20 - 20

Mother earth has changed,
since I was a child.
The east is a beast, 
and the west is really wild,
and the headlines say,
the news is grim ,
and the future don't look so bright.
                                       
                         Toby Keith

mmmmm.... twenty twenty, you optometrists words for perfect vision. Lately I wonder if we even have vision at all . We live in time when if you see a duck it's really a chicken because if it were a duck you'd be wrong to point out it's really a chicken. Do I sound confused ? Well I am. So for my part in the year 2020 I'm going to work on my vision and I encourage the rest of you to kinda keep and eye out ( hows that for a double illiteration ) for the simpleness of believing what you see. If we're going to move this ol planet forward we've got to start seeing the obvious and then as unpleasant as the truth might be we gotta deal with it....O.K. , kapeesch ?

As I type this 20 years ago to the hour I was on Alaska Airlines headed home to Alaska to beat the disruption that the Y2K deal was certainly going to bring. I'm not really the paranoid type but I do know human nature and it was believable to me that the smartest guys in the world who built the Internet forgot to program a change of digits for the change of a century. I was by myself visiting my folks and I figured that seeings how I had to go back to Alaska anyway why not do it before the year 2000. It didn't help that a couple days before I left Alaska the conversation at the Elks lodge moved to  the Y2K deal and my friend Hobo Jim took me out in the parking lot and opened his trunk to show me how he was prepared for it....Yikes, Jim had gas masks, survival food, boxes of ammo...yup all that was on my mind while I jetted back to safety of Mile 14. Boy oh boy we should have problems like that now eh ?

Oh man, I could go on....but lets talk fishing, let me  share what I see, my vision. I see an elated kid, if he's caught fish before you wouldn't know it. I see a life's pursuit ahead for him and a lifestyle that helps you deal with all that life throws you and then you just go fishing.  I see a mom doing it all just right, she might be single she might be married in either case she puts him first, it's love, it's simple.

I've caught bigger roosterfish but I haven't caught any that I worked as hard for as this one. I see a gorgeous creature and see the kid above catching one just like it when he's retired and trying to replay his youth....fishing can do that too ya know. I see tenacity and the art of not quiting . Lockwood told me the other day to keep the faith and of course I always do . This little guy swam right off to the future,

Christmas morning we had a chance to give ol mother nature a boost. These guys aren't supposed to be seen as they migrate back to the water at night the same way their mother nested them. But for some reason a few were late and struggling to find the H2O so we gave em a hand. Alejandro and MP did the heavy lifting and dug around until we were sure we had them all...off to the future to these guys too. Is this sounding like I've planed a theme blog ?

So this morning as every morning I gave it all the faith I had and guess what ? It works . Only 5 casts after I landed my first Robalo of the season I have a heavy, and I mean heavy fish on and thinking it could be another Robalo I go real easy on him. Well I finally land and release about a 10 pound Toro and my cold spell is officially in the books. I really shouldn't make so much of it because ya know that doing the things you love is easy, I just worry that this planet is starting to run our of things, things I love, I think I can see that 20 -20.

So the other day me and MPeasy headed up the beach for a LaMarina get away. It's been difficult to do as we have a new rock jetty that you can't climb over all the time to access the beach to the north. But we've has a northerly current and the sand filled it up and we're free....free at last. We sit down at a real Mexican beach side Pescaderia and decide to go with shrimp ceviche and Pacifico's. The waiter asks if we want the camerons cooked or raw and MP surprised me and  replied 'raw'...oh boy we're finally all in on the risk taking deal and let me tell ya , it was wonderful authentic ceviche. So I guess to theme base that deal...I feel good about us, we gotta keep moving, keep trying things , be bold and move on. You know one of my Jeffro ism's is ' this ol life ain't a dress rehearsal '... SO, we wish you all health , happiness . Love and adventure in 2020. Let's all lookout for a healthy future for all of us and this big round rock that lets us stay here for a short time.

Numbers

With the darkest day of the year a few days ago I had to reflect on this lifestyle me and MPeasy have adopted. I ain't a real math guy but I do seem to have a way of putting observations to practice. So, right now at Mile 14 Northern Division it gets light at 10:12 a.m. and dark at 3:55 p.m. for a total of 5 hours and 43 minutes of daylight....Mile 14 Southern Division has sunrise at  6;43 a.m. and sunseta at 5:26 p.m. for 11 hours and 46 minutes of daylight. So here where I type we get 6 HOURS and THREE MINUTES more daylight than where I've spent my entire adult life.....now that's worth a plane ride and driving an old truck instead of a new one !

