Well at least moving forward we can do the right thing. The music in these videos was provided by The Total Camble Experience.

I know you’ve probably seen these videos before, but it spent some extra hours up late getting the audio to match perfectly (or as perfectly as possible) with the video. So please, for the sake of all the sleep I lost, watch them!

WORLD RECORD SNAPPER APPROVED

Think back to June, and remember that one Roula Cornell captured a monstrous mullet snapper. You will of course also remember that it weighed in (on official certified scales) at 45.6 pounds, apparently eclipsing the current record of 36 pounds by a metric shit load. Well, as of September 6, 2007, our sources at the IGFA in Florida tell us that his record has been approved. Cornell, who has been saddled with the term “pending” ever sense has been released from this nether world and is now official, unique, and certifiable in his position atop all of the mullet snapper fishermen in the world. Although his life has been a world wind of paparazzi, nubile pursuers, and sycophantic followers since that fateful day, he has maintained his humble “everyman” approach to life and fishing. Here’s hoping that his hat size remains static, and that his world record stands for a long, long time. Congrats R.C.,

David

That’s just another notch on the belt for the best guide services in all of Baja California Sur!

You should also check out some of the older posts from our time living in Mexico and our fishing trips with Fishermen’s Fleet.

We wasted no time once we arrived at the beach and immediately jumped in our boat, and Dan into his. We had the same guide as before (Cayo), since he seemed to share our intense passion for catching fish. The sea was a little bit calmer this day and we were able to make very good time getting to our destination. Cayo carved his way through the waves and swells with the precision only a person who had spent their entire life on the ocean could do. The sun beat down hard on us as our guide netted bait fish. It was obvious that today was going to be a very hot day on the water, even though clouds had begun to move in. We lathered up with sun screen and headed for deeper water.

The day started slower then our previous trip. We circled the area for a quite a while before we had our first hit. It was certainly worth the wait when line started peeling off my reel. I had decided to stick with the equipment supplied by Fishermen’s Fleet this time instead of my muskie equipment. Now I was using a nice big Shimano reel spooled with forty pound line. While many anglers use a heavier line for fishing saltwater, all the reels here seemed to be spooled with the forty pound line because the main fish we are targeting (Pargo, commonly known as Snapper) have very good eyesight and don’t hit the bait on heavier line. The only drawback to using only forty pound line is that these fish are extremely strong and can reach over one hundred pounds. They immediately pull straight down into the sharp rocks below, cutting your line. The idea is to chase the fish once hooked and bring in as much line as possible. You can only hope that the fish will head toward deeper water, because if they don’t, you will more then likely loose the fish. I of course learned this first hand after battling a good size pargo for almost five minutes before my line got cut. There isn’t a whole lot you can do when these fish start to run. I tried my best to keep the rod tip up and bring in as much line as possible to no avail. When you try to bring in the fish quickly you risk the chance of breaking the line from stress, but when you reel to slow you run the risk of loosing the fish to the rocks. It requires a very precise mixture of finesse and brute strength.

Continue reading Cerralvo Island, March 11th 2005

We arrived at Fishermen’s Fleet after a 15 minute drive from our house. It’s a short and rather uneventful ride down one of the main roads here in the small city of La Paz. David Jones, owner and founder of Fishermen’s Fleet, awaited our arrival at the front doors inviting us in for some coffee and breakfast before we headed out. After a few cups of coffee and some great blueberry bread, the rest of todays fishermen arrived. They were four trout fishermen from Colorado, two wielding some very nice four piece fly rods. We shared a bit about ourselves, and a few fishing stories. They seemed to be rather impressed with our resourcefulness and ability to be living here in La Paz, or anywhere with an Internet connection, but more so (I think) was the realization that we were probably 10 years younger than them. “We must be in the wrong business” one of them said.

