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Archive for June, 2007

Posted in Uncategorized on June 24, 2007| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO: NOM-029 is the official designation for the Shark Norma legislation that allows commercial boats to lay long lines closer to shore and keep and sell all by-catch.

SPITTING INTO THE WINDS OF PROGRESS


Originally Published the Week of June 25, 2007 in Western Outdoor News

Given all the controversy about the new Shark Norma laws and how upset we are about how it’s going to wipe out the Sea of Cortez as we know it, I wanted to share some info that was forwarded to me. It came from a piece written in the San Diego Union Tribune by Sandra Dibble. It’s pretty enlightening.

Ever since I started writing a few weeks ago, about the Shark Norma laws and it’s impact, I get tons of e-mails with people asking, “Can’t the Mexican government see what this will do?” “Do they realize what they are doing?” “Don’t they know how powerful the fisherman’s dollars are?” “Are they THAT crazy?”

Actually, the answer is Yes…Yes…Yes…and Yes! But there is method in the perceived madness. It’s really not madness at all. If we accept the premise that politics is politics and business is business worldwide and further that everyone acts in their own self-interest, this is all very easy to explain how such “madness” could be allowed. It all comes down to dollars. Commerical dollars vs. sport dollars.

There was time when our sport dollars really meant something. No doubt, sportfishing dollars opened the Baja doors to the world. But, they don’t mean that much anymore. Cry all you want about how you and your buddies aren’t coming back if there’s no fish but I tend to think it’s like spitting into the wind.

Check this out. You and your four buddies each drop $1000 for your summer fishing trip. That’s 4 grand into the Baja economy. Whoo-hooo! But, the real estate developer sells a half-million dollar house to a guy from Kansas; another to a couple from Washington; and two more to some folks from Orange Co. That’s TWO MILLION bucks into the economy. Mr. Developer will sell 20 of those lots this week.

Who has the political and economic clout? Not the fishermen. Who would YOU listen to if you were in power? In your own line of work, do you pay more attention to the big buck customer or the small dollar customer? All YOU really care about is some good fishing; a nice clean hotel; and some cold brew around the pool. The folks who bought the homes want a marina for their boat; a golf course; nice restaurants, a spa; McDonalds for the kids; a Walmart…you get the idea.

The paradox, however, is that so many gringo fishermen…the baby boomers, if you will, with disposable income…are also the same people now that are looking for the real estate and amenities. That’s you and me, Bunky! Second homes. Vacation homes. A spot of paradise on the beach. Beachfront Concepcion Bay is still more affordable than Newport Beach CA!

I make the point that we can no longer have both. Third-world folks could care less about saving sharks. They’re too busy trying to feed the familes. First world folks have extra money and education. They want to save the sharks…and the whales…and the pelicans and the environment. They know EXACTLY where their next meal is coming from. But, they also want all the perks of being first-world citizens…restaurants, golf courses, marinas, gas stations for our Suburbans and Humvees, etc. I can’t say I blame them. I like a good steak too!

So, we rise up and rail against evils of the new Shark Norma regulations that threaten to purge OUR Sea of Cortez. The Cortez of our childhood. The Cortez of our dads and Fred Hoctor, and Neil Kelly, Gene Kira and Ray Cannon. But, by-golly-gosh-darn, we’re also snapping up real estate in the Baja as fast as we can find it and pushing for all the things that make life good.

So, along comes Sandra Dibble’s article in the San Diego Union Tribune. It points to a MEXICAN study that says the Baja cannot sustain the kind of growth it’s experiencing and predicts a basic collapse of services and resources. Using words like environmental “time bomb,” it points fingers at it’s OWN government for once. (Usually, these studies are always done by someone else like the U.S. telling other people what’s wrong with them.) This particular study is done by a neutral, non-profit Mexico City think-tank of intellectuals called the Mexican Institute of Competitiveness (IMCO) and criticizes developers tendencies to appeal to the high-end tourist market with luxury hotels and golf courses.

Never mind Shark Norma wiping out the Sea of Cortez. Look inland. This study says that the Baja’s infrastructure for sewage, water, electricity and other resources simply cannot sustain what the future is bringing. Heck, the Mexican infrastructure can barely handle it’s own population. Traffic; pollution; inadequate water supplies; etc. are just a few of the impending problems…with water being the most abused and competitive resource. The typical golf course uses enough water for 6,000 residents.

Quoting from the article,”What this shows us is that this style of development is not economically competitive, and in the long run, you’re bringing in tourists who spend less and don’t recognize the value of the destination. “ Economically, although it means more jobs, competitiveness by hotels mean lower room rates and lower wages for locals.

Fueled largely by U.S. demand for real estate, the study points to such things as Loreto which is slated for 4 golf courses, 6500 new residences and 7000 more hotel rooms. At the current rate, in the next 40 years, Baja itself will see an increase of 31,000 to 400,000 new hotel rooms. Local government is doing little to regulate the growth. The boom is on! Forget sleepy little Baja, fish brothers and sisters.

Some of these folks are you and me! But believe me, most of the others could care less about Shark Norma or that you and I won’t have tuna or dorado to catch in 10 years. But we want our places in the sun and we want our fish in the water. That may ultimately be impossible to reconcile.

So, what do we do? I don’t know. I’m just the fishing guy. I don’t have a house on the beach, but I would like one someday. I also want to be able to still catch my pargo and roosters too. And I’m still going to bang my drum against Shark Norma too.

And it’s nice that Office Depot is now in town. And Costco. And Starbucks.

So maybe the answer behind Shark Norma is as simple as looking in the mirror. They know EXACTLY what they are doing. Business as usual. Supply and demand. Who do you think is eating all that fish they’re going to catch?

That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com.

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Posted in Uncategorized on June 22, 2007| Leave a Comment »

OPENING PHOTO: Can it possibly be? Yes, Johnny Bartee of Glendora CA and Alan Isham from Rancho Cucamonga CA are holding up YELLOWFIN TUNA! Go figure! A welcome surprise in an already weird year. The fish showed up a few times this week of S. Cerralvo Island. Check out the nice pargo too!

NO DOUBT DORADO ARE HERE ALTHOUGH SOME DAYS ARE TOUGH – OTHER SPECIES LIKE AMBERJACK, MARLIN, WAHOO, AND EVEN TUNA PICK UP THE SLACK!

