EASTER WEEK IN LOCKDOWN

La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of April 6-14, 2020

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE and the REST of the STORY…

East side of Cerralvo Island is still holding sizeable yellowtail in shallow water not far off the beach like this one that Miles Wagner took. He’s been staying at his dad’s place at Bahia Muertos now for almost a month so still has the ability to go fishing now that his school back in Colorado is shut down.

La Paz resident, Erik Holthouse was with his brother Juan were out at Bahia Muertos with Captain Moncho and found a nice school of dorado.

Gary Wagner who lives there in Bahia Muertos has thankfully kept sending me photos and has the ability to fish very easily there and has been on top of the yellowtail schools all week and for the past month.

Not much if anyone fishing at all except gringos who live in the area or locals. And even then, not much and the waters are empty.  However, the few reports we got this week showed there are still slugger yellowtail around especially the rocky areas around Espirito Santo Island and Cerralvo Island on the northeast side.

More schools of dorado in the 5-15 pound class also becoming more prevalent as the  waters warm.  There’s a nice spawn of those big mullet snapper (pargo liso) that have shown up.  If you can get one of these horses to the boat in that shallow water, they’ve been 15-20 pounders in the school.

Aguamarga on the road to Las Arenas basically says all visitors and you’re not welcome.

More Todos Santos – basically says stay at home. This is not for vacation. There is a national quarantine. Be responsible.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Thank you.

HEADLINES FROM MEXICO

• STATISTICALLY SPEAKING, MEXICO’S VIRUS CASES HAVE MORE THAN DOUBLED IN THE LAST WEEK.

• MEXICO REPORTS MORE THAN  5000 CASES WITH OVER 300 DEATHS.  HEALTH OFFICIALS THINK THE UNOFFICIAL COUNT IS PROBABLY OVER 20,000 CASES SINCE NOT MUCH TESTING OR OFFICIAL REPORTING IS GOING ON.

• IN THE SPAN OF A WEEK, BAJA HAS BECOME THE #1 HIGHEST RATE OF VIRUS INCIDENT (PER CAPITA) THAN ANY OTHER PLACE IN MEXICO BEHIND ONLY MEXICO CITY.  BAJA HAS ABOUT 500 CASES AND HAS SEEN 20 DEATHS.

• IT WAS A VERY SLOW EASTER WEEK WHICH IS TRADITIONALLY PACKED WITH LOCAL AND FOREIGN TOURISTS.

• DESPITE THE QUARANTINE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MILITARY HAD TO STILL CHASE MANY PEOPLE OFF THE BEACHES

• ONE BEACH IN OAXACA THAT IS USUALLY COVERED WITH BATHERS IS NOW FULL OF CROCODILES THAT HAVE RETURNED AFTER DECADES OF ABSENCE.

• WITH NO COORDINATED QUARANTINE PLAN MANY PEOPLE ARE STILL IGNORING THE RESTRICTIONS. THOUSANDS PACKED SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER AT THE MEXICO CITY FISH MARKET TO PURCHASE FISH FOR GOOD FRIDAY

• MUCH TO THE DISTRESS OF RETAIL GROCERY STORES, MANY VENDORS HAVE TURNED TO SELLNG PRODUCE, MEAT AND OTHER ITEMS FROM THE SIDE-OF-THE-ROAD AT PRICES HUGELY BELOW RETAIL

• HEALTH CARE WORKERS ARE REFUSING TO WORK BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY

• SADLY, HEALTH CARE WORKERS ARE ALSO BEING ATTACKED IN SOME CITIES BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK THE HEALTH CARE WORKERS WILL CARRY THE DISEASE INTO THE COMMUNITY.

• SANITATION STATIONS FOR HAND WASHING HAVE BEEN SET UP IN VARIOUS CITIES.  HOWEVER, PEOPLE HAVE BEEN STEALING THE SANITATION STATIONS.

• MANY CITIES AHVE ENACTED “DRY LAWS” PROHIBITING LIQUOR SALES OF ANY KIND.  CABO SAN LUCAS INITIALLY WAS PART OF THAT GROUP, BUT HAS SINCE CHANGED THE RULE ONLY RESTRICTING THE HOURS FOR ALCOHOL SALES. “PEOPLE NEED ALCOHOL TO STAY CALM DURING THE STRESS.”

• BREWERIES LIKE CORONA/MODELO WERE SHUT DOWN TWO WEEKS AGO DEEMED “NON-ESSENTIAL” BUSINESS. THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE ALLOWED THEM TO RE-OPEN LAST WEEK…FOR ONE DAY…THEN THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH OVER-RODE THE EDICT AND SHUT THE BREWERIES DOWN AGAIN.

Hope you all had a good, safe, and healthy Easter all things considered.  Jill and I are still stuck in the states. There’s no flights from where we have our house and there’s nothing to go back to at the moment in La Paz.  No fishermen.  No fishing.  Our restaurant is closed.  The hotel we live at is closed.  So, we’re staying put like so many of you and still grateful and blessed to have a roof and food and yes…even toilet paper and paper towels!

After almost a month of staying away from family, we finally had a little get together with our two kids and two grandkids Easter Sunday for a little chicken on the barbecue.  Nothing spectacular.  Just good to see them after so long and not be talking on Facetime.  It was Jill’s birthday this past weekend and we were all supposed to be in Hawaii for the weekend, but that understandably got canceled.

We are eating too much, watching more TV than ever, catching up on reading and I’m getting more sleep than ever in my life.  Usually, by this time of year, we’re getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night and now, there’s no alarm jolting me awake at 4 a.m. to put the fishermen out.   But, we’re still working hard trying to keep everyone abreast of what’s happening and/or calming folks down who don’t know what’s going on.    Hopefully, we’ll get to the other side of this sooner rather than later.

Thank you to everyone who writes to us.

I can tell alot of you are at home and on your cellphones or computers. I must get about 100 jokes, memes and videos every day.  I just can’t watch them all or respond to them all but thanks for thinking of us!

In the meantime, please be well, stay well, stay healthy!

That’s our story!

Jonathan & Jilly