Baja Fish Pics

[zthomas]

With this cold weather, thought you all might enjoy a little bit of exotic fish porn.

I wrote a guidebook a couple years about fishing Baja DIY-style (towing your own boat and finding your own fish, rather than chartering). Of course, it required a lot of “research,” so I spent a good part of 2007 down there fishing, boating and exploring. These are a few of the species we caught.

If anyone is interested, I’ll add some photos of the landscape, seascape and people.

--California yellowtail, a big jack species, aka "hamachi" in sushi places

--Barred pargo, a local snapper type

--White seabass, big relative of Gulf coast spotted trout found only in Southern Cal and Baja

--Spotted bay bass, grows to about 4 pounds, tons of fun on trout gear

--Broomtail grouper, grows to well over 100 lbs.

--Yellow snapper

--California bonito, not much good to eat, but lots of fun to pull on

--California barracuda, very different from Atlantic barracuda types, only grows to 8 or 10 lbs.

--Amberjack, same kind you catch in the Gulf

--Schoolie size yellowfin tuna

--Closeup of California halibut

--Another yellowtail, my favorite fish anywhere

--Juvenile broomtail, lots of fun to catch in the mangroves, sort of like fishing for largemouth in heavy cover

--Leopard grouper, sort of the staple inshore catch in the southern half of Baja