The La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for June 24, 2007

PHOTO 1 : Bruce Husson from San Diego hefts one of several nice dorado he hooked fishing out of La Paz this past week. Although fishing was hardly wide open, this was by far the most consistent week of dorado fishing of the season with all of our La Paz boats getting limits or near limits most days as dorado season seems like it’s finally kicked in. If winds continue to die down and conditions improve, the dorado bite will only get better!

PHOTO 2: Rick Carlton came down from San Diego and hefts a nice roosterfish that was released. Although it’s hard to see, Rick’s panga is only a few dozen yards off the beach at Las Arenas where roosters are still holding around the bait. In the last few weeks it would seem the roosterfishing has tapered off. In fact, the roosters are still there up to 50 pounds. It’s just that not many anglers are fishing for them anymore now that dorado and good-eating amberjack have shown up. Live sardines are still best for these pez gallo with the larger ones falling for live large ladyfish (sabalo). Big fish…big baits!

PHOTO 3: Mike “Intimidator” Gravert has a great time fishing with us. In fact, he fished 10 days with us. All the way from Sacramento, I can’t get him to smile when he holds fish! But, he’s never happier than when he’s fishing. Over his trip, he got several blue marlin (released), dorado, pargo, snapper, cabrilla, wahoo and a few other species as well. This dorado was caught out of La Paz.

PHOTO 4: Kelee Sharlack didn’t have too bad of a trip. From Northern California areaa, this early season bull ripped a live sardine off Espiritu Santo Island. Kellee was fishing with her favorite Capt. Joel and got quite a few of these nice dorado over the course of her stay. Fishing the dorado right now, can be hit-or-miss all day until you hit the right spot then it can turn into utter madness as fish slam from all angles. As one clients told me, “We could have had 40 fish in an hour if we wanted to!” Fish are loving the live baits, but the larger bulls are hitting trolled feathers and stripped bonito. So, bring your tuna feathers, anglers! Bright colors work best.

PHOTO 5: For our Las Arenas boats, there are fewer dorado but they seem to generally be larger fish. Greg Covello holds a pair at Las Arenas Beach near the lighthouse.

PHOTO 6: Wahoo are still biting…sort of! One day everyone gets hit. Then for two days, nothing even bumps! The hot spot is still some of the high spots at the south end of Cerralvo Island trolling with larger dark Yozuri Magnums or CD 18 Rapalas. No wire is best. One method we seem to find effective and has resulted in some strikes is to troll like normal then stop the boat. Sometimes, it seems that wahoo are simply trailing and not striking. When the boat stops…WHAM!!!! Here’s Mike Gravert again. Good day when you get a wahoo!


PHOTO 7: La Paz has more dorado (5-15 pound size), but generally, Las Arenas has the larger fish although fewer of them. Sam Henning on his first trip here from Colorado stuck this good bull off Las Arenas fishing with Captain Victor.

PHOTO 8 : Check out the colors on this pargo. Derek Chu of Philadelphia spent two days off the end of Cerralvo Island with his dad and they hammered all kinds of pargo, cabrilla, jacks and pompano.

PHOTO 9: This is me and Captain Victor who many of you know. I was working my light spinning rod in front of the Arenas lighthouse and got 3 of these beasts. It’s your every-day garden variety needlefish that we all hate. But…look at the size. Check out the head! The beak of teeth was about 2 feet long and if I had let go the tail, it would have touched the deck of the panga.

THE FISH REPORT

Well…some folks who fished down here this past week might tell you that fishing was not very good. But, I gotta tell you…not many of them were OUR folks! We did pretty good! It wasn’t wide open and if you fished few days with us, there were some rough spots…winds came back…bait a little tough…periods of slow fishing.

But WAIT (as they say in the info-mercials) !!!!
If you fished with us a few days, you went home with fish! You might have an off-day but overall, there was some great fishing in between too and all our anglers got fish.
So…check out the photos and that will tell you the story. Yes, the winds came back up again and turned the waters off-color and cooler and made some mornings bumpy, but if you had a bait in the water you probably got bit! Let me bust it out like this…
LAS ARENAS

We still have alot of variety around the south end of Cerralvo, Punta Arenas and Punta Perrico. Generally these are the areas where the water was calmer although some mornings there were late starts until you could get enought bait.
Wahoo continued to tease with a few fish caught every other day or so. People would crash the areas and scatter the fish then take a few days for the area to re-load.
Dorado could show up at anytime and anyplace. Generally, many of the dorado from Las Arenas were the larger variety especially if you were fishing the buoys.
Marlin are rather abundant. Some boats got multiple hooksup daily as many of the billfish are starting to finally warm up to the idea of eating a bait and are also actively eating all the small dorado in the area.
Inshore species like roosterfish are still around although not many are being caught as anglers have turned their focus more towards the better eating fish like the dorado and wahoo. Still, any of the sandy beach areas could hold pez gallo if you threw a handful of bait and watched the combs explode. In the same area, jacks and pompano are also being caught.
As well, amberjack up to 50 and 60 pounds were caught this week along with more pargo and a smattering of small yellowfin tuna popped up in the middle of the bonito and skipjack schools.

LA PAZ
For the second straight week, dorado were the central focus of our fleets. Safe to say, I think we’re finally into a solid dorado season. Some boats did better than others, but almost all our boats would get limits or near limits ( We did have one boat that took a load of bananas and and didn’t catch a thing while their buddies on another panga discovered the bananas, threw them overboard and suddenly started hooking up!)
Fish are school-sized 5 to 15 pounders mostly with a few 20-30 pound bulls mixed in and some larger fish getting lost. Live bait works best, but larger baits like caballitos and mackerel or trolling dead bonito strips or feathers seemed to produce the larger fish.
The best areas are around Punta Coyote, Las Cruces and the gap between the islands. Same areas are getting lots of marlin sightings.
FISHING TIPS
1. Bring flurocarbon leader if you have it. 30 and 40 pound leader seems to make a difference
2. Dark colored Rapalas or similar for the wahoo
3. Small swivels if you have to use leader
4. Trap-hook rigs (double hooks) for the larger pargo
5. Lots of sunscreen and a giant hat…it’s HOT!
6. We do not troll alot down here, but some of the bigger dorado are coming up on feathers!

