Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
Member Is Offline
Mood: Optimistic
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Deja Vu Fishing
Circumstances don't permit me to go fishing in Baja today, so I'll settle for an old memory...Today is March 23rd. Something fishy happened on this
date, I'm sure of it!
"You are traveling in another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next
stop, the Twilight Zone with a slight detour into the shadowy place called ..Deja Vu!"
Aha...Now I remember!
March 23rd.... This happened 5 years ago today.
That day.....
Today was a day to just 'get out on the water' again.
We've had way too many windy days. It's been weird for wind this year. That many consecutive days of wind usually happens in this stretch of the SOC
in February, (the Loco Month).. not March.
There's gotta be a good reason for this, so I'm blaming it on the Swedes gorging on frijoles.
.
However, today is different and a very nice day to go fishing...small winds, far less bumpy water, so let's go for it!
One thing I'm doing different today.
I'm up early, but not in such a hurry to get on the water. The early bird reasoning (for me anyway)... was making bait. The common
belief is that bait is only available in the wee hours before...yawn... dawn. Well, I knew better years ago, but lately I have somehow
fallen into the habit of making pre-dawn bait...seriously cutting into my snoring time.
Sure, there are countless other reasons to get on the water in pitch blackness...but making bait ain't one of them!
Of course, it could be that I am getting lazy.
Okay, okay..enough excuses...so I finally make it to the baithole off Party Beach at Punta Prieta, Mulege. Well, even as late as I am, the place is
still busy with baitmakers.
I see my usual spot for bigeyes is pretty crowded up ahead there.. so I stop where I am, turn on the baitfinder and..Presto!..there
they are right below me. I drop my 2 Sabiki rigs down to the bottom, crank up about 2 feet..and rat-tat-tat-tat...get 4 mackerel on each one
on the first drop. Got to be some kind of personal record there. Quickly shedding the baits into the livewell and setting a 3-minute timer
on the aereator, I drop the sabikis down again. This time I get a couple bigeyes, a smallish mack that I liked, and some weird UFO (unidentified
finny object).
Well, I had enough baits and I had only been at the baithole for 10 minutes...now what? The wind had come up NNE at 9-12 knots and it looked to be
damn bumpy for the long trip north to San Marcos. I stared at the dark blue water forming on the horizon and my back started aching. Well, shoot..
Goldang Swede Syndrome again?...for sure I can't go that way. It's a 17 mile run to Seal Rock and Jorge's Reef.
.
.
Then I look east and south...and receive an omen from Neptune. A shaft of bright sunlight beckons me to Wilbur's Hole and beyond. Great..Wilbur's is
only about 6 1/2 miles away on a tangent to the wind...I'll start there. I'm a great believer in following omens.
.
.
Underway, I come upon our first ocean sighting of the day. Shrimpers are always worth a photo or three.
.
.
I arrive at Wilbur's Hole after a short run and drop a green mack bait down to about 220 ft over the rock piles below at 238ft. Raised the bait on a
sliding egg sinker snell about 6 feet off the bottom.
I had barely set the clicker and poured myself a cup of coffee when I heard the first zzzzzz of the day...
...and brought to the box this nice yellowtail. I managed to keep him out of the rocks. A nice fight and I almost lost him on a final thrust under
the stern. I put that size-12 watershoe in there for a judging gauge. It's an average sized jurel for these parts. Time to bleed and put him on the
chopped ice.
.
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Afterwards, I set aside my rod and just sat there, drifting and daydreaming...not doing a damn thing...just being lazy...and more than a little
sleepy...almost dreaming.
I was very near asleep when I heard something..and looked up.
I saw a small pod of porpoise swimming around the boat. They said, "Hey!..Got some time?... follow us!"
Well, talking porpoise? was clearly another omen with an odd feeling of Deja Vu, so naturally I had to go with
them...
.
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They took me to the old mine at Point Conception. I had not been so close to this place in ...oh, 20-30 years or so I suppose. Wow, good to see it
again..and the place has not changed much. Now how the heck did those porpoise know I'd like seeing this familar old site again?
What's left of the ore-ship loading pier. Flashback memories...I used to cast from that shore long ago. Many nice cabrilla for our camp and
other fillets went back to the casa. Like old times, for sure.
.
.
Some pelicans fly by and this sound trickles down, "Hola, Pompano...remember Osprey Rock?"
..sigh..I sure do, guys. I camped/fished/snorkled by that rock many times...and watched many fledglings learn to fly and then fish. Nice to see it
up close again.
.
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I follow the porpoise south as the pelicans join their buddies for a bull-session on the rocks.
.
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Now the porpoise ask me if I have any bait left?...and if so, how about tossing them one or two by way of gratitude?
Sure thing I said...how's this one look?!
"Looks delicious to us, amigo..toss it here...just try to keep it away from those pesky gulls."
No problemo, guys...Here, Catch!
..Opps..gee, those gulls are FAST.
.
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The porpoise are gone..disappeared into the waves. "Hey, sorry about that, guys...I tried, really I did.
Guys?...yoo-hoo... guys?....sigh.."
.
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In the distance I see Mulege is burning, so I head back to town quickly to investigate. We've had SO many fires...
False alarm, it's just Tim firing up his pipe at El Patron's. 
.
.
Heading for the floating dock on the Rio Mulege.
.
The late afternoon sun catches the white of the lighthouse and harbor captain's office. A familiar sight to a fisherman at the end of his day.
.
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I trailer the boat, and head for the highway Pemex to fill the pickup with diesel and top off the boat's gas tank. Took a few pesos. Hey, 1820
more into Mulege's economy... 
.
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I head for home, but first stop at Ana's Santispac to drop off a promised yellowtail to Guadalupe and Russ, and save myself from dying of thirst...as
usual.
Gracias, Russ and Lupe. Now home to clean up the boat and gear.
.
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Always nice highway view overlooking Posado anchorage on the way home to Coyote.
Nice to be back home after a long day on the water. Looks like a good time to take a swim.
And then I can regale my attentive audience with the exciting events of my fishing day. Truly a sport, Co-pilot believed almost everything I told
her...and the Maltese Bros were especially excited about meeting up with those porpoise. 
See you on the ocean next time..saludos.
...The End of another fishing day.....(via some Deja Vu from 5 years ago).
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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That was GREAT !!
Thanks.
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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desertcpl
Super Nomad
Posts: 2396
Registered: 10-26-2008
Location: yuma,az
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excellent as always,,
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carlosg
Senior Nomad
Posts: 504
Registered: 5-28-2012
Location: chula vista, ca
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just like in Baja: No Bad Days...
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...muchas gracias amigo, thanks for feeding my daydreams... I read your postings and wish that I'll meet you in person one of this days... probably
next fall...
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
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that's the life!
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BornFisher
Super Nomad
Posts: 2107
Registered: 1-11-2005
Location: K-38 Santa Martha/Encinitas
Member Is Offline
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Beautiful pics............love your style!!!!
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baja43
Junior Nomad
Posts: 53
Registered: 12-21-2004
Location: Vista/Colonet
Member Is Offline
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Thank you so much.
That was so cool to be there with you.
I, too, would like to hear the stories in person.
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jimcallard
Junior Nomad
Posts: 25
Registered: 1-11-2013
Location: Loreto
Member Is Offline
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Wonderful report.....why we are here
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