The Feral Children of Playa EL Coyote

[Joel.B]

My earliest, fondest memories were Hecho en Mexico. Baja- late 70's all through the 80's I was the travel companion to a crazy woman who at times would claim to be my mother, sometimes my big sister...  Her complete lack of vigilance for my safety and well-being was absolutely fantastic once we were south of the border. On U.S soil the chaos was a bit much so I mostly lived with Grandma which was for the best. Coming home from school and seeing the crazy station wagon in the drive meant the she was home from wherever/whenever and it was a bad feeling for me but at least a few times a year she would have a big crazy fight with Grandma and take me away for sometimes months at time, to Baja. Baja washed away all of the chaos, the insanity, the neglect, the abuse, the deficits... it was a magical place in a golden time.

From Rosarito to Todos Santos I had constant adventures.  At that time there were many "free spirited" types of people who would take their kids out of school for a time and travel. Every where we camped had large groups of kids of all ages. Those kids always divided into teams, those teams eventually had to fight. I myself captained derelict ghost ships on the shores of San Felipe winning great battles against the other derelict ships with  inferior child captains. Great Rock fights were fought from whale-bone fortress of San Quintin, we fought over caves in cliffs of Puerto Nuevo or whatever ramparts we could construct in the dunes of Guerrero Negro. 

At Playa El Coyote on Bahia Concepcion when it was just another beach to camp with no structures to be seen, at midway of the beach there was a "forest" of trees behind the sandy area in which we camped . The kids camped to the north of the forest naturally formed into one army and we southerners of course needed to organize accordingly to match the show of aggression. In the forest we constructed A complex of tree forts connect by ropes and branches and whatever other random flotsam we could find and some of the locals with some decent palapala-building skills showed us how to weave palm fronds. The result was glorious. It was never finished as somebody was always bringing something new to add here or there and when somebody left camp there was always extra stuff to loot. The only no-no was repurposing materials from existing Palapalas on the beach and we still did that anyway because we felt as entitled to our fort as they did to their shade structure on the sand. There was a bit of a back/forth of materials when a deconstructed Palapala was discovered somebody usually came to the fort to take back what was needed- it was during one of these reacquisition missions that an adult raiding party discovered items and behaviors in our tree complex that would put a damper on our activities for a bit, at least until a fresh batch of campers who didn't know any better could come through and we could start up again.

The final bit of freedoms that doomed our fortress for good was not a great battle, no. It was when the naughty oldest girl who stole a moms cigarettes and tried to make a deal with some of us not to tell by revealing certain things to a large group of us younger boys and when she did reveal certain things one of us fell out of a tree and the rest ran away as fast as they could screaming at what they had seen. Next thing I knew the whole complex was taken down and all of the materials were in a bonfire.

The next year we camped at Requeson, had to drive past Coyote to get down there and it broke my little heart because you could see that forest and I saw kids swarming around it as we drove by. But At Requeson I had my own Island, and if you wanted to cross the spit onto my island you had to pay, or die...   

[rogan]

Joel, Gen X remains the best childhood in history. Thanks for the sharing, and making it into an excellent story. My Gen X childhood is more tame, but still full of adventures and independence.

[oldmanjoe]

      Baby boomers for the win !

[Gfish]

Yeah, but I think it's progressive in a reverse way. My parents, aunt/uncles had wild life stories about the 20's, 30's and 40's.

[steelfish]

Joel, you could write a book a sell the copyrights to make a movie, I could see every single thing your wrote down as if it was a 80's movie

[Dominick]

Cool Story Joel.  Dominick

[steelfish]

Alex If you were around San Felipe at same time you may remember all of the old trawlers and such abandoned along that one stretch of shore. For a kid there was no better time than the pirates life aboard those magnificent ships.  I can still smell them.

Im not native of San felipe, so, I wasnt here during 70's or 80's, I have been around san felipe since 1998, but I must say I do remember some of those abandoned old trawlers on the shore there were 3 of them back when I just arrived to San Felipe in 1998, so, I can really picture you and your boys playing the pirates life on them.

some years ago one those old boats was painted by a local artist to give it a colorful and dramatic/scenically effect and make them a visit spot for tourists for pictures. I think I have some pictures of those, after some years they were pretty badly corroded and rotten and became dangerous because some persons liked to climb on them to have some pictures up in the deck of the boat so, they were taken away few years ago.

While fishing on my beloved board around one of those little islands off of Playa Coyote, in Concepcion, I was greeted by a pod of very curious Orcas.

