"THE BAJA CATCH"-STYLE FISHING TRIP TO GONZAGA BAY

June 6, 2004, Ruben Tapia, Gonzaga Bay, San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico:

I'd like to start off by saying thanks to The Baja Catch. We could not have done it without it. We even ran into some fisherman who had xerox copies of the Gonzaga section.

Okay, besides the outrageous conditions of the road, everything was perfect. Traveling with me was Charles Belnavis of Team Modelo. We pulled into Alfonsina's to get a cold one before making camp.

Just for fun I tossed out a plastic and got nailed on the first cast. We knew it was going to be epic.

We tried to arrange a panga for the next morning but had difficulties doing so. We decided to take out the yaks. We camped at a new camp called Campo Belugas. This place was located just south of Rancho Grande and had showers and restrooms. We decided to fish the aqua culture area.

We immediately got slammed when we hit the water. Huge Spotties were everywhere if you could get your lure past the very large triggerfish. If we didn't get at least bit within 3 casts, we would look at each other as if something was wrong.

It was like a wide open bite all day long. We called it a day around 12 pm due to high winds and made it back to camp where we were to meet Mike Alaniz, featured in the latest issue of the Western Outdoors Magazine, and his buddy Lenny and son Alejandro.

By 5 pm the winds had kicked up so bad we could barely stand it. The winds were still strong in the morning so we decided to do some shore fishing along the beach by Alfonsina's.

We fished where the beach connects to the island at low tide for non stop wide open action on triggerfish and Pacific Porgy. Mike took his boat out with Charles and fished the wreck for some cabrilla but due to engine trouble, they could not fish the area as well as they would have liked.

This was fishing at it's best. Being satisfied with the inshore action, Charles and I decided not to get a panga for the next day and to fish from the kayaks.

This time we drove to Papa Fernandez' camp and fished the area from the launch ramp to Punta Willard. Again. The action was nonstop. This time we ran into corvina, spotties, triggerfish, Pacific Porgy and a species I could not recognize. It was a small fish, purple in color with baby blue spots all over it's body. Mike (sorry 'bout the beer) and the guys had to head back early due to car problems caused by the road.

On his way back he ran into Coco from Coco's corner. Although we never got to make it out in a panga, we had a blast on the small stuff and that's coming from a guy who was fishing in Cabo one day prior to this trip.

Thanks again for all the info in The Baja Catch. We will be there next Memorial Day weekend as they have a big fiesta once a year the Sunday before the holiday.

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