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.

Punta Abreojos and Campo Rene

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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

The Good Life

Its all about the lifestyle. I realized I haven't posted a photo in a while and things have been getting way too serious around here. If you look very closely you can see me fishing off the rocks below.

This is a great spot where we lived just north of Cabo San Lucas on the Pacific Coast. The fishing was sketchy due to the big surf and onshore winds that blew every day. However, we saw many marlin and sailfish jumping from our porch. We also saw a big hammer head shark swim by right in front of the rocks where I liked to snorkel when the surf wasn't too rough!!! Turtles nested on the beach here and obviously the dog liked the place.

Mangroves and Bahia Magdelena Conservation

Here is a link to an article that provides a good summary of the scientific paper that I linked to in my July 22 post about Mangroves.

Making that Deep Sea Connection to Mangroves

The article provides a good link to a story about the Magdalena Baykeeper group.

Magdalena Bay stretches for roughly 130 miles along the Pacific Coast between Loreto and La Paz and its mangrove lined channels are the biggest fish nursery on the Pacific Coast. This area is critically important for many species of sport fish, sea turtles, and is one of the three main gray whale calving lagoons.

Roncador

Here's a decent sized yellow-finned croaker from the surf at San Cristobal between Cabo San Lucas and Todos Santos. I have caught croaker on the Pacific side from this area north to Abreojos. Known as Roncador in Spanish, they take smaller shrimp imitations off the bottom. There was a deep spot in the sand, you can see it directly behind me in the photo, that produced many fish over several weeks but unfortunately it filled in and I had to find another spot to fish. Fortunately, the search for a new spot led to finding the rocks where the giant roosterfish hung out.