Germanicus - 8-21-2004 at 10:35 AM
I scrolled through most of the posts in this section (not all of them) and could not find anything about fishing on the west / Pacific coast.
How is fishing on the pacific side of baja?
There are plenty of so callad 'Fish-Camps'.
Mostly in remote locations.
What are these Fish-Camps doing?
Are that hatcheries or what?
I know, one reason is certainly that the West coats is not that much developed > at least in BCS that's the case.
Other than Todos, there is no big town at the Pacific side in BCS.
(And that is certainly something to call Todos Santos a big town!!!)
Does it makes sence at all to go fishing on the West Coast?
Germanicus
TMW - 8-21-2004 at 11:15 AM
The fish camps are mostly small places where local fishermen live and go out daily for their catch which they then usually sell to a coop. Some fish
camps are abandoned with the fishermen coming out certain times of the year. Or they've moved on to a better place.
I serf fish at several areas along the pacific from Colonet to San Juanico. Hallibut, white sea bass, yellow fin and spot fin croakers, spotted bass
and corbina are caught along with serf perch which I don't like due to the many small bones. The cool breeze off the pacific during the summer is
refreshing compared to the heat on the Sea of Cortez side.
Germanicus - 8-21-2004 at 05:36 PM
well, if fishing is not too bad on the west coast, then why is it that there are no real harbors at the west coast in BCS?
If trawlers possibly could leave into the Pacific for good catches, why is there no major fishing port?
I'm not in the fishing industry, just curious.
what's the reason for that?
Germanicus
David K - 8-21-2004 at 06:57 PM
Get out your map... From south to north:
Bahia Magdalena... one of the Pacific
Oceans largest natural harbors. Two major ports there: Puerto San Carlos and Puerto Lopex Mateos, both connected to Hwy. 1 by paved roads. Also minor
ports (like Puerto Chale, Puerto Cancun)
Bahia Tortugas... a nearly perfect example of a natural bay... services pleasure and commercial craft.
Laguna Ojo de Liebre (Scammon's Lagoon) is the port for salt barges that take the white mineral out to Isla Cedros where large cargo vessels continue
the transpoert world wide.
Laguna Guerrero Negro (Black Warrior Lagoon) the entrance is actually north of the state line... This was the original port for Guerrero Negro before
operations moved south to Scammon's Lagoon.
In addition, the many fishing towns may have some sheltered anchorages: San Juanico (Scorpion Bay), Punta Abreojos, Bahia Asuncion.
Germanicus - 8-22-2004 at 08:44 AM
David, thanx for the well based info.
Now I have a 'feeling' for ports on the west coast.
My question was because I missed seeing opportunities for pleasure boats to get into water > mostly in the deep south.
Let's say around Todos Santos and northbound towards San Carlos.
Those ports you mention, i.e. San Carlos or Adolfo Lopez, are there boat ramps for pleasure boats? or are that more commercial / fishing ports?
Do you know?
Puerto Chale and Puerto Cancun are ceratinly nice little ports.
At least it looks like they are.
Do you know those towns and the ports? Are they more commercial fishing harbors?
Same with Bahia Tortugas > looks inviting to me.
I ceratinly will visit that harbor.
You got to know, I'm a "Harbor Fan".
I do like little fishing harbors very much.
The athmosphere in a small commercial fishing harbor is not comparable to anything else in the world.
And that's why I'm asking.
Have a nice Sunday(at least what's left from it)
Germanicus
Fishing on the west coast
Taco de Baja - 8-25-2004 at 08:23 AM
Can be AWESOME if you find the right place.
I located one (and I won't give its Mexican name 
) that I nicknamed 'Pisces
Point'. The year I found it, early 1980's, I averaged a fish every 2 casts with a lure and a fish with every cast with bait. I caught White Sea Bass,
Halibut, Barracuda, Kelp Bass, Sand Bass. Corbina, Croakers, Sheephead, Opal Eye, Rubber lipped Perch, the list went on and on. Plus, the fishermen
would trade us longosta for beer, cigarettes, and instant coffee.
The fishing has dropped off in recent years, but we still get guaranteed halibut and an occasional WSB. We can still catch croakers on every cast with
bait, any croaker smaller than 12"-14" gets a chance to get bigger and be caught on our next trip 
.
The purpose of most of the fish camps on the west coast is to supply longosta to Puerto Nuevo.
South Baja Boat Launching
jrbaja - 8-25-2004 at 09:16 AM
Again Germanicus, it reverts back to the oceanic conditions. South Baja is pretty well known for surfing. Probably more than anything amongst
foreigners.
That's because there are usually waves. And some fairly large sized ones too.
This makes maintaining launching facilities quite tiresome so they pretty much just don't have them.
There is a very steep beach along the majority of that coastline and it is constantly changing.
So, they use naturally protected areas like Chale and Cancun. But, as far as "nice little ports", I have to laugh.
They are just fishing villages. No stores, no beer, no supplies. Just a few houses and they launch their pangas off the beach.
Lopez Mateos and San Carlos are both "booming metropoli" and do have all the
amenities of a city. Hookers, bars, tourist facilities, fishing excursions, whale watching, etc.
These places are two of the least affected areas from tourism in Baja in spite of the amounts of tourists they get.
I'm surprised that
Tucker - 8-25-2004 at 11:22 AM
Punta Lobos wasn't mentioned, a major launching point for the fishermen of the Todos Santos Co-op. It's a real trip to see the pangas surf in at full
power upon their return at about 2pm, coming to rest about 50 feet onto the beach. (But, Puntas on the map aren't regarded as Puertos, o' laguna -
llano)