Palos Verdes 8/15
According to local dock totals, this past week the sand bass and barracuda counts are down, however the calico bass are still around and biting. This morning at five I was descending the trail at the end of Hawthorne Blvd. in Rancho Palos Verdes to fling plastics from my favorite calico rock during low tide.
Once I hopped aboard my usual platform, I saw a lot of kelp had taken root in the casting zone where the past three years there was none. This will make it difficult to retrieve my first offering, a 1 ½ ounce chrome Krocodile in the dark for a chance at a rogue ’cuda. At least it is something to do before first light; I never caught a bass here before that time. Back in the old days, The Breakwall crew was always barra’ successful casting at night and early morning at King Harbor.
I untied the Kroc and went with the five-inch Storm WildEye mackerel, upon which only the big ones pounce. To the right there was some open space but I could feel the lure hit kelp strands as I kept it only two or three feet below the surface; and I still snagged and broke off three units. I retied and flip-cast it out every five feet along the kelp line as I walked back and forth on the rocks for around thirty minutes but had no bites.
Next I flung a six-inch Gulp! squid pinned to a 3/8 oz standup leadhead in the same manner, finally coming up with results in the form of a barely legal calico that was tossed back. Also I had a bunch of bites in the next hour, probably little guys nibbling at the tentacles.
Well, that was boring. Next I set up an opaleye bobber rig with a number eight treble hook adorned with mussel I picked when I first showed up. The larger mollusks are found right at the water line when the tide is at its lowest. An hour of that had the bobber going down many times but only one hook-set was had in the form of a seven-inch rock wrasse that was carefully placed into a tide pool.
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Woman commits suicide at PV cliffs
Western Outdoor News has a new site with reports and stories https://www.wonews.com
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From Wook 8/4:
Always a great trip when you get invited to join Girskis' for his summer fishing trips.
We left out of H&M Landing in San Diego aboard the Relentless for a 1.5 day trip. Probably the nicest boat (amenity-wise) that I've ever been priviledged to spend 36 hours on with 18 other fishermen.
Not a whole lot of photos as the fishing was hot and heavy.
J-Kang. . .once again. . .epitomized the word 'Luck'. . .where opportunity and preparedness meets. . .cept that guy's never lucky. . .he's just that darn good of a fisherman. The boat trip back was five hours. . .think the four deckhands were filleting Johnny's fish for half the boat ride back. . .the captain actually slowed the boat down so that they could fillet all the fish. And as expected, Johnny was the generous jackpot winner with a 25 lb+ albacore that just edged out Girskis' yellowtail by 2 or 3 lbs.
Most of the fishing was fast and furious on the kelp patties with dorados and yellowtails inhaling everything in site. The sea was flat and it was pretty cool to see these colorful fish zipping along to grab your flylined sardines. Don't have the totals yet, but the captain said it was his best trip of the year with well over 100+ dorados (mahi mahi) from 2-15lbs and yellowtails (hamachi) from 8-25lbs. We also had two albacores (only J-Kang got these) 25+ lbs; 8 bluefins (less than 10lb each--but, very much treasured); and 1mako shark pup (released).
Great weather; flat seas; fantastic fishing; and most of all. . .tremendous comraderie!
I ended up with 9 yellowtails, 4 dorados, and 1 bluefin. What a great trip!
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Letters to the editor concerning Baja story 6/27:
From James:
Great story...I like the part where you hurled up, what you thought was blood...i bet you almost shit your pants.....hehehehehe...thank god, it was only beer and tomato juice.
From Robert S.:
Say, quick question...
I thought I heard recently in the news, that there was this big deal about vehicles being taken to Mexico to be sold, and that as a result, whenever you took your vehicle into Mexico, you had to pay some kind of huge deposit (in Mexico -- presumably to make sure you bring your car back to the USA) that you got back after you returned. Did you experience that issue? Have you heard about this? Or is that a bunch of BS...
Also, I'm curious how you feel about the fighting in Mexico these days. I guess you're OK with it -- perhaps knowing where it is predominant and thus staying clear of it?
I looked at that map about Mex-5. Looks like from Mexicali, not much more than 120 miles south to San Felipe on the Gulf of California. I've been thinking about taking that drive, but still need to do some investigation of "things to prepare for". I don't suppose you have a link to any website that has all the info I need to make sure I stay on the right side of Mexican law and out of trouble... ???
Thanks again for keeping me on your distribution list.
About bringing vehicles into Mexico, you only have to pay the fee if you go to mainland Mexico. Baja is considered the frontier, and in the frontier zones you can do a lot more without all the bureaucracy. Another thing you can do in the frontier is spend dollars as well as pesos.
Most of the drug fighting is in Tijuana and Cuidad Juarez near El Paso. Once you get 30 miles past the border you're fine. As mentioned there are plenty of military checks along the paved and dirt highways, they keep things safe. Crossing at Tecate is a breeze as it is small. Only thing is the roads aren't marked that well so your first time might be an adventure trying to get on the toll road east. Obtain a copy of the Auto Club map of Baja California.