My other number is 84.3 , which when multiplied by 2.2 equals 185.46....Yup, I've made it. I've weighed 185 for 3 mornings now and it's kinda funny about goals....I finally made it after trying for at least 6 years and ya know what, I'm just setting new goals. I found out I wasn't giving myself enough time to get it done right as slowly is better so now I gotta keep going. I told MP that when I hit 185 I would post another pic of me in a Speedo like I did when I was trying to buff out weight lifting....well...she said she wouldn't take the pic and she didn't really like the idea of me recruiting somebody here at geriatric-ville so I had to settle for these....Not bad for a 66 year old . I don't think I look that great but I gotta tell ya, I FEEL great.

Jeff's formula : the 10,000 steps you hear about wasn't taking me where I wanted to go so now I try to get 15,000 everyday , that's about  7 and 1/2 miles.
Breakfast : Two eggs, protein from bacon or ham, beans and an avocado, bread, melon. It's a very hardy breakfast with 1/2 or more of my food calories for the day.
Lunch : pork rinds and dip
Supper : Protein from Chicken or Fish ( we're almost entirely done with red meat ) and a salad.
ABSOLUTELY NO SNACKING.
I also eat a protein bar and have a mandarin  orange every morning while fishing.
and , between 2 and 5 Pacifico's a day and red wine with supper.
I know this ain't a scientific keto or Mediterranean diet that you heat about but for me it's the deal and I feel like I'm about as healthy as a guy could ask for.

Almost 20 years ago while cutting our teeth in Mazatlan we walked out of the Mayan Palace to the bus stop to find fresh cement. I took out my leatherman tool and using the screwdriver I scratched this...JK + MP est; 1978 Alaska...Well it's still there at the bus stop and so's my love.

With our area of Cerrittos having a growth spurt we have new buses and many new bus routes . The other day we got on one that we had no idea where it went just to find out, how else do you so it ? And lucky for us it wandered through the Colonia of Pradera before we got off at the Sendero Mall that we've always wanted to shop...that's how my life seems to work. Most of the buses are new so it was cool to get in one of the old ones that's customized to reflect the driver. I took these pics to give you an idea but I missed the best pic. As we stepped out I commented on the kids shoes he had hanging from the ceiling, He said gracias, I said cooooool. How about that tuck and roll eh ?

MP and I want to wish you ALL the best Christmas ever. I have to add one thing and if you wonder where in the world that came from, well I can't tell you.....but it's this...If any of you are prone to the Christmas blues we hear about or if you feel lonely, please, please please don't over think this old ride around the earth. You're loved , Period. Believe it or not I've suffered depression and panic attacks my entire life and now that I know what it is I know what to do, I get active, find the good, don't over indulge, play music... you're loved, I love you !

MERRY CHRISTMAS

😎🐟🐠🎼🎸🎸🎅🎅

Want results ? Hire a guide

That's me and Chalio. I know it sounds over used and rhetorical but Chalio is a legend. Everyone in the fishing community knows him or knows of him. I met him in 2007 when I began my  Roosterfish  obsession. Me and Rich Uberaga hired Chalio and he ran out to the islands watching and watching...he finally cut the motor 150 feet or so from an isolated beach and jumped into the water and swam to shore holding a bucket with a cast net in it above the his head. We watched as he walked the beach and threw the net and eventually swam back with 15 to 20 nice mullet (  lisa in Mexico ). I was impressed, I told Rich that this guy is like Tarzan, he's not just a fisherman but he's like part of the ocean. We hooked 12 or 15 Roosters that day and landed 2. The next day I went up the beach to were the roosters were and where we had watched the surf guys have at it and I caught my first Rooster from shore and met Slah , Ramon , Tino and the guys. Lift off.

