Bogley

[deathcricket]

La Paz Mexico

So fishing in La Paz is quite different than anything I’ve even experienced. Huge ass fish and lots and lots of action. The real problem was my arms felt like they were going to fall off after a while. We went out on this little tiny boat called a ponga. There was room for 4 adults and a driver, but it was just use 3. My bro, my cousin and myself. So we started off going into the shallows. The captain stood on the forward edge of the boat and stomps his foot, I guess they do that before they toss bait out and the fish are attracted to the sound. Well instead of tossing out food, he tosses out this big ole net and pulls in about 150 3” sardines. He puts those in the front of the boat and tosses a little water in to keep them alive. We then head 30 foot out and hook a couple of the "sardinyas" and start trolling. I was expecting a nibble and then having to set the hook, but these guys literally just try and yank the pole from your hand! It was awesome, I’ve never hooked into fish this big before. The biggest one we caught was estimated at about 30 lbs but we we caught 20 pounders like there was no tomorrow. The real problem is that there are so many fish to catch and only a couple kinds are actually good to eat. But for me reeling them in was the most exciting part, these guys put up a serious fight and it's a 7 mins to 18 mins ordeal, depending on the size of fish. My first fish was a 20 pounder bonita (pictured) and I spent about 10-12 mins reeling him in and then the captain just tells me to toss it back in. “pinchee bonita, no bueno” he would say. I was a little shocked tossing a 20 pound “anything” back in but in 5 mins I had another on, so was really exciting. We only kept the yellowfins, torros, and some fish that looked like a barracuda but not sure. There is pictures of all 3 below. It’s interesting when you hook into a fish. I'm used to nibbles and hits, but these guys literally try to yank the entire pole from your hand. Then it basically will just keep taking your line out till you run out and snap it. So the captain stops trolling and instantly starts chasing after the fish. And it’s running like hell from the boat.

So after about an hour the bait start dying from sitting in the front of the boat. The captain changes strategies. He hooks each of us up with a dead fish and he hooks it through the backbone instead of the nose. He then tosses big huge fistfuls of dead fish into a cluster and our hooked fish as well. These freaky looking red fish with big eyes then come up and start swalling the dead minnows and hopefully one of our hooked ones. Now these fish are super smart. Instead of running from the boat and eventually getting tired, these fish dive straight into the rocks and just snap your line. So the captain changes strategies. Once we hook into one, he swings the boat around and hauls ass for deep water. We hooked into several but weren’t able to land them. They got away everytime. Sneaky sneakies!

So the company we used is http://fishermensfleet.com/ and simply put, these guys are awesome! The captains really know the hot spots to catch the fish. The price was very reasonable. $185/person includes food (breakfast and lunch), lodging, all you can drink beer & sodas, rides from the airport, rides to the hotspots, bait, tackle, poles. Basically you just show up and everything else is “taken care of”. The guy will even bait your hook for you! Only thing not covered is the tip, and these guys earned it. Then once you bring your fish in, they clean em, then load into the coolers and take back to the hotel. Then they do some fine cleaning, cut the meat into nice size steaks, vacuum seal it, and then you come by the next day and pick up your “frozen bricks of meat”. So we each ended up with about 50lbs of fish meat to each take home. Friggin awesome! We didn’t even go at the right time of season, I guess it gets better around June and July he said. But I seriously would not be able to reel in more fish than we did, my arms would fall off. There is some cool videos on his site that show the different types of fish that come by different times of year. I’m not big on spamming, but I can’t say enough good things about these guys. If you are ever thinking about going fishing somewhere, consider this 

[packfish]

Those on an 8 to 10 wt flyrod would have been incredible. Still great no matter how you caught them though. Jealous big time.

[Alex]

Hey thanks for such a great TR and pics, I might take your offer up and take my dad down there. :2thumbs:

[deathcricket]

packfish: that would have been insane man! I had enough trouble holding on as is. I learned real quick to put my hand high on the shaft for leverage. Quite the workout.

Alex: I hope you and your dad get a chance. I could not believe how much fun it was catching fish that big all day. I would have been happy with just one or 2, to be honest.

Oh yeah here is a pic I forgot to post. It's a close up of kurt's torro fish. We dubbed it sexyfish cause it had such nice curves. I hear the meat's only mediocre but havent sampled it yet to say from experience.

Also going to try and make some sushi this weekend from the batch. If anyone has some "tips" I would appreciate it. Figured I would just thaw it out in the fridge and download a recipe for sushi rice. Then use that with some seaweed to roll with avocados? Anyways never done it before so advice is always welcomed.

[LOAH]

Great trip! That's a great deal too!

I don't think that's a 'cuda, but it looks really pretty and it's got a mean grill.

I'm green with envy. :mrgreen:

[chickenlicken]

That looks like a great trip, you make me want to hit some warmer weather and hook up on some large fish. Thanks for posting. :hail2thechief:

[packfish]

That's a Big Jack of some sort- when I go see my bro in Florida we pick up 5 to 6# on a fly rod and your arm aches. I can imagine how one that size fights.

[denaliguide]

two words. NICE FISH!!!!!!!!! :2thumbs:

[Alex]

Dude, you should take your fish to a sushi chef and have them prepare sushi for you. I can recommend my guy if you like. His name is Kao he works in Jasmine on 47th south and highland. That guy makes some MEAN sushi

[accadacca]

Hard core dood! I really enjoyed your report man. :rockon:

[deathcricket]

Alex wrote: Dude, you should take your fish to a sushi chef and have them prepare sushi for you. I can recommend my guy if you like. His name is Kao he works in Jasmine on 47th south and highland. That guy makes some MEAN sushi

Whoa sorry late reply bro. I would have totally took you up on that except I'm like 3 hours away in Cedar city/St George area. Otherwise heck ya!

Sad news guys I've almost exhausted my supply of fish. :( I've only got about 10 pounds left, maybe. Even after being frozen/shipped on a plane/thawed/ prepared/ eaten 2-3 weeks later., It's still amazingly good. Here is a pic of some seviche. Basically it's raw but you let the lemon do the cooking for you. I should have got a pic before we started tearing into it, but there was 2 plates and this was the 2nd and already half gone. :P It was really really good though, I highly recommend if you havent tried.

I say its time for a 2nd trip to get some refills? woohoo! Sadly I've used all my vacation time up, and can just dream on....

I've been checking his fish report ( http://fishermensfleet.com/Current%20fish.html ) just to plan on when I go next year and he updates it pretty much every week or every other week. And I keep seeing them knock em dead. I will attach another pic they put up last week. Looks like it's getting even better (like that was even possible) now that it's getting warmer. I see they even managed to land some of those crazy looking red fish if you look at the bottom of the pic. We should plan a Bogley trip out there!??!!!


P.S. LOAH - I did do a little more research and you are right, it wasn't a cuda, it's called a Sierra. At least I think, I'm pretty much just looking and internet pics, but looks really close? They are really tasty also.

[abirken]

Man..........that ceviche above with some lime and homemade corn tortilla chips = heaven. YUMMY YUMMY!!!!! :2thumbs: