This trip had been decades in the making. Some of my first fishing memories are from the East Cape during family vacations as a kiddo. I recall catching Toro, yellowfin, seeing lots of dolphins, and getting seasick. Not knowing that I needed to count to ten (or at all) when something started running with my live bait, so setting the hook immediately and coming back with half of a mackerel still attached to the hook.
In the mid-aughts I started working with some marine biologists from Mexico, and they regaled us with stories from Baja that rekindled my interest in the desert peninsula. Then about a decade ago I started working on vaquita marina conservation. The vaquita is a species of porpoise that only lives off San Felipe in the northern Gulf of California and probably numbers in the single digits by now. Over the course of a handful of projects I got a little taste of the beginning of the peninsula. But I always wanted more.
Life stuff dictated that November 2024 was going to be the month that the gal, Trout the doggo, and I packed up and hit the road down the peninsula. We were going to pile into my Sienna minivan until Gal's Bro told us we could take his full size GMC with Scout Camper. We were both amazed and a bit scared to have such a nice loaner but we took him up on it. On Oct. 31 loaded up the rig with two surfboards, two inflatable SUPs, four fly rods, snorkel gear, dog food, dog toys, Starlink (she still had to work a bit), and we hit the road heading south. We knew that this was not going to be a surf/fishing/water trip but more of an exploration with activities interspersed when we could.
After picking up the truck in Central CA, we drove south and spent our first night in Oceanside. The next day we crossed the border and made it to San Felipe at dusk. We knew that driving at night was a no-no so we were very happy to get in before darkness. I put on an Iron Maiden shirt, hid all my "I'm a marine biologist that's been here studying vaquita!" vibes so I didn't get disappeared by the cartels, and we settled in for our first night in Mexico. Ceviche and tacos. So far so good.
The next day we hit the road pretty early and plunged south. Our rig, while capable in other ways, was only capable of about 55mph. Turned out that 55mph was plenty, and often way too fast, for the condition of the road. I knew about topes (speedbumps) in all the little towns, but learned quickly about the white lines across the road and white circles surrounding car-eating potholes. Or, in absence of painted warnings, treat any discoloration as a potential axle-buster and slow/straddle as best you can. So what Google would estimate as five hours would take us six or more. Time to re-adjust our time/distance calculations! We stayed with some friends in San Ignacio after our second day of driving and picked up some ideas from them for places and activities further south. After a leisurely breakfast and hang out the next day we hit the road for Playa Requeson, a little camp zone in Bahia Concepcion in between Mulege and Loreto. The winds were cranking and while it would have been great to stay and explore the bays via SUP or snorkel, we decided to keep on heading south.
Lots of epic desert views around every corner. And cows and big rigs and truck-eating potholes.
Based on our new info from our friends we made it to Conquista Agraria, a spot we didn't really have on our radar before. Thanks to our friend connection we posted up for a couple of days. This was the first place where I busted out the boards and fly gear and promptly got humbled on both accounts.
The rig on the beach. After a few foliage collection moments on the rack I finally duct-taped the collection gap closed.
Dreams of roosterfish were dashed by much larger waves than expected.
Speaking of much larger waves, what looked like perfect shoulder to head high waves from the beach turned out to be a bit bigger and more powerful once in the lineup. I had a hard time being in the right place/right time. I caught a few waves but mostly dodged sets.
After a couple days at the beach we went to La Paz to resupply. Among other things I caved and bought a surf casting setup, kicking myself for attempting to be a fly purist and not bringing suitable gear for all conditions that I already had at home. We dug La Paz but after a night we headed towards a suburb of Todos Santos to visit some friends.
I was very happy to join Tom in the surfcasting club. The shorepound here was pretty un-flyfish-able and I managed to catch a couple bonito while he beached a small rooster and a sierra. We had a great time visiting but in the middle of the night I felt a little gurgle in the stomach.
The next morning I fished the beach but barely had the strength to walk back up the beach to the house. We had planned on moving to a place where we could camp and surf but thankfully the gal thought maybe it'd be nice to get a spot in Todos with a bathroom and a bed and a shower. We'd earned it after a week on the road.
Tom showing me the ropes
It was a good thing we found a spot because not more than a couple hours after checking in I was bowing to the porcelain gods, and then a few hours later so was she. We extended our stay by a day, and then another, and another. Eventually we emerged and spent a couple more healthy days exploring Todos Santos. Cool spot. Quaint artsy town with lots of gringos, artists, yogis, and surfers. We watched whales, saw turtle hatchlings get released, and unexpectedly ran into friends. We thought about spending more time here but had a date with some whale sharks back in La Paz, so after a handful of days (half of which were confined to the hotel), we went back north.
