Shore_Fisher
Guest
My dad and I left Tucson at 5:30 AM and refuelled at the casino in Why after a nice quiet first half of the journey. For the first time we found the shop at the casino closed, so we also stopped at the gas station on the corner and picked up some ice and a couple of chorizo and potato burrittos - Nice!
The border was nice and quiet and, although we got pulled over for a more 'thorough' examination, we more or less cruised through Sonoyta and were soon making a steady 65 mph seawards. An uneventful trip down to the Caborca junction was livened up with some typical fishing banter (Of course I'm going to catch more/bigger/better fish than you, etc, etc) and a little 70's hits (Thankyou Sirius!).
19 miles down the Caborca road and we turned off on the dirt road towards the beach on the east side of La Pinta. As reported in this forum, nothing much has changed. In fact, if anything, the road seems to have improved somewhat in the last year, so much so that I think you could quite comfortably get a normal 2WD car down to the end of the dirt road (I would avoid going onto the beach though...). We drove my Rodeo down onto the beach (More fishing boats there than last year I believe) and about 200 yards towards the sea (left), then parked up near the dunes, well above the last high tide mark, at about 10 AM. 225 miles door-to-beach.
Tides were predicted to be high at more or less midday and we expected the best fishing to be around the high tide, so we decided to make camp later and start fishing straight off. Weather was high seventies and sunny, as predicted on Weather Underground.
We put on our wading gear and set off. My dad was using a 3/4 oz silver spoon lure on what I think of as an excessively 'heavy' setup, with 10 lb mono and a light rod. I was using my standard 2-piece 6 foot ultra-light, casting a 1/2 oz silicone fish-shaped soft bait with a molded in hook and weight. I had 6lb braid main line to a snap swivel, then a 12" 6lb fluoro leader down to the lure.
We had no action for the first hour, so I switched to my 'heavy' bait setup (8 foot soft action with 10 lb braid and 10 lb fluoro droppers for 1-1/2 oz weight and circle hook) and lobbed out a frozen shrimp (Raw shell-on, from Safeway). For the next hour I had more or less continuous action on triggers and small rock bass that made things interesting.
Then just coming up to high tide, I caught the first shortfin Corvina on bait, and switched back to my lure setup. I caught a few more covina over the next hour or so on the soft bait, although my dad did not have such luck on the silver spoons. Who knows why, I suppose that's fishing for you... (Although I told you so dad ;-)
[attachment=5:58rniqxp]DSCF1863.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
We had what I would say is good action for the next couple of hours, putting a dozen or so fish onto the beach. But then, a hour or two after high tide, things just took off. We were both catching a fish on every cast, and there was jumping, tailwalking and a lot of whooping and laughing from us as well. We had a couple of dolphins swimming just off the beach keeping us company, as well as a small seal torpedoing around in the shallows seeming to have much fun... It was one of the best fishing experiences I have ever had. Not the biggest fish, not the most fish (Although pretty close to it), but just the best fishing I have ever had.
[attachment=4:58rniqxp]DSCF1862.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
[attachment=3:58rniqxp]DSCF1869.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
[attachment=2:58rniqxp]DSCF1875.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
[attachment=1:58rniqxp]DSCF1880.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
[attachment=0:58rniqxp]DSCF1878.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
After a couple of hours we had to take a break to make camp before it got dark (And to rest our arms!), so we went back up the beach and set up the tent and had a cup of tea and something to eat. By now it was approaching low tide and we took the chairs down to the waters edge for a little bait fishing as night set in. I used the same set up as described above, and got another corvina or two before it got dark, then a few triggers and rock bass into the evening, before we called it a night (We were still wet and it was chilling down a little by around 8 PM).
We had a little rain overnight and a few wind gusts rustling the fly sheet (Or was that something scratching at the tent?) and we awoke to the predicted overcast showery day. We had some breakfast and headed for the water at around 8 AM, which was not too long after the tide started rising towards the ~12:30 high tide that day.
I filleted those fish we had kept from the day before that had been on ice overnight, and packaged them up on more ice, while my dad caught and released another ~20 Corvina in another wide open, fish-a-cast bite. Of course, by the time I joined him, the bite was off, but we carried on into another brilliant days fishing, much the same as the last, with the overcast giving us a little less sunburn than the trip we took last year!
We called it a day around 4 PM, while in the middle of a wide open bite, and packed up camp, leaving around 5 PM for a nice easy trip back, with no border delays and not too many people overtaking us at >100 MPH.....