So I was excited to be going off shore with Chalio and Dan Stewart who is a  fishing expert himself. Even though I'm not really into the blue water and seldom go it was time hopping for me. The harbor and early morning smell with the harbor fog and the fainted whispering of the fisherman as we prepped took me back to the first time my dad took me offshore from Newport Beach Ca. in 1966. Once again I was mesmerized by the boat wake and the sunrise as we motored out of the harbor, in just one morning , Dec. 9th 2019 I lost 54 years of age, yup, fishing makes me young, feel young and act young. Just gorgeous,,,,fog and the sunrise skyline.

Finally after an hours run we went by several groups of anchored boats and found ourselves over a wreck all alone. We'd come set up heavy in hopes of pulling some big Robalo out of the wreck but within 15 minutes Chalio new they weren't there on this day...we all know the feeling. So we moved just a bit and dropped our live shrimp onto a new wreck and walla, I've got a powerful fish on. It turned out to be the only Colorado Snapper we caught out of the hundred or so Snappers we were soon to catch. 4 Kilo, and that's official.

As we fished and talked I came to understand that Chalio had paid some serious lettuce for 300 live shrimp and we weren't going anywhere until they were all gone so we got busy. We caught Flamenco's and Huacachanga's and couple Corvina and a few dozen Burro's. It's easy to do the math, it seems like I'd catch 2 out of three bites so we had to rack up triple digits. Here's a pic of an Amirilo Snapper that I declared the prettiest creature of the day.

Finally about 1:00 our bait wore out about the same time my left arm did. Mass production ain't easy and Chalio was happy to have two guys with no quit in them. Chalio fished himself all day with a hand line so we had the load that it takes to make this operation run. Now I know some of my readers will think that the next pic is an almost obscene amount of fish and I'll say it is an awful lot. But Chalio is Chalio and nobody in the fleet stacks them up like this and that's probably a good thing.  As for me and I know this sounds like a conservationist making excuses but I stand by this...there's not a hook and line sport fishery in the WORLD efficient enough to be responsible for the failure of a fishery. Can't happen in my opinion, but take a bottom trawl through Chalio's numbers and see what happens.

That is only the Snappers, the Burro's and a few other were left in the box to go to someone else. As fishing has been dead dog slow for us surf guys I took and meticulously cleaned and bagged enough for me and MP to have 15 meals. Dan took 25 of the small ones.

Pretty impressive that a 66 year old retired guy can still squat down like that eh ? So listen, if any of you found this blog just for the fishing in Mazatlan and are coming here to fish feel free to get hold of me and I'll put you in touch with Chalio. He's amazing and I think you know that  I know of what I speak. Just send me a message through the blog or find me on Facebook, Jeff King Soldotna Alaska.

I took this pic on our way in if any of you wonder how we live here at the Mile 14 Southern Bureau. We're in a Garden Suite to the left there....got  Pacifico in the fridge so stop by and we'll talk story.

Tropical Storm Narda

It hit on Thanksgiving day and boy howdy was it a toad strangler. A new record dump here in Mazatlan was measured at 8.8 inches in about an 18 hour period. It didn't rain continuously but when it did it pelted down. Now retired guide #003 has seen a bit of rain on this quest around the sun. In fact I remember it rained every single day the summer of 73 when I was commercial fishing... or maybe that's just my memory being tricked by how I felt about the job,,,,mmmmm,,,,well that's another story, I'll just say I've never seen anything like this rain. It flooded all the estuaries turning the dredged harbor next door into a muddy mess that discolored the ocean for 3 days. The rain buried cars on the low lining streets in Centro and Slah posted pics on Facebook of his restaurant with water to the door. Here's a 15 second video taken next to our house, make sure your audio is up, very impressive.

It took 4 days for the swimming pool's cleaning and filters to make the water fit for humans again.

So I'm on  Toro patrol a mile or so up the beach when I here a notification on my phone. For some odd reason I actually looked and it was MP with a pic of this fish with the wording  ' Alejandro just now '. So I terminated my Toro binge and went home to find Alejandro giddy with excitement. This Robalo is 12 kilo's and it is not only the biggest Robalo that he has ever caught but it's the biggest fish he has ever caught, how cool is that ? He's caught who knows hundreds of Robalo so to get the champion at his age .....magic. To put it in perspective it would be like me catching the biggest King Salmon I've ever seen after handling literally thousands of them. What we all figure is that this guy is a more rare Black Snook that most likely came out of the harbor / estuary because of the flood and got caught. Unlike the Whites Snook these guys are anadromous like salmon so it makes perfect sense. Alejandro cleaned it up perfectly and froze it whole with the head on for a Christmas fiesta with his familia.

