Road Trip to BOLA

[steelfish]

Even tho, I live in San Felipe, Baja I havent gone to BOLA ever, until last weekend, this was a place I had on my bucket list for long time, its one of those places that are "too close and too far" at the same time (at least for me), while it normally takes 8-10hrs to get there (2hrs freeway and 6-8 hrs dirt road) now with the current work on the dirt road, from SF we made it only 4:30hrs to get there, yay!!.

we fished near the big island "angel de la guardia (guardian angel) off-shore, so, not a place for light tackle this time.

the Road trip started the friday 16th at noon, we hit the road with plenty of sun light to have time to arrive not too dark to our destination
you have 70 miles of pavemented road right after my town San Felipe, right after that, only Dirt road for many more miles, average 50 miles of dirt, so depending on your car or truck you can drive faster or slower, we had no rush so, we drove slow and enjoyed a nice talk with the compadres.
next morning we woke up early to be at the marina at 5am to catch some bait on the shallows, we were going to try to find a good fish with live bait.

fishing was kind of slow most of the morning but that was because we were after big yellows, there was a call in the radio that some medium size and small yellows where bitting on another spot near from us but we opted to stay there trying for a big one until it paid off

I got my 1st ever Dodo, a baby mahi mahi but I can scratch it out from my bucket list now, it was CPR

right after the mahi mahi I got a really nice YT, the another one but more fat and strong, it really put my gear to the test, well not really but that fella pulled really hard my seeker 6ft 120lb rod on a Mak15 SEA, by the way, the rod was built by myself few last winter, you can see the rod behind me.
we didnt reached our fish limits but still got plenty of fillets for everyone for some nice ceviches, sashimis, poke and sarandeado.. and some fish tacos.
next morning was time to drive back home, dont you hate that ?

 

[Fish Sniper]

Even tho, I live in San Felipe, Baja I havent gone to BOLA ever, until last weekend, this was a place I had on my bucket list for long time, its one of those places that are "too close and too far" at the same time (at least for me), while it normally takes 8-10hrs to get there (2hrs freeway and 6-8 hrs dirt road) now with the current work on the dirt road, from SF we made it only 4:30hrs to get there, yay!!.

we fished near the big island "angel de la guardia (guardian angel) off-shore, so, not a place for light tackle this time.

the Road trip started the friday 16th at noon, we hit the road with plenty of sun light to have time to arrive not too dark to our destination
you have 70 miles of pavemented road right after my town San Felipe, right after that, only Dirt road for many more miles, average 50 miles of dirt, so depending on your car or truck you can drive faster or slower, we had no rush so, we drove slow and enjoyed a nice talk with the compadres.
next morning we woke up early to be at the marina at 5am to catch some bait on the shallows, we were going to try to find a good fish with live bait.

fishing was kind of slow most of the morning but that was because we were after big yellows, there was a call in the radio that some medium size and small yellows where bitting on another spot near from us but we opted to stay there trying for a big one until it paid off

I got my 1st ever Dodo, a baby mahi mahi but I can scratch it out from my bucket list now, it was CPR

right after the mahi mahi I got a really nice YT, the another one but more fat and strong, it really put my gear to the test, well not really but that fella pulled really hard my seeker 6ft 120lb rod on a Mak15 SEA, by the way, the rod was built by myself few last winter, you can see the rod behind me.
we didnt reached our fish limits but still got plenty of fillets for everyone for some nice ceviches, sashimis, poke and sarandeado.. and some fish tacos.
next morning was time to drive back home, dont you hate that ?

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Bola is a magical place and you are so close to it. Try driving from the LA area (from 1AM to 3PM). But I keep going back every year, just love that place and their people. Go Back next month and catch some rooster fish (pez gallo), you'll love it.
Thanx for the report.

 

[Rufo]

That’s awesome Alex. Glad you got some good fishing and a dorito.

Sabes algo, cada vez tú regresas ahí la mágica crecer.

 

[skipjackrobert]

Will be there again next month! Love it!