You need a valid US passport to get back and a Mexican tourist card to go down. Also you need Mexican auto insurance for each day you will be in Mexico. That's about it for Baja. You get better deals if you pay in pesos.
A week before I go on the 2-weeker, I go to TJ to get the tourist card and pesos so that I don't have to stop on drive day. You get your pesos at any of the shops in San Ysidro then you park on this side of the border and walk across through the clanging gate. Immediately you will see the Oficina de Migracion to the left, where you get the tourist card. You show the man your passport and fill out the form. Then you take the form a few windows over to the bank and pay I think $18 or 200 pesos for it. Then you go back to the migration office and hand them their stamped copy and you're done. It is good for 180 days. Then you walk across the bridge to the other side of the street and walk back through US customs. The whole errand this past June lasted 45 minutes then I drove home.
I get my Mexican insurance at Auto Club. It is more expensive than at the kiosks in San Ysidro, but when my truck was stolen down there back in '97 I dealt with auto club and they handled the Mexican insurance guys. All I had to do was report it to the insurance company before I left Mexico.
This link looks accurate and has some other links on the front page:
From Hiker Dean:
I just got back from the big trees in Sequoia National Park and your Baja pictures make me think of one word -- desolate. Where are the trees? Oh, yeah there are the smoke trees. Its amazing there's enough water for even the smoke trees.
It surprised me that you took a laptop on your rugged adventure. They always seem to be on the delicate side. Also, I would be afraid of it getting stolen. I too, just bought a Dell laptop -- about a month ago. I only halfway needed it, but I thought it would be the last chance to get a laptop with Windows XP on it. It turns out, after the supposed deadline, that Dell is bending the rules and continues to sell XP as long as you also buy Vista for your laptop.
Be careful with those lithium batteries and heat. High temperatures (a little over 100 degrees F, if I recall correctly) can greatly shorten the life of a lithium battery. I can't remember where I read about lithium batteries and heat, but I think it was on the Apple web site.
Good thing you got over the stomach ailment so you could enjoy your camarones rancheros and $2,500 bottle of tequila.
How's that Plantar Fasciitis problem? No mention of it in the trip report. Maybe you didn't do much walking on the trip or its no longer a problem.
Great pictures.
Here are the trees :-) :
The laptop only came out at night so we could watch DVDs, and during travel was in a padded laptop bag inside my suitcase with all the clothes. I got it for $500 off eBay, it is a refurbished model with XP and has all the multimedia buttons. It functioned pretty well. Next year when I have it hooked up to an amp, it will definitely be in the shade and running off the AC inverter while we listen to CDs during daylight hours. What was really handy is that it came with a built-in SD lot for the camera card and Dell multimedia software to view photos and play DVDs.
I came down with the plantar heel last Sept. during our backpack trip. It didn't get any better by Feb, so I went to the doctor. He prescribed the green Superfeet shoe inserts, those immediately took the pain away while I walked in my sneakers. Then he sent me to a 1-day physical therapy class, where they taught us how to stretch the foot and do toe curls with a towel on a slick floor. They also had us ice it down each night before bed and wear a brace while sleeping to keep the foot in an L position.
All that was working good, then when my two buddies and I were tailgating in the parking lot at the California Speedway for the Auto Club race and I was all beered up, I sat in my chair, put my leg straight out, pointed my toes up and had them step on my foot with all their weight to really stretch the plantar tendon. That went on for an hour, it hurt really good.
When I got home I iced it down for a couple hours before bed, next day I could feel the pain was less than previous weeks. All through march it slowly subsided then in April I bought a Pressurpoint hook https://www.accesspressurepoint.com/ and used that on the ball of my foot, by 4/20 all the pain was gone and I have been on a few hikes, no problem. Still, I didn't want to go backpacking this year to give my foot a break. Maybe try next year.
From Richard B.
very entertaining......
I remember a evening camping around Silverlake, where you met a trucker drinking some cheap scotch... So sometimes its a good thing to only have a taste of the good stuff....
Great info on the Corona's.... I will have to keep an eye out for the bottling info...
I'm thinking, camping isn't allowed at Silver Lake, there in Hollywood!
Oh yeah, you're talking about when we camped at Mojave Forks below Lake Sliverwood, Duane was there with his Jeepster and teardrop trailer.
I remember that guy we called Montana Slim had the big plastic jug of scotch, Tim and I bummed a little off him to pour into our soda cans, but he pret much drank the whole thing himself. Then around midnight he got out of his chair and said good night and took off for his site. We said dam, that bro's F'd up! In the morning we did an investigation, finding his dirt angel impression on the ground about ten feet from our campsite. Later he confirmed he tripped and passed out right there and didn't wake up until way past light.