All in all, a brilliant fishing trip to a wonderful place.
Ed
The border was nice and quiet and, although we got pulled over for a more 'thorough' examination, we more or less cruised through Sonoyta and were soon making a steady 65 mph seawards. An uneventful trip down to the Caborca junction was livened up with some typical fishing banter (Of course I'm going to catch more/bigger/better fish than you, etc, etc) and a little 70's hits (Thankyou Sirius!).
19 miles down the Caborca road and we turned off on the dirt road towards the beach on the east side of La Pinta. As reported in this forum, nothing much has changed. In fact, if anything, the road seems to have improved somewhat in the last year, so much so that I think you could quite comfortably get a normal 2WD car down to the end of the dirt road (I would avoid going onto the beach though...). We drove my Rodeo down onto the beach (More fishing boats there than last year I believe) and about 200 yards towards the sea (left), then parked up near the dunes, well above the last high tide mark, at about 10 AM. 225 miles door-to-beach.
Tides were predicted to be high at more or less midday and we expected the best fishing to be around the high tide, so we decided to make camp later and start fishing straight off. Weather was high seventies and sunny, as predicted on Weather Underground.
We put on our wading gear and set off. My dad was using a 3/4 oz silver spoon lure on what I think of as an excessively 'heavy' setup, with 10 lb mono and a light rod. I was using my standard 2-piece 6 foot ultra-light, casting a 1/2 oz silicone fish-shaped soft bait with a molded in hook and weight. I had 6lb braid main line to a snap swivel, then a 12" 6lb fluoro leader down to the lure.
We had no action for the first hour, so I switched to my 'heavy' bait setup (8 foot soft action with 10 lb braid and 10 lb fluoro droppers for 1-1/2 oz weight and circle hook) and lobbed out a frozen shrimp (Raw shell-on, from Safeway). For the next hour I had more or less continuous action on triggers and small rock bass that made things interesting.
Then just coming up to high tide, I caught the first shortfin Corvina on bait, and switched back to my lure setup. I caught a few more covina over the next hour or so on the soft bait, although my dad did not have such luck on the silver spoons. Who knows why, I suppose that's fishing for you... (Although I told you so dad ;-)
[attachment=5:58rniqxp]DSCF1863.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
We had what I would say is good action for the next couple of hours, putting a dozen or so fish onto the beach. But then, a hour or two after high tide, things just took off. We were both catching a fish on every cast, and there was jumping, tailwalking and a lot of whooping and laughing from us as well. We had a couple of dolphins swimming just off the beach keeping us company, as well as a small seal torpedoing around in the shallows seeming to have much fun... It was one of the best fishing experiences I have ever had. Not the biggest fish, not the most fish (Although pretty close to it), but just the best fishing I have ever had.
[attachment=4:58rniqxp]DSCF1862.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
[attachment=3:58rniqxp]DSCF1869.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
[attachment=2:58rniqxp]DSCF1875.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
[attachment=1:58rniqxp]DSCF1880.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
[attachment=0:58rniqxp]DSCF1878.JPG[/attachment:58rniqxp]
After a couple of hours we had to take a break to make camp before it got dark (And to rest our arms!), so we went back up the beach and set up the tent and had a cup of tea and something to eat. By now it was approaching low tide and we took the chairs down to the waters edge for a little bait fishing as night set in. I used the same set up as described above, and got another corvina or two before it got dark, then a few triggers and rock bass into the evening, before we called it a night (We were still wet and it was chilling down a little by around 8 PM).
We had a little rain overnight and a few wind gusts rustling the fly sheet (Or was that something scratching at the tent?) and we awoke to the predicted overcast showery day. We had some breakfast and headed for the water at around 8 AM, which was not too long after the tide started rising towards the ~12:30 high tide that day.
I filleted those fish we had kept from the day before that had been on ice overnight, and packaged them up on more ice, while my dad caught and released another ~20 Corvina in another wide open, fish-a-cast bite. Of course, by the time I joined him, the bite was off, but we carried on into another brilliant days fishing, much the same as the last, with the overcast giving us a little less sunburn than the trip we took last year!
We called it a day around 4 PM, while in the middle of a wide open bite, and packed up camp, leaving around 5 PM for a nice easy trip back, with no border delays and not too many people overtaking us at >100 MPH.....
All in all, a brilliant fishing trip to a wonderful place.
Ed
