Fishing Report for March 19 2007, from The Fishermen's Fleet
"I have just returned from Rome!" Not really, just wandered the Baja in one direction, went to the show, and wandered back. Now this is wandering at a pretty clip, but it's always an adventure. The drive on the way up was alone. I sped along, encountering wind in all places. It had been blowing pretty good in La Paz and I was concerned for Senors Cannfield and Wilson. As I got further north the wind started to swing from the north to the east, and clear to form when checking the weather maps discovered a large double high pressure area in western Texas. It's nice to have an explanation, but it doesn't make it any less windy. Upon checking with the aforementioned mariners it turns out that they had indeed been bounding on the main. In SoCal I stopped for a couple of nights to stock up on car parts and mostly to visit Randy Case, the man that invented fishing. Hooked up with Bobo for some time, and then was called northward by the pending Fred Hall Show in Long Beach. Arrived at the Long Beach Convention Center and began the process of registration.
The Fred Hall organization is fairly typical of businesses in a monopoly position, unresponsive and prone to blaiming any problems on the other guy (parking company, security company, convention center company, food services company) and upon asking some pointed questions I was given the old Texas salute more times than Sr. Bush trying to explain Iraq. Onwards. To the booth, and in the distance I see the members of my posse assembling. Ken Allen and Oliver Horeszcky were on the horizon. These are a couple of keepers my friends. They help us every year with the show and other special events. The are the Laurel and Hardy of my world, and I look forward to seeing either or both of them anytime, anywhere. We assembled our very basic booth and headed to Kennys' house for the night.
After enjoying the hospitality of Kenny and his charming wife Bobby we awoke to the first day of the show, which didn't begin until 2pm. For those of us that get up early, and all three of us do, this presents a whole workday of time until we go to work, so we bounced off of each other for a third of day and then headed to the CC. The first day of the show is usually pretty full, and we talked to several new people interested in coming to La Paz and welcomed old faces in the crowd. Lou, David, Tuttle, Howard Hada and his considerable entourage, HansFritz, The SilkWorm, Sal The Man on Fire, all put in appearences and provided much needed help and company. Thanks guys.
Bobo showed up to help us on the weekend. The show in total gave us decent results, which will probably come to fruition within the next two weeks. Lynn Rose was there, and we huddled on the progress for this years' La Paz Classico Charity Tournament (June 7, 8, 9). We're about 70% full and if you are interested in some great fishing, benefitting a great cause, then you should plan on attending and contact either Lynn or myself. At Lynn's urging Capt. Dan and I started to plan some Mag Bay trips aboard the Amanda II and you will hear more about that. Representatives of Hunt Inc. were there, as were intermediaries from Abe Ltmd., The Rosen Conflagration, and Mr. Jamie Lawson himself. Quite the line up. Attendance at the show was down, from all accountants, except one. The Fred Hall people don't publish tickets purchased, or show attendance. But many of these people have been going to this show for a dozen years and the collective thinking of these travel agents, er, brokers was that attendance was down. No reason is obvious, but it wasn't the weather, and all the tackle dealers say that more people are fishing in SoCal than ever before.
I think that given the increasing costs to attend, and most especially the increasing power of the internet, the days of these shows may be numbered. You can get on the Mighty Wurlitzer in the comfort of your very own abode and shop in comfort. You can search for places to fish in La Paz, Sitka, and Ethiopia. You can discuss on any of the many forums the advantages of Penn over Avet, with reel users, not salesmen. All of the good tackle stores have online shopping, and their prices are every bit as good as at the show. While the boat shopper may well need to compare boats in person, the reel buyer no longer does.
To be sure there is a social component, a herding of men pushing strollers who were able to strike the required bargain with She Who Must Be Obeyed, but that will fade as the show operators ignorantly continue to increase the prices, like Mexican condos that go up in price as they do not sell, counting on the calculus function that the last attendee will pay next to $infinity in order to attend. Gladly this will not come quickly, because then I wouldn't get to see Ollie, Kenny, Bobo and others who know who they are, as often. I did purchase a few rod blanks at a good price, and picked up birthday gifts for Kelly from many of her numerous admirers, but it was time to head home.
Captain Dan and I hauled down a new generator for the Amanda II. While scaling El Arumbrosa on the way from Mexicaly to Ensenada, Dan's truck doing the "I Think I Can", we turned to the future. This year is looking very good, both from a business and a fishing perspective. The weather coming down was warm and calm. Everytime we gazed upon our Sea of Cortez it was glassy and inviting. Upon talking to Jorge (who I would like to thank for taking the helm in my absence) he informed me that the weather at home was perfect too, and that fishing had been very good. Yellowtail and yellowfin are still at the north point, providing an erractic but very exciting bite, and the pargo school at Punta Perico has really started to shape up early. Cabrilla in the 5-8 pound range have gotten much more frequently encountered, and there is plenty of sardines and mackeral.
It is time to call and reserve for this summer and fall. Many people are. Alaska has a $249.60 round trip ticket available now, and even though they don't fly everyday, all but the most stubborn of you have figured out a way with Delta and Alaska to get here from the four corners of your demgraphic geography. It's gonna be fun, don't miss it y'all.
Have Fun,
David
