011 at 09:11 AM

Even though the fishing isn't up to the old standards I still get the same old feeling when I top the ridge and get that first glimpse of the water at BOLA or Santa Rosalia. Baja IS more than just fishing. :cool:

comitan - 2-25-2011 at 09:38 AM

Santispac early 80's. Neting all of the bay.

[Edited on 2-25-2011 by comitan]

P7260022.JPG - 43kB

Cypress - 2-25-2011 at 11:02 AM

Baja is a great place to visit. The fantastic fishing was a major draw. People bought property and returned year after year. Some relocated there permanently. Now? :?:

If you subtract excellent fishing from the equation it just doesn't balance out.