La Paz

10/22/03 - We made it back from La Paz in one piece, I mean two pieces (Beth and I traveled). Jonathan Roldan booked our trip for us, and Aero California provided the transportation (along with the most beautiful stewardesses I've come across in many a year).  Compared to some times reported there, I'd say the fishing was relatively slow, but still very productive.  We landed a few dorado each day, hooked one Marlin, saw another finner we couldn't entice.  We also hooked a couple bonita and needlefish. Others found some quality yellowtail (2 fish caught) and very small tuna.  Ah, in case you were wondering...yes, Beth's fish is larger than mine (but it's still only 20#). She's also exaggerating it's size by standing closer to the camera and holding her fish way out in front of her body, thus providing an illusion of much greater size...Not that I'm rationalizing her fish appearing far greater than mine... It was a nice enough trip, but I'm thinking that Rancho Leonero might be more of what I'm looking for next time. The fishing was fair to poor, average of 2 keeper-size fish per boat. But, no doubt the recent hurricane put a damper on the action. Accommodations at the La Concha were on a Holiday Inn par, but with much better food and drinks, and bigger bugs. The thing that Jonathan does well is provide reliable skippers, organized and well timed pick-ups and drop-offs.  For first time fishermen and their families, his services are first rate and a great way to go. For more experienced Baja travelers, Jonathan Roldan's services are far from necessary.  But, he saves you some time and adds to the reliability factor.

Sunrise, motoring out to fish the first day.		Making bait.
Dorado to the boat!	Fish so dumb, I can catch 'em.	We got a finner!

So, what do you do when you've just returned from La Paz?  Go marlin fishing locally of course.  Went out today towards Catalina, approaching the 499 spot, back up to Avalon Bank, then over to Long Point. Got a late start due to the Navy moving a boat up to the weapons depot dock. Motored through thick fog, which did burn off in the afternoon. Conditions a little poor, but doable. Saw lots of porpoise, no marlin...until we'd given up for the day, hauled in lines, tossed a few jigs off at Long Point and headed back in at about 2PM. Sure enough, right when we're totally unready I see two jumping fish, one definitely a BIG marlin about 2 miles off Long Point. The second fish was either a smaller marlin or a mako, only got a glance. Then the big one came out of the water again, Aret saw it this time. We circled back once we got rigged up, no go. Pretty rough coming back in, white caps and wind chop, not much period between swells. Nice long day on the water, but no fish. Hey, it's marlin fishing.