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ElFaro
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Registered: 9-16-2007
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San Marcos Mike No Longer
Saw this on Bloodydecks site...looks like with the economic downturn and personal reasons Kanzler has permanently left San Marcos island for the
indefinite future.
http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/baja-mexico-fishing-report...
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BajaBruno
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Posts: 1035
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Location: Back in CA
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Mood: Happy
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Too bad. Mike is a yellowtail fishing machine. I had no idea the village took such a hit in employment.
Christopher Bruno, Elk Grove, CA.
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Trueheart
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I've heard stories about this Mike and yellow tail. He has the "great fisherman" reputation. His leaving is a step backwards. Wish him well. Steve
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doradodan
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Location: San Felipe
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Mood: boracho
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Met him once at the ramp in SLC, he was a jerk to us. What comes around goes around.
\"The time spent off the water, I\'m thinking of ways to get back in\"
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Pescador
Ultra Nomad
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Location: Baja California Sur
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Geez Doradodan, give it a rest. Mike was a roadie on a grunge group who came to San Lucas Cove on a vacation and get it together kind of trip. He
had some interest in fishing but did not really understand what was going on in the area and a guy named Spencer talked to him one morning and asked
if he would like to go fishing. Mike agreed and the next day they went fishing and this was the very start of a Baja legend. Spencer, over the next
few days, taught Mike most of what he knew, and he was a great fisherman from the San Diego fishing club, and Mike took that knowledge to heart and
started working at about 150% to see if he could do something with that knowledge.
Well, the rest is history folks and Mike developed the techniques and knowledge of the San Marcos/Tortuga area like no one before or after had ever
done. He developed the live bait technique and sliding sinkers that literally wreaked havoc on the local yellowtail population. The second thing
that he did was to dry himself out and fall in love with a local girl from San Marcos Island. They had three children, two girls and a boy. Mike was
always controversial but as my late wife said, he was a true gem and a real baja character and while he sounded rough and base on the radio, he was a
true fisherman in the best sense of the word and never did he not share information or techniques with everyone who wanted to know.
He did a guiding operation out of his place in San Marcos and relied on a friend in San Lucas Cove to help operate things, but those who were lucky
enough to fish a day with him knew that they had learned a lot of lessons and it might take a long time to grasp all of the things that they learned.
Of course he had his detractors who thought that they could outfish him but the truth was that he was on the water probably 250+ days a year and there
is no way that some clown with a two week vacation could even grasp the enormity of what Mike knew instinctively in his head. I had the good fortune
of spending a lot of days with Mike on the water and he reluctantly admitted that I was one of the hot upcoming sticks but I know in my heart that he
will always be the one with the experience and know how to find the fish on the tough days and figure out some new method that no one had ever
considered to unlock the secret of catching another yellowtail.
So I read the post in Bloodydecks with a lot of mixed emotions. No one will ever hold a candle to what Mike accomplished in the years that he was
here and very active. But I am saddened that another era has passed in which we were lucky enough to have him here even though some days you just
wanted him to go somewhere else and leave you alone. One day he had lost some of his waypoints at Tortuga Island and when we talked on the radio, I
said I would share all the points if he wanted to come out, but I got totally immersed in catching billfish that morning since they were really on the
chew, but he chewed me out big time when I was not on the yellowtail hole since I had told him I would be there, and I had to admit that I had told
him I would be there and he had done the same for me so many times, that I gave up on a really hot sailfish bite and went in to catch yellowtail so
that he could have the locations as I had promised.
So Doradodan had a bad experience and for that I am sorry that he did not meet up to your expectations and I am sure in your long life you have
never had a bad day, but perhaps you missed the great opportunity to meet and interact with a true Baja Legend that we will talk about around
campfires and get togethers for a long time. I can tell you that I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to spend time with San Marcos Mike
and to have had the chance to spend a little time picking the brain of one of the true mastes of what Baja is all about.