Trout loving being out of the hotel with healthy and functional parents
Baby turtle stampede to the sea
Shorepound = surf casting rig. Fly gear stayed in the truck.
Humpbacks were plentiful offshore.
Our time in La Paz was an unexpected highlight. It felt like a real Mexican city, and not a touristy, Gringified spot like Todos. We joined some of our friends swimming with whale sharks then checked the wind forecast for the millionth time. It was supposed to be calm in La Ventana so we beat feet over there to go fishing with some other friends. Given the amount of dude-bros with baller sprinters chock full of wind sports gear we were probably the only gringos to go that direction in November hoping that it was NOT windy.
Whale sharks outside of La Paz
We posted up and arranged a couple days of fishing and snorkeling from a panga. The first day was quite fun; immediately after loading up the captain, who spoke very little English, gestured for me to take the wheel and drive while he cast his net for carnada - bait. Ok! I love being behind the wheel of a boat doing technical boat stuff so this was a highlight for me.
Driving the boat while our captain stocks up on carnada
We loaded up the live well then motored slightly offshore to try and catch the little roosters and bonita and jacks that were active along the beach. I'd never seen roosters of any size blasting through a bait ball so it was a great sight to see, even if they were just little ones. I had a lot of follows and refusals and a couple short strikes but nobody connected. After a while we headed over to Ceralvo to snorkel, finding and watching bottlenose and spinner dolphins along the way. After lunch we went back to the beach to restock our carnada tanks and the gal connected with a couple roosters on live bait while I maintained my fly skunk. I was happy for her, really I was...
Gal appreciating a bowriding eastern spinner dolphin
The next day was more of the same. Early morning carnada run and then spectacular refusals by the dozen! Then we got a report of sperm whales farther offshore so we diverted to check them out. Unfortunately there was a huge fleet of pangas loaded with snorkelers dying to swim with these critters, jockeying for position, running over the whales, cutting each other off, yelling at each other. We stayed for 10 minutes then decided it was a horrible scene and left.
One of the only photos of the sperm whale without aforementioned rodeo in the frame
Over the course of the day we stopped and threw chum at multiple groups of marlin but couldn't get any interest. Probably a good thing because I had switched all my heavier leaders to straight 20lb fluoro. We also chummed at every floating piece of debris hoping to scrounge up some dorado. We found and fed quite a few but none of them were interested in my flies, often refusing them at the last second. The only fish I managed to land that day was a beach ball sized dead puffer that was floating belly up and may have held dorado. I hooked it in the ass which amused our captain greatly.
Matching the hatch not well enough, apparently. I had lots of tan and olive and everything else but the fish knew real from fake.
At the end of the day Gal and I had to laugh at our "carnada offshore transport service" in which we fed many roosters and dorado and frigates and terns and boobies but didn't manage to hook up with anything ourselves.
The next morning we got up early and drove the rig to the beach where we had been catching our carnada. Just like the previous two days there were schools of predators blitzing through the bait along the shoreline, so I strung up a rod and tried my luck from shore. In three hours I landed about 10 little roosters, a toro, some palometa, a couple bonita, and some trumpetfish. Finally, a fishing bonanza! The 10wt was a bit overkill but I was happy to get any action.
Finally! The first fish to earn the reel on this trip
And a bunch of these!!!
I was happy to finally sacrifice some of the dozens of flies I tied for this trip.
We both considered staying one more day at the beach but we had wanted to check out Tecolote, so we drove up through La Paz again and posted up in the wind. I tried fishing with the surfcasting rig up here but alas, no luck.
And then it was time to start heading back North. By now we knew everything was going to be longer and slower than anticipated. A highlight of our northbound was an empty surf break where the only other group we saw were old friends from Sweden. How random is that!? We also waved at @dbaken on his way down to Mag Bay.
And now we're back in Alta California. We'll hand over the truck tomorrow and switch out to the Subaru for the final push home to WA after Turkey Day with family.
All in all it was a powerful adventure. Definitely not a vacation, and not a chill relaxing time. We were exhausted with all the logistics and travel. Solid Type 1.5 fun.
Lessons learned:
Three weeks is not enough time to drive down and back. Next time I think we'll pick a general location and fly in for a week or two. If we drive, we definitely need many many weeks.
Trying to dabble in everything is failing at everything. Next time - pick one or two activities to focus on. If surfing is one of those activities then actively prepare for fitness!
Hoping for calm weather in the windy season was stupid. We never unpacked our SUPs and barely swam at all.
Trout the doggo is the bestest boy ever and absolutely loved Baja but he is a huge confounding factor when trying to arrange things for his two humans to do without him. Consider maybe leaving him at home for shorter trips next time.
