Happy New Year los pescadores!  Time flies when you’re having fun, and that’s exactly what we’ve been having in La Paz.  Talk about a great place to get away to: weather has been in the 70’s on average during the day, sometimes a bit chilly at night, but more importantly, the winds and rains have been pretty cooperative this month.  I know you’re here for the fishing report, not the micro-climate forecast, so “let’s get down to business.”

2010 started off with a bang!  Draw you’re own conclusions, but we’ve had just about every species available in our waters this month- I mean that literally.  Despite the winter fishing season, there are still plenty of warm water pockets holding pelagic species and, true to winter conditions, the full cast (pun) of our inshore biters and fighters.  What a great way to start the year off with all this action!

Anglers did not have to travel far to get hooked up by a school of Dorado.  Locating these schools was easiest on the troll, with your typical pelagic lures, or even better, a nice belly strip from a Bonito (Skip-Jack Tuna).  The numbers were solid, but the fish were on the smaller side, averaging 10-20 lbs.  Once you located the schools, dropping live bait back on light tackle or even a fly rod was a real blast.

The stronger fishing, as it normally is during winter, is inshore.  A variety of pargo and grouper species are always challenge when fishing inshore down here.  The strategy is to get their heads turned immediately after the strike and keep them from taking you into the rocks and more times than not, breaking you off.  These are strong, dense fish, and a true task, testing your skills with every run.  The reward, some beautiful white meat fillets,  is always well worth it. The Sierra Mackerel are running strong right now, great fun on light tackle, but be prepared with a wire leader, as these fish have very sharp teeth.  Rooster fish are still being caught near shores with sandy bottoms- typical spots for Roosters.

Twice this month, we sent the MARIANA south for a rendezvous to film with Ronnie Kovach’s Outdoor Adventures.  The 1st trip we met with Ronnie and the developers of Las Villas de Mexico, a new project in Cabo, set to open closer to summer.  They spent two ‘Kovach’ days on the water, which if anyone knows, is very active, very productive, and high octane.  Live bait was tough to come by, when the locals aren’t selling it, you know it’ll be tough to locate.  We made due with what we have, landed a good variety of inshore fish and 7 above average dorado.

The 2nd trip, we sent the MARIANA down to our favorite resort, just outside of La Paz, at Bahia de los Suenos.  The unforgettable Resort Gran Sueno, which is our gracious co-host for our annual Fishing 4 Freedom Tournament.  Again, because bait was hard to come by, we mainly targeted inshore spots around the islands of Cerralvo and Espiritu Santo.  The typical inshore characters were caught, most of them released.  Our crew put together some outstanding meals from the galley and some fish was taken back to the resort and prepared.  We look forward to both episodes airing soon.

**An important announcement**

Our 2nd Annual Fishing 4 Freedom Tournament will be held on June 18-20th, 2010- Father’s Day weekend.  This event is open to the public, please call for rates and event details. www.Fishing4Freedom.com We have an online ‘Support Store’ store available as well.

We are booking up quickly, so get on the horn and reserve your dates.  I look forward to having you aboard.