The Front House

Surf Fishing Go To Picture Gallery

Like most beaches in the Baja, there are less fisherman, less people in general, and nature fills the gap. Fishing in front of the house is great. It is rare that I do not catch something if I am fishing at high tide, early in the morning, or just before sunset. If you catch something in front of the house please email the pictures since all the pictures in the gallery are me. It is rare I witness another fisherman on the beach. I guess that is why the fishing is so good in front of the house.

Depending on the time of year, you can catch Barred Perch, Opal Eye Perch, Yellowfin Croaker, Sand Sharks, Manta Rays, and Corvina. The Perch and Corvina are the best eating. I make a great civiche with Corvina I catch. The Perch is to die for with just garlic and butter.

Standard Surf tackle is needed. There are poles and pole holders hanging from the ceiling in the Renters Garage. Up there with the poles is a tackle box with additional tackle. The basic surf tackle rule applies. Tie a weight on the bottom, tie a snelled hook up twelve inches, then tie another snelled hook up twelve inches from that. I use Number 1 or Number 2 Hooks. I suggest Clams because you can catch anything on Clams in this beach. Anchovies also work, but you will catch too many sand sharks. They are not good eating at all. I throw them back in the surf. They swim away and am grateful for the fight.

You do not have to go out that far to fish. I usually walk out to my waste, cast out (not that far), then walk back to the beach letting the line out as I go. I put the pole in the pole holder and wait. If you are getting a lot of hits and no fish, I hold the pole. The Corvina seem to hit the line as you bring it in, so bring it in slowly. The Corvina, which is like a white sea bass, fight like a very strong trout. they are serious about not getting to close to the beach. The fight really heats up when they are close to the shore. Don't lose them there, let them run if necessary. They range from one to three pounds.

The Sand Sharks and Perch hit the line with no prompting and fight really well far out, but seem to give up close to the beach. This is just the opposite of the Corvina and Croakers. Sometimes the Perch swim toward shore and really make you wonder if you have a fish at all. Don't be tricked by this. They get up to three pounds in this area.Bait can be purchased in Punta Banda before Sharky's. The best place to buy bait is Vonny's Fleet in La Jolla toward La Bufadora. They always have an assortment of bait, so you are not just stuck with Anchovies. They are also the best Panga Boat Fishing in the area. The basic rule is if you fish with Anchovies, you will catch all fish. The problem is that you will catch mostly Rays and Sand Sharks. When you fish with Clams, you tend to catch editable fish like Croakers, Perch and Corvina.

From time to time we have what we call "Red Tide". You can see in the waves and water little tiny red seaweed floating in the surf. I highly recommend that you pass on surf fishing when we have this tide. It is rare, but it happens, your line gets covered in the seaweed and it is impossible to fish. When this happens, we go to the bay behind the house. My two favorite places are out on the corner of the "Z" road at high tide and the bay boat dock north to the right of the old hotel. You go north through the guard gate and when you see the hotel on the left, you turn east toward the bay and drive all the way out to the dock. Sometimes the hotel employees will tell you can't fish out there. When that happens, ask if you can give them a few bucks to fish. We don't pay anything anymore, but sometimes they ask for $5.00, although they will let you fish for a six pack which is less. Remember, act like you own the place and they will not request the fee.

When fishing in the bay, you can use the same tackle as above, but there are other things that work. For example, the beach rule on anchovies goes out the window. The editable fish in the bay bite anchovies and there are a lot less Sand Sharks and Rays. You are likely to catch Bass and Halibut in the bay. The picture on the left was from a trip in late October 06 with my wife's sister. She caught the Halibut on anchovies with a northern cast at the first right turn in the "Z" road going toward town. This Halibut fed four of us that night and it was excellent. Don't be intimidated by the season. For those of you that can cast, rubber scampi caught one two days later at the boat dock. You can use repallas and other lures in this area for the really big ones. Yes they get very big. The Halibut on the left was a little over two pounds and they are caught in this bay as big as twenty pounds. If you are after sport, the beach will almost always get the rookie fisherman a fight even if you won't have it for dinner or take many pictures. You may get skunked in the bay, but you may also catch the big one. As far as editable fish, the ones you want in a picture, the bay far out ways the Beach. Neither the beach or the bay will have many fisherman, no matter what time per year. This is why you catch so many fish in the Baja.