New Blog

For those of you looking closely you will see a new blog added to the Conservation Blogs link. The Baja Blog by ProPeninsula is from a great group that is worthy of your support!

Unification of Loreto and Baja California Sur for the Protection of the DORADO

From the Baja Nomads Board posted by Pam in Loreto:

Several months ago a fellow nomad posted a link to an article in spanish regarding the initiative of removing the Dorado from its protected status as per Art. 68 of the Ley Federal de la Pesca where the following species are reserved for sport fishing permits within 50 NM of the Mexican coastline:

Dorado, Billfish, Roosterfish, Tarpon

We are responding to this and if you can read Spanish here is the start of our campaign to be heard.

http://www.bajabigfish.com/cartaconfirmas

later late tonight I will be posting my experiences from the last four weeks on this issue. we are collaborating with Los Cabos, La Paz and Guaymas on this as well as across the border to the USA via Robin Wade of Western Outdoor News.

also when the guy who owns loreto.com gets his stuff together it will also be accessable here loreto.com/cartaconfirmas

I will include ways in which non Mexicans can support us in my report. We will need your support and once united we'll will be unstoppable. This might be that 2010 revolution they refer to. But this time it will happen through peaceful communication with the law on our side, and science and with an educated and enlightened public.

Viva el Dorado
Viva Mexico

Sail Fish on the Hunt

These shots from National Geographic are not from Baja but they are so good I had to share them.

There is also a great video "Sailfish: In the Whirl" at the National Geographic site. Its useful to watch to see the scales and blood of the wounded bait fish that we often try to imitate with our flies.

Cool Dorado Video

Dorado on the Prowl from Jay Murakoshi on Vimeo.

This is a good video - the first 3 minutes shows good fighting technique. Notice how the rod tip stays relatively low - high sticking isn't just a hokey foul, it's a good way to break a fly rod.

At about 3 minutes the video switches to an underwater shot of good sized Dorado working chum. If you come to Baja California Sur in June, July, or August this is where you will be casting the fly. In the last few seconds you can really see the sardinas as they try to escape. Watch what happens and you can get a feel for what the strike feels like.

I think I'll go check flights - I'm getting the itch real bad!

Perfect Day

Ignore the sleepy hound and look for the very happy guy fishing from the rocks. Notice that there are no footprints on this beach. We spent most of the summer of 2002 living here. On Sundays a couple of families would come here and the dads would fish from the rocks while the kids played on the beach. On Fridays a big cruise ship would glide silently by at about 11:00am and disappear around the point headed north. The rest of the week it was just us and our lazy dog, nesting sea turtles at night, and fishing all day long.