Sometimes....

 It feels a bit like an alternate universe here in Mazatlan, you know the old parallel worlds deal. I've often told people that the coolest thing about Mexico is that there's no doubt that it doesn't even  TRY to be like the USA and for me....that's a good thing . 

I shoot that pic through window this morning at a place we came across on our Saturday morning walk / talk / eat trip . We've found the most wonderful breakfast spot called La Laguna which is at a point in the wetlands that run parallel with the Malecon. Great food and the vibe is like you were in Paris dining along the Seine. As we ate this morning we watched this guy circumnavigate the Lagoon, expertly throwing his cast net as he moved along .....Pretty cool. 

But I digress. I was gonna tell a story about beer...Pacific of course is brewed right here in Mazatlan and it fuels the town, no doubt about it . Well the other day we're at our new favorite and recently discovered taco stand Epa Epa. Now we had to look for a new place as Tacos Martin which had the wonderful beef tongue (lengua ) that I love mysteriously went out of business . Epa has Happy hour all day, 2 Pacificos for 50 peso, $2.50 in gringo. So,for every beer a frugal person will order two, right ? I looked that word frugal up in the Thesaurus and the first word for it came up  was ' miserly ' ....well I don't think I'm that but I can stretch a buck....so where's this story going you ask...  So we get our two beers and order taco's El pastor and a crazy potato. When it comes we order two more Pacifico's even though MP doesn't really want another but I'm ready for one and as we eat I drink it and then 'help' MP with hers. Well about this time a Mexican man with his family leaves table and goes out to his car and comes back with 2 Pacifico's and I figure that he's bringing his own beer in which you see all the time and is acceptable in Mexico. But nope, he walks over to our table and says he'd like to treat us as they're jumping the jet  for Tijuana soon and have to empty their cooler. So in the spirit of International co operation I say thank you and now we have a 6 beer lunch, kinda like your basic 3 martini lunch on Wall Street ...and me...well....I've got my first early day burner ( as Tom O'mara would say ) going in looooooong time. Took a nap when we got home. 

And fishing....yup we're still pounding the water. Most of Team X convenes every morning over at Mar Rosa and the reports have been kinda slow and with the Water Taxi refusing to let non El Cid people aboard I've been fishing closer to home. AND, it's been sooo cold in the morning that I've kinda changed that pattern and lately I walk in the morning asnf fish in the afternoon...Dan Sterchi said to me one morning years ago " I don't know why the hell we gotta get up so early for , I mean the fish DO live here don't they "! so I invented a pattern where I fish in the pool troughs just off shore at low tide. I use my ultra light outfit as I only cast 20 or 30 feet and then let a really really small rubber swimfish just kind float and dodge along and low and behold there's snappers in those pools. I've caught many like this and the other day a gorgeous yellow one. They're slol close you'd think you can see them but you can't.

Behind me you can see the shallow sand I wade out on and then cast parallel with the beach up and down the trough. Nuttin to it .

Now here's a gorgeous thing . They other day we went to the movie and as MP like everybody else in town has been cold she see's this unique  coats that I guess I'd call a shawl . What a cool store, they have things we've never seen before with an atmosphere to match. So if any of you wanna see the coolest clothing in the coolest store at the Galleria's this is it .

And finally in the ' we've got culture ' department we ran into these dancers on the Malecon this morning. What a great place to walk and visit and you never know what or who you're going to run into. You can stop for a coconut, you can get a cold Michelada or you can just belong, it's really cool.

Mexi-cold

50 degrees Fahrenheit at 6:00 a.m....now that might not sound cold to all of you that are N.O.B. but here in Mazatlan that's plain frigid . If you kinda look close or enlarge you can make out Alejandro warming his hands over a large Sterno stove . As you've heard me say many times , there's things in life that ya gotta want to do and getting out in the dark for a few Poleta like this is one of those things for me.

That's actually a pretty good sized one. Unlike their bigger cousin the Robalo they only get this big and we get them in the semi dark with a little feather jig called a Pluma close to shore and they're great eating. Team Xer Tim Lockwood arrived about a week ago and holy moly he caught a Robalo of at 5 kilo 3 days in a row....yikes....this is like the Mazatlan shore fishing equivalent of Joe Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak back in 1941. Just like Joe he knows exactly what he's doing but ya know old #003 knows the fishing on the Playa a bit and that 3 day streak is even more impressive by the fact that I didn't think there were that many fish around....until now that is ! Good job Tim !

