BajaNomad

3 days out of East Cape

Santiago - 7-19-2018 at 10:39 AM

7 of us at Las Palmas, fished three days in two cruisers, 1 standard and one deluxe (wider beam). Mediocre at best:
Day 1: 3 YFT to 10#, dozen bonita (half on a 9wt fly rod), couple of smallish dorado.

Day 2: Deluxe went north and got one 250# blue marlin, released over the objections of the crew. That's it, very rough seas.
Standard went south for 2 hours along the coast, trolled for wahoo all day. Got 3 tuna at 8:30, one small dorado on fly rod and one large dorado about noon that was cut in half by a very large shark, 10 feet from the boat. Shark circled the boat for 10 minutes looking for the other half. Not rough there. We were maybe 30 minutes south of Cabo Pulmo. 20 cruisers working this area and maybe 20 pangas as well.

Day 3: Both went south, Deluxe got bit by 4 wahoo, 2 in the boat. Standard got zippo other than 2 small roosters at the end of the day and by small I mean 12-18", maybe.


7 fisherfolks took home one 50 quart cooler of fillets, maybe 3/4 full. 4 coolers went home empty. And this is the height of the season. We counted over 75 cruisers out in front of the 3 or 4 hotels in our strip, maybe passed 100 more going south past the other hotels along the cape. Just so you understand, I couldn't care less about taking home fillets, I'm just reporting what 7 people produced in 3 days of hitting it pretty hard.


And since I'm on a rant, there were about 20-25 really large humans at the pool bar for hours and they never got up to go the restroom. The mathematician in our group figured the water had to be at least 10% urine by the late afternoon. We swam in the ocean hoping for cleaner water after that.


I doubt I will ever go back - the difference between 1990 and now is just to much to handle. Of course, there was probably an old guy at the place I was at in 1990 saying the same thing......

BajaUtah - 7-19-2018 at 11:06 AM

At the end of May this year we did a 1/2 day panga and fished El Rincon - in between Punta Arena and Cabo Pulmo. 2 of us in the boat and we landed a 40lb YFT, 10lb Amberjack, 3 really nice Pompano and 4 smaller Pargo. It really was toss a line pull a fish.

I have nothing to judge this by as this was my first time fishing the area off shore but I felt stoked by the result. This will be my "it used to be great " story in 20 years when the snot nosed ankle biters complain to me how badly the Sea of Cortez sucks now and how good I had it back in the day.

bobrehfuss - 7-19-2018 at 11:18 AM

Sooooo, does that mean your an “old guy” now, haha.

Bummer about the fishing. I’ve been to east cape for epic fishing and helmet fishing since I started going there in ‘94. Ya, I’m and old guy too. That sure does sound like a lot of boats fishing the area but I think that some of the cabo guys are going north and east cape guys going south so that’s a combined fleet of hundreds if not a thousand boats and prime time so I guess it makes sense.

As far as the resort issues after visiting several resorts in the east cape I really prefer the laid back vibe of Rancho Leonero. More and more I’ve been enjoying VRBO/Air BNB houses. You can even get meals and cleaning daily if you want and with a group your size you’ll be surprised how affordable the price can be. Lots and lots of great fisherman in that area that will pick you up and drop you off for fishing if needed. If you rent a beachfront some will even pick you up right in front of your house.

Bummer about the slow Fishing though. Hope you get them on your next trip.




charliemanson - 7-19-2018 at 01:24 PM

Keep going south from Muertos!!!

Don't say anything but we are in the best year in 5 up here above all those commercial guys who through huge wakes on our pangas. Done with all we want in 3 hours. Just depends on how many 70-90 lb. tuna you need or want to pull in or 40-50 lb. grouper/cabrilla. Thank goodness we don't keep the strippers and blues and pull them off in 15-20 min. after the show.

It truly is as good as it has been in years.

tunaeater - 7-19-2018 at 07:27 PM

Thanks for the report, we are heading to la paz early August and was considering maybe going to the Esat Cape to fish. Still undecided and won't know probably until departure time. I know what you mean about the swim up bars....We've noticed it too many times on vacay.... Haven't had a real good trip the past 3 years until this year. We went to Bahias de Hutulco in Oaxaca this June and it made up for all the mediorce trips and boat rides....
I'll report upon return from La Paz thanks for reporting....

Doug/Vamonos - 8-23-2018 at 08:40 AM

Nothing worse than 20-25 really large gross men. I was spoiled forever when I traveled Baja for 20 years with my pretty, sweet smelling, inoffensive wife. No farts. No burps. No foul language. No scratching. No stinky body odor. Those experiences taught me to be very selective with any men who drive in my car. Especially on long trips. You should have bought a gallon of bleach and poured it in the pool!

My last trip to the East Cape (Rancho Leonero) was in 2001. The presence of what seemed like hundreds of boats totally turned me off. I'll take peaceful little Bahia any day.

bonanza bucko - 8-23-2018 at 01:57 PM

A few years ago the Mexican Navy caught a Japanese long liner off La Paz with 2000 tons of marlin on board. The word was that the honcho at Pesca's wife got a new mink coat for that...but who knows.

Classic eating of the goose which laid the golden egg and of eating the seed corn too.

Bubba - 8-24-2018 at 06:59 AM

Quote: Originally posted by bonanza bucko  
A few years ago the Mexican Navy caught a Japanese long liner off La Paz with 2000 tons of marlin on board. The word was that the honcho at Pesca's wife got a new mink coat for that...but who knows.

Classic eating of the goose which laid the golden egg and of eating the seed corn too.


I've watched the decline of all fisheries in Baja over the past 30 yrs, it will eventually end up a dessert like the land that surrounds it.. No thanks.