Ya gotta want to do it

That's one of my sayings for when things get tough. And I've had some tough fishing trips, from freezing my kahonies off with Nate Morton on what everybody agrees was the Kenai's coldest day to jigging halibut in 8 foot seas at the Barren Islands. But yesterday, we set a new standard for tough. One of the things I like about  surf fishing is the athleticism of it, I even train for it. and its a good thing because yesterday I cast and retrieved for 9 hours straight.

That was the scene at 6 am in the surf at Poterillos, 70 miles north of Mazatlan. When Slah picked me up at 4:30  it was 44 degrees out and with the wind blowing it was brutally cold, the sun couldn't come up fast enough. Our usual spot out north just hasn't been working so this place the 'in the know guys' consider worth the effort, its produced days with 40 to 60 Corvina and usually at least 10 to 15...so, its what ya gotta do if you're serious. When I first saw it I new it was a natural, the river runs in and we fish the sweet water mix. We all start out with the short rods and our new Team X recruit Ron catches a small Corvina but then nothing. After and hour I'm the first to change to the big rod, I'm hoping just a little more distance will be the key. For an hour I chuck a 2  1/2 ounce Kroc, I'm getting an easy 150 yards and ....notta.

So after another hour we head a mile down the beach to another spot. I was the first to spot them, turtles everywhere making their way to the surf. These guys are supposed to be endangered but we keep running into them everywhere, They had just hatched out and they were way behind schedule, they're supposed to be in the water before light so the frigate birds don't get them. So we did what they could for the little buggers but the birds were dining pretty good, I hope at least a few made it. The way I understand it,  Ma comes in at night and lays the eggs making a getaway before 1st light, then the eggs also hatch at night and the little guys do the same, the odds of survival they say is 100 to 1.

This next pic you can see the nest and where they finally shook completely lose of their shells. There were lots of them and the sun was beginning to takes it toll so we got them in the water as quick as we could. The eggs are perfectly round and could be mistaken for ping pong balls.

So with the turtle situation resolved the best we could we began to 'grind' as we say on the Kenai River. Cast, retrieve, step, cast, retrieve...until 2 in the afternoon. Here's a pic of me with a corvina I caught and one that Ern caught, not only were they hard earned but they're also not the size we'd like.

Then its back to the river, its low tide and as we've come this far theirs nothing to do but wait for the incoming and see if it pushes some fish ashore. In for a dollar, in for a dime. I take a short nap and when I awake my back is so stiff I can hardly get off the sand. Here's a pic of the spot, its absolutely gorgeous and totally isolated.

The tide finally pushes but as luck would have it theres a pretty good onshore breeze so we need all the distance you can get. We wade deep and far and throw just as hard as we can....notta.

So finally at 4:00 or so its time to throw the towel in, we'll be in Mazatlan by cocktail:30, a 13 hour day. We've made thousands of casts and have a total of 5 corvina, that's 5 more than none eh?....and as you can see, the most physically demanding fishing I've ever done just makes the guys smile at days end. Spirits in tack, ready for another  one, Team X...my buddies. Thanks guys, I had a great day.

Snook, Wondering, Langosta, Wandering, Sunseta...Wondering

This morning we walked down to Cerritos to have breakfast, 7,554 steps. Afterwards MP wants to visit our friend Raphael who runs a tourist store in the mini mall and the fisherman were bringing in spiny lobster by the basket full. Man did I have a hankering for some of those babies but we both decided to wait until we had a cooler with us and were going right home. But just an hour ago MP is tide pooling and tells me she can see the feelers of lobster sticking out from under the submerged rocks....Walla, the mother load. I put a fillet glove on the end of my gaff hook and went work. It was a little strange at first putting your hands into crevasses that you can't see whats in there but it doesn't take long for me to get the hang of it and catch enough for super, done deal.

The other day we had a stretch of overcast and even some rain, so we did one of our favorite things. Go downtown with no plan and end up where you may. Here"s a pic of me and MP at one of the many public parks through out downtown.

