Hey! What's this? David Jones and The Fishermens' Fleet website fishing reports are alive and well? Still breathin' my friends. Through a long and troublesome turn of events we were no longer "able" to post to the website, and so even though it still has nifty pictures and stuff, it don't move! "I had a website once George, but it died." Well with a little help from family and friends I am once again able to tickle the ivories in your direction without having to compete with Lady GaGa in the tweet world. Phew! Much agua has passed beneath the bridge since last we communicated in this fashion. Winter, Fred Hall, Classico, and many other things. My fingers won't last long enough, but I'm gonna make like a sander and touch the high spots.
2011 La Paz Classico
We had a blast. With a record number of boats and a lot of big fish around it was a week of constant Men Against The Sea tales. It began with one Robert Mendoza clockin' a 180 pound tuna, even after his trusty Shimano TLD gave up the ghost. There's Bob, form perfect, dressed to a T, struggling with a large tuna when his reel decides to fall off of the rod. Yep, the section of the reel that has the feet that engage the rod decided to explode and Bob was left with a multi piece rod and reel system. After a brief moment of panic Bob and trusty native compendium Kalin worked out and executed a plan to play the tuna by hand, briefly, while the line was cut and a second rod and reel spliced in. They were successful and Bob made it home with large tuna and great story. That same week two different fishermen lost their rods and reels over the side of the panga. After 3 hours or so of fighting fish hands and arms were tired. When the fish are close to the boat there is much less margin for error, and as these got to that point the fish went one way while the fishermen went otherwise, and the fish took possession of the hardware. Broken rods were a normal thing this week, and no one seemed pissed. In the tournament itself 100 pound tuna didn't even merit a glance. The Family Marlow, all the way form the land of the Alaskatonians, walked away with 1st prize with a 202lb. yellow fin. An additional award, newly founded, the John MacAllister Sportsmanship award, was presented to John MacAllister. John was fishing alone in the tournament, and found himself with two tuna on two different rods simultaneously. He immediately called a nearby boat over and handed off one of the poles. Turns out the pole he handed out ended up connected to the 2nd place fish. Without the drop of a single stitch John congratulated his beneficiary on her prize winning fish. "That's what it's all about" We raised a tidy sum for the old folks, and had a great time.
Bill Mathias
As those of you who know Bill are aware he was suffering from lung cancer and was diagnosed as being untreatable. He wanted to spend his last days in La Paz, and with the help of many he did just that. Bill passed away with his daughter Susan at his side, and his ashes were scattered in the waters he called home. All of our Captains and some other friends attended a dinner here at the house to remember Bill, and as he would have had it, we all enjoyed telling Bill stories.
Hotels
The Los Arcos remains closed, with no immediate signs of life (that should change that). The Perla continues to be our flagship, but we have opened up options at the Marina, La Concha, and Las Gaviotas. If you have interest in these, speak up. As long as we're on the topic of hotels we've discovered one over in Sargento, right on the water, that has attracted our attention, and perhaps our intentions. I would be interested in knowing how many of you would be interested in staying in a more remote facility, out of La Paz, on the water, and nearer our fishermen. Let me know as you find the time please.
Mag Bay
We are going to return to Mag Bay this winter during the months of October, November, and perhaps December. As those of you who read about fishing know, this is one of the premier marlin fisheries on the planet, as well as the current location of the IGFA World Record yellow fin tuna. We are going to be land based this year, with a house on Margarita Island, near by Lobsterville. Using a twin turbo diesel Boston Whaler we should be able to cover the necessary ground in record time. Our good friend Capt.Juan Begerano will be at the helm ably assisted by Chris Jones as the deck dude. I don't know of a better combo to be had on the Baja. The trips will be of either 5 or 8 day duration, and is set up for groups of 4 people. This is a real hardcore fishin' trip, with a hell of a lot of fun to be had. Contact me for more info or bookings.
New tackle store in town. Just 2 1/2 blocks from Fishermens' Fleet World Headquarters, BajaMark is owned by a friend and partner, and he offers FF customers a 10% discount to boot.
That's about it for this first post, but with easy access through Blogtown stay tuned, come back often, and hopefully enjoy.
David
