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FROM THE DECK
by Caption Jack
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Rick Ciampa and son Nick show off some of the albacore and blue fin tuna the two caught last week at the Outer Banks, 67 miles off of San Diego. The fishing trip was dad's graduation present to Nick, who finished up at Hermosa Valley School this month, and will be attending Mira Costa High in the fall. |
South of the Border
Well mates, can ya believe it. Next week is the 4th of July. What a spring and early summer of fishing we have had this year 2000. Hold on to your captain's chair, it ain't over yet. Up and down the Califrisco coast it's been you call it we'll catch it!
Yellow tail, white sea bass, barracuda, calico bass, sand bass, rock cod, halibut, and now albacore and blue fin tuna -- all these fishes on the menu.
I hear something is a brewing south of the border. Me friends down La Paz, Buena Vista and Cabo San Lucas sent me an urgent message via the tortilla express, "Get down here now! "There's yellow fin tuna, marlin, dorado, wahoo, rooster fish, sail fish, and grouper by the boat load or catch and release." To verify the truth of it all, I get a local call from Captain "FBI" Wayne from Redondo Beach who sez, "I'm leaving in one week for Buena Vista. I got'a open seat on my panga are you coming or not?" I sez, "Oh what the heck, why not."
Captain Wayne has a custom panga and a monster truck he uses to pull that baby all the way to the tip of Baja California at least once or twice a year. If you have ever tried a trip like that, with a boat, you know that it ain't no picnic. You have to be a cross between a road warrior and road runner to make it down there and back without becoming a hood ornament on a mac truck full of chickens bound for Ti'ja'wana, hoowie!
I was once near killed by a big mac on my way down to Point Vincente, south of Ensenada for a little fishing trip. I come around this hair pin turn on a mountain side with a one-half mile drop to the bottom of a rocky cliff. This big mac comes around the turn at 80 miles per hour.
We lock eyes. I hold on to the wheel and say to me'self, "Well this is it."
Some how, and don't ask me how, that truck swerves, takes off my drivers wind wing and mirror, ten years of my life, and never slows down. I pull over, check my shorts, kiss the ground and find the nearest place that sells corona beer. After a six pack I call it a nite. A very long night...Aarg sez the Captain...
That's the way it is almost every time you cross the border and head south. If it's not the big mac's, the federalies, local police, the military, or the banditos, it is something else. So here is my simple advice. Plan ahead, get local phone contacts in case of an emergency, and take it slow. Get your insurance. Extra cash, if you get my drift. "Green sweeps it clean," sometimes.
I been going down there for over 30 years and it never changes. But, if ya fish ya just got'ta do it. There's just something about Mexico...
I'm also going south to check out a Dragon Boat Dave sighting. Seems he may still be in La Paz with that senorita. While on our way to Buena Vista we'll stop in La Paz for a brew or two and a visit with David Jones of the Fishermen's Fleet out of the Hotel Los Arcos. For Baja fishing and reports call 011-52-112-21313 or you can contact David on his E-Mail david@lapaz.cromwell.com.mx. If you're interested in a semi-safe trip to Mexico you can simply fly to La Paz and the Fisherman's Fleet will do the rest. Check your local travel agent for airline schedules. Be sure to fly between hurricanes. I once flew into a hurricane into La Paz; but that's a story for another time......As with Dragon Boat Dave...