Late trip report.
A friend and I went on a quick fishing trip targeting grande roosters in southern Baja at the beginning of June. This was my second time fishing for roosters, we'd done the same trip with the same guide last year.
We flew in to Cabo on a Friday with cloudy skies and cooler than expected temp. Turns out that a tropical depression was just starting to move by to the south of us. We picked up our bargain rental car about 1:30 and decided to take the long way swinging out to the Pacific coast to our destination. We stopped for a nice lunch in Todos Santos and then again in La Paz to get some groceries. We arrived in town a short time later and stopped by our guide's house. We enjoyed a beer with him on the veranda and he was telling us how good the fishing had been up to about a week ago. Lots of roosters. Even some dorado and golden trevally. But it has been slow in the last week, and now the storm that was sliding by to the south was probably going to mess up the fishing even more. And he was sick, and needed to see a doctor tomorrow, so we would be going out with his nephew. It's all good, we'd be fishing in Baja in the morning, and who wouldn't be pumped for that? We left, checked into our Airbnb, hit the pool for a bit, got some dinner and got our gear and bags ready to meet the boat at 5 am the next morning.
Saturday- We had a nice sunrise reunion with the guide's nephew and got going. It was cloudy with a little wind, but not bad.
We went maybe a half mile up the beach and then he started throwing the net to catch bait (pic is from a different day, but you get the idea).
It was slow going, apparently there was not as much bait around as there had been in the past days. After about 45 minutes, the guide judged that we had enough, and we headed out. We went to the same little bay were we'd done most of our fishing last year. The water was much murkier than the year before. The guide tossed some bait, and soon a group of trigger fish schooled up under the boat. But no roosters, or needlefish for that matter. We moved over about a 100 yards. He started tossing bait again, and this time, a couple of roosters came up and slashed at the bait. This lasted a minute or two, then they went down. We worked the whole bay, and never got the roosters up again. And no needle fish. The rest of the morning was similar, we'd go to a spot, get a rooster or two up on the bait briefly, then they would go down and not come up again. We stopped by a few buoys to see if they had any dorado under them, but nada.
To finish up the day, we went to the spot all the other boats were at (in my limited experience fishing for roosters, the mid size and large seem to concentrate in small areas about the size of football field, and all the boats crowd into that area). Roosters were come up on bait all around. We fished for about a hour and half. Caught one small rooster and had another on briefly. Didn't see anyone else hook up. Day one fishing was a full day, but not much action. At least it wasn't to hot.
That evening we stopped by the guide's place again. He still wasn't feeling well and the tropical depression was still moving in and he thought the weather was going to be pretty rough weather the next day. We had one four fishing days and one rest day planned, so we decided to move the rest day up to the next day (Sunday).
Sunday - The storm really moved through overnight, with heavy rain and the power was out most of the night. We got up late and headed to the beaches outside of La Paz. Overcast day, not really great for the beach. And just like last year, it was election day in Mexico, and no alcohol sales until 7pm that evening. We checked out a few beaches, and finally at the last beach there was a restaurant that would sell us beer, but we had to pay cash. Enjoyed the beach, ceviche, guacamole and a few Pacificos.
Monday - Met our guide at 5 at the boat ramp. The weather had cleared, with He was feeling better and eager to get us into fish after the first two days. But it was slow catching bait. After about an hour, he decided we had enough bait for now, and we'd catch some more later at another spot if needed. We headed out to the grande rooster spot (one of the things I like about our guide is he doesn't like fishing in the same spots as the other 8 odd boats going for roosters - he tries to find spots away from everyone else, it's his business, no America partners, so he can decide where to go each day). The water has cleared up. When we throw bait, along with triggers, there are needle fish again. Good signs. The roosters come up better today but it's still sporadic and there are needlefish getting on the flies. We aren't connecting with the roosters, but getting some good shots. Finally, I get a fish that just comes up from deep and nails my fly. I get a good strip set, fish on! And the guide laughs and says it's a toro. Urgh, the prior year I seemed to always hook a toro when the roosters were ripping, and its seems like this year is starting the same way. But it's great to connect with a fish!
It slows down, and I switch hats to try to get some mojo going. No dice. The guide sees a pargo in with the triggers below the boat. I dangle a fly down to it, and get a grab. New species for me!
We decide to try another spot. We get skipjacks up here, but no roosters. My friend gets off the skunk line with a huge skippy. Time to get more bait. We swing around to the outside of the island, and find a lot of bait and load up, We head to another spot where we had briefly gotten roosters up on Saturday. Nothing. Guide thinks that since it's now about 1, the roosters maybe moved into deeper wider. Asks us if we want to try for dorados in the shallows. Sure, dorado are great fun! We get a quick double. We kept one, released the other.
Now skipjack have moved in. Our guide wants to try a drop off, see if we can't bring up some yellowfin tuna he'd gotten a report on. We move out to the drop off and when he starts throwing bait, some fish come up. Needles. Skippies. My friend hooks another huge skippy. Then toro show up. Cast, strip, boom, fish on! It's a pig of a toro. But I've been getting better at fighting big fish over the last year - learning what the rod can take, how much I can crank down the drag, etc. It's takes about 30 minutes to get him in.
About a minute after releasing the toro, I hook another. Get him in, and I'm toasted. We call it a day.
