Here in the hinterlands of Baja California Sur the dog days of summer can be long and hot. Even with the fabled East Cape fishery out my front door I was finding myself in the mood for a change of pace. Some milder temps, some new water to fish, and a bit of adventure. As I usually do when that moods strikes me, I decided to pack up the Jeep and head North to Magdalena Bay.
I’d been hearing reports of good fishing in the Pacific off of Magdalena. So I got in touch with my buddy Bob Hoyt ( Mag Bay Outfitters ) and made arrangements to depart from the town of Lopez Mateos and stay out at his cabins (
casitas ) on Madgalena Island.
I rolled into Puerto Lopez Mateos late afternoon. Ate a good dinner, drank some cold beer, and visited with friends. By 7am the next day we were loading up Bob’s barge “
el pato“ ( a converted pontoon boat ) and made the short crossing from "Lopez" to
Isla Magdalena. Our good friend Francisco, who maintains Bob’s cabins, had his old suburban waiting on the Island to drive some 30 miles south to
Cabo San Lazaro and the cabins on the shore of
Bahia Santa Maria. A group of surfers had just left the island so I would be the only guest at the entire camp. I had hired Francisco’s wife Bertha to come along and keep me well fed. Francisco’s younger brother Polo came along as well to skipper the panga. With the crew all loaded up we headed south. Mile upon mile of uninhabited ocean beach passed before we reached the rocky mountain known as San Lazaro at Santa Maria Bay.
When we hit the estuary on the lee side of the island the tide would not allow us to pass the small encampments of shark and lobster fishermen to reach the casitas. Luckily, cell reception is damn good out there and with a quick call we had one of commercial
pangueros grab Francisco’s panga and bring it down to the fish camp to meet us. We loaded up the boat and kept on trekking. Leaving the suburban behind until the tide was low enough to pass the camps and a rocky prominence the blocked our passage. A short panga ride and we arrived at Franciscos house on the island, just down the beach from the Mag Bay Outfitters cabins where I’d be staying the next couple of nights.
It was 10 am by the time we reached our destination. We quickly loaded up the panga and headed out onto the mighty Pacific. The sea was calm and glassy.
We made quick work of the 18 mile drive out to Thetis Bank. We arrived to find only three other boats there commercial bottom fishing in the clear blue water. At this point I should clarify that Polo’s panga is by no means the standard East Cape super panga. It’s a commercial fishing machine. No rod holders and no bait tank. So I fished only one line, holding the rod in my hand the whole time. Harkening back to fishing in Baja many decades ago. Classic! Mind you, Bob Hoyt has a sweet 26ft Twin Vee for charter but being the broke fishing guide that I am, the old panga was a-ok.
Expecting Yellow Fin Tuna and dorado we started with a Mag Bay standard…the good old cedar plug. Barely ten minutes passed before we had our first bite. A wahoo raced through the blue and slammed the lure. Instantly cutting the mono leader and leaving us fishless. Wahoo! We were stoked. I quickly rigged up the only diving lure I had…a blue and silver “Mann’s S 12+” lure with wire, and got back on it. Before long it was game on! Another Wahoo rocked the lure and sliced across the surface of the mirror-like sea like a torpedo. The skunk was off the boat!
Within minutes the reel went off again. But this time a dorado came clear of the water, jumping and running circles around the panga.
By this time we were both in rather high spirits. The bite was on under the mid day sun. Yet another wahoo exploded on the lure and I was enjoying the blistering runs of the
acanthocybium solandri. The fish finally came to the boat and in a desperate bid to escape it ended up wrapped on the prop! I gave Polo the rod and got busy freeing the line while the fish thrashed just a few feet away. Another wahoo swam around the boat looking for a piece of the action. A second angler casting would have had a killer shot at the double!
The wahoo bite went on for a good while. We had two in the boat, lost two due to weak treble hooks on the lure that had opened up, and also had one come unbuttoned right at the boat. As the bite had cooled we decided to run towards the island and look for action along the way. On the run back in we saw numerous jumping marlin but could not get one teased up for a good shot with the 14wt fly rod I had rigged and ready for them. However, as we approached the island we could see swarming “ bee-hives” of frigates and pelicans. Porpoises were busting bait over a large area and in amongst them yellowfin tuna were exploding on the bait balls and leaping clear of the water. We raced into the melee and started to cash in on sashimi material. The fish were moving super fast but very aggressive. They erupted on the top water lure I was casting on my new Shimano Beast Master spinning rod ( huge thumbs up on that stick ). And they devoured the fly when I was able to cast into the boiling frenzy. The fish and porpoises were pushing small balls of bait to the surface and devouring them. These eruptions were numerous but very short lived. It seemed we had 30 seconds or less to cash in on the surface mayhem before the schools moved off to menace another bait ball. The sky was filled with squawking birds while tuna and porpoise fed all around us.
After boating a few Yellowfin Tuna we decided to call it a day and head in to clean our catch. We blazed back into Santa Maria Bay ready to fillet and kick back with an ice cold beer ( or two ) and a drink of the sour mash whiskey. Back at the cabins, Bertha had an amazing home cooked meal waiting for us. Rice, beans, salad, tortillas, steaks, and fresh fish! Surf and turf, San Lazaro style. Off to bed in my own cabin. Cool breezes rolled in from the Pacific. Exactly the change of pace I was looking for from the sweltering heat of the East Cape in August.
The next morning we headed out early after a good Mexican breakfast and coffee. We rounded the corner into the Pacific to find a good breeze blowing and decidedly choppier seas. Nonetheless, we made our way to the bank and repeated the wahoo mania from the day before. We put a couple more in the boat and headed back in to find the tuna again. We hunted for a fly rod marlin along the way but none of the jumpers we saw appeared behind our teaser.
We arrived at the tuna spot near the island but the melee from the day before wasn’t quite on yet. A few passes with the cedar plug produced 4 yellowfin. It was almost 4pm and we decided to run for the barn and start filleting. Another great dinner from Bertha and libation awaited us.
The next morning we packed up the suburban and headed back up the beach to the lee side of the island where the barge was anchored and waiting. Coyotes fed upon carrion washed ashore as we raced along the sweeping beach. I hated to leave but it was a great trip and I’m lucky enough to live only a few hours away. There’s nothing like fishing at Magdalena. It’s a real slice of old school Baja. A vision of how it used to be. Thankfully, the old days live on at Mag Bay. Great people and great fishing in an exotic, remote location. Kudos to Mag Bay Outfitters, the Hoyt’s, and all the great folks that make it happen at Cabo San Lazaro. I’ll be back asap!
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