Just off Olas Altas there's a condo building we were dieing to see. A great guy named O'Neil showed us through this stunning place. It sits up on Ice Box hill with unlimited views of the city in one direction and the ocean the other. And, the units are really affordable, its about the funkiest and coolest place we've ever found...I can see myself there. www.oldmazatlaninn.com

After lunch we end up at the museum. You might remember that last year the traveling exhibition was drawings of people who were great revolutionary's. Well this year its just plane weird. I don't think its fit to put on this blog really but I'll tell you this much....you'd never see this show at the Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center. Never. So I high graded a couple of the best and weirdest, I have no idea what they mean. so if any of you artsy types can interpret the tea leaves here hows about commenting for me with a clue...whats it all mean ?

Does that gal look a little like Nancy Pelosi  or what ?  Then we end up at one of MP's favorite stores, its a dollar store named Waldo's which when you figure the exchange rate its really and 80 cent store. Here's a pic of her perusing the plastic clothes pins that we don't hang clothes with but rather keep your potato chips closed with.

And the big news....I caught a nice Robalo, well, a Robalo. He's a bit short of the 20 pounds that my office wall desires but I figure to start slow and finish fast. It was dead dog slow morning and me and the Ern were wearing out some toro when I just got a bit tired of it and put on a plastic swim fish. Its a lure I really have little faith in but I've seen the guys do quite a bit of harvesting with them. First cast and there he was, my robalo and a great supper, deep fat fried with french fries and a special made crab stuffed avocado from the restaurant upstairs.

And when the weather cleared we were back in the sunset game. This one I call the 'Naval' assist. Its something we do every night, meet with our friends for sunset. Its a lot like the northern lights, they change and move, the light bounces and reflects. The clouds make shapes of horses and....well just about anything, just like when we were kids full of wonder.

Tomorrow's a big day for Team X, we're on the road. The fishing's been a bit slow at our usual haunts so we're going several hours north and I'd bet we hit pay dirt, come back and see real  soon....

Computer 'C' student

It's been a couple frustrating days figuring out how to upload pictures to this blog. Seems that Google either changed things or I forgot how. But MP to the rescue, she was reading my 10 dollar USA today and an article about Google winning in court a deal where they were accused of making it hard to impossible for competing products to work with their systems jumped out at her and walla...the answer. I switched from Explorer to Chrome and we're picture enabled. And the spell check etc all seems to work better. Disaster averted, where would Mile 14 be without pictures?

So here's a pic of me doing something I decided to quit doing because I got a good life. Fishing from the rocks, its a high risk-reward deal.

Last year me and my friend Dan Stewart liked to get swept off those very rocks. We watched from above for 10 minutes and both agreed that the surf couldn't reach us....wrong. We climbed down and within another 10 minutes a wave hit soaking us both and it could have easily knocked us down. I have the feeling that once you're in that water you ain't getting out. So I don't do it but my friend Alejandro does it routinely here on the breakwater, and even in the dark. He has the experience and agility it takes but even Alejandro fell down and wallowed around for a while landing this gorgeous Corvina yesterday morning. That's about the prettiest surf caught fish I've ever seen.

Alejandro is a steady guy, that's the biggest compliment you can get from me. He's a good family, honest and direct, fun loving and laughs easily and boy does he know the art of fishing. He's not mobile like Team X, preferring to set up his office here at the breakwater everyday....is that into it or what?

Another reason I've been a bit slow to post is that MP was down for several days this week with the flu. We nursed her back to health but being sick in Mexico is always a little more threatening that back in the U.S..of A. Everyone in the building was concerned for her including Tony's dog Little Boy. They're best friends, she gives him smoked salmon skin.

Yesterday morning I was busy collecting toros with a guy in front of Escondida. These fish are flat fun, you through the topwater out past the surf break and you see them charge the bait. Then it takes a bit of  finesse to snake them through the rocks. As you can see they are bled immediately, destined for fish tacos.

But as I fished I had the strangest feeling. I looked across the ocean at these clouds and for a second it felt just like I was looking across Cook Inlet at the Volcanoes. It was the oddest connection, do those clouds really look like a snow covered 9,000 footer ? I don't think so, its just my state of mind, its just me comfortable in my environment doing what I do here just like what I do in Alaska....It was  a neat familiar feeling that I can't explain, I just liked it.