[Edited on 5-26-2010 by Pescador]
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13043
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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what a nice tribute....we all have bad days!!!!
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classicbajabronco
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Registered: 1-2-2010
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yeah great tribute....but it would be far easier to read if it had spaces between the paragraphs...I kept losing my place and my eyes hurt by the end
of reading it....
Everyone has bad, or really bad days...I for one have way too many....as my patience is used primarily when fishing and not in the other aspects of my
life.
Thanks for backing up your buddy.
[Edited on 5-25-2010 by classicbajabronco]
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ElFaro
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Registered: 9-16-2007
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Kansler's tale of trying to live and earn a living in Baja has been attempted many times by other non-mexican male Gringos before him over the
decades. They all seem to fit the same scenario...visit Baja, "fall in love with Baja", don't want to go back to the north, try to somehow fit in,
can't speak Spanish so marry a local mexican gal, establish a family, eke out a living that doesn't take away from local employment issues, etc., etc.
It looks like he was forced to return to the US to earn a living.
In the early 90's I met a young guy in the Muertos Bay area who was attempting to do the same thing...he was trying to earn money by taking Americans
out on diving trips. He was from the LA basin and hated to go back so he married a Mexican gal in the area, had kids, etc. But later I heard he and
wife got in trouble for not having proper papers for a business and fines not being paid...so the local Mexican authorities wanted to kick him out of
the country (Baja). I think he and wife were forced to leave Baja and return to Los Angeles.
BTW...as far as Kansler is concerned I distinctly remember him on a fishing radio show a few years back talking about his guide service. I called in
and asked him how his earning money down at San Marcos doesn't take away from local employment. I remember him saying he was a retired fireman
obviously implying he had money coming in from a US retirement. But his story doesn't mention any of that. What gives?
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KAT54
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Registered: 3-7-2006
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He looks pretty young to be a retired firefighter does not he?
How do you retire at 35?
How can you make money fishing with a rod?
How much is yellowtail a pound in mexico?
Did newspapers pay him for his stories?
Did not he say he got a divorce from the mexican woman?
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doradodan
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Posts: 162
Registered: 11-23-2006
Location: San Felipe
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Mood: boracho
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| Quote: | Originally posted by KAT54
He looks pretty young to be a retired firefighter does not he?
How do you retire at 35?
How can you make money fishing with a rod?
How much is yellowtail a pound in mexico?
Did newspapers pay him for his stories?
Did not he say he got a divorce from the mexican woman? |
a real saint.
\"The time spent off the water, I\'m thinking of ways to get back in\"
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Timo1
Senior Nomad
Posts: 741
Registered: 11-2-2007
Location: Homeless
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Mood: Lovin every minute of it
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Obviously Kat54 never qualified for a day pass at whatever institution IT may be in
sold out and got out !!!
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Hook
Elite Nomad
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Location: Sonora
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I guess this just made it official. I cant recall him making any weekly reports from the area for about a year before mexfish.com stopped doing
reports. The last fishing report on his site is nearly two years old.
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ElFaro
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What's interesting to me is Kanzler's report of the Gypsum companies situation. I should have assumed they would have taken a major hit when the
construction industry virtually grounded to a halt in the Southwest. With no houses being built let alone sold it's no wonder they are down to one
ship per month or less.
You don't hear many hard news reports coming out of Baja of large business downturns as a result of our economic slowdown. Mostly you hear of shops
GOOB along Blvd. Revolution or Rosarito. Do any of you remember the big Truss and lumber mfg. yard just west of Tecate alongside the Toll Road?
After you take the TiJuana-Tecate free road east it crosses the Tijuana-Mexicali toll road. At the crossing there is a small toll booth to get on the
toll road from the free road. After your on the toll road it curves to the left and the big Truss yard was on the right. Three to four years ago
that Truss yard was exploding with business...alot of employees, trucks, trusses, loading, etc. Now...completely deserted...one giant fenced in
asphalt yard...not a human in sight. There's another yard west of Tecate that has hundreds of parked semi-trailers in it. They look like they
haven't moved in many many months. A slowdown indeed.