End part one.
A friend and I went on a quick fishing trip targeting grande roosters in southern Baja at the beginning of June. This was my second time fishing for roosters, we'd done the same trip with the same guide last year.
We flew in to Cabo on a Friday with cloudy skies and cooler than expected temp. Turns out that a tropical depression was just starting to move by to the south of us. We picked up our bargain rental car about 1:30 and decided to take the long way swinging out to the Pacific coast to our destination. We stopped for a nice lunch in Todos Santos and then again in La Paz to get some groceries. We arrived in town a short time later and stopped by our guide's house. We enjoyed a beer with him on the veranda and he was telling us how good the fishing had been up to about a week ago. Lots of roosters. Even some dorado and golden trevally. But it has been slow in the last week, and now the storm that was sliding by to the south was probably going to mess up the fishing even more. And he was sick, and needed to see a doctor tomorrow, so we would be going out with his nephew. It's all good, we'd be fishing in Baja in the morning, and who wouldn't be pumped for that? We left, checked into our Airbnb, hit the pool for a bit, got some dinner and got our gear and bags ready to meet the boat at 5 am the next morning.
Saturday- We had a nice sunrise reunion with the guide's nephew and got going. It was cloudy with a little wind, but not bad.
We went maybe a half mile up the beach and then he started throwing the net to catch bait (pic is from a different day, but you get the idea).
It was slow going, apparently there was not as much bait around as there had been in the past days. After about 45 minutes, the guide judged that we had enough, and we headed out. We went to the same little bay were we'd done most of our fishing last year. The water was much murkier than the year before. The guide tossed some bait, and soon a group of trigger fish schooled up under the boat. But no roosters, or needlefish for that matter. We moved over about a 100 yards. He started tossing bait again, and this time, a couple of roosters came up and slashed at the bait. This lasted a minute or two, then they went down. We worked the whole bay, and never got the roosters up again. And no needle fish. The rest of the morning was similar, we'd go to a spot, get a rooster or two up on the bait briefly, then they would go down and not come up again. We stopped by a few buoys to see if they had any dorado under them, but nada.
To finish up the day, we went to the spot all the other boats were at (in my limited experience fishing for roosters, the mid size and large seem to concentrate in small areas about the size of football field, and all the boats crowd into that area). Roosters were come up on bait all around. We fished for about a hour and half. Caught one small rooster and had another on briefly. Didn't see anyone else hook up. Day one fishing was a full day, but not much action. At least it wasn't to hot.
That evening we stopped by the guide's place again. He still wasn't feeling well and the tropical depression was still moving in and he thought the weather was going to be pretty rough weather the next day. We had one four fishing days and one rest day planned, so we decided to move the rest day up to the next day (Sunday).
Sunday - The storm really moved through overnight, with heavy rain and the power was out most of the night. We got up late and headed to the beaches outside of La Paz. Overcast day, not really great for the beach. And just like last year, it was election day in Mexico, and no alcohol sales until 7pm that evening. We checked out a few beaches, and finally at the last beach there was a restaurant that would sell us beer, but we had to pay cash. Enjoyed the beach, ceviche, guacamole and a few Pacificos.
Monday - Met our guide at 5 at the boat ramp. The weather had cleared, with He was feeling better and eager to get us into fish after the first two days. But it was slow catching bait. After about an hour, he decided we had enough bait for now, and we'd catch some more later at another spot if needed. We headed out to the grande rooster spot (one of the things I like about our guide is he doesn't like fishing in the same spots as the other 8 odd boats going for roosters - he tries to find spots away from everyone else, it's his business, no America partners, so he can decide where to go each day). The water has cleared up. When we throw bait, along with triggers, there are needle fish again. Good signs. The roosters come up better today but it's still sporadic and there are needlefish getting on the flies. We aren't connecting with the roosters, but getting some good shots. Finally, I get a fish that just comes up from deep and nails my fly. I get a good strip set, fish on! And the guide laughs and says it's a toro. Urgh, the prior year I seemed to always hook a toro when the roosters were ripping, and its seems like this year is starting the same way. But it's great to connect with a fish!
It slows down, and I switch hats to try to get some mojo going. No dice. The guide sees a pargo in with the triggers below the boat. I dangle a fly down to it, and get a grab. New species for me!
We decide to try another spot. We get skipjacks up here, but no roosters. My friend gets off the skunk line with a huge skippy. Time to get more bait. We swing around to the outside of the island, and find a lot of bait and load up, We head to another spot where we had briefly gotten roosters up on Saturday. Nothing. Guide thinks that since it's now about 1, the roosters maybe moved into deeper wider. Asks us if we want to try for dorados in the shallows. Sure, dorado are great fun! We get a quick double. We kept one, released the other.
Now skipjack have moved in. Our guide wants to try a drop off, see if we can't bring up some yellowfin tuna he'd gotten a report on. We move out to the drop off and when he starts throwing bait, some fish come up. Needles. Skippies. My friend hooks another huge skippy. Then toro show up. Cast, strip, boom, fish on! It's a pig of a toro. But I've been getting better at fighting big fish over the last year - learning what the rod can take, how much I can crank down the drag, etc. It's takes about 30 minutes to get him in.
About a minute after releasing the toro, I hook another. Get him in, and I'm toasted. We call it a day.
End part one.