In the 'Flow'

One of the reasons that we do an extended stay in Mexico is because it takes a while for me to get into the flow of a slower life. I'm a guy that has to do everything and I usually do everything now, my friend Tom Shya says that instant gratification isn't fast enough for me. So, the first few weeks here can be a bit intense for my running partner. Already we've gone to the Isla, a baseball game, the Christmas Midway, fished everyday, walked the malecon, had coconuts and Menudo, been to the mercado and here's a pic of me and MP with our new haircuts. We had the girl at the mercado's tamale stand take the pic after we ate.

We met Felecia a couple years back as we walked the neighborhoods in Centro, she saw that long hair I'm famous for and wouldn't take no for an answer, she's been cutting my hair ever since. I'd have loved to take a pic of her and the salon but I just couldn't do it, I like her to much to have her think that I think theres anything unusual about her place, its just spartan is all. She's fabulous, I get a great cut and a 1/2 hour Spanish lesson as well as an ear lobe trim and nose hair extraction....I just wish I hadn't got her a little side tracked so she'd remembered to do BOTH of my eye brows. I got one that's perfect and then I've got the Andy Rooney side. And MP's cut, well what can I say...she looks great.

That's a view from the malecon right after we got off the #1 ' Johny Boy' bus on the way to the ball game. The Venado's won the Caribean World Series a few year back and like my Mariners this team is light years away from thoseglory days. But we did win, beating Hermisillo 3-1. They had a special event night to honor a guy named Wille Aikens that played here in the mid 80's and went on to stardom with the Kansas City Royals. We even got our pics up on the megatron, that was kinda weird. Here's a pic of our guys celebrating the win.

I have yet to catch a roosterfish and its driving me nuts. The last two mornings at sun up I've been all around them. 90% of the problem are all these toro's, you can't reel in without catching one and all the while you're getting the hook out the roosters are slashing around at your feet. For you Kenai guys its like wading through the pinks with a pixie to get at the silvers...by a factor of 3. As you can see they chase these baitfish onto the beach so the first part of your retrieve you're in the game, and then as soon as you're close ...toro on. As far as fishing problems go, to many fish is not a bad problem to have but I gotta to tell you...it'll make ya crazy when you're handling this little guy all the time theres a 35 pound rooster splashing around 15 feet from you....like this morning.

We have a low pressure rain system that just hit. Its strangely warm yet overcast and the rain is like I've never felt, its NOT cold, its  pleasant to stand in the rain and fish. So...that's exactly what we do. Me and MPeasy wading and throwing and I lead and she questions it and I get her really splashed well navigating some rocks and she says she new better than to trust me and I change her lure and  she thinks its a crappy one and I say it ain't and she wants to pick her own and.....gawd, its just perfect.

Happy New Year to everybody. We wish you success in love, life,health and wealth in 2013....

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....

Its a small world

My first corvina for the 2013 surf season, tonight its being dusted with Shore Lunch batter and its going to be soooo good. So far I've caught snapper, a corvina, many toro and I've hooked 2 roosters. Yesterday morning I got a bit of buck fever and screwed up a really good chance at the Roosterfish. He chased the mullet within about 30 feet of me, I cast but he didn't get the lure so I retrieved quickly and really wond up with all 190 pounds for the long cast and....air knot. Jeez. Out of the game. It happens every so often with the braid and because its 20 pound test the size of 6 pond mono it can take a long time to sort out. And, its so expensive that you have to, cutting it is not an option. Slah uses a special German made braid that's even smaller diameter so when it happens, patience is the key. That's a huge part of fishing. Here's Slah at work on an air knot, from him I've learned.....sit down, be cool, take your time, breath through your nose.

Kinda funny. Last fall I'm out for a bike ride and run into a couple we know who are about as active as us. Don't ever get into a walking contest with Sharon Radke...but anyway, we talk and find out that they go to Mazatlan and will be there for three weeks like right now. They're river people like us and Bill comes through our boat launch. When my sister was head of the Union,  Sharon was in school administration so they were sparring partners.  So, yesterday we went on a Stone Island excursion together and now we're better friends, we had a great day. Here we are, Bill , Sharon, MPeasy and measy.....smilin.