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ElFaro
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Oh...almost forgot
Tijuana economically is in bad shape...A friend of mine who works in a Missions org. in Tijuana told me recently that Mexicans who would normally not
ask for help are now asking for help with daily needs of food, clothes, shelter materials, etc.
And...he said alot of kids are dropping out of school because its too expensive.
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bajabass
Super Nomad
Posts: 2016
Registered: 10-4-2006
Location: La Paz,BCS
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Mood: Want to fish!!!
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The economy everywhere is dismal. It will continue to take it's toll NOB & SOB. The drop in business was more due to travel fears. It all went
downhill when several people heading north or south were robbed. There is no easy way in to that area, and casual tourism is dead. Hard to get
consistent business under those conditions. No commercial flights even close, limited Loreto flights, and you are still 3 hours away. I have driven
from Orange to San Bruno in a day, but a very long one. You really need 2 days each way, and a couple to fish. I am sorry to hear he left, I could
have learned a lot of things from him. Well worth a couple days charter costs. I too went to Baja and fell in love with it, and a beautiful Dra. from
Ensenada. I too am leaving everything I dislike here, and leaving for BCS full time. I am lucky enough I can fish at will, and not need to make a
living at it. Oh, nice post Pescador, well written and honest! Sorry your friend had to go.
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Osprey
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Okay, I got dibs on the very next Baja fisherman who dies or leaves. I'll start out about how we'll miss him and then show everybody how much better I
am including pictures of somebody else holding a fresh water fish (to prove it). Just put me down for the next guy -- remember, Osprey gets the next
one.
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Pescador
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Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
Okay, I got dibs on the very next Baja fisherman who dies or leaves. I'll start out about how we'll miss him and then show everybody how much better I
am including pictures of somebody else holding a fresh water fish (to prove it). Just put me down for the next guy -- remember, Osprey gets the next
one. |
You know it is not the issue of who is the best fisherman because I have that issue firmly set in my mind having seen all of the above parties fishing
and watching from the sidelines, but the thing that amazes me is not the discussion on sliding egg sinkers, that is a moot point, I just find it
amazing that I would make a positive statement about what someone added to the fishing scene in the Santa Rosalia area, and those accomplishments were
great, and it degenerates into who invented the stupid sinker.
Guess I will have to wait till Roger leaves to give his Eulogy.
[Edited on 5-27-2010 by Pescador]
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Cypress
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About those sliding egg sinkers....
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Skipjack Joe
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The best fisherman I've ever met is Benson Kanemoto.
Who?
Benson Kanemoto - that's who.
For every Dan Blanton and Lefty Kreh there are many better fishermen who never write or publish anything but that can outfish either of those big
names.
I once stood in a line of about 20 guys fishing shad on the Sacramento River for about 2 or 3 hours. Most guys got skunked with 2 fish being the high
count. Benson was standing with the rest of us - 28 fish. He was using the same equipment and flies as everyone.
Do you know how annoying a guy like that can be?
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dtbushpilot
Ultra Nomad
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Location: Buena Vista BCS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
The best fisherman I've ever met is Benson Kanemoto.
Who?
Benson Kanemoto - that's who.
For every Dan Blanton and Lefty Kreh there are many better fishermen who never write or publish anything but that can outfish either of those big
names.
I once stood in a line of about 20 guys fishing shad on the Sacramento River for about 2 or 3 hours. Most guys got skunked with 2 fish being the high
count. Benson was standing with the rest of us - 28 fish. He was using the same equipment and flies as everyone.
Do you know how annoying a guy like that can be? |
Yes, I do, just ask anybody who has fished with me .....dt
"Life is tough".....It's even tougher if you're stupid.....
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