Time for Your Christmas Gold

Winter fishing in La Paz Every year is a little different, especially when it comes to timing for different species. When the water warms or cools drives our seasonal changes in species. Some years the dorado are pretty much outta here by Thanksgiving. Not this year. A case in point is the week that the Honorable Marcos de Cognac has had here this week. (Name has been changed, but he is not nor has ever been innocent.) Marcos has been out the last 5 days and in that stretch he has had 17 dorado (6 of them over 35 pounds), 2 wahoo, 2 sailfish, and 2 striped marlin (one a big one at about 165 pounds). This is a pretty good stretch for mid December. He's been hitting the buoys east of the Cerralvo channel most every day, jigging up the small bonito on Sabikis and then hookin' them up and trolling, around the buoys and climbing up the food chain for some very nice fish. The wahoo were taken on the venerable Rapala cd-18, in purple. A couple of the days have been a little rough, but he's been fishing in the “shadow” of Cerralvo, only a few miles out, and has returned every day with more damage to the fish than to himself. A couple of other boats, working other areas and apparently not learning from his experience haven't done as well, but they have also encountered striped marlin and late season sails. There are general guidelines as to what months hold what kinds of fish here, but the fish don't have pockets and so can't carry calendars, and therefore can and do pleasantly surprise. David