AIRLINE ALERT

If you are flying in September or October down here and you are holding a ticket with Delta Airlines or it’s partners you need to call up your travel agent or Delta Airlines. This past week, Delta canceled or changed many of the flights to La Paz during those months. For some, it was simply a matter of a time change. Others have been re-routed so that there’s a short stop somewhere. Others (not many) have been cancelled.
That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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Posted in Uncategorized on June 17, 2007| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Alissa Dufour came up from the East Cape with her husband, Chris for one day fishing with us out of Las Arenas. They did great. Check out the size of this nice amberjack. Amberjack came on strong this week. Many of the rocky areas around Cerralvo Island as well as Punta Perrico sometimes running in schools under the boat. The key bait was to go get zebra fish as bait from around the buoys then come back to the rocky areas and it was like dropping meat in front of a hungry lion.

DORADO SEASON IS OFFICIALLY ON AS HOT WEATHER HITS LA PAZ ALONG WITH NUMEROUS OTHER SPECIES

La Paz / Las Arenas Fishing Report for June 17, 2007

PHOTO 2 – Cute as a button, Jaimie Ivins, from Orange Co. CA had a great week. In addition to a great week of fishing, she just found out she and her husband are having their first baby! That didn’t stop her from pulling on fish like this great wahoo that’s about as big as she is. She’s helped by Captain Loreto. The fish was taken off Cerralvo Island. Wahoo continued to hit with a few getting taken everyday. The darker Marauder/Rapala/Yo-Zuri type trolling lures were best. Fish averaged 30-50 pounds.

PHOTO 3: Chris Dufour from Fresno CA just finished his first year of teaching first graders and was on a serious Baja vacation for R and R. He and his wife, Alissa, fished with us one day off Las Arenas with Captain Ramiro. Chris had never caught a dorado before and his first turns out to be this 30 pound class slugger bull dorado! As you can see from this week’s photos, there were alot more dorado this week as the mahi bite turned on for the first time with consistency.

PHOTO 5: Greg Covello from Modesto CA always does well with us. Last year he nailed a 400 pound black marlin on a panga about 100 yards from shore. This year he got didn’t get a big marlin, but hooked several stripers and got this nice wahoo off Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 6: Dorado coming off the outside buoys was the ticket this week. If you hit the right buoy, it could be banner action. Captain Jorge “Moscorone” fished with Jeff Dawkins and Lee Spack and put some mahi meat in the ice chests! The secret on these dorado was to be the first to the spots before boat traffic built up.

PHOTO 7: Check out “Iron” Dan Aguilar and Dave Gault from Riverside CA. Great dorado fishing, right? But take a look at what Dan is holding…it’s a mako shark. Dave was fighting one of the dorado when the shark came in and took a piece of the dorado’s tail! Captain Adolpho (“Yofo”) grabbed a steel leader and tied it on with a baited hook and the shark bit! Hook up! About a 25 pound mako shark. Although we don’t encourage shark fishing (can be a bit dangerous), this fish is great eating. Tastes alot like swordfish!

PHOTO 8: Officer James Henning is often patrolling around Denver CO, but brought a group of 10 to visit us this week. Here, he’s holding up a nice dorado while standing on Las Arenas Beach.
PHOTO 9: Kendall Weickum and his son Gary, did some great dorad fishing also taking this nice pair of mahi on their first of 3 days of fishing. Captain “Albondigon” Gerardo is in the center.

PHOTO 10: Yes, the roosterfish are still here and they’re off the Las Arenas lighthouse in what has to be the best roosterfish season we’ve had in awhile. The only problem is that there’s also so many jacks that they zoom in a hit the baits before the big pez gallo can slam in. Cesar Carillo is one of our great amigos and comes down every year from the Modesto CA area. He was intent on getting his first rooster and nailed this bad boy right off the beach. The fish was revived to released. Cesar also got wahoo; pargo; dorado; and one day had 4 marlin hook ups and releases this past week.

PHOTO 11: Our amigo, Len Atkinson and his wife came down to celebrate 39 years of marriage. They also brought me the gift of gifts…3 vacuum sealed In-N-Out double double animal-style burgers that I had been craving! They were soooo delicious! Anyway, here Len hefts a nice female dorado with the help of Captain Jorge. They also nailed some nice amberjack and spent most of their time handing out free fillets to whoever wanted fish!
PHOTO 12: Check out the smiles. Check out the big amberjack “pez fuerte.” These nice fish are bigger cousins to yellowtail and much better eating. Rajer Choobek and Paul Castellano from Los Angeles had a nice week of fishing with us getting pargo, jacks, ambers, and dorado.

PHOTO 12: Despite the hot weather, there’s still some big pargo here which are usually associated more with the cooler waters. Check out this bad boy…the fish that is…not Mitch Kiuharski from Denver CO who had his hands full pulling this guy out’ve the rocks. The larger pargo are still there in the rocks near the SE end of Cerralvo Island as well as off Espiritu Santo although the amberjack are doing their best to steal the spotlight. Bigger the baits, the bigger the fish!
PHOTO 13: Dr. Pek Chu from Northern CA is a dentist. His son, Derek, is in his dental residency in Philadelphia PA. They took a break to check out the teeth on some of our rock fish and got an incredible amout of great-eating variety including, pargo mulatto, red snapper, yellow snapper, pargo liso, pargo perro, pompano and a few others I can’t remember over two days fishing the islands.

PHOTO 14: I have no idea where Chad Theis lives. He wouldn’t tell me. He wanted me to go find a basketball and play him hoops (Why?). His friends think he’s sometimes from outer space! But he sure did well with these two big pargo.

PHOTO 15: “Scuba” Steve is prison guard by day and a dorado fisherman when he comes to Baja. Steve is here on the beach at Las Arenas with one of a number of dorado he caught.

THE FISHING REPORT
I guess this is another week when I can just let the photos do the talking! If you read the captions, it gives you and idea of what kind of week we had. The winds finally slowed down and both Las Arenas and (finally) La Paz started to kick out the dorado. Las Arenas had the larger fish, but La Paz had the most fish (although lots of them were smaller 1-5 pound fish we encouraged releasing). However, there were still 20-40 pound bulls that were nothing to sneeze at. Sargasso weed paddies are starting to build around that area between Cerralvo and Espiritu Santo Island. As long as winds don’t blow it all apart again, we hope the dorado bite just gets stronger. These little fish if left to live will be 10 pounders in a month and 20 pounders by the end of summer or fall.
Because there’s so many little dorado around, so were the marlin. Still many were reluctant to eat our baits, but there were still a good number of hook-ups, bust-offs, and releases. Striped marlin in the 100 pound class and blue marlin in the 200-300 pound class were the mainstays. Most were released by anglers.
Inshore, still super action on pargo (lisa, dog, red, yellow and barred) with lots of fish still taking guys into the rocks. However check the photos and some guys just have a knack for doing better than others! The nice addition were the influx of big amberjack that moved into the same spots. Ambers like the rocks too, but the difference is that they’ll come up and out of the rocks so they can be fought easier. There’s still big roosters along the beaches as well as jack crevalle and pompano too!
SOCIAL HAPPENINGS WITH THE TAILHUNTER FAMILY- MILESTONES AND CONGRATULATIONS!

