DOUBLE PUNCH FROM TWO STORMS!

(Tropical Storm Javier then Hurricane Kay)

La Paz- Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos/ Suenos Bay Fishing Report for Week of Sept. 2-9, 2022

MEXICAN MINUTE VIDEO REPORT

THE BIG PICTURE AND the REST OF THE STORY…

Mean and angry. Hurricane Kay barrels up the Pacific Coast to Baja and Southern California.

Just before the storm, Chris Binkley was able to put the wood to a number of dorado . Clouds starting to gather behind.

Like a boss! Jim Stahlman crushed it on his last day fishing with Captain Jorge and a boatload of quality dorado out’ve Bahia Muertos.

Kay isn’t messing around. Category 3 hurricane coming up the coast!

Captain Blas give Ted Tamborski a hand with thi legit bull dorado. Espirito Santo Island in the background .

Scott Evans was able to get out between storms and got some nice dorado.

Kay looks like she’s pretty angry! You can see all the related bands of water scattered everywhere.

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It was an eventful week…to say the least!

We got in a little fishing.  We even got a little fish.

But, the whole story was the two storms that hit us this past week.  Up to then, the fishing had been pretty decent.  Dorado biting steadily if not full turbo.  Everyone catching at least something ever day if not more.  Dorado running maybe 5-15 pounds on the average.  Some larger.  A few marlin hooked.  A few wahoo hooked.  Lots of bonito and a smattering of inshore fish like cabrilla, snapper, pargo, trevally and sierra.

Then, Tropical Storm Javier popped up on us. Lots of strong rain.  Had to cancel fishing for a day.

We got boats out the next day, but I wasn’t very hopeful about the fishing.  Often after a strong rain, the waters can be dirty from the runoff.  Waters can still be rough.  Bait is scattered or difficult.

But, surprise, the boats actually came back with about a limit of dorado each.  Much better than expected.

The next few days, we were able to fish again.  It was not as good as we would have liked and not as good as it had been before the storm as it took awhile for the waters to normalize.  However, there were dorado biting.  If not very strong, at least somewhat and mixed with some other species, at least there was some action .

Tony has one for the fish box!

Then we started hearing about “INVEST 12E” another storm building down the coast.  We watched it building.  It got ominous when it got upgraded to “TROPICAL STORM KAY.”

Within a day, it was re-named HURRICANE KAY with predictions of it being a Category 2 or 3.  We warned everyone flying down.  We warned everyone that we had here. We had to pull boats out’ve the water as the port captain shut down all boat traffic.

And the wind and rain started up again.

Here’s the deal.  We’ve had hurricanes in the past.  Very strong hurricanes including Hurricane Odile in 2014 that was the strongest hurricane in Mexican history that hit Category 4 levels and wrecked homes, businesses, and boats.  Power outtages for weeks.  Chaos.

But, in all the hurricanes I’ve experienced, most storms blow over in a day.  Hurricane Odile was over in about 8 hours.  They move fast.

Hurricane Kay was a lightweight.  And it was slow.  It sat on La Paz for 3 days.  Not strong at all.  Wind…some drizzle…wind…rain.  Calm.  drizzle…rain…more wind.

Just enough to keep everyone stuck in their hotel rooms and our boats tied up.  No fishing.  No doubt it would have been dangerous to be on the water and the port captain had things locked up, but Kay just stuck around and stuck around!

Thankfully, no damage.  No real flooding.  No one hurt.

(Much different in other areas and along the Pacific Coast)

However, it locked down our fishing for 3 days and our anglers shut down as well.  Some guys never got to ever get on the water before going home.  Others lost several days of their fishing days.  Jill and I and the rest of our team felt really badly.  In our 30 years down here, I’ve never had a storm that kept folks off the water for so long and we appreciated that most of our anglers kept their patience with us and with the weather and a situation we couldn’t control nor was it expected.

The fall is our busiest and best fishing time, but now and then, yea…a storm comes through.

As I write this, we did finally get a few boats out.  For some of our anglers, it’s the ONLY day they will be able to fish before they head home.  I’m not real hopeful as the water are still rough and murky and I’m not sure they’ll find bait.  But everyone is just happy to get out.

OH…and since it’s been cloudy the last 4 days, I never noticed…IT’S A FULL MOON!  Can’t catch a break.

That’s my story!  Hoping for a better report next week!

Jonathan