| Puerto
Santo Tomás |
| Some
of the following people and companies have helped me out in one
way or another with this project. None of them came to me. Rather, I
went to them because I thought their products or services were
superior. Others I just like and/or believe in and want to give a plug. |
|
Boat
Stuff
California's own Piranha Propellers set me up with one of their modular, composite wheels. It performs better than any aluminum prop I've run and nearly as well the stainless I switched out for it. The biggest advantage? Its blades are replaceable, so if you bust one on a rock (which you will if you spend enough time off the beaten path in Baja), just bolt in a spare. The blades run less than $25 so you can replace a whole set for $75 -- instead of $600 to replace a stainless wheel. When Maptech heard about this project, they sent me their Region 164 digital chart, which covers Acapulco to San Diego, including the Cortez. At this point, it's just an electronic representation of the paper charts of the area, but it comes packaged with the Offshore Navigator Lite software package, which means I can check coordinates, distances, headings, etc. on my laptop before each day of fishing. Managing full-size paper charts on a small open boat is, well, a pain in the ass, but with the Maptech package you can print manageable sections--and if one gets mangled in the wind and spray, you're out about 1/100th of a cent for the paper you printed it on. Raymarine cut me a deal a few years back on a DS600X sounder with a thru-hull transducer and high-speed fairing. Custom Marine Electronics on Shelter Island did the transducer installation, and the whole package works better than I ever thought a sounder could on a small planing hull. Although I don't live in San Diego anymore and it's been years since Sunset Marine did any work on my boat, I still call Randy up when I have an engine question or want to make sure I'm not getting the shaft from a local shop. He always gives me detailed, straight answers even though he doesn't know me from Adam. When I bought Christine, she already had a Pacific Yacht Towers T-top. Subsequently, I had them install grab rails on the aft legs. They also built a T-top for my previous boat, a 1969 Mako 19 with a very strange console configuration. They did both jobs beautifully, finished both before the date promised, and returned both boats cleaner than when I dropped them off. Murphy's Marine Canvas in San Diego has now covered two T-tops for me and made two enclosures, plus a cover for a folding Conestoga top. Other shops had waiting lists of two weeks or more, but Murphy's has always gotten started within a day or two, finished on or ahead of schedule, and done truly exceptional work. The shop itself may not look like much, but the work that comes out of it is top-notch. |
Fishing
Stuff
Fish Trap Lures has kept me in plastics for years now, and owner Barry Brightenburg has taught me a huge amount fishing them -- and fishing in general. Tournament Grade Tackle, based in New Jersey, makes hands-down the best rodriggers on the market. They're not even in the same class with the competition. Braid Products cut me a good deal recently on a big order of tackle, including their shallow-running, double-jointed Viper plugs, which are deadly on calicos, jacks, and even halibut in the Pacific esteros, and their Popper Stopper topwaters, which are a blast to use on dorado, tuna, and bass. Okuma has given me good deals for a while now. I'm especially partial to the Induron baitcasters, which are an amazing value. I also keep a couple of Epixor EB coffee-grinders around for friends and family who would otherwise turn my baitcasters into hopeless bird nests. They're smooth and tough and have the best freespool mechanism I've found on a spinning reel. Several years back, I bought about half a dozen small Avet lever drags -- an SX, two MXJs, two MXLs, and a two-speed JX. I like fishing with the smallest reel I can get away with, and I actually use my JX spooled with 80-pound Spectra and 50-pound mono for big yellowtail down deep with bait or yo-yo iron. In high gear (6:1) it's plenty fast for grinding iron and way more comfortable than a bigger reel; in low gear (3:1) it's got all the power you need. At the same time I bought those Avets, I bought four or five Seeker rods to go with them. Again, I like light, easy to handle gear, and I use their Inshore II rods for everything up to 25-pound. Pure Fishing supports qualified outdoor writers with great deals on their huge selection of tackle and gear. I'm a fan of their Stren SuperBraid, Berkley Big Game mono, and SevenStrand trolling jigs. |
Accommodations, Guides, Captains,
Etc.
Don Eddie's Landing in San Quintín always cuts me some kind of a deal, but to be honest, I'd stay there whether they did or not. I like the big parking lot, the on-site boat wash, the fish freezer, the upstairs bar/restaurant, and of course Don Eddie himself. Capt. Pancho Berrellesa, by the way, who guides out of Don Eddie's, is an outstanding white seabass fisherman. Jonathan Roldan at Tailhunter International set me up with a good deal at the spectacular La Concha Beach Resort when I was doing my La Paz research, gave me lots of valuable advice before the trip, and helped out with fishing information about the area. The gorgeous Hotel Buena Vista put me up for four nights at the East Cape, where I fished a couple of days with Gary Graham of Baja on the Fly. The HBV grounds are amazing, the staff is genuinely friendly, and it's the only East Cape operation that tractor-launches guests' boats for free. The rest charge $40 to $60 each way whether you're a guest or not. Mike Kanzler at Isla San Marcos probably knows more about the mid-Cortez and how to fish it than any other norteamericano alive. Aside from that, fishing with him on his little Whaler 19 is more like fishing with a long-lost buddy than with a pro -- just a genuinely good time. Bob and Diana Hoyt of Mag Bay Outfitters in Puerto López Mateos booked a place for me to stay in town, showed me around, put me up for a night at their boat-in camp on Isla Magdalena, and let me follow them through the boca a couple of times. They run a 26-foot cuddy-cabin Twin Vee cat, a 25-foot center console Whaler, and a little Carolina Skiff for estero fishing. They also do four-wheeler tours of the barrier island. Panga captain Enrique Soto in Puerto San Carlos has also been a big help on several occasions. He skippers for Baja on the Fly sometimes and also does independent fishing and whale watching trips. He speaks good English, and he's a walking encyclopedia of Mag Bay natural and human history. Juanchy Aquilar (email: karol_36@msn.com) and his brother Joaquin in La Bocana were incredibly generous and hospitable with my father and me. Joaquin offered to stay at his mother's house and let us have his. Stupidly, we declined and stayed at the motel because the offer seemed a little weird. Later, he stopped us on the street while we were trying in vain to find somewhere to eat on a Sunday night and told us he'd cook us dinner. He opened his little restaurant, sent his son off to a relative's house to pick up some fresh halibut, cooked a delicious dinner and then refused to take any money for it. We'd kept his glass full of Palmas and Coke while he cooked, and he insisted that was enough. During dinner Juanchy showed up and said he'd like to show us around if we were fishing tomorrow. Could we pay him something for his guide services? Nope; the water was cold and the fishing wasn't very good and he wouldn't feel right about charging us. He just wanted to make sure we caught something. Neither of them had any idea I was a writer until the next day. |
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