PHOTO 16: I met Spike Ivins years ago when he was a deckhand on the long-range boat “Red Rooster” out of San Diego. One of the best fishermen we’ve ever had down here. He’s standing with his wife Jamie and both of them live in San Clemente CA. Just before coming down, they found out they were pregnant and the doctor told them to still come down and have some fun. They did pretty darned good!

PHOTO 17 and 18 : “Intimidator” Mike Gravert from Sacramento CA came down this week for 10 days of rod bending. But, he also had another agenda. Somewhere during the week he was intent on asking his long-time lady, Kelee the “big question!” It was quite an adventure, but he finally just pulled her out on the pier behind La Concha Beach Resort at sunset and took a knee. We were hiding with our cameras and captured the moment!
Oh…by the way…during the week, they caught 2 blue marlin, numerous dorado, wahoo, and a bunch of other species releasing most of their fish. Good folks!

PHOTO 19 – UNSUNG HEROES – I cannot say enough about these guys. Strange picture? Well, on their last day, Chris Silva in red, James Booth behind him and their buddies Mike Booth and Bill Sharp from Riverside CA, told me they wanted to bring all the fish they had caught to the old folks home at St. Vincente here in La Paz. Wow…that was great. They must have had 2 full ice chests of fish. On the way to the home, they wanted to stop at the market to “buy a few things.” Well, each guy got a full basket and like kids in a toy store threw just about everything into these 4 carts…eggs, hams, chickens, tortillas, canned goods, rice, flour, vegetables, milk, juices, soap…things were flying! I think I even saw Mike Booth sneak a bottle of tequila into his basket. “They’re old…they’re not dead!” he said with a wink!

They bought over 500 bucks of groceries. What a great great gift when we arrived at St. Vincents. Thanks guys. You rock!
LUGGAGE WARNING AND ADVICE
Over the past week it seems that we’re seeing more and more luggage misplaced by the airlines coming down here. Delta seems to be the worst. I don’t know what’s up with them. It’s getting worse. I don’t know if they just hit a bad patch or what, but here’s some advice:
1. Board your plane EARLY. People who come on last stand the great chance of luggage not making it.
2. Label your gear
3. Do NOT put your medications or parts for your PAP machines in your check-in luggage. Carry it on!!! PLEASE. We’ve had several vacations almost turn to disaster when critical medications were left in check-in luggage that did not arrive until a day or two later. Bring an extra copy of your prescription so that if your meds do get lost you can take the prescription to a local pharmacy.
4. There seems to be no problem with line on reels.
That’s my story!
Happy Fathers Day everyone!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355
FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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Posted in Uncategorized on June 16, 2007| Leave a Comment »

REAL MEXICAN FOOD (Made by REAL Mexicans!)

Originally published the week of June 18, 2007 in Western Outdoor News

PHOTO: To find real stuff, head towards the public “mercado” where everything from fruits to meats and fish to tacos are sold from little mom-and-pop stands!

“We want to eat REAL Mexican food.”

How often have I heard that from clients and friends who come to visit. Like what? Taco Bell?

“Well, you know. REAL Mexican food!” (Like made by real Mexicans?) Before living down here, that would be an easy answer. Now, I’m not sure how to respond.

Often when we go out for dinner, they’re surprised.

“They don’t bring you a big basket of chips and salsa?”
“You have to ask for it. It’s not like El Torito back in San Diego.”
“No beans?”
“No, when you order a plate of tacos, you get a plate of tacos. Many places do not even have frijoles.”
“I want a combo #5…you know…two enchiladas, a taco with rice and beans!”
“There is no combo #5. What’s on the menu is what’s on the menu.”

Sigh and exhale. They look at me with disappointment. Obviously, this is NOT what they had in mind. Sure, Cabo and many of the tourist meccas have menus catering to gringo-ized palates, but once you get past the city lights and go to the smaller places, you won’t find Combo #5 any more than you’ll automatically get served a lime in your beer (an American concoction, by the way).

If you want REAL Mexican food. Wake up early. Head out when the sun is just rising and the traffic dust is still dormant and the city has not yet stirred. Find the mercado publico (public market).

Most sizeable cities and towns in Baja have one. It’s a place of small booths and vendors. More like a permanent swap meet of things to eat than a true market, it’s a fascinating conglomeration that is a true cultural treat.

Often, it’s an open air-warehouse and before you even get there, you can smell the fragrances and aromas all vying for your attention and beckoning inspection. There’s the “Café Combate” stand packed with men sitting and standing around folding tables and chairs reading the daily news while sipping thick sweet coffee and arguing politics and soccer scores before heading off to work. For some, this is their “Cheers” bar all day long. Interestingly, “Café Combate” is the actual brand name meaning “fighting coffee” and the caffeine jolt it gives you can surely fire you up!

Walk down the inner aisles and vendors selling meats and chickens chop, pack and sort their wares. Not for the squeamish, the lines of steaks and ribs looks great, but don’t be surprised by the occasional cow’s head or pigs ears for sale next to beautiful pork chops, burger meat, and whole hens.

Here now are the fruit vendors with tomatoes, avocados, oranges and onions packed neatly in open crates like an indoor farmer’s market. “Veinte (20) pesos por kilo!” hawks one vendor as he holds up a head of bright green lettuce in one hand and a cantaloupe in the other. One vendor will yell a price and his neighbor next door will yell a counter price to attract the passersby. Everyone laughs. Bargaining is encouraged.

Past the dairy stands with cases of cold fresh milk, cream and numerous racks of fresh queso (cheese), ice cream and jars of amber-colored honey you walk. Fresh samples of queso fresco, queso ranchero and queso blanco are offered as well as sample dipping sticks of fresh orange or clover flavored honeys. This is better than walking through Costco!

