La Paz Fishing Trip

July 2002

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Here are photos from our (then-recent) fishing trip to La Paz, BCS, MX.  This area, near the end of the 1100 mile Baja peninsula, is the hub of a substantial sport fishing industry.  American tourists flock here in droves to partake in the fishing afforded by the rich, warm waters.  Near the Tropic of Capricorn, La Paz can be quite hot in the summer.  Words like "scorching", "broiling", "baking" and "frying" come to mind when thinking of the heat.  Of the 3 days on the water, the hottest day was spent in an open boat for over 8 hours. Lack of water, and beer, could become a problem if preplanning was not applied in advance.

We stayed at Los Arcos Hotel near the south end of La Paz's Malecon (coast drive).  The hotel is one of the best in the city and has excellent food and general accommodations.  Best of all, it was next door to the fellow who was organizing the fishing trip.

The "away team" for this trip was Bob Caid (Tucson, AZ), Dan Porter (Anaheim, CA), Bill Caid and Kathleen Jones (San Diego, CA).  Bob, my dad, has been fishing in this area for nearly 40 years and used to go to La Paz when it was still a really backwater area.

Frankly, the fishing was lousy this time, we nearly got skunked outright.  In the end, Kathleen got one small Dorado (but no photos due to a wildlife "revenge event" detailed in the photos) and I got one 8.5 foot marlin.  To get these required getting up at 0400, and in on case, a 90 minut fse drive to the put-in point followed by several hours travel to get to the fishing spots. Two of the days had rough seas, which made travel in the open boats wet and rough.  The first day we fished out of Las Arenas, to the southeast of La Paz.  This is a primitive launching area at the end of 5 miles of dirt road.  Our boat was an open panga with no amenities, except for the multi-purpose bucket.  No radio, no seat cushions and probably no life preservers (I never mustered the nerve to ask).

The second day we launched out of the port of La Paz in "super pangas" which had both radios and sun shades.  This eliminated the 90 minute drive and offered much better logistics overall since it also eliminated the 90 minute drive on the return as well.

We had a great time, and would go back again, but it would have been better if the fishing was better.  We logged a lot of boat time for 2 fish.  Gladly, we were not singled out for special treatment as the others fishing in the same area had the same luck.

Camera was a Nikon D1 with a Tamron f3.5 28-200 travel zoom lens. Historical note here: since this lens got the "squid treatment" it has since expired.  I think that a combination of the salt water and multiple Altar trips and general "use and abuse" was the cause of it's demise.  My it rest in peace.

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All photos and narrative text Copyright (c) Bill Caid 2002.
All rights reserved.