On the sailboat while munching a PBJ  I told them my experience the man said he did not think Orca would be in Sea of Cortez but maybe it was the large Porpoise or even false-NO MISTER I KNOW WHAT AN ORCA IS IM PRETTY MUCH A MARINE BIOLOGIST BY NOW OK and back in camp nobody else believed me either. A week later while packing the wagon to leave camp there was chaos all along the playa because a pod of Orcas was frolicking just off edge of the flats. I wanted to wait before we drove off for people to come and tell me "hey kid you were right, those were Orcas, you weren't just afraid of dolphins or whatever" but we left as all the people were still standing on the playa watching the Orcas and I never saw my paddle board again.

Orcas have been a normal visitor of North of Sea of Cortez since always, heck, have you ever heard about "punta Bufeo" camping area?
old fishermen used to call "BUFEO" to Orcas and it was kinda normal to see a school of Orcas on that zone of GOnzaga Bay, so the owner of the land named the "new tourist camping area" Punta Bufeo, currently is not normal to spot a School of Orcas on San felipe or Gonzaga Bay but from time to time we can see a video from commercial fishermen that saw some swimming across this areas.


I found some pictures I took of those old boats, the STOCK photos were found on the web and maybe are related to the dates of your adventures, the new ones were taken by me on 2016

[oldmanjoe]

  Keep writing  . I do enjoy your tales . I only wish I could write as well !!

[steelfish]

Regardless that fish was grilled over hot coals with only lime and salt and everybody from the camp, (maybe 50 people?) just grabbed hunks of it with warm soft fresh tortillas and stood around munching on it..

ooh boy oh boy !! I can even smell the fresh and still on the coals/grill "pescado Sarandeado". I dont know if its normal in other parts of the world to eat a whole fish like that but thats pretty normal in Baja and the rest of Mexico, as I said before, I can imagine the whole story as if I seeing it specially that part of people gathering around a big fish on the fire and taking pieces of it with a warm tortilla, not with a fork or knife but put the tortilla directly to the fish and just grab it in a closing motion with a hunk of meat, I can said I had done that plenty of times with friends and family with a big yellowtail or big WSB (white seabass).


I put the quoted sentence from your story on Google and check what description gave me

[jurelometer]

The few times a tried to relate the story to fishermen who know that Dorado don't frequent anywhere near there that time of year nor go close to shore like that- also had  hard time believing that anybody, let alone a small child, could catch a dorado with his bare hands. 

In that part of the Sea of Cortez, starting later in the fall when the water starts getting cold, it is not unusual to see the odd stray dorado or two (rarely three, and never a school), cruising tight to the shore.  They are a bit lethargic and are harder to get to eat a lure or fly (or even a bait) this time of year.  You usually get only one shot at most before lockjaw sets in.  It will go on like this until the water warms up around May to June, depending on where you are.  They are also around in shallow spots where the water can be a bit warmer. 

For example, last April in Loreto, we saw two singles tight to the beach (no-eats), and on most days, one or two in the warmer sections about a half mile off the beaches.  These guys wouldn't eat a fly, would occasionally hit a lure, and would eat a live bait about half the time.

Dorado have a strong preference to only migrate/move within a fairly narrow temperature band.  I suspect that these winter fish are stragglers that got trapped.  The water is warm enough for them to survive if they conserve energy, but it is not warm enough for their metabolism to be efficient enough to allow them to move out of the area.  There is also a related, but slightly different set of behaviors for inbound migration on cold water years.

There is an excellent paper on satellite tagging of dorado movements and water temperatures.  I referenced it in another thread here.  If I find it again- I will post.

Great story, BTW!  The part about successfully jumping a big dorado is the most amazing.  I heard that inshore fishing for pargo and cabrilla was very good in Bahia Concepcion back in the day.  That must have been quite an adventure. 

-J

[Dominick]

Joel, I have been fishing Los Cabos every year for more than 30 years.  The fishery has declined over the period. I usually fish in the second half of June and late October, usually good fishing times. I remember bringing 7 marlin to the boat in a half day of fishing. I had a good fishing trip this year (not like it used to be) but did have skunk days over the past 3 years.  There are too many boats taking too many fish out of the fishery. Thanks for your memories of your wasted youth.   Dominick

[jurelometer]

J- I wonder if what the old panguero was probably trying to tell me, in dumbed down Spanish directed at me, in his own way, was more or less what the study you shared is saying?

Agree.  Those OG pangeros know more than a thing or two.   They rely on years of observation, and they aren't going to share their hard earned insights with just anyone.  That old timer saw something in you that he related to.  I have picked up the odd tidbit of extremely useful information from OG pangeros, but it takes a more than a few trips before they open up a little for me.