Ya know I'm kind of an ambassadeur for sport fishing . Team X is kinda my way of keeping the faith with all the wonderful people I've shared fishing with through the years. I meet new friends daily . We have an acronym ...FTF friends through fish . The other day I met these two Mexican men who were fishing bait. They stopped me to ask what the fish was as they thought it was Toro but as we chatted about the nice and rare Pompano they had caught the other guy has a bite and pulls in the very biggest Bottete I have ever seen. We had a good laugh....FTF...

Mac and I became friends 7 or 8 years ago. In fact he was with me when I tried to break my neck recovering a Poleta from the slippery rocks that cost me a trip to the emergency room...We both agreed that in the year 2025 we'd be using the ol grey matter  a bit more and let the impetus part rest for a while...like the rest of our lives.

Now this Team Xer was throwing his hand line on a blustery mid day low tide and I'd have given him little chance of success with. Well he walked up next to me as I casted knowing conditions were impossible and threw the Cameron into 18 inches of water and reared back with a bite landing a nice supper sized Cocanaco Snapper. Guy looks like he was taking a break from his job at the bank eh ? FTF.

I guess I can say that I've caught just about every kind of fish there is to catch surf fishing in Mazatlan Mexico. I'm fairly good at it and of course 20 years of doing it increases your odds.....so....it was really cool to catch something new, something I've never seen , my first Barracuda . AND it wasn't one of the smaller Pacific Barracuda I have seen on commercial boats but was a gorgeous Great Barracuda that swam away to grow and prosper.

Thank goodness there was nobody around to help me a get a pic. I might have been tempted to hold him for the photo and his teeth  were kinda intimidating and he was kinda snapping them a bit....see there, using the ol grey matter.

And here's a big ol Colorado Snapper that my fellow Alaskan Kiki caught out fishing with the famous Chalio's son Alex. I met Kiki and Chalio 20 years ago and we fished Alaska, we fished the Playa, we fished Marmol in the panga, I caught my first Rooster fish with these guys. Chalio left the planet this last winter and Mazatlan has a hole in it's heart....and Kiko....well, he just keeps fishing . FTF .

Some how or another as I was minding my own business watching the Sunset I got stung by a bee. Of course I'm highly allergic so it was kinda weird that I didn't know about it until by toe started turning several shades of purple. No mistaking it . That's what it looks like . I had several stings above my eye brows a few years back that blackened my eyes and was responsible for the only time in my 37 year guide career that I canceled any trips . So 3 days of Magnum Prednisone doses and we're good to go/

And oh....the Sunseta from our Casa. Ain' t that purty.

How's about I end this edition of Mile 14 with a song ? Alaska's best friend Hobo Jim Varsos co wrote this song with Russell Smith of The Amazing Rhythm Aces fame. George Jones made this song a #1 country hit....now how in the world could you write a song this beautiful and not be multi millionaire . We all love and miss you Jim .

 

bye bye 2024, and good riddance

 Ain't gonna miss all the memories I've made in that year . Some of them are flat unforgettable but I'm getting good at handling those things , cause you have to . When MP told me that I'd been brave - after 71 years on the planet I know exactly what bravery is now - all it is is  what happens when people have no options .

That's me and MPeasy celebrating the season at our favorite fine dining genuine Mexican place. We found El Tunnel on our 2nd trip to Mazatlan in 2002 and have been going there ever since. They make the tacos Sinaloa style and call it Ala Plaza . Mine were carne asada with potato served under a pile of sliced cukes, radishes and lettuce that you pour a really nice chili consomme over....oh baby...and Pacifico's...of course.

Because it's a long ways from home and the fact that Mazatlan is facing some security issues at night when we go to old town we stay overnight on Olas Altas beach at the LaSiesta. We love this place . A nice walk along the Malecon in the morning . Breakfast with a Platano liquido ( with Splenda of course ) at an ocean front comida and even a quick music session with an old friend.

