Monday, November 7, 2011

Magdalena Bay Mexico
Last November...


Today we leave for our mission (ok, so it's a fishing, surfing, diving trip and more) from Long Beach to La Paz Mexico. The trip's a bit more than 1200 nm. We will be stopping at several small villages along the way to drop off food, clothes and fishing equipment. The highlight of the trip will be giving a fishing clinic to the village at Man O War Cove (just inside Magdalena Bay). It goes without saying that to teach one to fish is more than just fun it's also a way to feed a family. Locals here have so little equipment, with many fishing and feeding the village with only tin cans and fishing line. We hope to teach them some new techniques and provide them with some great new equipment and baits. Thank you to United Anglers, Sav-On Tackle in Santa Fe Springs (thanks especially to Manager Roger Eckhardt) and fishthesurf.com for providing all the equipment and a lot of encouragement!













I will be posting pictures of our trip as we make our way down the Baja peninsula on FaceBook so if you have not "friend"ed me yet please do so. I have not figured out how to add text but hopefully the daily pictures will tell the story.







And talking about stories, here's a quick update of this week's surf fishing.







Beautiful conditions met me at the beach earlier last week and I had no problem making ghost shrimp, cams and a few mussel for bait in the bay. I made my way down to the sand and found small surf, glassy conditions and biting fish.
















Using the Carolina rig and a very light sliding sinker my first few casts were hammered immediately and it was good to see that there were some nice sized walleye perch biting.







A few casts later a beautiful barred surfperch...

















Followed by a couple big yellowfin croaker...








This fall has produced some of the largest yellowfin croaker in years. I don't see that changing much with the exception that it is now time for the spotfin to begin biting. With the cooling water, croaker have begun to key in on clams and mussel. This is something we always see at this time of year as the sand crabs have gone into hibernation and the tiny shore clams have come to the surface to feed and spawn.









Tides for this week and next look great. There is definitely a pattern going on--when the full moon is out fishing is best in the afternoon and evening. When no moon periods are around, like near Thanksgiving, the fishing is incredibly good all day long!







I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and Veteran's Day--Thank you Vets!!









I'll see you again in December--so until then friend me on FaceBook and good fishing!



Bill











Home of the All-in-One Surf Tackle Kit