The Scout camper was an awesome loaner but we'd both prefer a different layout. Two humans and a dog was extremely cramped.
In the mid-aughts I started working with some marine biologists from Mexico, and they regaled us with stories from Baja that rekindled my interest in the desert peninsula. Then about a decade ago I started working on vaquita marina conservation. The vaquita is a species of porpoise that only lives off San Felipe in the northern Gulf of California and probably numbers in the single digits by now. Over the course of a handful of projects I got a little taste of the beginning of the peninsula. But I always wanted more.
Life stuff dictated that November 2024 was going to be the month that the gal, Trout the doggo, and I packed up and hit the road down the peninsula. We were going to pile into my Sienna minivan until Gal's Bro told us we could take his full size GMC with Scout Camper. We were both amazed and a bit scared to have such a nice loaner but we took him up on it. On Oct. 31 loaded up the rig with two surfboards, two inflatable SUPs, four fly rods, snorkel gear, dog food, dog toys, Starlink (she still had to work a bit), and we hit the road heading south. We knew that this was not going to be a surf/fishing/water trip but more of an exploration with activities interspersed when we could.
After picking up the truck in Central CA, we drove south and spent our first night in Oceanside. The next day we crossed the border and made it to San Felipe at dusk. We knew that driving at night was a no-no so we were very happy to get in before darkness. I put on an Iron Maiden shirt, hid all my "I'm a marine biologist that's been here studying vaquita!" vibes so I didn't get disappeared by the cartels, and we settled in for our first night in Mexico. Ceviche and tacos. So far so good.
The next day we hit the road pretty early and plunged south. Our rig, while capable in other ways, was only capable of about 55mph. Turned out that 55mph was plenty, and often way too fast, for the condition of the road. I knew about topes (speedbumps) in all the little towns, but learned quickly about the white lines across the road and white circles surrounding car-eating potholes. Or, in absence of painted warnings, treat any discoloration as a potential axle-buster and slow/straddle as best you can. So what Google would estimate as five hours would take us six or more. Time to re-adjust our time/distance calculations! We stayed with some friends in San Ignacio after our second day of driving and picked up some ideas from them for places and activities further south. After a leisurely breakfast and hang out the next day we hit the road for Playa Requeson, a little camp zone in Bahia Concepcion in between Mulege and Loreto. The winds were cranking and while it would have been great to stay and explore the bays via SUP or snorkel, we decided to keep on heading south.
Lots of epic desert views around every corner. And cows and big rigs and truck-eating potholes.
Based on our new info from our friends we made it to Conquista Agraria, a spot we didn't really have on our radar before. Thanks to our friend connection we posted up for a couple of days. This was the first place where I busted out the boards and fly gear and promptly got humbled on both accounts.The rig on the beach. After a few foliage collection moments on the rack I finally duct-taped the collection gap closed.
Dreams of roosterfish were dashed by much larger waves than expected.
Speaking of much larger waves, what looked like perfect shoulder to head high waves from the beach turned out to be a bit bigger and more powerful once in the lineup. I had a hard time being in the right place/right time. I caught a few waves but mostly dodged sets.
After a couple days at the beach we went to La Paz to resupply. Among other things I caved and bought a surf casting setup, kicking myself for attempting to be a fly purist and not bringing suitable gear for all conditions that I already had at home. We dug La Paz but after a night we headed towards a suburb of Todos Santos to visit some friends.
I was very happy to join Tom in the surfcasting club. The shorepound here was pretty un-flyfish-able and I managed to catch a couple bonito while he beached a small rooster and a sierra. We had a great time visiting but in the middle of the night I felt a little gurgle in the stomach.
The next morning I fished the beach but barely had the strength to walk back up the beach to the house. We had planned on moving to a place where we could camp and surf but thankfully the gal thought maybe it'd be nice to get a spot in Todos with a bathroom and a bed and a shower. We'd earned it after a week on the road.
Tom showing me the ropes
It was a good thing we found a spot because not more than a couple hours after checking in I was bowing to the porcelain gods, and then a few hours later so was she. We extended our stay by a day, and then another, and another. Eventually we emerged and spent a couple more healthy days exploring Todos Santos. Cool spot. Quaint artsy town with lots of gringos, artists, yogis, and surfers. We watched whales, saw turtle hatchlings get released, and unexpectedly ran into friends. We thought about spending more time here but had a date with some whale sharks back in La Paz, so after a handful of days (half of which were confined to the hotel), we went back north.
Trout loving being out of the hotel with healthy and functional parents
Baby turtle stampede to the sea
Shorepound = surf casting rig. Fly gear stayed in the truck.