 

[steelfish]

Bola is a magical place and you are so close to it. Try driving from the LA area (from 1AM to 3PM). But I keep going back every year, just love that place and their people.

wow thats a Long Drive, I know what you mean about great place and great people, I will try to get back at least this next spring and summer

 

[steelfish]

That’s awesome Alex. Glad you got some good fishing and a dorito.

Sabes algo, cada vez tú regresas ahí la mágica crecer.

.. a Dorito (doradito)
I should try fishing there on every of the north seasons and check what fish you can catch

 

[steelfish]

Will be there again next month! Love it!

good luck .. there are reports of good size Dorados right after we left

 

[1 Ola Mas]

8 more daze!

 

[FAT CAT]

Nice Jurel Alex!

 

[Bozly]

Damn Alex! How the hell did you do that in 4.5 hrs? I’ve done that drive numerous times and the best I’ve done is about 6 hours but I do stop and hang out with Coco for a bit too.

So where are you in San Felipe? I just moved here and got a house yesterday out in the ejido. We should meet up and have some tacos and beers and talk fishing. I plan on fishing Bahia again soon and kind of often, maybe we can go in on a boat from time to time.

Let me know if you want to meet up, I’ve got all kinds of time these days.

 

[steelfish]

Damn Alex! How the hell did you do that in 4.5 hrs? I’ve done that drive numerous times and the best I’ve done is about 6 hours but I do stop and hang out with Coco for a bit too.

they opened a new track few weeks ago of the "new pavemented road" and now it doesnt go through Cocos corner anymore, you save at least 50 minutes if you keep going straight by the main road instead of make the turn to Cocos corner, I dont know how many guys will chose to say hi to Coco or save almost an hour of time.

So cool to meet someone in SF, I will send you a PM to keep in touch, Im from Mexicali but have been living here for 16 years now, I fix, restore and build rods and fix reels as sidejob /hobby.
the rod you see on the 2nd pic for catch the bait was rebuilt by me and the seeker rod used to catch the big Yellows was built from the accesories and blank by me too.

https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/my-first-rod-built-steelman-by-steelfish.705943/

that helped to know a bunch of local panga captains and fishing buddies.

 

[Bozly]

Rod looks great. I have a Gloomis with a guide problem, maybe you could replace it for me, needs doing before the next outing if possible.

Yeah cool, get a hold of me and let’s talk and do some fishing. It’s hot as hell but on the water it ain’t too bad. I’m around all day everyday.

 

[fishytaco]

Thanks for the report. I think it's the best place to fish in Baja hands down. I was there in early June for a couple of days. Love it.
Went to mass and will probably be back with a truck load of goods for the congregation.

If anyone have room and need another person to help split the cost on your next trip, pls email me

 

[jrobhog]

Thanks for the report on hwy 5. When we went down 5 in June and July the road from Puertecios and Gonzaga was a bad as any part of 5. Dirt and rocks and bridges out, Have they fixed any of that ? We are going again in two weeks and hate to go on hwy 1. But if its like it was between San Felipe and Gonzaga we'll go 1 and all the towns and stop signs..Thanks Jim

 

[1 Ola Mas]

Go 1.

 

[steelfish]

Thanks for the report on hwy 5. When we went down 5 in June and July the road from Puertecios and Gonzaga was a bad as any part of 5. Dirt and rocks and bridges out, Have they fixed any of that ? We are going again in two weeks and hate to go on hwy 1. But if its like it was between San Felipe and Gonzaga we'll go 1 and all the towns and stop signs..Thanks Jim

if you are going from SD I think its better to use Mx1, the road from SF to puertecitos is still under construccion and the bridges from Gonzaga to Chapala (mx1 juction) are still not usable.

 

[24baja]

wow thats a Long Drive, I know what you mean about great place and great people, I will try to get back at least this next spring and summer

We travel 2 1/2 days from Oregon to enjoy that magical place. We absolutely love our adopted BOLA HOME.

 

[steelfish]

We travel 2 1/2 days from Oregon to enjoy that magical place. We absolutely love our adopted BOLA HOME.

wow, that sentense will pushing to to dont double think to take a 12hrs trip to visit Loreto, lots people say its 2x better than BOLA, someday during the next year I will check that out.