At 5:15 we crammed into the van and headed out of La Paz, it wasn’t long before we were beyond the city limits. Now traveling on a seemingly treacherous road encompassed by the rolling blackness from horizon to horizon. The paved serpentine offered no warnings of its perilous nature, instead scattered roadside crosses marked the casualties in a much more meaningful way than any sign could convey. Our veteran driver must have tamed this beast innumerable times as he dodged unseen potholes, crevasses, and the sinuous cliff side turns. I tried to sleep, but the sounds of the road, and those few cups of coffee, were forbidding me from doing so.

The sky, now turning from a pale grey to a wondrous blue in announcement of the rapidly approaching sun illuminated our mountainous silhouette surroundings. As the sun ascended over the mountain tops the desert awoke reaching upwards with an infinite number of cacti fingers. It was a marvelous spectacle to watch as small flocks of birds darted out of their nests and larger predatory birds appeared soring above. It was as if that single ray of sunshine swept the desert with a breath of extraordinary life.

Continue reading…

What did I catch? 2 1/2 tuna. Yea, one was about half the size of the tuna Mike was catching so I’m only going to counting it as half. I still had an awesome time and went home with a smile on my face and a big bag of fresh tuna steaks.

We caught squid for bait, but no Diablo Rojo killer squid this time, but I did get a couple cool videos with my digital camera that I’ll probably upload tonight and post tomorrow.

Don’t forget to check out the Fishermen’s Fleet video that I posted yesterday.

And as promised here is our new featured fishing log. On October 5th 2005 I booked a trip with David Jones’ Fishermen’s Fleet for myself and two friends who had never been deep sea fishing before. It’s a long story, but had to be told in detail as it’s to date my most memorable fishing trip here in La Paz thus far. Not to mention that I got to take out two good guys to experience why we call it Fishing Fury.

Beginners Luck; Gracefully Out-Fished by a Novice

In the van it was the usual conversations you find on these trips. Where are you from? What do you do? Etc. One of the guys kiddingly refers to us as “the new guys”, but I explained to him how I’ve been living here for a while and have gone out plenty of times. Since I don’t know this fellows name, we’ll just call him “the weekend warrior” since he later admitted it was his first day fishing on this trip. We’re joking back and forth, and before you know it, the ability to catch fish comes up. He makes a funny comment about our ability, and I kindly replied. “We’ll be looking for you on the beach.”

By some strange occurance of beginners luck and being dubbed “the new guys”. Phil, who has never actually caught a fish in his life, was our lucky charm.

It’s been rather difficult finding fishing partners here in La Paz since Clive left for BVI. I’ve found many people willing to go, until they find out we leave Fishermen’s Fleet at 5am. Not many people seem interested in waking up at 4am, but I managed to con two great guys, Mike Brum and Philip Barbosa in to giving it a shot. Promising them an unforgettable experience, the fury was upon us.

The alarm goes off, it’s 4:20 am October 5th, 2005. I made sure to find out how much time they needed to get ready since I’m generally awake and out the door in 5 minutes. To my surprise everyone was sticking to the plan, I thought for sure I would lose at least one of them since there are only two chairs in the panga, but they were both awake and ready in no time. When we arrived at Fishermen’s Fleet we headed upstairs for some coffee and breakfast. Upstairs was the largest group I’ve seen, in total it would take four huge vans to shuttle us to La Ventana.

In the van it was the usual conversations you find on these trips. Where are you from? What do you do? Etc. One of the guys kiddingly refers to us as “the new guys”, but I explained to him how I’ve been living here for a while and have gone out plenty of times. Since I don’t know this fellows name, we’ll just call him “the weekend warrior” since he later admitted it was his first day fishing on this trip. We’re joking back and forth, and before you know it, the ability to catch fish comes up. He makes a funny comment about our ability, and I kindly replied. “We’ll be looking for you on the beach.”

By some strange occurrence of beginners luck and being dubbed “the new guys”. Phil, who has never actually caught a fish in his life, was our lucky charm.

Continue reading Beginners Luck; Gracefully Out-Fished by a Novice