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.