La Paz

What can I tell you?  This is really weird.  You know I"ve been writing this thing for years and I"m stymied.  I guess I can tell you that I still don't really feel like writing about fishing.  Waiting for things to settle?  Yeah.  Waiting for the world to right itself?  Yeah. . .I don't know.  Bear with me for a bit and I"ll feed ya all I can. . .

Fishing itself is pretty darned good.  It's difficult to get a good read on things when mainly not many people are around.  In a "normal" year, this is slow time, but given the uncertainty with travel at the moment, it's especially desolate in La Paz.  Even for those people who really want to come down or who had reservations these past weeks, until the airlines get back on track, it's going to be shakey.  However, I think it will re-bound.  See my comments below.

I will tell you that there's still BIG tuna volkswagens on El Bajo north of Espiritu Santo Island.  These are real slugger fish.  They won't always eat the hook bait sardines, but remember that technique I told you about several reports ago?  The one about how to chunk the Bajo?  Well, I've heard that several of my folks were out there and the bite was S-L-O-W!!!! They remembered my little shout-out about chunking and started to do it and "slow" went to "wham-o" in short order!  The fish came to chew big time.  You just gotta be flexible.  Try something different.  The fish are there.

As for the Las Arenas side, a real nice snap of dorado has been pacing the area.  Of course, this is the nice jag of fish that we were waiting for all summer and now that everyone is gone, the dorado came back and kicked out the jams!  It's a good mix of fish with some punks, but also more of that medium and big grade of mahi in the 20-40 pound class!  Tuna, as well, are to be had.  Both ends of Cerralvo Island appear to have a resident school parked just offshore.  The bigger 50-70 pound YFT's are at the north side around La Reina and the "smaller" 20-40 pound attitude YFT's are double clutching at the Dome and Rock Highway on the south side of Cerralvo.  

Some notes of interest:

1.  At the time of this writing (Wednesday night) a major butt chewing hurricane is spanking the mainland.  It is NOT expected to hit Baja, but it will certainly glance it and, as always, Cabo will take it on the nose with 15-foot waves expected to hit by Friday.  In La Paz, most storms wear themselves out travelling the 100 miles over land and sea from Cabo up the peninsula.  I would not be surprise, however, to know that there was some swell, maybe some wind chop on the backside of the front and maybe even some squalls, but nothing long-lasting.  Most of the time, I'm out jumping around in this kind of rain as it reminds me of the warm home rain in Hawaii.  The upside of this is that rains in the mountains means all manner of debris gets washed into the ocean which bunches up around current lines and makes PERFECT dorado habitat within 3-10 days after the storms!

2.  Apparently, in La Paz, someone got the wise idea to start checking anglers for their fishing licenses WHEN THEY LEAVE THE COUNTRY!  You must have your license on you OR face fines!  This is unconfirmed at the time of this writing, but I have heard the story enough to want to pass it onto you as an FYI.  On top of that, there's a shortage of licenses in La Paz to sell so it behooves you to buy your licenses before you come down.  Isn't that typical?  Mexico does not have enough license in it's own country, but licenses can be bought in the U.S.  I'll try to find out more.

3.  If you're driving through the border, the wait is almost back to normal.  Not a big deal according to folks I have talked to. Maybe they figured that it wasn't doing any good anyway.  It took me 3 hours to drive across the border back into the U.S. I was searched, but not really thoroughly.  My amigos in a rented taxi van loaded with coolers and rod tubes were waved through.  They were only asked if they were U.S. citizens.  When they said yes, they were hustled through in 5 minutes and did not even have to show their passports.

4.  At the time of this writing, Aero Cal has eliminated it's 2 flights from Los Angeles to La Paz.  Until further notice, there is only one later afternoon flight out of LAX and only one morning flight from La Paz back to Los Angeles.  As far as I can see, despite all the gnashing of teeth that no one is travelling, air fares have not dropped.

5.  As of this writing,  I have been told 3 different things by 3 different airline reps.  See if any of this makes sense or will accomplish what it seeks to accomplish
    a.  Carry-on luggage is no longer permitted (but a woman's purse is OK!).
    b.  Carry-on luggage is permitted, but no sharp objects of any kind.  When I asked about a sharp pencil or a straightened paper clip they had nothing to say.
     c.  You cannot even check-in a sharp object.  That means you cannot even have a fishing knife in your tackle box and check it in!  I suppose you might just break out of your seat and head for the luggage section to retrieve you knife for sinister purposes!  But this only applied to knives.  It was not clear if this also meant, sharp hooks, jigs, gaffs, screwdrivers, etc.  Basically, all hardware must now be made of nerfball material!  

6.  Take this for what you will, but maybe Aero Cal has been reading my reports this year after all.  It seems they are thinking of suspending food service on flights to La Paz.  Gee. . .I'll have nothing to write about!  They say it's a cost saving measure.  I say it's a safety and security issue. . .Those burritos and omelettes are weapons of mass destruction. . .
      
7.  I'm getting alot of questions about the peso.  As far as I can see, all's the same.  The exchange rate is still 8.5 to 9.0 to one dollar.  

Everything I said above is subject to change so just take it as a heads-up so you can verify it before you act on it.

On a sidenote, thanks to all of you who wished me well on the last 5 days that I bailed out of the office!  With all the cancellations and postponements recently, we simply didn't have many clients in Baja.  Alot of you start coming back in a week or two, but at least for the moment, it looked like down time so I went with my folks to Mammoth where I used to work about 25 years ago at a fish hatchery (natch!).  Used to go there every year until I moved to Baja and simply, I just needed to decompress after a whale of a season and the events of the last 2 weeks.  

Wow, green trees and flowing streams!  What a refreshing change from Baja.  Had a little cabin and the last thing I wanted was to hear a phone or be on the computer!  Well, it seems that I can't just get away.  I must be diseased.

On the first day, we easily caught limits of trout.  Trouble was, no else was really catching much.  We had 15 fish on the stringer and no one else had more than a fish or two.  Well, before long, I was tying leaders; teaching knot tying; explaining rigging; teaching casting; demonstrating the proper use of worms and Power Bait!  Before long, we had everyone hooked up.  It was like this for basically 3 days.  When they would see us down by the lake, invariably a group would gather to "chat."  Within minutes, the "trout school" was open!  It really was fun and I found that I really didn't want to "get away."  It's awfully fun to catch fish.  We catch alot of them in our travels and advenures.   So many, in fact, that it's sometimes difficult to remember what it's like to hook onto that first 10-inch trout! It really is a BIG THING if you've never done it before. It's a thrill and it was great fun to watch everyone getting hooked up with "fresh ones!"  

Jonathan Roldan's
Tail Hunters Fishing & Adventures
3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Phone:  (626) 333-3355
FAX:  (626) 333-0115
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E-Mail:  Riplipboy@aol.com
Website:  www.tailhunterinternational.com
"When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try."