redhilltown - 9-13-2011 at 11:43 PM
Went down to BOLA just after Labor Day. Great border crossing south at TJ and outside of some road work near Maneadero the drive was fine. Stayed at
Costa del Sol the first night and the A/C and food was great as always.
Camped at La Gringa just about as far north as possible. For five bucks a day it really can't be beat! They leave you alone and come around once a day
to check on you and get your trash if you so chose. Air temps around 100 and water temps anywhere from 80-85. Numerous small Dorado working the
channel between the shore and Isla Smith...8-12 pounds and hitting feathers or live bait if you had it. Caught a Porgy from shore (goooood eating) and
a 15 pound Jack Crevalle from our beach launched Valco plus numerous Spotted Bay Bass, Barracuda, Sierra, 'fore mentioned Dorado and a few others.
Many Finback whales in the channel.
Went out with Enrique at Daggets and hit a high spot north of Guadalupe Bay for 20-25 pound Yellowtail and had to fight the sea lions for them as you
brought them up (how in the hell can a 20 pound fish fight THAT hard?). Cruised back home to Daggets for many hook ups for Dorado...he is a great
great captain and I would highly recommend him.
Gas and ice readily available in L.A. Bay proper.
Came home up the Cortez coast. Sad to see Coco is not there and the guy watching the place came by as we had a beer at his tables (we were going to
leave our produce for him as we were crossing the border). He said Coco was in the hospital in Ensenada and had been there a while. Can't be a good
sign but gotta hope for the best and with the race coming up, if anything will get him back that would be it. Construction is continuing and the
graded road getting closer and closer to Gonzaga proper. Pavement is past Five Islands. There is honestly very little of the bad bad bad 'old road'
left.
Gonzaga Bay had scorching heat....one car had the temps at 107 and the other at 109! Still made the stop at Alphonsina's and even though they were
closed they still cooked us up some Corvina fish tacos that were out of this world.
Race event was going on in San Felipe so the El Cortez was hopping. Hit the border at Mexicali at 8 a.m. for an easy border crossing with no secondary
(been on the "bad" list I guess for a while...nice to get waved thru).
A great trip and a well stocked freezer. What more can you ask????
Thanks for the report
John M - 9-14-2011 at 06:03 AM
Sounds as though fishing and weather were both pretty darn good! Plus the bonus of a smooth border crossing.
What day of week at the border in Mexicali? East crossing?
We have never stayed at a hotel in BOLA but your description may lead us to try that one night.
John
Von - 9-14-2011 at 11:21 AM
Cannt wait! will be fin BOLA with Ruben Daggette in two weeks! YEAH!
redhilltown - 9-14-2011 at 02:18 PM
John: Did the regular main crossing and it was about 35-40 mins but early on a Saturday morning.
Von: If you can get up extra early on fishing days to make bait and run out to the high spot...we were there first and it took a while for the sea
lions to find us and we didn't lose any. Once the other boats got there they were getting nailed. To crank that hard and then just pull up a
yellowtail head must be pretty depressing!
BornFisher - 9-15-2011 at 12:10 PM
Thanks for the report. I`ve always said that if you tie a rope to the tail of a YT, and the other end around my feet, I would get towed wherever that
YT wanted to go! Boy those fish are strong!!