The way that I see it, the stuff that they get wrong is the same stuff that the rest of us get wrong, which is the "why" part.  The dorado are not "confused" (their brains are too small for that) - they have evolved to migrate or stay put in a way that gives them the best chance to survive.  They eat as much as they can whenever they can, they hang out longer around  structure that is good for feeding and spawn survival.  They spawn frequently when the temps are good. They move on when the temps are right but the food is scarce, and hunker down in the warmest water available when it gets too cold to migrate.  Behavioral thermoregulation is what the scientists call it.

It is a very simple and efficient strategy that does not require wasting a lot of calories to run a big brain with advanced reasoning capabilities. Evolutionary success is as much about efficiency  as it is about capability.

Yep, All of Baja Sur was pretty danged good fishing back then and Concepcion was no exception. All of the terrifyingly toothy yet tasty inshore bullies infested all of those volcanic rocks in massive swarms. Worst thing for a me was I had no gear to handle them and was constantly losing my $%!+ both literally and figuratively. I had precious little S%!+ to lose and it was of very low quality and strength. Pargo, Cabrillas, the various Groupers, Triggers, Snappers, Sierra- they all stole or busted my S%!+.

Around same time Mag Bay,  Estero Coyote, La Bocana, parts of San Ignacio and Datil were actually far better. Was a safari to get there but was unbelievable really. Lagoons choked with a huge variety of massive and amazing fish.  The waters just offshore like one big foamer of all of the things you'd ever hope to catch. Reefs holding Grouper and Seabass the size of cattle under every ledge.  Those were the days.

I was down in the Estero Coyote/La Bocana area in August.  You can get all the way to La Bocana on pavement nowadays, but it is still a sleepy little town.  The fishing is pretty good, even in the esteros, but undoubtedly not like what you saw. The locals have been developing more of a conservation mindset for the groupers, but there are quite a few small gillnetters working out of La Bocana that target the other species.

I often regret missing the opportunity of Baja back in the day.  Thanks again for sharing your story. I got to be there for a bit.

-J

[steelfish]

A local panguero told me that sometimes tropical winter storms push warm waters into the Cortez and the Dorados will go up at odd times.

as you might know, up to the very top/north of Sea of Cortez (san felipe area) the fishing is not as good as 2hrs south (gonzaga bay) or even 6 hours more (Bay of Los Angeles) let alone 10-12hrs drive south to Baja Sur (loreto, mulege, areas, ) on which you can find vast and lots of bigger different fish.

here in San felipe forget about trying to catch Bull Dorados, marlin, sailfish even Yellowtail, the best chance to catch Yellowtail is in GOnzaga bay area wich is 2hrs drive south and thats all for big sporty fish, if you really want to fish for marlin, sailfish and Dodos you have to drive to Baja Sur (with lots of luck you can catch Dorados in BOLA but not every year, same apply to sailfish)

that said, from time to time here in San Felipe, we have stories of a Marlin or a Sailfish or a Dorado that was spotted swimming in san felipe waters and sadly many of those got trapped by accident on the commercial fishing nets.
old pangueros always said its not the 1st time and from time to time depending on the storms season warm water or cold water travel more north than normal and there are always a big fish or two who follows the warm current water. So, your story is very possible and not that unbelievable.

this a Sailfish that was caught on commercial fishing net by accident, that didnt stopped the pic to be shared with half of town because of the rarity of the fish

[steelfish]

The price of shimp was nice. 

the price of wild Blue Shrimp is still nice if you find a local panguero to buy them directly 
$400 pesos 1kg =  $22 dlls per two pounds ( $11 per pound)

sometimes I eat U12 shrimp as mini lobters, heck I prefer the taste of the blue shrimp over the Lobters but thats just me (and my wife)

[steelfish]

Alex- I ate so many lobster one year while living in a lobster town that I got an allergy.

that unlocked a memory in my brain, when I was 13yo I spent one month with my uncle who was a commercial fisherman in Guerrero Negro, Baja Sur, for the people who dont know where Guerrero Negro is located, is the town you have to be in order to take the small plane to Cedros Island or you can take a boat from Guerrero Negro to Cedros too, most of the people take the plane, anyway, I remember that it was spiny lobster season so, my uncle everyday arrived home after work with some Lobsters that were not good for sell them (broken tail or body, half lobster, no legs, etc), so me and my family were eating lobster everyday in any kind of dish you can imagine, lobster meat cut in small pieces and mixed with eggs for breakfast, lobster ceviche, lobster on the grill, lobster with veggies and tomato sauce, I dont know, almost any kind of normal dish where you use chicken or meat we made it with lobster, almost the whole month.

that really made lost any kind of value for the poor lobster, currently when I see in a restaurant they offer lobster for mucho money I just laugh (no offense to who ever enjoy a lobster in a nice restaurant), my wife likes lobster so, from time to time we bought them by the kilo to a cooperativa from Ensenada, way cheaper than buy them from Costco or any other food store.