FISHING LOCALLY INSIDE THE BAY

June 9-12, 2006, Gil Marlin, Sandiegofishing.com, Bahia de los Angeles, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Bahia de los Angeles weather was great and the fishing was good with my friend Richard Doering from Spokane.

Bahia de los Angeles highs were in the low 90's with cool nights to sleep. The bigger yellowtails haven't showed up yet in the bay and we didn't go to the big island which always holds a shot at a better grade of fish.

We caught yellowtail from 6 to 12 pounds and cabrilla sardinera to 8 pounds along with the ever present bay bass and jawfish (Mexican lingcod. Most fish were caught running and gunning on breaking fish and birds using 6x iron in the blue and white.

We stayed at Casa Diaz. The water temperature at Bahia de los Angeles was 68 degrees, calm to glassy, for 3 days of fishing. We caught cabrilla, jawfish, bay bass, sculpin, lizardfish, yellowtail. We stuck to Mexican fishing limits the last two days and basically got 5 to 10 yellowtail for two guys per day and then filled the rest with bottom fish. We fished with Jose Rosas.

The bite was early and if you were late you were bottom fishing. We did fish the bottom for some groceries the last day using ganions tipped with cut sculpin and cabrilla. The areas that produced were Isla Piojo and the north end of Isla la Ventana around the smaller islands there. Others had some luck at the north end of Isla Smith but we found nothing there.

The trip down to Bahia de los Angeles and back was uneventful with little traffic and no hassles at the checkpoints.

The other news was that even after months of preparation, I had enough things break or not work on this trip for about 5 Baja fishing trips. While swimming around in the water the first morning I popped my knee out of joint so I was hobbled the remainder of the trip. The fish finder/GPS wouldn't work. The bait pump and bilge pump crapped out. 4) A camp lantern got switched on in the box and killed the battery. The welds on the tee top cracked after being strapped to prevent this). The windshield on the boat somehow broke on the ride home. The kicker motor wouldn't pump water. All these things were checked out and good to go prior to leaving so I didn't feel too stupid when they would not work, except for my knee. How do you dislocate your knee relaxing in 3 feet of water? Anyway, overall it was a great trip and the Bay of Los Angeles still has the taste of old Baja. No hurry, no discos and no electricity after 10 p.m.

Some other fisherman at Diaz were on a mission to fill their coolers. While at the cleaning station the local fish police came by and saw the 120 quart cooler full of lings and called the gringos on it. They settled out of court for a couple of yellowtail and were gone.

I don't know how the lingcod population survives down there with the constant overfishing of them, but seeing this official busting these guys red handed and not even going for the pocketbook was surprising.

There are few big fish left in the bay and no sharks due to commercial efforts. All that's left of any size lives far away or comes in for a couple of months in the summertime. I guess my perspective is clouded because I remember the fishing at Bahia de los Angeles in 1964 when I was 10 years old and even as recently as 8 years ago when the expectation of catching a lunker or home guard was always there. Next trip I will bring my cartopper and go further south in search of a spot that hasn't been hammered to death like BOLA.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from Bahia de los Angeles and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Bahia de los Angeles may be found at Mexfish.com's main Bahia de los Angeles page.