HONEST, IT’S HEAVY!--Chris Okamoto caught the 40-pound class yellowtail on the right at L.A. Bay and swears he was not holding it toward the camera for the photo. “That’s the actual size. It was so heavy I had to brace it with my body.” Photo courtesy Chris Okamoto.

STEADY BAJA FISHING ACTION DURING TRIP TO BAHIA DE LOS ANGELES

June 28, 2004, Chris Okamoto, Bahia de los Angeles fishing, Baja California, Mexico:

I just got back from L.A. Bay with Larry Fukuhara and Mark Lozano, it was fantastic. air temp was about 70's at night and maybe the high 80-s to low 90's. water temp got warmer each day but i guess it was about mid seventies to high seventies by the end of the week. we saw tons of fin whales and one of them even came right next to our panga when we were fishing, probably ten feet away or less. whale sharks arent in the bay yet, but they said they saw a baby one during our fishing trip. orcas were supposed have been in the bay two weeks before we got there.

the fishing was pretty steady, i got six yellowtail the first day to about ten pounds on 6x jr iron, the second day i got only two, the small one was six pounds or so and the big one went over forty, thats the biggest yellowtail ive ever caught and it was our biggest of the trip. im not holding it way in front of the camera to look bigger, thats the actual size, it was so heavy i had to brace it with my body. we also had wide open catch and release bay bass fishing in front of our house, i got 30 in an hour. the last night i was bringing in a small one and it got eaten by a shortfin corvina (the small silver fish in the picture, also released).

jumbo squid were also swimming around in the bay, we saw free swimmers right next to the shore and also there were tons of dead ones. the big one in the picture is a fresh dead one we picked up right next to the shore. ive got video of the jumbo squid swimming around its pretty cool. we didn't have any problems with them when we were fishing. there was tons of bait in the water all over the bay and the birds were going crazy, i wouldve dove under them but i was afraid the big squid might attack me since we saw them swimming during the daytime!

the road down to the bay of la is in pretty good shape except for the last ten or so miles its really bad. the good news is they have a road crew down there and it looks like they are going to redo the entire stretch of bad road, however anyone driving down at night or early morning should be very careful because they do not have a flag man there at that time and it's down to one lane. there were 4 military checkpoints on the way down and back, that's the most i've ever seen but they were very nice and courteous. we bought our tourist visas at the border in tijuana, both the immigration office and the bank are within walking distance but we had to go to the immigration office in the back of the alley. no one checked our immigration papers at any time during the trip.

We fished on pangas june 23 and june 25. Panga rates are up AGAIN.

Our guide was roberto. Great weather, air temps about 90 with a slight breeze, water temp about mid seventies (best guess).

Yellowtail fishing was all over the bay, la gringa was a primary spot. the fish were breaking surface in the morning chasing bait, but the big fish are all deep (12-16 oz sinkers) not too far from smith island.

Got the smaller fish on jigs (6xjr), the big ones came on bait (mackerel) although i saw one guy that had two that ate salas christy 2's. the bite has been a morning bite.