What a killer time!

[Surf Hunter]

First off, thanks so much to Jon and Jill for the wonderful hospitality and for making us feel at home. We will be back!

So, the flight in was nice, here is a shot of Baja as we were beginning to land:



Got int he room rigged up a couple of light bass rods and went to the Cortez Club for a margarita and to see if anyone lived in the waters off the hotel grounds.



Had a nice cold drink and half assed casted around the bar. Shannon drew first blood with this little spotted bay bass. Typical eh?




Decided to call it a night and see what was around in the morning.

got up early and hit the beach and the bar area closer to the hotel.
I got the first fish with this lizard fish. I swear, La Paz grows em big and mean.



then I got a lil spotty as well.



Then I got a cute lil grouper



then TJ hooked into one f those big ol mean lizard fish.



That is all for now, to be continued.........

[ODH33]

keep them coming tom!

[Surf Hunter]

Ok, where was I??? Oh yeah, so, the next morning we got up around 3am to get ready and catch a Panga on the Los Arenas side. Made the drive (Carlos the van driver should really drive NASCAR, the dude was awesome and fast. Knew the road like the back of his hands and got us there ready to meet our Captain).
We met Captain Jorge and went out and made bait. After filling the well, we saw Mr. Frigget bird, he said he knew where the tuna were:


We threw some chum and the water exploded around it. TJ was the first to hook up:


After a nice fight, TJ was rewarded with his first ever Yellow fun tuna. I tried to get him to eat the heart, but he had nothing doing with that.


Shannon hooked up next, do you think she was having a great time or what?



The fruits of her labor, again, i tried to get the heart thing eaten agian, but was told to piss off



Loaded up on tuna and decided to move, had a nice pod of dolphin follow us for a bit.

[rjrich10]

Killer Time !!!!

[Carnivore]

Oh wow talk about bringing back memories. Thanks for the pics.

[moogie]

Where's the pictures of the polar bears?

[Surf Hunter]

Sorry Moogie, no polar bear pics

OK, so, we went through the school of dolphins and our captain suggested we troll a bit on our way back in. Awesome! I tied on two of the tuna trolling lures Shannon and I made. I tunred the heads from IPE wood and Shannon tied the feathers.
Dropped em back and began the troll. Man, did they ever track great, even the captain was impressed.
About five minutes in and the first reel began to sing. Shannon was on it and hooked up:



We have color!



And the gaff shot! So, Shannon gets the largest Tuna of the day.



Get the feathers back in the water and a few minutes later, the other rod goes off! Fish on! After some nice jumps, the dorado fell to my trolling lure and the gaff.



Back in the water and another bite, TJ took the rod and landed this chicken dorado, his lucky day as we let him go to grow up. I do think Shannon spit in his face and told him to go tell his mom.




Done for the day! Check out the kill box:



Headed back the beach for fish cleaning and then the ride home..........

[creekster]

right on Tom.....waiting for that Dark King pic.....nice to see you having a good time....

same old story shannon outfishing you...lol

[Surf Hunter]

Made the short ride to the beach and made the landing. unloaded the fish to Jorge could start cleaning them up. Not bad for about five hours of total fishing time eh?



Over looking Las Arenas, man, these folks have one killer looking back yard:



Back at the hotel we began to process the fish. We got smart and decided to pack our Foodsaver with us to vacuum pack our fish and store in the hotel's deep freezer. Blood carnage in the shower, we had to make sure to clean this up some so the maid didn't freak out:



Kept some of the fish out and brought it down the the restaurant. for $7.00 a person, they will cook up your fish for you. We ended up having them make some sashimi with the tuna, and had tuna in a soy garlic sauce. Also had some of the dorado fried. Talk about an awesome fresh fish dinner! I am still salivating thinking about it.

Next up, the Puffer King and an off day in town.........

[Surf Hunter]

So our next day was a non-offshore fishing day. We dicided to get up and fish the beach in the morning then head into La PAz to check it out.
TJ earned his name as the puffer king. On the first stop on the little dance floor by the hotel floor TJ hooked into something nice. For a second I thought it may have been a jack but noooo, the puffer king had struck again with this nice ocolaris puffer. The thing was huge.



A few casts later and TJ was hooked up again, this time with a cute little porcupine puffer, he ended up catching about four more of these little guys while Shannon and I only managed a couple of small spotted bay bass.



After the puffer king was tired, we went back to the room, showered and hit the town. It was really hot that day, probably hitting way over 100F. We eneed up finding some food, cold drinks then headed back to the hotel.
Once back, we had more drinks, including Mezcal, margaritas, and even more beer. My son had a few virgin pina coladas and loved em. After many drinks, I think I was feeling just like this:



The next two days we fished out of La Paz, it ended up being tough conditions as the wind kicked up and blew the grass lines out that the dorado normally associate with.
We managed to find another school of dolphin and began to troll.



While trolling the lures Shannon and I made we had a nice sized striped marling come up and slash the baits, he turned, came back and slashed again. We didn't hook up but I gotta tell you, we would have released the fish anyway, but to raise a marlin on plugs we made was priceless.
We found some grass and began to chum a bit, TJ was the first to hook up. With another dorado.



TJ's fish lit up!



Finally, one for the box and for tonights dinner.



Called it a day and headed back in for another shot in the morning.........