If you remember a couple issues of Mile 14 back I showed you how to NOT fish from an elevated spot and expect to land a fish if you're lucky enough to get bit. That one resulted in me needing help and breaking both the line and an eye on my 200 dollar Lamiglass. So the other day my friend Jesse showed me how it's done...what I picked up on first was ya gotta be coooool, I've always done that in my professional fishing but for some reason down here I'll admit....I get buck fever. Here's Jesse just hooked up.

He works the slimey into the jetty and doesn't really move until it's right below him. Then he asks the gallery for a little room and tightens up as he slowly leads the fish to shore stopping when it wants to run a bit more. This guy is huge and strong so patience is everything. Here's the fish when it's right below him and he's about half way to the shore,

He lets it play out and when he gets to a rock ledge at the water level he tests if he can pull it up and it goes dry without flopping. I ask him if he wants me to hold the rod as he climbs down and he gives me a look like ' why the hell would I do that '. He carefully steps over the rope fence and slackens his line, walla....supper on the way.

And the last pic here is the one where I always say " pictures  will be on sale  in the lobby tomorrow " and every grizzled Team Xer says....." shut the hell up, I've heard that a 100 times".

So the big news here at Mile 14 Southern Bureau is that this morning I committed to going offshore with the legendary Chalio on Monday. Yep, I'm going to slap leather and do what people did for me the last 37 years, it was either that or buy fish rather than buy fishing. In fact we were at the market and I was close to buying a whole Corvina when MP said I should be embarrassed. She also said that if I bought fish she would tell everybody and then she turned around and told everybody anyway...yikes. So I'll take plenty of pics of the offshore adventure and report back by this day next week,,,honest.....so how's a bout a sunrise pic from the Faro Mazatlan looking south to stone Island, It's why guys like me do what we do ya know ....

Friends and Toro's

I might have more friends here in Mazatlan than I do in either Montana or at Mile 14. You see I left Montana and ever sense 1996 when we bought the property the summers are so work intense that I just haven't had time for more than all my boat launch and river friends. So it was with great surprise and I was so grateful when this guy here came up to me while fishing and asked " are you Jeff " ?

He is Juan Mendoza and his dad Jimmy was my first friend here in Mazatlan. In the early 2000's we could only stay a short time and were at the Mayan Palace with a timeshare exchange. Jimmy sold fishing trips there and of course I bought them. Jimmy taught me a lot about fishing and we had several suppers together through the years. I met Juan when Jimmy had us to his house in Colonia Zapata for Chile Relenos. Juan was in Jr. High and had his first guitar so we rocked it a bit and had a wonderful evening. Me moved on to our condo and Jimmy died 10 years ago so we lost track but Juan never lost the memories. So now we've fished together several times , he can throw it a mile. He's an engineer at a Tuna Factory and is married with a little girl named Victoria... We are so happy to have him again in our lives and he is now Team X emeritus and our new head of International relations. So cool.

There I am with our first consumable, almost one full month after launch. You had to know I'd catch one but if you wonder about the pic quality it's because to catch him I had to go to the 24 hour attack mode, You see the locals show up at sunset I hear them fishing into the night so I decided to ramp up the project and walla....now I'm fishing more than ever.

But what I lack in consumables I make up with on Toro's. People eat them and I have, in fact the first fish I ever caught was one that I thought it was a Tuna and Max and Sam said it was great fried fish. I think there would be little debate if I called myself the gringo Toro King of Cerritos. They seem to really go for the teaser I loop tie a couple feed above my swivel. Here's a pic of a guy who likes them and was happy for the gift and a close up of one with their preffered menu item. They are a noble fish.

So Dan and I do something we've always wanted to and just never got around to it, we went down to Olas Altas to fish and explore some of the rock out cropping and stairs to the water we had seen from the road. We parked at the Freeman and Dan headed up the beach and I headed down. I eventually got to fishing off a really cool elevated platform that is connected to the sea wall where the Piano Man is .....everybody following here ? An hour goes buy and just as Dan gets back to me I a really good Toro swallows a rubber swim fish. With rocks everywhere I tighten down and basically pull him over the tera firma until he's beached on the rocks about 30 feet below me. I decide to lift him and of course the line parted and he's just laying there.  Well ever sense I did the Carl Wallenda of the rocks a couple years back and damn near broke my neck I promised MP I would cease the idiot maneuvers so I decided I wasn't going down to get him but Dan looked around and found a fairly safe way and released my slimey with me feeling a bit cowardly....Here's pic of him laying there and Daniel to the rescue.

