Robalo Syndrome

My goal for the last two years is to catch a 20 pounder to add to my mount collection. Its not that they're rare, in fact this year there seems to be a lot of them, its just that I can't catch one. Big or small. Of course Slah catches them, my friend Joe catches them, Jason catches them and I saw a gringo guy named Steve from Costa Bonita condos the other day with a nice one. And now here's a pic of my friend Bill Radke with one, caught on his first ever Mazatlan surf fishing adventure....jeez....

Bill and Sharon had to go back to Slowdotna so I figured Bill might want to fish on his last day, he's a fish bum like me, heck he fishes with the world famous Spence Devito. So we get to the rocks at Holiday Inn a little late and I suggest a top water lure for him. I hoped he might catch a snapper or a toro but I was really thinking that with the top water at least he wouldn't lose any of my lures.  Well he did catch a toro and a few minutes later from my spot down the beach I see him pull in a long lean one....could it be? ....do you suppose ?....yup, he's got the first Robalo I've ever seen caught on a top water, then asks me if we ought to release it....RELEASE IT ? Next to the rooster and certainly for eating that baby is the holy grail of surf fishing. So anyway, thanks Bill, a day later my ego is a bit better.And it was really good last night, really good.

So this morning found Team X norte. This is the view looking back to where the city is awakening.

I caught a toro that I tried to paint into a robalo and then farther up the beach I caught a nice little sierra that fought well...kinda like a robalo. Here's a pic looking north from our fishing spot, this could be any truly isolated wilderness beach in the world, but its ours and it gorgeous. The isolation of the beach mirrors the isolation of surf fishing itself. Its not like sitting in a boat chatting. To fish the surf you're all alone, moving in and out with the waves, walking,  casting, looking and wondering.

The next pic is my fishing partners. Slah you know, on the right is Sergio who is just a wonderful guy and about as fishy as any of us. He's a fish bum for sure, spent time chasing salmon in the Seattle area and of course he knows this beach. One thing he said today that stuck with me for sure...we were talking about the strength of the rooster and the jumping of a silver salmon and the tugging of a big toro when he said " Jeff, theres nothing like that first run of a King salmon".

Today we moved into our usual unit, its real nice and we're at home here at LaMarina. But..its killing me to not own a place. All our friends own houses or condos. But I think I'm finally getting MP worn down on that deal as we're looking at some units. Always the practical one she is insisting though that we don't waste time by looking at things we can't afford, it happens to her in real estate often so she encourages people to stay within their set budget. Today we looked at our first listing.

Tomorrow I'm chasing the rooster. I've seen them every single day...so maybe....