Oregon Needs Your Help

Since so many of my readers are in Oregon I wanted to post this important link to the CaddisFly's Oregon Flyfishing Blog:

Oregon Fly Fishing Blog joins Trout Unlimited and other conservation groups in opposition to the WOPR

Its hard to preach conservation in Mexico when we are not doing such a good job here at home. I encourage everyone, especially people from Oregon, to go to this link and send a message to our governor.

Great Link for Surf Fishing

Check out this link to a thread on the Southern California Surf Fishing discussion boards. You have to register but this thread is worth it and runs through everything you need to know to catch fish with a fly in the Pacific surf.

Marketing Baja

Here's a photo of the Beach at Coronado Island one of my favorite spots in Loreto Bay National Marine Park. The shallows that stretch from this beach over to the mainland can hold rooster fish and I have done well along this reef before but have also found plenty of nets here as well. There always seems to be something around at least a few barracuda or giant needlefish.

In continuation of my last post, I wanted to connect the articles on the poor tourist season in Loreto and the continued promises of the vultures bent on turning every beach into yet another "luxury" development. Forgive, my rant but I was heart broken to hear that a few of the timeshare sales people have migrated north from Cabo San Lucas and infected Loreto.

Check out this Baja Nomands forum for some of the ongoing discussion regarding the Mission Hotel. This cool hotel on the water front has been sitting abandoned and thrashed since the mid-1990s. Its a great spot, with the exception of the all night parties on the malecon on weekends, and I've always thought it could be great once again.

I copied this picture from the Baja Nomad Forum taken by Don Alley earlier this month.

The slick La Mission webpage says "Grand Opening November 2008" - you can even make reservations for next week!

Here's what it looks like on the their webpage:

So now in quiet little Loreto we have:

• annoying timeshare sales on the streets and in restaurants
• the failed promises of the Loreto Bay development
• word of large exclusive developments planned at San Bruno
• the beach closed off at Ensanada Blanca
• more marketing talking about sustainability in a place with limited fresh water
• and much, much more - San Basillo? Agua Verde? Conception Bay?

And here's the link that set me off to finally begin writing about this subject:

JW Marriott First Residential Development Comes to Baja, Mexico

Does this sound like a recipe for success? Loreto is an anglers town. No matter how many slick artist's renderings and fancy web pages are produced you can't change the fact that its hard to get to, there is limited water, the cold north wind blows all winter long, and in the summer its stifling with desert heat and Sea of Cortez humidity.

More to come...

News From Loreto

I don't know what species this fish is but I caught a few from the marina in Loreto last January. Anybody have any idea what this is? The weather was terrible and I only got out one day with my buddy Francisco. We managed to catch a few pinto bass, pierna, and a lupón. The lupón or scorpionfish has venomous spines - watch out!!! I didn't get a picture - overall it was a slow trip for fishing during a slow time of year. The highlight was the big international Sea Turtle Conference.

But I am rambling...

I wanted to post about Loreto today because of the following articles published in the El Sud Californiano on the 12th and 13th of November:

El sector hotelero atraviesa por una de sus peores crisis: Pellegrino
12 de noviembre de 2008
Javier Chávez Davis

Loreto, Baja California Sur.- El sector hotelero loretano está atravesando por una de sus peores crisis, así lo reconoció el presidente de la Asociación de Hoteles de este destino, Pascal P. Pellegrino, quien reveló que en las últimas semanas la ocupación ha disminuido históricamente a un 30%.

Entrevistado por este diario, señaló que desde el pasado mes de septiembre la baja afluencia de turismo se ha dejado sentir de forma drástica en esta ciudad.

Indicó que sin duda alguna la crisis económica que está azotando a Estados Unidos afecta de manera directa a Loreto y a sus principales empresas turísticas, pues un gran porcentaje de los visitantes proviene de la Unión Americana.

Pascal P. Pellegrino comentó, que a diferencia de otros años los hoteles de esta localidad están presentando una disminución del 60% en sus niveles de ocupación, agregando que esto mantiene en alerta a los empresarios y buscan urgentes soluciones al panorama.

Dijo que es difícil realizar una predicción de lo que pasará en los próximos meses, pero dejó entrever que el panorama no es alentador para la hotelería loretana.

El sector de la pesca deportiva vive unos de sus peores momentos
13 de noviembre de 2008
Raúl Villalobos Davis

Loreto, Baja California Sur.- El sector de pesca deportiva en el puerto de Loreto está viviendo una de sus peores épocas en muchos años, debido a la baja en la afluencia de visitantes, que se presentó durante la temporada de pesca deportiva de verano. Lo anterior nos lo han hecho saber trabajadores del mar que se dedican a la pesca deportiva en este puerto, quienes nos comentan que los resultados no fueron nada buenos.

Por lo que se espera un difícil año para los miles de ciudadanos que dependen de esta actividad en el puerto de Loreto, recalcando en este sentido que fueron muy pocos los visitantes que arribaron al puerto para disfrutar de la pesca deportiva. Las causas de esta baja en la afluencia de visitantes a ciencia cierta no las sabemos, manifiestan, ya que escuchamos muchos comentarios en torno a este asunto.

Cabe mencionar que durante las pocas ocasiones que salimos al mar obtuvimos buenas capturas, pero el haber tenido una excelente pesca de nada sirvió.