The fish market booths are up next, clustered around ceramic slabs and workers in plastic aprons, rubber boots and gloves heave slabs of seabass, snapper, yellowtail and pargo onto ice while others cut, gut and fillet. Others use huge scoops to fill plastic containers with huge prawns, shellfish and squid. “Tenemos epseciales hoy por callo!” says one man smiling as you walk by. “We have a special on scallops today! Only 100 pesos for a kilo” “Give me half a kilo,” says one patron. “For 45 pesos!” he bargains. No no no laughs the vendor wagging his finger.

And then the food booths. Real Mexican-Mexican food! This isn’t the canned stuff and there is no combo plate. This is the stuff made my real Mexican mamas and grey-haired abuelitas (grandmas). Thick-armed, thick wasted, Mexican mamas who can cook the carb-free diet right outta you. You can smell the food long before you get there. Things being fried. Things simming in pots. Chiles. Garlic. Fresh ground masa. Limes and onions!

Nothing fancy. Most booths are smaller than a bedroom with the kitchens about the size of the galley in your RV. Folks line up to sit at long wooden bench or ceramic tables. Think soda fountain lunch counter south of the border style.

Plates don’t match silverware. Cups don’t match either. Coffee is served from a big pot (not a coffee pot) on the stove that never turns off and is ladled out with a metal cup. “Pass the salsa” and “Coca-cola por favor.” is the universal passcode.

Grandma chops over a sink smaller than my laptop computer. Tomatoes, onions and cilantro fall to her skilled blades. Mama is frying things in a pan encrusted with oil ; stuffing tacos; dumping crushed chilis into a blender to make salsa; ladling soup; grilling tortillas and taking orders from customers in a whirl of activity “Seven to three o’clock everyday” she winks at me!” knowing that I’m watching her ply her craft! She is perspiring profusely in the hot confines and takes a moment to wipe her brow with her apron before asking someone if they want more tortillas with their fried eggs. Daughter is working the register…a simple shoe box. You only pay after you eat and you tell them what you ate as a matter of honor. No receipts. No papers.

And the things that come out of all these little kitchens…white or red menudo thick with pork and hominy. Served with chunks of bread or tortillas. Trays of sopes (like open-faced tacos served on bread); tacos dorados (fried tacos stuffed with meats and lettuce and tomatoes then deep fried); empanadas (deep fried giant Mexican won-tons stuffed with potatoes and beef); tamales (hot and steamed in corn husks) are just a few of the favorites garnished with plates of fresh cilantro; minced onions and various green and red salas. Each booth has it’s specialties and all the locals have their favorite booths!

Lupe has the better menudo. But, Rocia’s place has better tamales. Carmenita will put her tomatilla salsa and empanadas up against anyone!

You get some on your shirt. You make a mess at the table. You go through a ton of napkins. Silverware doesn’t match but finger-eating never fails! You laugh with a new-found friend sitting next to you eating dark savory chicken mole that you promise yourself you will try next time!

You get up to go and the daughter tells you, “22 pesos porfavor!” (2.20 cents please!”) For all that food. You give her 30 pesos and tell her you’ll be back again. Someone quickly takes your stool at the counter.

You waddle past the stand with the carnitas (roasted pork) tacos and see it’s “two for one” Wednesday. You’re gonna have to come back tomorrow!

That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com.

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Posted in Uncategorized on June 9, 2007| 1 Comment »

THE WINKING FOX

Originally published in Western Outdoor News the week of June 11, 2007

OK, so I fibbed. I promised last week that I would not write about politics, but my bad. There’s just too much going on and it’s all too important to let go by the wayside.

The big news on the Shark Norma (NOM-029) is….(drumroll)…NOTHING!

The governor of Baja has now jumped up to yell about it. So have more civic and business groups. There was another protest march this past week in Cabo San Lucas attended by several hundred folks and resulting in another old boat burned to make their point. But, it’s kinda business as usual although you can feel the general simmering going on and the disgust among those you talk to. But is it the sound of one –hand clapping?

Chuy Murrietta, himself a commercial fisherman from La Ventana said, “This is bad for all of us. We are just simple people trying to feed our families. If they let the big fleets and big boats come into our coastal waters there will be nothing for any of us. My brother and cousin fishes with the gringos. Most of my family have pangas and catch a few fish to sell to the market. We cannot compete with the big boats with all the hooks,”

“The government always tries to confuse us. This will hurt everyone. Once the fish are gone, they are gone, “ adds Pepe Cota, a panga fisherman from the East Cape.

“It hurts everyone…everyone. What are they thinking? If there are no tourists, we all lose,” said, “Aurelio Chavez, a Cabo San Lucas taxi driver.

You get the idea. Here’s what the coconut telegraph and the local papers are reporting. In one account the government in Mexico City is now saying this is only a “trial” for a few months to see how it works?

Say again? A trial? In the middle of summer? For what? To see how many marlin and dorado can be indiscriminately killed? And if it doesn’t work, then what? Who’s going to put back the thousands of fish no longer swimming the Cortez?

Let me put it in more tangible numbers. Those of you readers that have ever gotten into a wide open dorado bite know it’s conceivable to put 20, 30, 50 dorado in a boat if your sense of sportsmanship or local regulations did not intervene into the blood lust. Well, if 10 sport boats, were to catch 30 dorado a day that’s 300 fish right there.

Here in La Paz, on any given day of the season there can be 50 boats out on the water. If each of those caught 30 fish each, that’s 1500 mahi a day. In seven days, that’s 10,500 fish! And that’s with one hook and one rod per person.

Now…in this corner…

There’s 6000 commercial shark permits already issued by the Mexican government which, under the new law, will allow the Mexican commercial fishermen to keep all that dorado (and other species) by-catch. Each of those permits can be good for up to 6 boats.

OK, I’m no math whiz, but that’s 36,000 THOUSAND boats. Each of them with not one or two rods aboard. Not 3 or 4 rods aboard, but potentially, a thousand or so hooks EACH! Do the math.

And they want to do this as a “trial” for two months? I think I see the fox winking as he walks into the henhouse. “I promise this is just to see if I like eating chicken!” Hehehehe…Oh right.

The other argument we’re hearing is that it might take as much as a year to repeal the law. A year? As I understand, the law flew threw committee and was implemented in months without any public debate. So, it takes a year. Right through dorado, marlin, tuna, yellowtail, seasons not to mention migrating whales, dolphin and other sea critters. The brown stuff is getting thick and deep and I just went from deck shoes to full waders.

