Baja Sur Trip: Fall 2016 (pic heavy)

[Druko]

Finally made it back down to my favorite area in Baja. My friend backed out at the last minute so I decided to rush it solo. Stopped in San Quintin for a night on the way down to break up the drive. Ran into the Team Salty crew at the El Jardin Hotel who were there shooting a surf/fish/dive trip for their clothing brand. Had beers and talked story at the El Jardin Hotel...cool guys! Left the next day and arrived at Rossman's place in Asuncion around dinner time and was welcomed with a home cooked bbq hamburger and Tecate upon my arrival. Fishing was excellent in Asuncion. We had very good yellowtail fishing and excellent Calico fishing. Ross has a pretty sweet set up down there and is dialed in on the program in his area. If you like fishing for yellows/bass I highly recommend a visit to him in Asuncion.

Days 1-3 & 7-9
Fished Isle Asuncion (located about 1 mile from the point)
I went 3-10 on big yt in 60-120 ft of water. I just kept getting rocked... pretty heartbreaking I tell ya. It's really incredible how many yellowtails were in the area during my stay. We had large schools of 20lb average fish with much larger models mixed in swimming right under us. Unfortunately, they didn't want anything to do with surface irons. All fish were caught deep on heavy irons, mega baits and flat falls.

School of yellows



my biggest 25lb


I think Ross went 3-7 that day. Biggest was 30lbs


After getting schooled by bruiser yellows all morning, I decided I'd had enough and paddled to the ample boiler rocks surrounding the island to see if any bass were around...lol!. Fishing was fast and furious on 3-5lb bass on 5" big hammer swimbaits. Fishing the area was very combative considering the island is home to a serious seal colony (they definitely didn't like me poaching their fish) and the large swells that kept me on my toes. Switched to my larger setup with 12" swimbaits to see if any larger models were around and on my first cast that I made literally in the middle of 4 seals that were swimming next to the rock I was targeting, I get slammed with my personal best bass. I've never felt a bass hit so damn hard! I had my Lexa 300 buttoned all the way down on 30lb fluorocarbon and the fish almost pulled me into the drink. With all the seals around, I'm sure the bass was in super high rev mode trying to get back to his den before being eaten. At first, I thought a seal grab onto my swimbait.

Pb Calico


the grade of bass down here is phenomenal




Days 4-7

Left for Abreojos to fish the esteros of Camp Rene & La Bocana and also the reefs that lie just off the beach. Fishing Campo Renee was excellent on small gulf grouper and spotted bay bass. The fish were small this year compared to years past. But they were plentiful and super fun to catch on light gear and suspending twitch baits. These little guys are very aggressive and fight really hard, and are experts at getting themselves broken off in the mangroves. The second day in Abreojos, I went to the beach to target the large grouper that live on the reefs but woke up to large surf that was pumping with only a handful of guys at the point. Really made me miss surfing. So I drove up to La Bocana and fishing was pretty much wide open the biggest Corvina I've ever seen. It was a blast fishing them on poppers. Unfortunately, my camera battery died as I forget to charge it the night before.

Double hook-up








Corvina Plate (post fishing ritual)


Home at Campo Renee




On the way back I stayed at Cielito Lindo on Ross's recommendation and what a cool spot. I heard the halibut fishing had been good lately with plenty of 10-15lb fish around, so I planned on fishing early with the hopes of bringing home some fish. Woke up to whitecaps in the bay. Packed up and drove back to the USA.

It was an amazing trip and really didn't mind going at it alone. Ross, thank you again for your hospitality. Already looking forward to next year, or maybe next month work permitting.

On a final note. The whole trip ran me only 500.00 for 10 days = 50.00 per day. Come on now! best bang for your buck fishing trip period!!! (would of been even less if traveling with somebody to share cost)

Thanks for reading.
Roger