Desafortunadamente para los cientos y cientos de familias loretanas que dependen directamente de la pesca deportiva en el municipio de Loreto, este ha sido uno de los años más malos que se han tenido, por lo que sólo esperan poder soportar esta mala racha que está teniendo el sector.

Basically the first article says that hotel occupancy rates are way down and have dropped even farther in recent weeks. Given the current state of the US economy it is no surprise that things are slow in a place so dependent on tourists from the US. The second article talks about the bad sport fishing season - not the catch but the low number of anglers in town. A variety of sources have reported one of the best seasons in recent years for fish numbers and Pam from the Baja Big Fish Company reports that they had their busiest season ever. So its hard to know what to make of this. I guess the right business model targeting the right clientele succeeds.

I remember being in Loreto in January of 2002 and the emptiness of the bust that followed 9/11 in a tourism dependent town.

However, I wonder how much of the lack to anglers has to do with the continued decline in inshore fisheries. When pitching an article to an east coast-based editor of a major flyfishing magazine a couple of years ago he asked about declines in the fishery and said that a number of people had told him that things weren't as good as they used to be. We had a great conversation on the subject and he ended up publishing my story.

Don't get me wrong -I think the fishing is still good here in season and can be outstanding if you hit the right day. I still rate two back-to-back days in Loreto one August as my best fishing days ever. But its really hard to convince people when airline tickets from the west coast are $600+ and the nets and hooka divers continue to pound the reefs and inshore waters.

I'll write more on the recent changes to Loreto and why I think Loreto is being marketed to the wrong crowd in my next post.

Road to Abreojos

Since I've been writing about Abreojos a little lately I thought I would post a couple more pictures.

Here's what the last part of the road looks like:

Its really hard to get a good photo of the washboard that forms on these roads but it was only medium bad this day. Depending on when the last grader came through it might be smooth sailing or a kidney jarring crawl. The pavement is getting closer to town and its not that far on the gravel anymore. The road is flat and straight. The biggest danger here is driving too fast and loosing control or colliding with an oncoming vehicle. Although these roads can be hard on vehicles many locals drive regular cars without any problem.

This sign marks the turn off to Abreojos. Continuing straight leads to La Bocana and points west. Campo Rene is a few miles before town. Note that the blue sign at the bottom offers a reward for a lost license plate - a victim of the washboard road. I've watched screws in my dash spin out as we bumped down the road. Fortunately, after a few weeks of salt spray from the Pacific and nothing will rattle loose anymore.

Turtle Conservation Story

This is a cool article about some of the Sea Turtle work going on in Baja. It was first published in 2005. I've been thinking about posting it for a while. Since I just wrote about Abreojos and my buddies Javier Villavicencio and Isidro Arce are in the article I thought it might be a good time to add the link.

Javier and Isidro are great guys and have done much for their community. Their exploits include starting a Water Keepers group for Punta Abreojos, hosting surfing competitions, helping secure a Marine Stewardship Council Sustainable Certification for their local lobster fishery, managing a sea turtle monitoring program in Estero Coyote, capturing one of the most notorious turtle poachers in Baja, and they still mange to work full time as commercial lobster fishermen. I'll have to post more about them another day.

Punta Abreojos and Campo Rene

View Larger Map

The region west of Laguna San Ignacio has been one of my favorite parts of Baja for some time now. A lot of our travels have been in my non-air conditioned truck. The cool breezes of the Pacific Coast have provided relief from the heat and humidity of the Sea of Cortez on many trips.

The small community of Abreojos provides basic supplies. The town is prosperous due to its careful management of its Lobster and Abalone fisheries. Its not easy to get here - you can drive in but there is no bus service. Private planes can land at the airstrip next to the town (watch out for baseball games) or at Campo Rene. If you are adventurous you could take the bus to San Igancio and ask around for a ride.

The best fishing is in the late summer or early fall. The fly angler must be self sufficient. As far as I know I may be the only person to fly fish here. I would love to hear from anyone else who has tried.

Campo Rene located a few miles from town at the mouth of the mangrove-lined Estero Coyote has basic rooms and slightly salty somewhat hot showers for about $15 US/night. They also have a restaurant and bar, kayaks, peddle boats, and a boat ramp.

The mangrove-lined estero is loaded with fish but the fishing may be impacted by gill netting in the spring. Birds, clams, and sea turtles are abundant in the area and there are plenty of coyotes around as the bay's name suggests. The bay holds sand bass, snook, and sometimes halibut. At the entrance of the bay I've caught roncador (yellow finned croaker), corvina, surf perch, and plenty of highly toxic bullseye puffer fish. Pangas are inexpensive and target yellow tail, yellowfin tuna, dorado, and giant black bass that range up to 300+ pounds. Larger halibut can be found beyond the break at the main surfing point.

The mangrove channels of Estero Coyote and Estero La Bocana are great areas for kayak fishing.

Lobster, abalone, and oysters are available but be careful the cooperativa that manages these fisheries fiercely protects them from poachers. They can be purchased in season from the cooperative in Abreojos.

It can be windy and cool here so come prepared. If the Pacific fog rolls in things can be damp in the mornings.

I wrote about Campo Rene a little in my earlier post:

Baja Lunch