Why not a moratorium on the whole thing? Cease and desist. Everyone go back to your neutral corners before anyone else gets hurt. Study the thing. Get some credible people and statistics on the board then make a decision. I’m all in favor of saving the sharks, but the fine print needs to be adjusted.

Perhaps, the reason there’s the booming sound of silence from Mexico City is that they know something smells really fishy and even the Mexican people know they’re getting sold a bag of burro bandini.

SPEAKING OF THINGS THAT SMELL FRAGRANT – this just off the wires as I’m writing this! Because of so many screw-ups; delays; and a lot of pissed off people, the the new passport law intending to keep out terrorists but instead only terrorizing families trying to go on vacation, is in the process of being suspended. Basically the whole snafu has brought the understaffed U.S. immigration folks to their knees trying to keep up with the influx. Shoulda thought this one through better. In fact, by the time you’re reading this, it might have already changed. Good news for those of you on the bubble sweating your Baja vacations!

That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com.

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Posted in Uncategorized on June 8, 2007| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO 1: Erik Boye from the San Francisco area, probably did as well as anyone in the 3 days he fished with us. In fact, he was “on fire.” I think the biggest fish he had ever caught before visiting us this past week was a rainbow trout. If I recall correctly, he got wahoo, pompano, amberjack, dorado, jack crevalle, roosterfish and a few more. The list was too long!
Wahoo are still biting south of Cerralvo Island. We’re having one of the better wahoo seasons we’ve had in a few seasons. Dark-colored rapalas or Yo-Zuri type lipped lures are working best with no wire. You do get bit more with no wire, but I tell you what…I’ve lost 4 of these hard-to-get lures the last two weeks and still haven’t been as lucky as Mr. Boye!

FISHING VARIETY STILL KEEPS EVERYONE GUESSING WITH SO MANY SPECIES ON THE BOARDS -NOT FULL SPEED YET AS SOME LATENT WINDS AND GREEN WATER HINDERED THE BITE BUT THERE’S FISH TO BE CAUGHT!

LA PAZ – LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR JUNE 10, 2007

PHOTO 2: Check this out! How good of a shot is this? Early season dorado in the hands of Jennifer and Tony Mouncer from Oregon. We had more of these show up this past week, but still nothing wide open. We seem to be a few degrees off still with winds stirring up some green water and collaring a bite that seems to want to take off. But look at these colors. Check out the flat water that is so glassy you can’t tell where the blue water ends and the blue sky begins!

PHOTO 3: Carlos Vasquez from El Monte CA came down with his family but took two days to fish with us out of Las Arenas and did as well with his buddy, Bernie Melendez (photo below) as anyone given the limited time. Amberjack like this showed up at Punta Perrico as well as the South Side of Cerralvo Island with fish upt to 30 pounds. The trick to getting these cousins to the yellowtail was to catch the zebra fish (pilot fish) first to use for bait. With a zebra, the ambers literally inhaled the hooks! Las Arenas was the hot spot for these great fighters this past week.

PHOTO 4: OK, so it’s not the most artistically posed fishing photo, but Bernie Melendez’ grin says it all. He and his buddy Carlos Vasquez (above) tore up the bottom fish with pargo, cabrilla, pompano, amberjack, and this upside-down barred pargo (pargo mullato). Some great fillets to bring home! This fish was caught off the SE end of Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 5: More dorado showed up this past week. I think we’re still on the edge and waiting for the waters to warm fully, but we’ve had a few nice flurries. Here, Katie Olson from Pasadena stands with Captain Jorge “Moscorone” at Las Arenas Beach. Katie and her husband, John, had a banner few days taking dorado, roosters, snapper, pargo and sailfish this past week. Keep tuned. Late in the week the buoys off Las Arenas held some incredible dorado fishing that would be “on” one day then “off” the next. Just a matter of time! Our largest this week as a 47 pounder taken by Mike Law of Northern Cal.

PHOTO 6: Jennifer Mouncer was worried about how she’d do fishing on the ocean with us and we kept re-assuring her that this was EASY!!! She’s now a believer. She and her husband, Tony, from Oregon (photo 1) are already planning two trips next year. They slammed fish including this big rooster that needed a heft from Captain Victor. They released all of their roosters and many of their other fish. There was still a good body of roosters there near the Arenas lighthouse and along the west side of Cerralvo Island.

PHOTO 7: Kyle Bowers is 14 years old and came down with his dad from Denver. Although fishing was really inconsistent for our La Paz fleet, Kyle holds up two of the dorado he boated fisihng off Espiritu Santo Island. He and his dad (see photo below) nailed numerous other varieties of fish with our Las Arenas fleet and Kyle even took several days to complete his SCUBA certification.

PHOTO 8: I’m not sure who has the meaner looking face…this huge barracuda or our amigo, Carlos! We have barracuda here in La Paz, but usually, they’re about a foot long. This hog goes about three feet and was caught off Cerralvo Island wth live bait.

PHOTO 9: For four years, Mike Bowers would come to our booth at the Denver CO Sportsmans’ show and tell me he was coming down. Every year he would tell me the same thing. This year, he finally made it with his son (photo above). With Captain Gerardo driving the boat, Mike and Kyle ripped up roosters, jacks, pargo, cabrilla, big eyes, bonito, and several other species as well. The rooster was released , but they took alot of other fillets home for a barbecue with friends.

PHOTO 10: From the Phoenix AZ area, Chris and Rhoda Brown visited us this past week for some R and R. One day of fishing at Las Arenas provided quite a variety! Smaller dogtooth, yellow snapper, pargo, cabrilla and pompano filled the box…all great eating fish! This is the kind of inshore variety we have this time of year with great action on numerous species.

PHOTO 11 – What the heck is that? I told you there was alot of variety right now! Last week we had a fish that looked like a fresh water catfish that no one had ever seen before. Turned out to be a “chili sea catfish.” This fish also turned alot of heads. Looks alot like a halibut to me and we don’t catch halibut down here. This turns out to be a “gulf sand dab” held by Rob Dickens from San Francisco standing next to Captain Ramiro.

PHOTO 12 : We still have pargo in the shallows right now. The schools are still up against the rocks frustrating alot of anglers as they crash the baits and take guys into the rocks. Hot spots are still the SE side of Cerralvo Island where the amberjack also showed up as well as down around Punta Perrico. Fish like the ones Larry is holding up here are the ones we actually get to see! Larger fish up to 50 pounds or so…we never see! We just hear stories about huge fish that could not be stopped even on the heaviest tackle!

