A THE BAJA CATCH-STYLE BAJA CAMPING
AND FISHING TRIP TO PUNTA MARIA

Aug. 25, 2004, Tyler Thorsen, Punta Maria, Baja California, Mexico:

We had a wonderful time in Baja at Punta Maria, Baja California, 8/15 - 8/21. The halibut bite was good with one to 15.5 lbs and lots of 3 to seven-lbers all from shore and mostly on Krocodiles.

Sheephead bit well at the point in addition to kelp bass and a few mackerel, corbina, yellowfin croakers rounded out the catch in the sandy surf areas.

No activity offshore in the boat though. My buddy did nearly get spooled by something out near the point at dusk while shore fishing for halibut. Suspect it might have been a large white seabass but who knows. It probably was fished out at some poinbt by commercials.

There was an abandoned Baja fish camp there along with gill nets, etc. That used to be a great lobster and abalone spot with evidence of abalone shells everywhere up on the land. My pal who last visited that spot 12 years ago snorkled and never saw a lobster or abalone (the lobsters were not in season and he would not have harvested any abalone either) that were plentiful the last time he was down. We did have a great time however even if the only game was halibut.

We primitive camped on the beach just south of the actual Punta Maria. It is the one listed in THE BAJA CATCH on Page 80 on the north end of the Bahia de Vizcaino.

We drove two SUV's one 4x4 and one two wheeler. The 4x4 pulled a 14 ft semi-V aluminum boat. We had the big launching balls on the back end.

The person who had been there before, Tom Finch, used to go with his parents many years ago to there and other places in Baja growing up as a kid in San Diego. His folks were teachers and had the summers off. He told us how it used to be before Mex 1 went through. It took days to get to Punta Maria and other places.

Another one of Tom's family friends was camped with a group about 8 miles south of us. His name is Bill Cotter also from the San Diego area. Bill has a house in LA Bay (Bahia de Los Angeles) and was staying 6 weeks on the Pacific side to avoid the heat in LA Bay.

We took that road that is paved for about 6 miles then goes to gravel. It is the first major looking cutoff headed west south of the intersection on MEX 1 where that guy sells gas out of his pickup at the deserted PEMEX station where you can turn to go to LA Bay.

From there in it is about 28 miles on a Baja gravel road that was in surprisingly good shape. We went west for about 8 miles then back up north on the gravel road to Punta Maria. There were lots of small feeder roads you could take to get into the other bays and points in there. The only inhabited place we saw was a little ranch run by a guy named Raul. There was a deserted fishing camp there but no sign of any activity in quite some time. We heard the federales ran them off for poaching out of season and taking over the limit etc.

I am Tyler Thorsen it was my wife Kelle and I from Corpus Christi, TX a pal of mine, Rob Sadler, from deeper in south Texas close to the border at Rancho Viejo, TX and Tom and Elizabeth Finch from San Diego, CA who made the trip.

We fished mainly from shore and around the rocks using Krocodiles, a few mirrolures, and scampis. We did do some trolling offshore but really never got into anything other than lizardfish. By afternoon the winds and swells would have made fishing a little dicey in the small boat.

There are pictures on a site we created to commemorate the event www.twobuckchuckadventures.com.