A BAJA OVERLAND TRIP DOWN THE CORTEZ
COAST TO FISH AT PLAYA SAN RAFAEL

Jan. 5, 2005, Denise Coppersmith, Playa San Rafael, Baja California, Mexico:

After spending almost a week at Camp Gecko at Bahia de los Angeles (L.A. Bay), and not catching anything but one Puffer fish and some little varmints not big enough to really mention, my husband Chris and I decided to take our last full day and embark on a new adventure and head south in the search of FISH!

The idea was to drive to San Francisquito, but after consulting the map, I suggested, maybe we could go down the Baja coast to San Rafael instead. Being a woman, and a chicken, I wanted to make sure that we had enough time to get there, fish and get back before dark.

Chris loves to take Baja roads he has not yet traveled and although he has driven to the cape a time or two, this particular road is one not yet explored.

We had scoped out a Geocache in that general direction before leaving home, so that was also in the plan. The road was good, and after about 1 1⁄2 hours of admiring the Cardon forest and all that the Baja landscape has to offer, we again, saw the Sea of Cortez. We followed the GPS to find the location of the Geocache. It had been placed there in February of 2004, and no one had yet found it. We were the first to find it, and as their description had told us, the view was a spectacular one, overlooking a beautiful valley and one of the sandy shores of San Rafael.

After finding the cache, Chris spotted a small road further south that looked as though it may have beach access. He was correct. It was a perfect spot. Chris parked the Tacoma and went to greet the local, we would soon know as “Pancho”.

Chris asked permission to drive down to the beach and Pancho was a gracious host and advised Chris that there were Halibut to be found on the shore and triggerfish to be found off the rocks. We had been in the mindset all week that we wanted a Trigger! They are so fun to catch and make wonderful fish tacos, so we set up on the rocks.

Pancho’s perro, "Lobo" kept us company as we waited for the big catch! Which did not come within the first hour...so Chris set out to check the shore.

One cast, and BAM! he had one on, and reeling it in and yelling to me, that he had “GOT ONE!” From where I stood, I thought it was perhaps a Triggerfish, being that it was “flat” looking.

Chris then informed me with much excitement, “it’s a Butt!” We were both so thrilled! We were going to go home with a fishing story! And a good one at that!

As soon as Chris could get the one Halibut off his line, he cast again, and as he reeled in, he felt the tug and exclaimed “Uno mas!”

I had not even made my way off the rocks to the shore and I think he had already caught three!

I was eager to change my set up and get cracking at these halibut. Cast, reel in, and BAM! I too, was graced with the catch of a beautiful, large halibut!

It was so fun to finally be catching something!!! With the help of some mighty “Krocodiles”, Chris and I managed to reel in 10 great Halibut within 30 minutes!

One after another. Score: Chris 5, Denise 5!

I am sure we could have caught more but at this point we knew we had little ice, a long ride back and lots of fish to clean. So we took a break and Pancho offered to fillet our fish.

Two of the Halibut Chris caught were 27 inches long! We were blessed with about 15 pounds of yummy Halibut! Pancho did a GREAT job cleaning, skinning and filleting up our feast. We drank Pacificos with Pancho and when he was finished, with grins as big as Cheshire Cats, were ready to head back to Camp Gecko. We paid Pancho with Pesos, for a job well done. He also had another visitor stop by while we were there to bring him a few things.

All and all, I think Pancho had a great day! We sure enjoyed his company. We said our good-byes and jumped in the truck for a fun ride home. It’s always better coming home from fishing with a cooler full of fish and story to go along with it!

On the way back, we left our own new Geocache off the road, closer to Bahia de Los Angeles. We have not posted it yet, but will soon. That night, back at Camp Gecko, Chris BBQ’d some Halibut and we had great fish with tortillas, beans and salsa. The perfect ending to the perfect day!