Baja With Alex, 2004
Calicos at San Roque


Blooming elephant trees in the Vizcaino desert
After a while, despite the excellent fishing, we felt a need for a change in order to maintain that spirit of adventure that all vacations need. I had wanted to visit Bahia Asuncion for years and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity. We bounced and lurched along the washboard road at a snail's pace marveling at the scenic buttes of the Vizcaino desert. The elephant trees were in bloom lending the landscape a pink quality. The people of Asuncion were curious, warm, and hospitable - far more so than those we had met along the highway. Another 12 miles of bad road brought us to Punta San Roque, a collection of commercial pangas and not much else.


The calico bass were large

I took an immediate liking to this place. The air was pleasantly warm and dry. The clear, green Pacific combers roared upon the endless white sandy beach. The rocky point was laced with thick beds of kelp. We rigged our rods and followed the winding road along the shoreline searching for rocky promontories. The full moon guaranteed a very low tide giving us the opportunity to stand at the very end and cast our plastic offerings to the very edge of the kelp beds. These were inhaled by calico bass that dwarfed anything in the states. Hokking them was one thing, landing them through the surf was another matter entirely. It took quickness and all the power my rod possessed to pull the 8 lb. fish out of the kelp and up into the tidepools at our feet. Some required a slack line to encourage them to swim out of the foliage. Alex's 8 year old body was not up to the task and he went through a lot of lures. We prepared sushi from the bass and it was excellent.

Some of the Mexicans in the area harvest a subtidal species of algae which is sold overseas. A group of these pangeros, hearing of Alex's kelp bass difficulties, invited us to join them and fish alongside during the harvest, We climbed aboard and headed for the vast beds to the north. The three pangeros worked as a team. The compressor was started and one Mexican went over the side, a trail of bubbles following him. The second was at the oars steadying the panga just outside the breakers. The third gathered and stored the bundles of algae the diver brought up. I later examined my school books and determined they were getting Gelidium sp., a short purple algae used in making ice cream, agar, and other products.


Edgar the boatman helps net a calico at Las Roques

Alex and I sat at the bow and worked the bigger kelp beds, where we caught a number of good calicos. The water was so clear below that we could see fish attacking our baits. Eventually a huge sheephead showed up and tentatively mouthed our plastics. I was fiddling with the pliers when suddenly Alex's rod tip bent to the water and I saw him pumping the 10 lb fish for all he was worth. The Mexicans let out a holler and started to shout encouragement. The fish came up fast, laid broadside on the surface, displaying those vibrant red and black markings. Then it dove awkwardly and the hook came out. "It wasn't that big anyway", was Alex's only remark.

I told him there would be more opportunities. But they wouldn't come until our next trip.

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