Baja fish/SUP/Surf Report

Greetings,
Just returned from 2 weeks in Baja. We left Osos at 4 am on Dec. 26th and arrived at Papa Fernandez at 4 pm! Easy crossing at Mexicali West and after a quick stop for groceries and pesos we were set up on the beach before sunset. I knew this trip was off to a good start when we arrived at the beach for the first time ever and I noticed some fish boiling right off the beach. I grabbed by ultra light spinning rod and tied on a 1 oz. jig on 8# test. First cast yielded a very hard fighting longjaw leatherjack (my first in Baja). I proceeded to catch 6-8 more before it got dark. What a cool spot! Woke up early the next morning and took the SUP out and fish the entire beach for a variety of jacks, triggerfish, flag cabrilla and spotted sand bass. Super fun! The morning was made even better by a gorgeous sunrise over the Cortez.
Had breakfast with the family and then went on a long SUP around the island with my wife. The sea was glassy and we had a wonderful paddle...wishing we had brought money for a beverage at Alfonsina's! After our paddle, we walked over to Fernandez's restaurant for lunch, but they were not open that day.
Spent a wonderful afternoon on the beach until the wind started to blow (big storm was hitting California). It blew hard all night and was sure glad I wasn't in a tent! Some guys down the beach were taking down their wall tent at 3 am. We packed up in the morning, paid our $16 for two nights of camping and headed to Alfonsina's for breakfast. What a cool spot! We had a great breakfast enjoying the beautiful views at the restaurant. We hit the road about 10 am and got down to Mulege about 4 pm. The road was in decent shape with a little road construction N of Guerro Negro. Some of the new vados were poorly constructed and are actually much rougher than any others in Baja. Slow down when approaching these new cement vados. Otherwise it was easy traveling with a new road through Santa Rosalia.
We stay at Don Chano's on the river about a 1/2 mile E of town. Very lush, beautiful campground. We took luke warm showers and headed over to the restaurant for dinner. With bona fide steady rain falling, we had an amazing dinner of fresh scallops. Of course the three killer margaritas my wife and I had may have helped. The next morning we ventured downtown, bought groceries at the gringo store and looked for the ATM. Apparently they moved out in June and there is no way to get money in Mulege. Apparently there is no plans for another bank to move in. Seems kinda crazy for a community with so may Americans/Canadians! We had planned on having a late breakfast at El Candil, but they don't open til lunch, so we went to El Mesquite next door. We had a really good breakfast there and then headed down to Conception.
We pulled into Playa Coco about noon and Gary indicated there was a palapa open down the beach. We moved in and settled down for four days in paradise. We set up the chairs, hammock and inflated the SUP's. The weather the next four days was glorious with very little wind and temps in the 70's. We did several long paddles around the islands. We saw a spotted eagle ray on one paddle and did some great snorkeling/clam collecting on another. Gary even got me out fishing two days for a nice collection of Baja reef sampling. We caught spotted rose snapper, spotted sand bass, finescale triggerfish, ladyfish, too many barracuda, Sierra mackerel, and one huge African pompano. It was another great stay at Playa Coco. My wife flew out on the 1st, so we packed up and dropped her off at the airport about noon and then headed up to San Bruno to stay with my fiends Grant and Dar.
The plan was to just stay for the night, but Grant said he needed some help catching some yellowtail. Zoe was excited to hang out with Dar for the day, so Grant and I got up early to check the weather. It was a bit breezy, but we pounded the W wind chop up to San Lucas to make some mackerel. After we had about 12 baits, we headed across to the 110. The wind was up and the crossing was pretty choppy, but not enough to deter our mission. Fishing had been pretty slow at the 110, but they were on the chew this day! Unfortunately, our batting average was pretty low (3/10) with a few missed fish, a pulled hook and two break offs. We also managed to catch a 10# fortune jack on iron. It was a decent hall and enough for Grant to fire up the canner.
We packed up and got on the road earlier in the morning, but not before stopping to buy 50 tortillas from the local tortillaria....10 being hot off and press and quickly consumed! The way N was easy and after a gas up in Guerro Negro we were turning off to Punta Santa Rosallilta to hit the 7-sisters for surf. We pulled into the jammed packed campground about noon and waited for a camp spot to open up. We looked out a long, 3-5' peeling waves and were super excited to get out in the water. I got my daughter a 9' surf tech soft top for X-mas and she was chomping at the bit to try it out. The board was fast (huge improvement over the Costco Jerry Lopez) and she caught a bunch of waves. We caught 2.5 days of killer weather/surf. We caught waves until our arms fell off and my daughter made huge strides in reading and catching waves. She even learned to cut up and down the face of the waves and do little floaters at the end. We met up with some friends from Osos and got to know many other people camped around us. Unfortunately a huge swell arrived on Friday along with a bunch of wind, so we packed up the next morning and headed home.
We were on the road at 8 am and were in San Felipe by noon. Stopped for gas and an excellent lunch at Mariscos La Vaquita. Continued N and easily found the Mexicali East crossing. After a 90 minute wait we were crossing into the states with no problems. Traffic through SD and LA was light in the evening and we pulled into our driveway about midnight.
Another great trip to Baja. It was a wonderful mix of fishing, paddling and surfing AND some fantastic family and father/daughter time. These last two trips have really helped get my daughter excited about Baja and we can no wait to return again.
Best fishes,
Steve

So you are pretty sure that your daughter won't hold a grudge against you for dragging her all over Baja Norte, making her get up early for sunrise adventures, dealing with slimy fish and other horrors?

She is not going to forget this trip. Good on you Dad!

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Great report. Post some photos if you can.