You may remember over the years that Sammy has a place in Baja which is one of the reasons I’m down here so much. He recently got a nice truck that he is now keeping here. He got it for accessing remote areas for fishing and today was its maiden voyage.
Sammy can be a nervous dude and to say he was a tad nervous today was an understatement. Grant Hartman drove Sammy’s new truck off-road while Sammy cringed over every bump, scratches from cactus and the heaps of dust that found its way in. But in the end the truck was fine and we made it to the gorgeous beach spot that we caught halibut on the fly on seven years ago.
We found change however. Last trip there was no sign of humans here. Today we saw several anglers and unfortunately a commercial fishing camp. Like most anglers, we were curious enough to visit.
Sure enough the guys had just returned and were emptying their nets. They were very nice and showed us their catch. The boat was loaded with oversized mullet, corvina and other random species. Everyone needs to make a living but it’s sad to realize fishing just aint the same anymore.
Netting fish isn’t anything new in the ocean so we went about our business as usual. It was much cooler today and wet wading filled us with a lousy chill. One hour. Then two hours. Then three hours went by and none of the spots that provided us success last time prevailed.
It wasn’t until around noon when I was about to head for the truck for a break that I hooked up. It was only a spotted bay bass but it encouraged me to make another ten casts. That’s when I hooked into something good.
I knew by the weight and the pull that this wasn’t another bay bass. I thought I had my halibut but then the fish made a run almost to my backing. It was time to get serious and I chased after and bent my Winston deeply and fought back. Soon I was delighted to be smiling with my first California corbina (Menticirrhus undulates) on the fly!
Sam and I fished through the shivers for nearly another hour. We couldn’t catch another and were soon plagued with a red tide. It crept into the beach and our day was done.
I was happy regardless of the shortened day. I’ve messed around Southern California a few times hoping to knock the corbina off my species list. Honestly, I thought it would never happen. But today it did. Furthermore, Sammy’s truck has been christened and we actually drove it on the beach without getting stuck while stopping to collect sand dollars for his kids.
We’ll have one last fish tomorrow morning before we begin the journey home.