However, that has pretty much come to a halt. Springbreakers understandably abruptly left. Actually, it was canceled. Lots of visitors have returned to their respective countries. Locals are hunkered down at the suggestion of the local, state and federal authorities. It’s kind of eerie out seeing much of anyone on eat beaches, streets, water, restaurants or bars. Much like the U.S. although to date, there has been only 1 confirmed case of the virus in Baja.

 

As we all know, changes have been almost daily, if not hourly and whatever you’re reading here could well have changed by that time.

 

Of course, as Murphy’s cruel law would have it, we probably just had one of the best fishing and weather weeks of the year.

 

Sardines and ballyhoo showed up for live bait. Even squid for the first time in years, got the commercial squid fishermen out to catch squid that came up from the deep trenches for the markets and for bait!

Winds settled down as well. So, with very few visiting anglers, captains were out catching fish for food and families taking friends, locals and family members out to fish.

 

With the good conditions, the production of a variety of fish was pretty remarkable. Yellowtail up to about 30 pounds were hitting off the structure and drop-offs. In those same areas, some 30-60 pound amberjack were also racked.

 

Over the reefs, some of those big tough pargo liso in the 15-20 pound range were getting hooked as well as an abundance of cabrilla and snapper plus bonito, jack crevalle, sierra and even some tuna were hooked (but not confirmed).

 

Later in the week, the winds came back and waters got colder and greener and the bite softened a bit, but overall a pretty good week to have been on the water!

 

Daytime temps are already in the low 80’s and supposedly the virus can’t survive in humidity and temperatures over 65. We’ll see. We can only hope.

After almost 4 months on the road, Jilly and I returned to our house in the U.S. to a completely different world.  Alot has changed since December as we all know.

Many of you who have followed our 2020 TAILHUNTER TOUR know that our last two shows in Salt Lake City and in San Diego got canceled so were involuntarily came back two weeks early to re-group and figure out what’s going on. Like you, we see things changing daily or even hourly. Like you we’re just waiting to see how this all plays out.

 

We did figure that in the last 3 months, we’ve probably come in contact with about 250,000 people in close-quarters while attending all these shows. We’ve been high-fiving, shaking hands, hugging and there’s hardaly any social distancing! We have stayed in hotel rooms and eating in restaurants every single day and night. That’s ALOT of contact!

 

We FEEL FINE. However, we don’t know if we might be carrying.

 

So, we’ve basically self-quarantined so we don’t infect anyone else. At least 14 days, we’re hunkered down just like so many of you! We’re hoping to return ASAP to our home in La Paz.

 

As far as fishing trips, many of you heard about the mutual agreement between Mexico and the U.S. to prohibit all non-essential travel. And everyone who was there visiting, has largely left to come home…or plans to stay for awhile. Alot of things are empty.

 

This obviously puts a big crimp in our fishing season which should have been just kicking off right now.

 

We have not gotten many cancelations. Most of our reservations for March, April and much of May simply postponed their trips to later dates and we are all just waiting-to-see what plays out. No one has lost their deposits or funds. Everyone is still credited if they have changed dates or postponed or, in the case of a rare cancelation.

 

In the meantime, I don’t know how often I’ll be posting fishing reports for a bit. I’ve only missed like…6 weeks in 24 years! But, hopefully, we can all get a handle on this and do the difficult things so we can get back to some normalcy as soon as possible.

 

Be well. Stay healthy. Take care of each other and God bless!