Max effort, yup...a fish story

The story don't start with that pic, I just thought it was pretty cool when I snapped it off late in the day while coming home from work. I got my gear satchel. my sun gator, long sleeve shirt....I could pass for somebody who knows what he's doing.

Team X has not been mobilizing much, it's just that the fishing has been so slow and it takes all day and lots of $$$$ to go to our favorite spots. But last week we met at 4:00 am and at sunset we were at our favorite spot near Dimas, 45 miles from Mazatlan. This place has produced some loads and I mean loads and we could really use one today. We stop at the river first and after 3 hours of hard throwing the Ern has one...as in 1....small Corvina and Slah decides to get us to the point for high tide. we fish hard and notta. Around 11;30 I get the tug  and holy moly I'm feeling a powerful fish. The pic below you'll see just how rocky it is and how difficult it is 'ride' one into a rocky channel and lift him to safety. Several times this fish got stuck in the rocks and as I've been taught I go slack for several long minutes and then walla, he's free. All the time I'm working this fish my buddies who could grab a gaff and help are talking. But finally I tighten up on him and get him into a channel and after ten minutes get a look.....Toro....I was hoping for nice robalo. Now I'm not complaining because this guy is a noble fish so I set up my tri-pod and take a pic then let him swim free.

So after comida Slah wants to walk about 2 miles to a another rocky point where he's heard Corvina are caught from a cliff but he's never been there. Ern is tired and Welle wants to fish at the truck and I can't let Slah go alone so we grab water and off we go....my first lesson in technical rock climbing. Naturally I'm a little gun shy when it comes to rocks but I went as far as my safety gene allowed me and stopped when Slah found this ' chimney ' to climb down the last 40 feet to the water. After doing my Carl Wallenda on New Years eve I promised and kept my promise to MP that I would evaluate the importance of a fish better.

Here's a pic of the view north from our new ' I'll never fish there again' fishing spot. What a beautiful spot to broil in the sun for several hours.

Of course Slah is like me, he makes friends everywhere he goes. This lobster diver swam by and hauled out at the risk of his life and they had a wonderful visit. I was especially impressed when he got hung up on the bottom and got the diver to go free the lure. Yikes.

Just as I was thinking ol Slah had fished long enough with no bites and that  maybe he's ready to go home and to safety he did what he always does, caught a fish. Darn it. So I snap a pic , give him a thumbs up and settle back for another hour or so.

Eventually he climbs back up and I give him a hand up the last lift and I don't mind telling you that I'm pretty relieved because although I'd have gone for sure I got the feeling that unless you're the lobster guy that last 10 feet to the h2o might be you last swim...and oh, he doesn't know how to swim I think.

We high five, I tell him that's the most ' earned ' fish I'd ever seen. We laugh and know it's us, doing kid stuff and we're together out in the middle of Mexico, alone. He later gave me that Max effort fish and it will always be one of the most important fish in my fish life memory. Here's pic to the south on the way back, the truck is waiting just a bit farther than the point.

Years ago when I started at LaMarina Condo's I told people it looked like the maids were running the place.....boy was I wrong. This pic below is Sophie ( creative name for a Poodle eh? ) and she is by far the most important Dogerson here . That's a cross between a dog and a person of course.

Sophie has 842 friends on here Facebook page, not bad eh ?....She has a credit line at the bar of who knows how much and even her own chair on the North Terrace. She's just magnetic with new Dogerson's so her social skills are amazing and unlike any Dogerson you've ever met, she's never made a mistake and poo poo ed in the wrong place,  I wish I had a Dogerson just like her because very seldom do you meet a Dogerson that's more important and fascinating that it's close cousin, the human.

We're headed back to Mile 14 on Thursday.....hope you check back.