Downtown is where you see the good stuff. You know I'm always on the hunt for the unusual . The city is alive in of itself so every year and every day it's different. This building just went through a major face lift and it done entirely with hand placed tile mosaic . It must have taken thousands of hours and is absolutely gorgeous. The mosaic is dedicated to the chug chug panga drivers that fish off the neighboring North Beach.  To any and all of my friends here in Mazatlan...you need to get down there and see this . It's unbelieving to quote Jacque Lizin .

And then is the view from the side street of the building where the art is dedicated to the panga fishermen.

As we walked MP tells me this is her favorite street because of the elephants. I don't remember but she doesn't miss any thing creative, it's her life .

On this date last year I could hardly carry a fishing pole , never mind casting it . But Dr. Russo and Dr. Steve Perry at Billings Clinic gave me my fishing back . And even though its slow , slow,slow I'm finding out that just doing it again is a reward in of itself and that all along through 37 years of guiding and 25 years of surf fishing Mazatlan I really just like doing it, the ritual, the fellowship, the mystery to be solved and of course being in nature , sometimes alone. I love it all . BUT, if ya wanna harvest just get to the beach at 4:00 a.m. like my friend Alejandro . Then clamor out over the rocks of the breakwater and toss your pluma with a hand line cause it works better than your rod and reel and won't break if you fall off the rocks. But sun up you'll have a collection of what I think are the best eating fish in Mazatlan. They are snook looking pesca the locals call Paleta. I tell him " Alejandro mucho peligraso on piedre " and he goes anyway . His legs are scarred from previous falls. 

And here's a pic of a new team Xer with the very biggest Cocanaco snapper I've ever seen. I asked him to hold it up for me and it took me a bit to change settings on my camera. I didn't think he minded but MP gave me the old quit bothering everybody speech that I've heard my entire life.

and now seeings how I might miss another december Mile 14 post I'm gonna make a list of stuff I need to do in 2025. 

 

1. Now that my neck is better I can lift again. Start with my rubber bands and move up to dumb bells ( ain't that a poetic name for them ) . I got this skin hanging from where my triceps used to be that a friend of mine calls ' bingo wings '....they gotta go .

2. Ignore the insensitive jerks here at LaMarina...I finally know I ain't got enough time to keep swimming upriver and I ain't gonna change them jerks anyway. 

3. Be happy. It's a mind set and it starts with me. It's like a tree, the trunk supports the branches so be happy and those around you will be happy.....and let me tell you I have A LOT to be happy about.

That's it ....Duck soup....done deal....easy peasy...lead pipe...no brainier....Happy New Year everybody, see ya next year.

Ray Ban

There's soooo many of these babies that you can hardly drag a hook through the water without catching one. AND when you do it's a tricky operation to retrieve you 6 dollar cast master or whatever. I've been trying to heed my Hematologists advice when she told me about blood thinners in high doses with the emphasis on " be careful " !  Once again Alejandro taught me what to do. You grab the tip of his wing with your pliers and turn him upside down so the stinger is is the dirt, then you twist out your hook and then grab the stinger with your pliers and lift him back to the H20 . I've done it probably 10 times in the last week....If this was Alaska and these babies were holding up commerce who knows what they'd do, poison ? explosives ? maybe even a management plan would take care of them . 

But I ain't gonna be scaredy chicken to no ol fish and through it all I managed to land a slimey or two. It was dark when I hit this nice big Toro and wouldn't ya know there was no one around to take the pic so I took my old blue weatherproof Lumix and held it up in front of me and captured the magic.

 

I jumped the bus to Mar Rosa the other day where we all think the best rocks for collecting fish exist. So I gotta tell ya Tim I got there at high tide and the new tourist jungle business there has re enforced the sea wall with just enough huge rip rap that I get can't get  above the surf enough to safely walk down to the place, remember the " be careful " part . Pretty damn insensitive to a bunch of ole fish hounds if you ask me . 

So you know me I keep the faith and keep throwing every morning. I'm far from 100 % but I can do a couple of hours pain free and then when I do get to feeling it in the neck it's just kinda like a stiff neck with a tolerable dull ache......no tingling , no spasms like I was having before the ablation. Yahoo ! And of course it's all in the math ...E minus B flat, x 7.2 squared to the 4th power and divided by .04 percent of January 6th  equals my first consumable, a nice Cocoanaco snapper.... But....that's the slimey that seemed to affect my ciguatera fish toxin the most and I'm scared to eat them like I used to. I let him swim away deciding that the next Robalo I catch I'll try some in hopes I can now keep it down, ain't ate any of it for 3 years now.

