Salty feet - Pata Salada

Guess I fit that , old salt. so where should I start ? The parade or the snook harvest ? I know....how's about MP's finger....Yikes, it was ugly Howard.

It was frightening and this pic taken the next day doesn't really tell the story of how dramatic the situation was. She snagged it on rivet or something coming down the stairs of the bus. It's a hard jerk and the finger begins to swell immediately. But we're 5 minutes from home so we hustle to get soapy water or oil on it and it won't come off. She hustles to Adrieanna's house and luckily the retired nurse is home.  I go looking for good cutters and return to find the string trick being done which is essentially a tourniquet that compresses the swelling to try and get the ring off....the finger by now is the size of two and looks like a sausage, entirely dark purple. Adrianna and I decide  almost at the same time it's gotta go and it's gotta go NOW. It was so swelled that without the string compression I couldn't have gotten the side cutters safely on it.... It's hard and I can't cut it...MP is tough and Adrianna says hurry. My adrenalin kicks in and snap, it's cut but I have to find another pair of pliers to open it up which we finally do and instantly the finger changes color and MP says she has feeling on the tip. Onto the ice and then it's gone from purple to white. The circulation was cut off for about 15 minutes I'd guess. I think the trip to a hospital would have been to slow and who knows....So then it was ice on 15 minutes , ice off for 15 minutes for 7 hours and magnum doses of Arnica. We could tell it was going to be alright but she still has a little tingling. Mucho Gracias Adrianna, you're an angel. One thing I know about life is this....you can't worry about what didn't happen. Jeff was relieved, very happy.

For surf fisherman here in Mazatlan besides catching the Guyo the Robalo is about as good as it gets. I've had a remarkable run of luck with those guys, this week I caught one every morning for three mornings in a row. Wow....hitting the trifecta.  Tom Welle and his crew arrived so we have at least 8 people on the beach with me and Ern, nadda no pescado. I have people to the left and right of me when just as I finish my retrieve I actually see the Snook take my Mirro Lure. Then the very next wave pushed it past me and leaves it high and dry up the beach with the hook having fallen out. It was so quick the first thing I heard is " where'd that come from"...Mucho suerte.

The very next morning Ern gives me the ole ' get here fast ' signal. I hustle down the beach and stab my rod into the sand and get ready with my gaff hook. Luckily Ern has this fish on his bigger set up and although it took 10 minutes we finally get a look at him....it's not the 20 pound Robalo we were hoping for but what a dandy Toro....And Ernie, congratulations, you've finally passed the fish pose portion of the guide exam. Perfect form, proper display, include the gear, smile...and yes, as you can tell from the background Team X is ALWAYS the first on the beach every morning.

This Toro I caught yesterday was kind of fun. I was all alone and wanted a picture. I kept him on the line until a gal walking up the beach got close so then I grabbed him and asked her to take a picture. She was talking on the cell phone and she just smiled grabbed the camera and snapped the pic continuing to walk and talk... I hope she heard the thank you. MP calls that my ' Oh' face.

I love this pic, a close up of old slimey.  He's got a green bucktail in his mouth and is seconds from getting on with his life. I was so inspired by the creativity of this shot that I posed a sun up shot with my favorite lure... I think I'm kinda into the flow of this beach deal.

Fat Tuesday found us where we've been every Fat Tuesday for the last 10 years. This year with the theme and the new widening of the Malecon it was the best and most comfortable parade of all. Today my internet is cooperating so I'm going to cut the chatter and just show you the scene. I hope you pick up on the vibe. And of course there's a lot of fish and  Pacifico always leads the parade. What's better than a Pacifico fish eh ?

 These gals were pretty far up in the air, no worries.

 This guy found the saltiest feet he could.

And of course the Pacifico girls were smiling.

My favorite floats. They had the illuminated versions at the end of the parade and they were spectacular. Some of them had huge generators in tow. I have a pic of the street scene on this 4-pack to give you a feel for the crowd and all. And I have to say....there was not one single bit of politics or political statements here at all, none....just fun.

I've got 1976 Gibson Paul in my collection. It's one of my favorites because it has this ' honest wear ' that is unbelievable. I bought it from a working musician in the Valley named Wes Hamrick and he being a friend of Hobo Jim's like I am he wanted me to have it. When I play this guitar it's like magic, I wonder about where it's been, who's it sung with and who's it been sung with too. Wes had it for 10 years so a large portion of it's life is a mystery that seems to open up when I play it. this Gibson has been refretted , has new a bridge and tuners as well as pots and well it's just got personality.

So that's what I was thinking as I shared the parade route with this musician and his stand up bass. The instrument was personalized with Mexican colors and his name. He carried the bass just like it was part of his body and I bet he plays it the same. I got to wondering just how many weddings and who they might have been and...well, it's just part of the magic of music. Music that's thriving in Mazatlan Sinaloa Mexico.

The Interview

Finally the staff here at Mile 14 was granted the long awaited interview with Sophie, the official mascot of LaMarina. She is a happy Dogerson ( part dog, part person ) who has been left with another person while her real person went to the USA for an emergency. She was candid, bright and engaging and we thank her for giving us a behind the scene glimpse of life as a professional mascot.