Right before the toro fiasco I snapped this pic of the sunrise...what a gorgeous place to fish.  Sun reflecting off the high risers in the Zona Dorado and it's good day to be doing what I do...

Some of you might remember the pics I've posted of the walk up and over Paseo Clausen that MP and I love to do. There are many huge cement patios and hand made stairs that go down a couple hundred feet to the water. This pic is at the bottom of one and we'll be going back to fish here, although we didn't catch that day it looks like Snapper central for sure.

I'm over and out with this edition of Mile 14, sorry I got a bit behind but I've got a few projects going and now I'm off to follow this example. I didn't get my camera out fast enough because right before I snapped both of these guys had Pacifico's perfectly balanced on their bellies at waters edge....living the life ! Continue on amigos...

Happy Place

Well Team X, the most misunderstood fishing team in Mazatlan is little short on man power so if you see me on the Beach make sure you turn in a resume...or buy me a beer, either will work. But Daniel and I took the leap of faith and drove all the way out to Puntas Negras which is the 3rd point north of Mazatlan that we fish, maybe 8 miles up the beach from the last high rise. Here's the view to the south and then to the north.

The people you see in the first pic are pneumatico's after oysters, so we're the only other people there and it's simply gorgeous in an isolated and fishy way. In the past it's been the go to place for huge catches of Corvina but today....as my friend Willy says " it was not for the stomach but for the soul" . This Toro I caught I tried very hard to turn it into a Corvina but it just didn't happen. It was a great morning of throwing and we laughed a lot.

One of the reasons we laughed pretty good was because of the road, or what really wasn't a road...It was entirely grown over, nobody had driven it sense last season and Dan's nice new truck took a real 'polishing', it kinda reminded me of how me and Chris's Arctic Cats looked after we drove them over a 3/4 inch willow forest for a mile. This pic of Daniel was right after he'd side swiped a huge cactus that looked like something out of the coyote and road runner cartoon.

He says he learned it from his dad who called that kinda huntin / fishin going ' wooding '. Now I like my old white Chevy to much and would never do that to it but Dan says you get em to use em. Yup. When we go remote like this there is always a bit of safety concern in the back of every Team X members mind but on this day we were as safe as safe could be....ain't no way a bad guy would do that to his truck.

By far the best view from an outhouse I've ever seen was at Petersville Alaska that looked straight at Mt McKinley which is now Mt. Denali....gorgeous....but this one here that we came across  has to run a steady second.

Last night and all day yesterday we had a tormenta. There were 20 ft. waves at sunset so I almost decided to do a hand holder instead of fishing this morning, sure glad I didn't. The tormenta had pushed sardines onto the beach and there were fish EVERYWHERE. I lost a 10 pound Snook when I went for the final pull onto the beach and at one point I threw a rubber swim bait into a bait ball and something bit it's tail off immediately, Yikes. I saw large fish chasing right onto the beach and at first thought they were Roosters but they turned out to be huge Toro. As I fought to land one I looked over at one point and a nice Red Snapper had beached himself for a bit as he was chasing the same bite. I must have caught 10 Toro like this one.

I had one of my light set ups that I use when I expect to throw for hours so it was a high risk maneuver. I knew that I wouldn't break the Loomis rod but these guys could easily jerk the guts out of the Stradic 5000 I was using. One time in Marmol I quit fishing because I only had one Stradic and I could just tell the Toro were to much....but this morning I couldn't stop, me and the slimey's both need the exercise. There was a Mexican man who had one a long long time when he asked for help. He had a large surf rod with a 6000 size reel so I thought he just wanted me to gaff for him but I finally realized he had no drag set, I showed him how to tighten and feel for it and when it was at max. It was the most exciting morning yet and I'm still pumped as I type 3 hours later.

There's something about the jetty at Pueblo Bonito, it seems to be Roosterfish central. I didn't catch one the other morning but we saw many and the local expert Jesus caught 2. This is one Team Xer Bob caught, ain't that just the cutest Guyo you've ever seen ?