So we're sitting at 'our' palapa place. Pele's which is run by our old friend Rudy. We're doing what you do on the Las Isla, having cerveza and for some reason we were cheating on Mazatlan and having Corona's right when Santa came by on  a sleigh being pulled by a 4-wheeler. I have to get a pic but I'm a little slow so Rudy says lets jump on the wheeler and head him off at the pass.

Well wouldn't ya know, we get around in front and I hop off for my photo opportunity so I can be a famous blogger and walla.....Santa's little helper is ANOTHER  friend of ours from Alaska. Its Jimmy Torpey and as you can see he already has his hand out for a shake. My friend Curt Syness used to say " its a small world...until you try to paint it".

So it was about as good a day as you can have in Mazatlan Mexico, 25 miles from the tropic of Cancer on the day after the day after of when the world was supposed to end.  We even ran into the sandman while we were heading headed to the water taxi AND he was  decent enough to be wearing a swimsuit.

Merry Christmas to all of you that read Mile 14. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Christmas in Mazatlan

That's the view from our balcony last night as we played scrabble after a supper of slightly over barbied fresh tuna and shrimp. I thought I had the tuna right, purple in the middle and seared on the outside but I let it go just a bit to long and she was kinda medium rare. Next time. As always MP is on the cutting edge of caring, she put up the first Christmas lights in our building for everybody to enjoy... and they're Chili Pepper lights at that.

One of the reasons we're here now is Christmas. With Max and Sam both in the 48 and my sister in Oregon  and brother in Montana and MP's family as well....that big ol prime rib just seemed kind of weird with just the two of us remarking  how wonderful it was.  So here we are and already I can tell this is going to be a dandy, I'm feeling ju - ju just like this couple of sun worshippers I came across while fishing this morning.

In Slowdotna the city puts snowflakes up on the light poles, well here in Mexico they go a bit farther and use what they have at hand. Its the land of the Deer so its easy to find a Venado to pull your sleigh.

Right around the corner from the Aquarium that we so much enjoy is an old fashion Midway set up. Its got it all, vendors selling special Christmas indulgences like Mary Kay products as well as farm animals and of course the kids favorite stuff...rides. And its all gorgeous and well kept, just perfect.

And doesn't MP look cute standing there with frosty. And...we got a pic of me with the kind of tree I always wanted as a kid. Ours were always the same, a real tree with  the same  ornaments and you better not get caught throwing the tinsel on....it has to be placed. But I always liked those white flocked trees with the blue bulbs and a light that turns to change its color, that's what I always wanted.

Towering over the Midway was the Stratosphere cable car. If  any Americans ever feel to far away from home when they're here I think this ride proves how close to home we really are. I couldn't miss noticing the Lady Liberty right there as part of the locals Christmas.

But the coolest of the cool was Mazatlan's first ever genuine ice skating rink. Blew my mind. The mayor can't really make it snow here but he's got the technology to create ice for the kids.  It opens at 11:00 and MP and I get there early. The kids who work it put cones out in the middle to create an oval and the line was 30 deep, the kids were giddy with excitement. And for some reason I had it in my mind that they'd open the gate and the kids would create the usual Currier and Ives Central Park skating scene...... mmmmmm..... all but one or two had never been on ice of course and it was just kind of a Conga line along the boards holding on as they went.

MP and I just enjoyed the dickens out of it, maybe its a good sign when you feel great just to see young people have fun at being kids, just that. It didn't take long and the kids were figuring it out...and you know teenagers, never miss a chance for a hand holder. I thought maybe I'd skate myself, you know me, I'll try anything twice but I kinda figured ' su para los ninos' , its for the kids.

And then we ran into Santa and in Mazatlan he's politically correct. He ain't no red Santa, he's a blue Santa....I mean , who's more liberal than Santa ? He gives everything away to everybody, he doesn't burn fossil fuel and he  works for milk and cookies....way to go Santa.