Mile 14 : Sophie , we're so excited to be able to talk you today that I don't even know where to start so I'll just say I'm sorry that you're here with somebody else and your person is gone, all of us at Mile 14 hope everything will be O.K.

Sophie : Well thanks for the nice thought. I am missing my person and it'd be a lot easier of a separation if I could go on the Nicoderm patches. But they tell me  this fur is a problem so I've got to soldier on....you don't smoke do ya ?

Mile 14 : No sorry, we don't smoke....but I do have a serious licorice habit do you...

Sophie : Na Na Na, let's just move on, I'm fine.

Mile 14 : OK, so whats the biggest part of your job, how does it all work ?

Sophie : Look at me as the most advanced comfort dog you'll ever meet. My degree is in Humanine Behavior.

Mile 14 : Wow, and where did you go to school for this specialized field of study ?

Sophie : Cal - Barkley

Mile 14: oh, of course....

Sophie : You speak very good dogerson, where did you pick it up ?

Mile 14 :  I used to do shanghai work for a restaurant in Bangkok.

Sophie :  You know  I don't like the direction this interview is taking....

Mile 14 : Sorry, lets get back to the job.

Sophie : It's simple , being a mascot is just about being nice , really nice....and isn't that just about the easiest thing in the world to be ? you remember the line in Jerry McQuire ' you can't love anybody unless you love everybody '....that's me.

Mile 14 : Wow... no wonder I was so excited to do this interview. So whats next in your career ?

Sophie : I'm working to get 200,000 reads on my blog so I can monetize it and make some serious cash.

Mile 14 : And with all you do you're a blogger as well ?

Sophie : yup, looks to me like any idiot can do it

Mile 14:  ya know I don't like the direction this interview is taking....

Sophie :  I hope you have enough I really need to get back to my dogerson dreams.... I was chasing this brand new BMW and.......

Mile 14 : O.K. Sophie, thanks for your time and keep up the good work, we all appreciate it.

Ground Hog Day

It's weird. When you get fully emerged in Mexico every day seems kinda the same,,, and it's nice. The weather is almost the same every day and although the days go slow they seem to accumulate quickly, I think maybe that's more of a function of the ageing process rather than of Mexico. So what'd I do important this week ?....ahhh.....well.... I got a haircut and....jeez, lets just get onto those pesky fish.

Tony snapped that pic for me early one morning this week. I had been throwing metal for distance next to my friend Willy when I spotted a disturbance right next to the shore. I quickly changed to my little feather jig and instantly had him...pretty good if I don't say so myself. This kind of fishing a a bite or two can be a good day so Ern kinda hit the mother lode the other day. Me and Lockwood met him at the Mar Rosa and these three guys fish hard for 2 to 3 hours to get 3 bites.... and Ernie gets all three of them. This pic is the lastr of seven that I took with a big suggestion to Ernie....SMILE.... and he did.

I got a great pic of one of my fishing buddies. These guys are bold. I got this pic believe it or not with no tele photo, I just walked up on him and snapped it then he walked away. I gotta tell ya the truth...I talk to the birds when I'm fishing. I think most of us do actually.

It's a great week in Mazatlan. Carnaval starts, the 3rd largest in the world. This year the theme is ' Pata Salada' which means ' Salty Feet' . This a term you hear a lot in beach side cities. It;s used to tell people you know what you're doing....pata salada amigo... I've been around or I know what I'm doing because I have salty feet....I'm an old salt etc, Denny Zargoza's fishing team is Pata Salada...and they are for sure. I love the music and found a huge guitar player. And I recently learned something , it seems all these wonderful statues that are created every year are modeled after actual people that live or have lived in Mazatlan. mmmmmm...maybe this one is me.

These giant sculptures are called ' Montgotes ' and depict famous people / things that were born in Mazatlan so I guess that rules famous gringo fishermen out. But they are unique to the city, unigue to us and the Carnaval.

We eat a lot of Pollo, and I mean a lot. It's so fresh here and MP and I are trying to get away from the scorched red meat deal. So whenever you buy a fresh chicken you might not get the guts with it but you always get the feet and MP finally discovered why.  It seems to be the secret to making a good chicken soup base. Being a fan of the Menudo like I am I'm always amazed at how clean and  flavorable the broth's are here in Mazatlan. I took this pic of MP making a nice chicken noodle for us.

And as we bid a fond a do to another slumbering week at Mile 5414 let me tell you how the usual sunset goes....not a cloud in the sky....watch, watch , watch,,,,,finally a flash, is it green ? might be, might be  that you've snow blinded yourself staring or it could be real so then we tell 10 minutes of green flash stories and go have supper. Well this one broke the model. It looked like the clouds would kobscure any hope and then the horizen lifted and the sun danced around the sky lasting really late into the evening. I t was the best ' rebound ' yet...Mucho gracias Mazatlan. Hope you all come back and see parade float pics and with any luck maybe a fish or so....😎🎵🎸