Try to love on your wife,
stay close to your friends,
toast each sundown with wine,
don't let the old man in. 
                    Toby Keith

Day of the Dead

I't not as big a deal as Carnaval but it's pretty big ju-ju. MP really wanted to see the costuming and all the art influence for the Day of the Dead celebration where people honor and remember their passed loved ones. So we did our due diligence and reserved a night at the wonderful La Siesta Hotel on the beach in Olas Altas so we wouldn't have to come home  late in the evening, Here's the view from our room for the next two nights...yup , I said two nights, turns out we were off on the main event by one day so whats there to do ? Just wait I guess, what else we got to do.

Everywhere in town are these alters that both commemorate and show the persons interests and outer and inner selves. The alters are tiered to show there ascension to heaven and usually the lower tier will have the wickedness of whiskey or such and the top tier a favorite fruit or juice or pop.  Here's one for the famous Opera Singer Angela Peralta... I never would have figured her for a rounder. One of the things I found interesting is that many of the alters were for long lost loved ones , many generations back, Grieving and love last longer than one lifetime and I guess, I knew that but never really thought about it.

The Venado store had my favorite for Jose Jimenez who must have been a guy like me, an entertainer and musician. They had free beer for us in Jose's honor and later the next day I was to learn what a big part of the traditions free beer is...

So on our ' wrong' night we went and ate at El Tunnel which is the restaurant that started it all for us. The place has more refined than that the El Tunnel of 20 years ago but the food and the service was the same fantastic as always. Sinaloa style tacos which is piled and not folded, mine were potato/cheese and MPeasy had her usual chicken, that girl can eat chicken, We ran into our friend Clara who was drawing at the art school and then we sat on a bench in the Plaza and watched the people and visited with a man and his daughter from Culican who wanted to practice there english. They were in Maz to visit the graves of his parents. 

The next night we sat on the sea wall with hundreds of our new friends to watch the parade. we had every intention to view the parade from street level but about 8:00 the on shore breeze stopped and...did I tell you how hot it is ??? so , as much as I hated to retreat we went upstairs to view from our room patio, kinda cool in two ways...Here's pic of us on the sea wall waiting to report for Mile 14.

Pretty soon all of us see bottle rockets flying and hear music coming from up the malecon and it's upon us. The skeleton head lead the way with dance troupes and a other floats.

Wish my pics had turned out better. Then....the really unusual occurred . We see a truck coming with a hundred or so people surrounding it, I see a projectile or 10 fly into the crowd and realize all the excitement is FREE BEER. They had cooler totes full of Pacifico Light and were giving away hundreds and hundreds of cold ones. People in the crowd would wave and a guy would chuck one too them, man, good thing they didn't have bottles but I'd bet ya a ....beer,,, that more than one person got pole axed by a Pacifico Light that night. I have a great video but I just can't get it to upload....So me and my running partner both say we've never seen anything like that before and Walla...ANOTHER truck comes by the same way ! Then we have some dancers and an old wrecked pirate ship and most likely a politician or two and low and behold....yet a 3rd free beer truck goes by. Yikes, I saw one guy walking along with three cans in his left hand while he power chugged with his right. mmmm, maybe a good thing that we were upstairs. What a place !

I've caught a lot of fish , just no ' consumables ' sense I let that Grouper go to build my karma, But this morning I caught my first Roosterfish of the 2019 /20 season. Oh baby....he hit hard, ran off line and jumped like silver salmon....and weighed every bit of 10 0unces...I'm not exaggerating, He was awful cute just a bit on the svelte side. A fish like this you don't have long enough arms for so don't even try, you'll look ridiculous.

Many, many Loco fish. They're boney and look a bit like a Mullet, They jump and and are hard to land as they have a soft mouth so to catch two at once is a pretty good trick, one on the teaser and one on a lazer minnow. I caught one this morning and my friend Daniel quickly tied on a bare hook and then lip hooked the Loco and let him swim off. I told him that if he catches a fish on a loaner fish he's a first ballot inductee into the Mile 14 Hall of Fame.

See you guys later. Now that we're in Maz I'll write more. And for all of our friends in Alaska we hope the weather breaks and you get to doing some of the winter things Alaskans love.