First fishing trip of 2018 before the wind blows for weeks

[steelfish]

Amigos, I got my 1st fishing trip for 2018 on early Jan cuz Im gonna be busy for the next 6 weekends in a row, then Feb is a month of Loco winds so, I might be out from the sea for at least 8 weeks aarrgg, too much windy on late Jan and Feb, specially on weekends, but anyway, good news is that I could went fishing and have a terrific time with friends and caught some fish too.

this time we started the day pretty early, 4am I was on my friend house to help him attach the boat to his truck, half of the trip was still dark outstide until the sun appeared for a great picture to our destination.



my weapons of choice for this trip was (of course) my newest go-to reel Makaira 15 SEa and took my Van Staal 275 to try some luck on spoons and jigs.



first to come to play was a schoolie YT


then a Cabrilla and later on another one



then fishing got slow so we moved to another big Island on the zone




after trying for some time a Big mad Cabrilla put my Mak to scream (just because I was with the drag lever just above position #2 on for an estimate 15#), I use #2 drag position as my "strike" mark, if a fish is taking line I know its a good sized one then I move the lever to real strike mark (on the bump) to fight the fish and get it to the boat faster, according to my scale #2 position is 15# and strike is 25#, position #3 and Full mark are on hold until catching a real big fish.


we found some YT eating on the surface so, I quickly grabbed my coffe grinder VS275 but they werent interested on irons, spoons, waxswing I even tried some poppers but no luck, they were eating a really small kind of fish, 2" long and really thin, so no fish for the spinning set-up this time.
hopefully on the next one, although I just got me a Komodo 364p paired with a shadow stalker inshore rod that will go with me on the next trip to try to get one big mama Grouper or hopefully a nice YT.

[thorhammer]

Nice report Alex! snow, ice and below freezing here. haven't fished in weeks!

[Dominick]

Thanks Alex.  Good report.  I know those winds.  It makes me tired.  Dominick

[Keta]

Nice.

[steelfish]

Thanks Alex.  Good report.  I know those winds.  It makes me tired.  Dominick

I bet you know about those winds, they come to Baja from northen california and nevada

those winds actually started few weeks ago and they dont seem to want to stop for a while as you can see

[Tightlines667]

Do you guys make it down to La Paz at all in the winter months?  I will be there Feb. 19-26th for a Seabird Conference.  I would like to go fishing on Sunday the 25th, though it looks like both the fishing and the weather are typically not great this time of year.

John

[Keta]

Thanks Alex.  Good report.  I know those winds.  It makes me tired.  Dominick

I bet you know about those winds, they come to Baja from northen california and nevada

those winds actually started few weeks ago and they dont seem to want to stop for a while as you can see

Lots of high pressure north of you this year.

[Crow]

   Looks like you had a great trip !

[Hardy Boy]

Great day Alex ! Man I got to get down there again. The winter blues are here big time right now.

Cheers:

Todd

[steelfish]

Do you guys make it down to La Paz at all in the winter months?  I will be there Feb. 19-26th for a Seabird Conference.  I would like to go fishing on Sunday the 25th, though it looks like both the fishing and the weather are typically not great this time of year.

John

Keep your finger crossed John
You are going to a Fishing paradise
Hopefully the wind let you fish

Late feb is a hit or miss on the wind

[jurelometer]

Do you guys make it down to La Paz at all in the winter months?  I will be there Feb. 19-26th for a Seabird Conference.  I would like to go fishing on Sunday the 25th, though it looks like both the fishing and the weather are typically not great this time of year.

John

Keep your finger crossed John
You are going to a Fishing paradise
Hopefully the wind let you fish

Late feb is a hit or miss on the wind

What Alex said.   

Business is pretty slow that time of year, so booking a day or too before should be quite doable.  There are lots of windy days, some calm days,  and quite a few days where the morning is fishable, but you will get blown off the water by noon.   There are a couple  different launch points.   Las Arenas  gets you access to the most interesting spots, but you have to deal with  a 45 minute van ride from/to La Paz.  Don't know  if Las Arenas is the best option for protected waters / winter fishing.

If you do get out,  the yellowtail fishing can be exceptional.   If you have fished for amberjack, you will recognize the drill.  They also get several different snapper species, occasionally some jumbos.  Toss in some tasty cabrilla (leopard grouper), sierra mackerel, and  the odd early season roosterfish,  you can get into some good fishing if the wind cooperates.  Mostly live bait fishing, usually with  6-9 inch mackerel.   Sometimes they fish  shallow inshore with 4-6" sardinas (flatiron herring) and light tackle.

As a caveat:  I fish mostly north of La Paz, but south of Alex.   I haven't fished La Paz in quite awhile.  Jonathan Roldan's operation is the best known out of La Paz and has a good reputation. There are lots of other choices as well, including some bigger boats if you do not want to fish the Sea of Cortez in the winter in a panga.   You won't need to bring gear if you are not the fussy type and let them know that you are not bringing anything. I would still be tempted to  bring a spool of  60 lb leader and some 7/0 circle hooks if I were going on a panga.  And maybe a PLB. Since I got a PLB,  I don't get that lump in my throat when the outboard doesn't start right away and there are no other boats in sight

-J

[Shark Hunter]

Nice fish Alex.

[Rivverrat]

Hey Alex good to see the pics or you using your Mak 15.  Tell me about that boat what size Yamaha ?  How long is that boat ?  Are they launched from the beat like most others ?

[steelfish]

Het Alex good to see the pics or ouu using your Mak 15.  Tell me about that boat what size Yamaha ?  How long is that boat ?  Are they launched from the beat like most others ?

yep, Mak15 is really awesome, Im really happy that is what I was expecting, the only think that I found out "not that good" is the low gear, daaamng!! that thingy is slooooowww LOL, I mean I can fight those YT and groupers easily on high speed gear (4.7:1 / 33") just for the kicks on one of them I swithed to low gear (2,1:1 / 15") and the line was coming to the spool faster than I was cranking (fish was coming to the boat), the line was starting to build-up so, I had to switch back to high speed to be equal fast as the fish and dont let them on the water with lose line (its when you lost them), so, now the high speed gear is my fighting gear and the low speed is totally reserved until having a fish that is really making me sweat on a fight on which I feel I couldnt turn the handle, hopefully find something like that soon.

my friend normally launch on a natural ramp that was modified by the owner of the "tourist camp" with some contruction materials to make better, Im attaching a pic on which you can have an idea of the ramp, but mayority lauch on the beach, puting the pick-up trucks on reverse with the trailer on the water and making the panga slide on the trailer, tighted up and pull.

let me ask my friend the info of the panga and will get back to you as soon as I have it.

[Rivverrat]

I've the same issue with the low gear on my Andros. Same ratio as Mak It's to slow for most of my catfishing. The low gear will easily turn the head on any catfish it's great for getting them out of cover & structure. However on say a flathead as soon as you turn them they come toward you quickly putting yards of slack in your line. Any who say catfish are slow hasnt caught many... Jeff