Of course Ian thought to contact past charterers and get some insider info on fishing. Everybody does that don't they? Great job Ian. Here is a response:You guys ought to have fun.
Your biggest concern in Sept. will be hurricanes. We were delayed a day or two last August. The boat is comfortable in pretty snotty seas, but we’ve only seen that one day in probably 30 days on the boat.
The fishing should be good all around Isla Cerralvo that time of year. We’d recommend hiring Raul as a captain so he can keep you in the fish, communicate with other boats and arrange for live bait where available (muertos bay and punta arena pangueros). He’ll fish dusk-to-dawn, but you should offer to spell him at the wheel occasionally so he can nap or take a shower. He trolls while you nap and eat.
You’ll be able to anchor for the night in Muertos Bay (they have free internet and phone at the 1 restaurant—El Cardon). Other Anchorages are La Ventana, Punta Arena de Ventana, coves in and around Isla Cerralvo, Isla Espirito Santo and up North at Isla San Francisco.
We like to go north sometimes because the islands are so remote and we’re usually all by ourselves. Everybody will try to steer you to the “South” meaning Muertos Bay and La Ventana to fish the 88 and Cerralvo. The fishing here is usually very good. The only down side is that there are a lot of other pangas on the good spots—but with a lot of boats on the water, someone usually finds the fish and calls it in on the radio.
There’s a fish bag under the front cabin bed. It is good for keeping fish fresh all day (add a little bit of ice and salt water to create a slurry). At the end-of-day, fillet the fish and put on ice.
We usually arrange with Raphael to come out and bring ice, fuel and sometimes take a cooler of fish back with him so it keeps better. Of course, we give him a good tip for driving an hour out of La Paz. He can also meet you at Playa Tecolote, at the top of the Peninsula. There are beach front palapa restaurants there we like to spend a lazy afternoon at occasionally.
Have fun!
Dean
This brings up a few questions for me. For instance, how do you get fuel for a large boat delivered? And how would it be transferred? Five gallon cans? That's a lot of cans if so. And a fish bag under the bed? Gives new meaning to sleeps with the fishes.
ReplyDeletenot sure about the whole fule delivery thing. Maybe for the whalers? I would think we have enough capacity to cover most of the fishing for the week. We should talk with bob about fuel capacity and hours per gallon so we know what our range is. Fuel delivery is a great idea if we can pull it off. Would save the fuel from the run into the marina. The area we are fishing is small compared to the ground we cover in the bahamas. The fish bag under the beds beggs the questions is there a freezer on the boat. If not we may need to make some arrangements with Raphael to pick up our fish and freeze it for us.
ReplyDeleteFuel delivery is nice, but ICE delivery is awesome. I wonder if he'd have any touble grabbing a few cases of Pacifico, limes, and tequila. Heck when he's at it maybe a few cheeseburgers. Times have changed for sailors these days, when I'm in port I get what I need...
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