Humpbacks were plentiful offshore.
Our time in La Paz was an unexpected highlight. It felt like a real Mexican city, and not a touristy, Gringified spot like Todos. We joined some of our friends swimming with whale sharks then checked the wind forecast for the millionth time. It was supposed to be calm in La Ventana so we beat feet over there to go fishing with some other friends. Given the amount of dude-bros with baller sprinters chock full of wind sports gear we were probably the only gringos to go that direction in November hoping that it was NOT windy.
Whale sharks outside of La Paz
We posted up and arranged a couple days of fishing and snorkeling from a panga. The first day was quite fun; immediately after loading up the captain, who spoke very little English, gestured for me to take the wheel and drive while he cast his net for carnada - bait. Ok! I love being behind the wheel of a boat doing technical boat stuff so this was a highlight for me.
Driving the boat while our captain stocks up on carnada
We loaded up the live well then motored slightly offshore to try and catch the little roosters and bonita and jacks that were active along the beach. I'd never seen roosters of any size blasting through a bait ball so it was a great sight to see, even if they were just little ones. I had a lot of follows and refusals and a couple short strikes but nobody connected. After a while we headed over to Ceralvo to snorkel, finding and watching bottlenose and spinner dolphins along the way. After lunch we went back to the beach to restock our carnada tanks and the gal connected with a couple roosters on live bait while I maintained my fly skunk. I was happy for her, really I was...
Gal appreciating a bowriding eastern spinner dolphin
The next day was more of the same. Early morning carnada run and then spectacular refusals by the dozen! Then we got a report of sperm whales farther offshore so we diverted to check them out. Unfortunately there was a huge fleet of pangas loaded with snorkelers dying to swim with these critters, jockeying for position, running over the whales, cutting each other off, yelling at each other. We stayed for 10 minutes then decided it was a horrible scene and left.One of the only photos of the sperm whale without aforementioned rodeo in the frame
Over the course of the day we stopped and threw chum at multiple groups of marlin but couldn't get any interest. Probably a good thing because I had switched all my heavier leaders to straight 20lb fluoro. We also chummed at every floating piece of debris hoping to scrounge up some dorado. We found and fed quite a few but none of them were interested in my flies, often refusing them at the last second. The only fish I managed to land that day was a beach ball sized dead puffer that was floating belly up and may have held dorado. I hooked it in the ass which amused our captain greatly.
Matching the hatch not well enough, apparently. I had lots of tan and olive and everything else but the fish knew real from fake.
At the end of the day Gal and I had to laugh at our "carnada offshore transport service" in which we fed many roosters and dorado and frigates and terns and boobies but didn't manage to hook up with anything ourselves.
The next morning we got up early and drove the rig to the beach where we had been catching our carnada. Just like the previous two days there were schools of predators blitzing through the bait along the shoreline, so I strung up a rod and tried my luck from shore. In three hours I landed about 10 little roosters, a toro, some palometa, a couple bonita, and some trumpetfish. Finally, a fishing bonanza! The 10wt was a bit overkill but I was happy to get any action.
Finally! The first fish to earn the reel on this trip
And a bunch of these!!!
I was happy to finally sacrifice some of the dozens of flies I tied for this trip.
We both considered staying one more day at the beach but we had wanted to check out Tecolote, so we drove up through La Paz again and posted up in the wind. I tried fishing with the surfcasting rig up here but alas, no luck.
And then it was time to start heading back North. By now we knew everything was going to be longer and slower than anticipated. A highlight of our northbound was an empty surf break where the only other group we saw were old friends from Sweden. How random is that!? We also waved at @dbaken on his way down to Mag Bay.
And now we're back in Alta California. We'll hand over the truck tomorrow and switch out to the Subaru for the final push home to WA after Turkey Day with family.
All in all it was a powerful adventure. Definitely not a vacation, and not a chill relaxing time. We were exhausted with all the logistics and travel. Solid Type 1.5 fun.
Lessons learned:
Three weeks is not enough time to drive down and back. Next time I think we'll pick a general location and fly in for a week or two. If we drive, we definitely need many many weeks.
Trying to dabble in everything is failing at everything. Next time - pick one or two activities to focus on. If surfing is one of those activities then actively prepare for fitness!
Hoping for calm weather in the windy season was stupid. We never unpacked our SUPs and barely swam at all.
Trout the doggo is the bestest boy ever and absolutely loved Baja but he is a huge confounding factor when trying to arrange things for his two humans to do without him. Consider maybe leaving him at home for shorter trips next time.
The Scout camper was an awesome loaner but we'd both prefer a different layout. Two humans and a dog was extremely cramped.
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I have fly rods with me but I'd be surprised if they get used.