And just this morning I watched my new friend Juan Carlos catch the biggest Toro I've ever seen caught on the playa, maybe 16 pounds or so. This fish gave up the good fight.....But then disaster happened. I threw an air knot in the brand new ultra thin  Suffix line that Kurt gifted me. I loved that stuff and try as I might to untangle I ended up losing a bit of it....and here's the  ' but then ' part...and then I re tied my leader and loaded up and threw  the long cast not looking for Pelicans as there's been so few of them and Walla...it snags a ' Christmas turkey ' as Slah calls them and when I tightened  up to stop him from getting it all the line parted and all my new Suffix flew away......jeez Louise....

After that it was a screw the fishing morning and I took a nice long bike ride. This is my favorite tree in Mazatlan. I can't tell you what it is but it's huge , spanning the whole Island on Cameron Sabalo Cerritos. It's always full of birds ....

Of course you notice that nice bike/hiking path that Mazatlan furnished for us . When we first came to this area there was nothing here, nothing...and now  there's lots and lots of new buildings and more people but this path is the benefit of progress. It's safe ( remember the ' be careful ' deal ) and runs  3 miles to the end of Cerritos and it's well used....thank you Mazatlan.

And of course as much of a sun up guy I am who couldn't love the sunsets here....Hope ya come back in 10 days or so .

My girlfriend was waiting for me int eh same place as always.

The weak in review

 Well, today marks a week since we arrived at Mile 14 Southern Bureau . It's one of the unfair things in life that no matter how cool , how special something is you can still get used to it, it becomes routine . and that's what I'm struggling with right now, to NOT have that feeling. I think I'm doing OK with it and I suppose an entire winter and half a summer of doctor appointments has helped to reset my rudder....I'm feeling good.

My readers have many times heard me report on the beer culture in Montana. The pic above is the Travel stop chain Town Pump's new biggest store with a 1600 sq. ft. Beer Cave. Well Montana doesn't have an exclusive on beer consumption, right here in Mazatlan Mexico they're pretty darn good at it . With the holidays arriving the stores are stocked to the ceiling with Pacifico and this display of mini Kegs jumped out at me. 3 gallons of all kinds of beer nobody's ever heard of ...

You're probably wondering why I didn't start the post with a fish pic, or maybe you're not...My first morning I walked up on my old friend Alejandro as he was wrestling this Toro. He's well, I'm well and both just flat happy to have another season together fishing .

Many Manta's on the beach like this one. They swim around in formation and when you see them it's best to not fish. There are several different types of Rays here and this guy is the one with the dangerous stinger that has sent many a pescador to the hospital emergency room...So all of us kinda drop the machismo for this guy and are openly afraid of him but we still need to recover that 200 peso Kastmaster it's got in his wing. 

I've seen a lot of things in sport fishing in my life and many things in surf fishing in the last 25 years.  One thing is just kinda understood with fishing, it's best to be either next to or on top of the water...not in it. If you look to the very middle left of this pic you'll see a guy holding his rod up after he swam out to either get more distance or frankly who knows ? Hey man....the fish ain't that important !

So me and MPeasy are in flow. Today we're off to the movies to see Gladiator 2 and pick up take out Chinese . We hope to be home for sunset, got my first aerial assist just last night.

So it goes like this....up @ 4:30 and read the Helena and Anchorage papers. Before sun up hike 1/2 Mile up the beach and fish until 8:00 or 9:00 then go have breakfast with MP. Then hit the terrace for nap #1, we call this the yoga nap as I usually fall asleep to the melodic droning of Alexia's voice as she leads the yoga class. Then read until noon or so, right now I'm doing a Michael Connelly novel. Have tostado's for lunch. Ride Bike up to Oxxo store for beer and chips. About 2:00 take indoor nap . About three meet with kennel mates in pool for gossip . Cocktail hour at 5:00 including sunset ritual. Practice songs. Eat supper . Watch Oak Island and fall asleep.....repeat with slight variations such as go watch fishing boats come in with catch, shop , early lunch on beach....here's a pic of Jaiba ( crab ) tostados .

I WILL catch a fish soon so come on back and see....