DeanHall & Sansou: San Quintin Rancheros!

[sansou]

Alla en el rancho grande, alla donde vivia.....habia una rancherita que alegre me decia, que alegre me decia.....

(Senor Dean's favorite mariachi song now)


Here's the story folks: if you were looking for a "psycho" report, keep clicking elsewhere. This trip was about hangin' out & hangin' some fish. "No problemas" being the keyword of the weekend.

We left bright and early Dec 27th and crossed San Ysidro sin problemas and took it easy on the way down the coast. We got to San Vicente and made a pit stop for some killer tacos de carnita. Good stuff. Saddled back up, crossed the military checkpoint, sin problemas, got in to SQ where we did some quick shopping, and then turned in to the Old Mill/Don Eddie's road just outside of San Quintin.

For you SQ regulars: the road looks worse than it really is. It's a hard bottom. We saw sedans make it through just fine. I had my truck in 4WD-High and had no problemas.



Checked in to Old Mill, got the complimentary Pacifico, and proceeded to setup gear and chit chat with other fishermen and travelers. Once that was done, we hit Los Jardines for some "refreshments" and some food!


First day of fishing, our goal was to see if there were any possibility of WSB, and maybe do a little bottom scratching. Dean made us some great bait in the bay (good job Deano!). 30 some pieces of mack later, off we went.

Pato (from Pedro's Pangas) decided they weren't in the bay, so we went outside and ran south past Socorro all the way to El Campito (small palapa fish camp about 5 or 6 miles south of Socorro). Boating conditions were excellent.

We flylined with nose weights in various depths ranging from 200 to as shallow as 60. I even brought a Thunnus coffee grinder to toss some sweet looking Lucky Crafts courtesy of Senor Wingnut, along with a jig stick to pitch fat cocodrilos. We looked and moved and caught "incidental" fish along the way (sugar bass, barrie, etc...). Alas, no love on the surface or mid level. No WSB to be found. Rather than waste the day in vain, we opted to hit a couple rockpiles on the way up and started to fill the fishhold little by little.



Trampas de jaiba


Around lunchtime Pato decided one of the fat barber poles we caught was just too sexy to be left alone. He cut her up, mixed us a nice little soy & wasabi in a water bottle....and voila! Sushi San Quintin style! It was a little chewy but it tasted excelente nevertheless!


Aye, puro wasabi!

Leave the sharks alone Dean!






With fish cleaning done, we get all spiffed up and meet up with Dean friend who flew down in his Cessna 172 and landed at Lorenzo's. This guy is truly a Baja adventurer...a real encyclopedia of baja knowledge. We caught the Chargers game at Los Jardines while the cooks cooked up the fresh catch we brought them. Muy sabroso! Waiting us was also Kelly's (K&M Sportfishing) son Oscar, who was giving us some tips for our fishing tomorrow.



Cervezas, laughter and a few ZZZ's later, the Rancheros were heading back out. We were excited cause we had another full day of farming (ranchero) fish ahead of us!










After Dean did his duties as Bait Master (good job again my friend!), we headed north to San Martin Island (instead of the 240) with hope of trolling or jigging a YT or 2. There was a report from the prior day that someone ran in to a couple, so we were hoping for the best.

We rigged up some diving hardbaits and started to get strike after strike of decent size bonita. We keep a few for the captain, but after a while, we decided it wasn't fun just catching bonita. There was a lot of surface activity and tons of boils, but no YT that we could find. Another pangadero (Hector from PP) didn't scratch any either, so we didn't feel bad.

Mid morning or so we set course for the "15" area, and hit up the ling in the shallower water (100ft or so). We had great action on the fin bait with 6 oz torpedos tied about 3 or 4 feet up the line. It was consistant fishing, but then came along pinche El Lobo (as the pangaderos call the sea lions), and that damn Lobo robbed us of tons of lings. No fun when that happens.


Pato on his new setup he got for Christmas. He was on what we thought was a yellow snagged by a seal, so I fired up the engine and chased down the seal. Turns out it was just a big bonita....lol





It soon came time for lunch, and you know what that means!

Dean's big "seal chewed ling" became sashimi for us.....at least the collar part! Pato also carved up a fresh bonita, which was unbelievably good. Que sabor!








Unfortunately, all good fishing days eventually run their course, and you have to head home.







The poles got broken down, and we were off to Don Eddie's for some of their famous almejas al vapor (steamed clams). If there is one thing you must do while in SQ, it is to try their clams (well, that and the miyagi oysters too). They are locally harvested, fresh, and killer with hot butter and beer.




Trip Home....next thread. (55 pic limit reached)

[sansou]

The trip home was a meandering one, with no rush. We went to Erendira (Castro's) to see what was going on. We also checked out Cal's place to see if there were any sexy hippy chicks hanging out....not much there right now guys! lol


Dean checking out the surfing conditions...




Check out the Crow's nest....how would you like to wake up or go to bed with this view every day.



The Thinker: do I broil lingcod tonight or do I steam sheephead....Hmmmm??



Did you find what your looking for on that menu Dean?



We stopped off at a really small fish processing place. Being that I was skunked this trip on my WSB (first time in 3 trips this year darnit!!), I ended up buying a locally caught whole one , along with a couple kilos of awesome huge mussels.....what a bargain!!! I passed on the sea urchin, though they looked incredibly tasty too! The salesman was simpatico, and he took us on a little tour of the setup.







The various grades of uni






All in all another good SQ trip. Dean, you are "buena gente", and I really enjoyed travelling the baja with you. I'll ranchero fish with you anytime.

Let's hope we can get some more Team 57 Rancheros together, and set one up for end of February time frame!!

[~larissa]

damn..... those are some great pics.... kept scrollin... and scrollin... and i thought i would never get enough... had to scroll back up to look again...

i'm so jealous

[troutdog]

Excellent report and pictures Rich, looks like you guys had a great time down South....I can't wait to try that trip sometime in '09!

Happy new year guys,


TD

[goober]

Very cool report. Hope to be going back soon and gald you had a safe trip.

Gabe

[cappo]

Sounds like a GREAT trip guys. Rich you have to invite me on your next trip.

[Santa Fe Eric]

Excellent Report and Pics! I'm glad nobody went "psycho in Mexico"

I'm jealous also! Both about the fishing and the Massage!

[PONTOON]

Rich, that's a road trip I'd like to take!

Awsome report and pics My Friend.

[jsl]

Spectacular report!! Looks like you guys had a blast.

Scott

[Wingnut]

Awesome report! Way to go Rich & Dean on a great road trip.
Man, the surf looks really fishy down there... I bet there are some monster Butts hiding out near those rocks.
The food looks amazing... yummy!