Greetings,
Traveled down to Baja for my annual trip. I've only missed two years in the past 21!
Headed down with the family a couple days after Christmas. Stayed with a friend at the border and then crossed early in the morning. No problems
crossing, just a quick X-ray of our Truck/camper/boat. Got our tourist permits stamped and were headed South bright and early.
Quick stop in Ensanada for Baja groceries and beer and we continued on to Santo Tomas. Rachael loves wine and we stopped at the oldest winery in Baja
(est. 1888), to do some wine tasting and have lunch. After a relaxing couple of hours, we got on the road and continued South to Playa El Pabellon for
the night. Arrived in time to watch a gorgeous sunset over the Pacific.
The next day we continued South to our friends' Grant and Dar in San Bruno. Had a wonderful visit at their new place. Sweet spot!!! The weather looked
windy in the main Cortez for the next week, so we decided to head down to Conception Bay.
We arrived in Conception Bay and found a spot on the beach at Playa Los Cocos, a place I've camped at many times in years past. We set up camp and
unloaded the boat and got the SUP's ready to go. The next day was supposed to be glassy all day! I got up early the next morning and let the girls
sleep in.
I took the paddle board out to Isla Blanca and dropped down my 1 oz. jig. A few jigs and I was on! A good fight up to the board and I was stoked to
see a 2# spotted rose snapper. Two more drops and two more snapper on the stringer and I was done! Those were going to make some great fish tacos
later that day and fantastic Steviche the next day.
The day was gorgeous, as advertised, and we went out paddleboarding several times. Zoe even got to paddle with some bottlenose dolphin for a short
bit. Zoe and I also had a great time snorkeling and saw many cool fish and a beautiful tubellarian flatworm about 4" long!!! We had a great 5 days at
Playa Coco. Paddling every day and snorkeling a couple others. I showed Zoe haw to collect clams by fanning away the sand...she modified that by using
her fin
Had solid fishing around the bay each morning. Zoe and I had an epic morning catching snapper, with us catching 15+ snapper jigging Isla Blanca. We
had many doubles that morning and kept 3 or 4 for fish tacos. Another day we caught a bunch of green jacks trolling rapalas and another we caught
several ladyfish working iron. Very good fishing for Conception Bay.
Unfortunately Zoe had to go back to school and Rachael back to work, so I dropped them off at the Loreto Airport and picked up my good friend Troy,
who had made many of my first trips to Baja, but had missed the past 12 years!!! The weather was laying down, so we headed up to Playa Dos Amigos in
San Lucas Cove to fish Isla San Marcos for a couple days. We got a sweet spot at Dos Amigos (Skinny Ken's old palapa) and set up camp, which turned
into 12 days!
The next day was calm and we easily made macks at the deep haystack and headed across to the island. Did one drift on the 110 for nada, but moved over
to the 50 were all the pangas were collecting. About 30 seconds in to our first drift we are on our first YT of the trip on a fly line mack. Solid 15#
fish. We managed to catch 3 YT that day, and 5 nice size leopard grouper. Rinse and repeat the next day for 4 YT (broke off two bigger models on the
high spot) and a couple more grouper.
Some friends from Oregon show up later that day, only a 4 day drive from Oregon, and we feed them a healthy meal of YT fish tacos! The wind is blowing
the next day, so we fish around the haystack and catch a couple firecrackers trolling and a bunch of sand bass jigging iron. The wind continues to
blow the following day, so we decide to leave the boat on shore and take the SUP's out for long paddle. We go in the dark and get a nice light show
from the bioluminescence and then an amazing sunrise over the Vermillion Sea! Had a great time paddling around the bay, checking out birds and go way
up the mangrove channel near Camacho's camp.
The cove was glassy all morning. In the afternoon we hike up to the Petroglyphs and then come back to walk the mudflats for chocolate's! It was a nice
windy day. Still more wind the next day, so we decide to do a day trip down to Conception Bay. We took Tommy Two fish from Oregon and ended up having
really good fishing off Isla Blanca for snapper, triggers, and other random reef fish. We call it reef sampling and it is amazing the variety of fish
you can pull off a single reef. I think we got up to 14 different species!!! Back at the beach by noon and we enjoy an afternoon of steviche and
Pacificos on the beach. We head back to camp before dark.
Calm seas forecasted for the next 6 days (and they were correct), so we all gear up to chase YT the next day. Tommy two fish jumps in our boat again
and we head out in slightly choppy seas. Bait is easy at the deep haystack and the seas are calming as we head across to the Island. A light drizzle
doesn't hurt the fishing, as we manage to land 6 nice 20-25# YT that day. Tommy lands three, so now his Baja nickname is Tomas tres pesca! Rinse and
repeat the next day, but we have Larry out with us and we land 4 nice YT. Troy flies out the next day, so we do a little reef sampling around the
island on his last day and catch a few grouper, hogfish and other random reef fish.
Drop Troy and Dan off at the airport that afternoon and pick up Doug and his brother Dave. The Cortez stays calm for the next 3 days and each day we
fish the 110 or 220 and do really well catching 3 or 4 20-30# YT each day. Dave's first YT and he is blown away by their power! Several days are as
calm as the Cortez gets, with glassy calm seas and sunny skies! The wind is forecasted to blow the next 3 days, so Doug, Dave and I pack up camp and
head to Playa Los Coco and the Oregon boys begin their trip back up North.
We score two nice palapas at the beach and have an epic 4 days. We fish each morning and have very good fishing for a whole variety of cool fish! We
got into the snapper again, but also found a spot holding Sierra! We caught several, but also lost 6 or 7 lures from the Sierra sawing us off! Need
some toothy leader for next time. In this same area we also caught corvina, ladyfish, green jacks, and a few others. It was really good fishing!!!
Daily snorkels, clamming, and paddling made for very few dull moments. Had a great time hanging out with the folks at Playa Los Cocos! They even let
us join their night time bocce ball game.
The last day of fishing was kind of a bummer as there were 3 several hundred yard gills nets in the area we had caught a bunch of fish the day before.
We saw them pull in hundreds of fish. Very sad! That area is supposed to be off limits to commercial fishing.
Sadly packed up camp and headed to San Bruno to hang out with Grant and Dar one last time. The drive home went smoothly until a motorhome took off my
driver's side mirror outside Guerro Negro and my leaf springs on my boat started breaking. Lost one just N of G. N. and another just S of El Rosario.
Fortunately we were able to limp into San Quitin and, within 2 hours, we were back on the road!
Made Just S of Madeadero by dark and pulled into the big RV park. Decent spot, but expensive. Apparently it has a water park and ATV rentals. Lots of
folks from Ensanada come there in the summer. Nice spot and safe, but we won't be staying there again because of the price. Dave did have a great time
partying with the locals celebrating a quinceanera...I really want to see videos of the dance off Dave!!!
Here is the video...enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoSo...ature=youtu.be
best fishes,
Steve |