THE FISH REPORT

Again, I think this is another week where I’m just gonna let the pictures do the talking. Check ’em out. However, that does not begin to do justice to the total variety of species you can catch right now.
The list is long…roosters, dorado, sailfish, striped marlin, blue marlin, bonito, skipjack, barred pargo, pargo liso, dog tooth snapper, yellow snapper, cabrilla, wahoo, rainbow runners, big eye jacks, pompano, jack crevalle, yellowtail…are just some of the species I saw this week.
I won’t BS you however…it’s not WIDE OPEN. One day the fish are on fire or one species is just exploding and the next day it’s a pick bite or the spot that was blowing up one day seems like a desert the next. Or you pull to a spot and it’s litterally a fish pond of fins…marlin or sailfish or roosters and they won’t eat a single thing no matter what you throw at them! Frustrates the hell outta you! It’s hit or miss sometimes or some guys swing for the fence with a home run and strike out going for the big fish or blue water species like marlin and dorado. When they find out that those fish aren’t there or not eating, it’s often too late to go fishing for something else. It sure keeps us guessing, but if you put in a few days, everyone is getting fish.
Or…
The bug-a-boo…freaky winds hit us this last week. I thought we were all done with that foolishness. May was incredibly windy and we thought it was done. We had about a week-and-a-half of super weather, water and fishing. Yay! At last, summer was here.
Then, WHAM…the wind came up. It turned the waters green as cooler upswellings came up frmo the deep canyons. Some areas shut down. No fish. Others just got too unfishable. That’s what happened with our La Paz fleet. It was not only rough, but real difficult fishing. So, fortunately having our fleets at both La Paz and Las Arenas we switched most of our people over to Las Arenas where waters were still green, but at least calm and there was stil action to be had. Even if it was a day full of fishing for jacks, it topped going out of La Paz Bay and getting wet and travelling far for spotty action.
Personally, I still think we’re just a degree or two of water temps away from things blowing up big time. Before the winds, the sargasso weed was starting to build up nicely in the channel. When that happens the dorado schools aren’t far behind! But the winds came up and blew all the sargasso paddies apart!
We’ll keep you posted!
FED SUSPENDS THE PASSPORT PROGRAM WITH SOME GREAT MODIFICATIONS!
It’s official. Just in case you had not heard, this past week the feds suspended the passport program requiring that all travelers to and from Mexico have passports starting this year. The surge in applications literally crippled the immigration staffs not to mention pissing off a bunch of people who had to sweat it out waiting for passports which were taking up to 4 months to process. Quite a few people lost vacations over it. Anyway, the new law says that if you can show that you have a receipt for your application and that it’s being processed and can also present a valid i.d. like a driver’s license, you’re good to go! Click this link to FOX news for more details: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,279380,00.html

That’s my story!

Have a great week…
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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Posted in Uncategorized on June 3, 2007| Leave a Comment »

PHOTO: One danged big pargo liso! These are the ones we rarely see…mainly because they bite your bait, kick your butt, and take you into the rocks and you can’t stop them! So, you end up scratching your head wondering “what the….?” Well, this is what they look like, amigos. And they get bigger. Captain “Chava” Jorge didn’t have any clients this day so he decided to see what he could do on his own. That’s alot of fillets! These fish are still at the island and rocky areas.

TALK ABOUT A MIX OF FISH…WATERS HOLDING ALL MANNER OF CRITTERS!

THE LA PAZ – LAS ARENAS FISHING REPORT FOR JUNE 3, 2007

PHOTO 1: Bob Lederer came all the way from the East Coast and got our largest dorado of the week. The mahi are showing signs of coming on stronger each week although they’re not quite here in force…yet. However, vanguard fish like this bull are showing up more often and sargasso weed is starting to build in the channel. Bob got this around the S. end of Cerralvo Island with a live sardine.

PHOTO 2: Mr. ‘Hoo and his mouth of teeth are prized catches here not to mention deee-lish-us on the plate! In the past 4 weeks, more wahoo have been hooked and landed already than we had all last year. Fish are 20-50 pound flyers with about a 1:5 hook-up to catch ratio. So many fish are getting lost or lines getting cut. Wire is nice, but you get more bites by tying on straight. Paul Shepherd from Modesto CA and Daniel Lee from somewhere in Indiana (Sorry, Dan!) got these two, but had another 8 or 9 fish fall off during 3 days. Dark Rapalas worked best and it did NOT have to be an early morning bite like usual. If you want more fish, take off the treble hooks and put on single Si-wash hooks on the Rapalas. You’ll lose less fish. At times you can see several fish on the surface and they WILL strike Rapalas or baits that are just sitting there wiggling on the surface! The fish bite some days and not others, but on the days they bite, there’s some prize meat on the beach. Fishing out of Las Arenas has been best.


PHOTO 3: Look at this slugger. The fish that is…not Terry Johnson from Denver, CO. This is one plug of a roosterfish. Terry and his son Preston got numerous fish all week on light spinning tackle and had a blast. They released almost all their roosters. This was one that did not revive but the meat was donated. The roosters are still going strong right off the Arenas lighthouse as well as around Punta Perrico. The larger fish like live ladyfish, but this one ate a sardine.

PHOTO 4: Can it be? Is that a FRESH water catfish? It perplexed the hell out’ve all of us! Pete Wight from Torrance CA was fishing from the kayak in front of the Marina Fiesta Beach and hooked this interesting fish. (In 4 days fishing, Pete actually caught 24 species of fish from pangas, cruisers, the beach and kayak!). Turns out it’s a CHILE SEA CATFISH! http://www.mexfish.com/fish/cscat/cscat.htm And it has venomous spines. Put it DOWN, Pete!


 PHOTO 5: We had one day where all these lazy billfish that have been hanging around our waters took a day and finally decided to come to the party! It was spectactular with many boats suddenly hooking numerous billfish close to shore. This shot is a sail going airborne off Espiritu Santo Island about mid-week. (The fish was not killed!)

PHOTO 6: Al Isham from Rancho Cucamonga CA is about 6’8″ standing next to me so you can figure how big this rooster is! Check out how close they are to the beach behind them. Al got a number of these roosters and released them all. Al just left us and booked to come back already this month! That’s famous Captain Victor behind him hiding!

