5 AM doesn’t come too early when you’re headed out fishing the salt. Sammy Vigneri, Grant Hartman and I left Sammy’s condo well before sunrise for a long drive north to San Carlos, Baja Mexico on Magdalena Bay. This would be a straight 5 hour drive from Sammy’s condo in Todos Santos. But we broke the rugged drive up with some beach fishing to cast for Pacific snook.
Like in the US, no drives in Baja go without a few stops. One thing of major importance in Mexico is to keep the gas tank full. Along todays drive we filled Sam’s truck in La Paz and then again in Ciudad Constitución. We also made sure to pick up delicious breakfast burritos and a bag of treats at a local joint we always hit when we drive through La Paz.
When we arrived at the beach there was a quick appreciation for the ocean. The surf was breaking on the beach in huge fashion. This doesn’t mean the fish aren’t there, but it’s hard to manage a fly line for casting. Grant also pointed out that the sand had moved much since his last trip here. Many of the deep holes and channels where fish can hide were filled in from a recent storm.
Tough conditions will never heed us from giving fishing a try. We went to work, timing our casts around the breaking surf. Once you got your timing down you could launch pretty well. Making your fly swim nicely is another issue. I purposely use either the SA Clear Tip or my Sonar 300 Grain Sink Tip lines because the weight of the line pulls your fly below the waves keeping it from skipping out of the water.
While we by no means hammered the fish, our attempt paid off. I kept from blanking by landing a feisty (sometimes annoying) longjaw leatherjack. Sam beached a beautiful corvina on a chartreuse and white Clouser.
We fished for about three hours then headed for our hotel, Lore’s House, in San Carlos. We arrived about 4 PM. Despite Grant making us reservations a month ago, they didn’t have us starting there until tomorrow night. That left us in an awkward situation as this is a small time town and there are numerous tourists here in November for fishing and diving.
As we stood outside going over a short list of hotels to find rooms at, a pickup truck slowed down and yelled something like, “Holy crap. Its Grant and Currier”, then they pulled over. It was George VanDercook from Jackson Hole. Though I hardly know George, we have had some great visits over the years, most recently last winter at the Denver Fly Fishing Show. It turns out, George and his partner Rudy Babikan are the founders of Los Locos MagBay. They specialize in fly fishing Magdalena Bay.
During our streetside visit we shared our predicament with George. We lucked out. George had two empty rooms at the hotel he houses his fishing guests. Not only did we get these rooms, George invited us to join him and Rudy, his guides Alec, Jeff and Noah for a special dinner prepared by their incredible guide/chef, Josh. Let’s just say tonight we had an amazingly great time. Thank you Los Locos boys!
That’s all for now. Grant has a boat reserved to depart at 7 AM tomorrow and then the attempt to end my STRIPED marlin curse begins. Stay tuned!
Despite being 2022, internet is sparse in remote parts of Baja. Furthermore, after a 10-12hr fishing day on the salt, it’s hard to get the blogs out on time. They will be delayed but they will come in full. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, please visit my webstore for “Christmas Gifts for the Angler that has Everything” and stuff those stockings with my fish decals from “Pescador on the Fly”.
Love the small world situations. Friends always come through when needed. Good thing you got a lot of them. Bought time I saw some food pictures as well. Catch a beast and end the curse.