PHOTO 7: Randy Johnson from Rosarito Beach, Mexico and Al Isham from Rancho Cucamonga CA have been pals longer than dirt is old. They finish each other’s sentences! And have been fishing togther for a couple of decades. Check out the big pompano they’re holding. These fish moved into the shallows near the Las Arenas lighthouse about 3 weeks ago and are fished near the bottom with a small weight and live sardine. Some of the best eating fish in the Cortez!

PHOTO 8: This smiling guy is Mitch Chavira. Mitch lives in Encinitas CA. Mitch comes down here all the time and makes us all look foolish with some of the fish he catches. Better to be lucky than good. Mitch is usually both. This is a HUGE jack crevalle! The biggest hinderance to catching a trophy rooster right now are these things! They grab the bait before Mr. Rooster can swing in!

PHOTO 9 : This smiling young man is 11-year-old Cole Chavira. Cole is Mitch’s son (see photo above). Mitch makes us all look bad. Cole usually makes his dad look bad. Cole has been fishing for years down here and has probably gotten his photo published more often than any other friends/clients I have ever had. This past week, Cole and his pops, got into a massive jack and rooster bite off Espiritu Santo Island. It was WFO non-stop. They released over a dozen roosters (lost count) plus jacks plus other rock fish. I think they even got dorado too. They were back by 11 a.m. on the beach. (Notice the cool authographed shirt he’s wearing…with my signature of course! With the way he fishes I should have asked for HIS autograph! )

The Report:

Where do I start? I guess I can tell you to just look at the photos and let the photos do the talking!!! It’s much like I tell folks about this time of year. You never know what is gonna hit your line! There has been so much variety this week, it’s incredible. No one fish stuck out, but there were a whole bunch of fish that helped to fill fish boxes and bend rods. It would be a lie to tell you it was OUTSTANDING fishing…some days were just better than others. Some spots were better than others. However, if you fished a few days there were so many opportunities to get so many different kinds of fish, it was alot of fun this past week.
Pete Wight (photo above with the catfish) said this:
“Enjoyed your operation–had a blast. Like I mentioned, the variety of fish in La Paz was outstanding. Twenty-four different species including sailfish, dorado, roosterfish, amberjack, toro, catfish, bonefish, pompano, cabrilla (two types), barracuda, pargo (red, striped, yellow), skipjack, three unidentified species of jack, striped grunt, pufferfish (two types), needlefish, one unidentified species from the kayak, needlefish, and lastly the lowly lizardfish.”
Ok…so some of these species aren’t real exciting, but just take a look at the photos above and it gives you a smidgen of what we had this week.
It was weird. One day yellowtail broke loose and then the next daythey were gone. Another day, marlin just blew up the ocean and boats had multiple hooks ups and dorado were shooting through the billfish. The next day that spot was blank…but just up the track…roosterfish decided it was their turn. So unpredictable.
Both La Paz and Las Arenas had their moments so it’s hard to say which side is better to fish on right now or to predict what the coming week will be like. I think if there’s any disappointment, it’s from guys who fully expected the dorado would be in full swing by now. They’re not. However, the waters are just a degree or two away from turning it all around. There are more dorado each week. But until then, fill the plate with whatever is biting!
That’s my story!
Jonathan
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: Carr. a Pichilingue KM 5, Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Cal Sur, Mexico
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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Posted in Uncategorized on June 2, 2007| Leave a Comment »

OBSERVATIONS FROM GROUND ZERO

Originally published the week of June 4, 2007 in Western Outdoor News

As I am writing this story, still no word from Mexico City about what is happening with the new NOM-029 (Shark Norma) laws that went into effect May 15th. I’ve gone over this the last two columns and how this new law could potentially devastate the Sea of Cortez under the guise of being a pro-environmental law to protect sharks.

When we went to press last week, a delegation representing the numerous interests here in Baja had left for Mexico City in the hopes of eliciting some change or perhaps a moratorium on the new law until further study takes place. So far, no word from the representatives.

Down here at ground zero, several things are happening. Quite a bit of counter-propoganda is starting to show up. Some of you that sent your protest letters through the Seawatch website (www.seawatch.com) are getting back letters from the other side touting the benefits of this law and citing reference after reference of doctors, scientists, and other notables in support of Shark Norma.

Honestly? It looks a lot like “padding” to me and incredibly transparent It’s like when you used to do reports in school and stuck tons of citations on it to make the most trivial point seem more important or just to make your cheesy research “thicker” for the teacher as if weight and size equated to substance.

There have been stories and editorials in the local Mexican papers documenting how important it is to “save the sharks” and this law only has the environment at heart. These articles appear as independent works, but their co-incidence of their timing cannot be dismissed.

I have had several folks write to me about their upcoming trips this season to Baja. They were concerned that perhaps there was a potential for open violence after the first week of the law witnessed some large demonstrations in Cabo San Lucas and a boat was burned in protest.

No worries. Relax The Baja looks just like it did a month ago. There are banners , black ribbons and signs around the Cabo area, but it’s business as usual for the most part. The demonstrations were good and made a point, but folks gotta get back to work. Dad has to go put tortillas on the table so he’s back driving his taxi or working on the docks or cooking sizzling carne asada at the local carrito (food cart). Ma can’t be marching when the kids gotta have clean clothes for school.

And that part kinda worries me. No threat to your fishing vacation or timeshare rental, but it’s exciting when everyone is all fired up. After that, it’s old news and it’s easy for apathy to set in.

Because honestly, (I hate to use the word), but the law is “sinister”. No one will notice the effects overnight. People band together when there’s an immediate palpable threat. It’s not like the marlin will suddenly disappear or that most folks will notice that dorado fishing is tapering off.

It’ll be gradual so the effects won’t be felt right away. By the time folks realize that each year there are more vacant rooms at the resorts or that fewer fishing boats are going out and the bars and restaurants just aren’t as full, it’s too late. It’s too late to hit the brakes when the car is already going over the cliff.

And the fish… The fish are gone. And marlin don’t just grow back because politicians suddenly go slap their foreheads and go “Whoops! My bad. I’m was wrong! Gee sorry!”

And suddenly repealing Shark Norma isn’t going to do diddly. But maybe by then, no one will care anyway. The Baja will be a 1000 mile long stretch of condos and timeshares. And won’t that be something.

Unless something drastic happens, I promise I won’t write about this next week!

That’s my story.

If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com.

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