Hola! from Washington!

Just got back from along weekend in good old Baja California. The sun was hot and the fish were aplenty. I was a little worried when I left, going on a trip with strangers is something that I would normally not do. I found out about the trip on the Internet, it was advertised on a blog that I read all the time called "Moldy Chum". I met the editor of the blog at a dvd release party a couple of weeks ago. His name is Eric and he is a hoot to be around. He also got this whole baja trip together. If you ever read the blog you will definitely see what kind of sense of humor he has. I am so lucky that I have a wife that is a blatant extrovert! She talked me into it and the rest is history.

A couple of months ago I bought a fishing movie called "Running Down the Man". It is shot documentary style and is completely awesome. The only thing is it is only 17 minutes long. It left me wanting more and that is when I found the trip advertised on Eric's blog. It turns out that Eric and I actually shop at the same fly shop and he lives only a few miles away in Redmond. Small world!

Anyway... the trip couldn't have turned out any better! All the people that I met were awesome, to say the least, and I made some friendships that will last for a long time. We all had at least one thing in common, a love of fly fishing. The kicker of the whole thing is that our guide happened to be a guy that shoots and stars in his own fishing dvd's. I also happen to own these! His name is Justin. He is a good guy and an awesome guide. He taught me a lot and it was great to talk to him about his numerous fishing adventures. A link to one of his movie trailers.

The fish we were pursuing are called Rooster Fish. I suppose they are called this because they have a giant fin on their back that flares up when they are hunting down bait fish. They call this fin a comb, just like the bird has. I have never felt a fish pull as hard or as long as these fish do. They are amazing creatures and it was a pleasure to reel a few in. It is funny how the fish that you don't quite catch are the ones that stick in your memory. I had a fish that was probably 30 lbs follow my fly in to the beach so close that I could have reached out and touched it. Eric called me today to let me know that on the day that I left they went to the same beach that this happened to me on, and what do you know it happened to them too! Except it was caught on video. Watch the left of the screen. Link.

Justin and I in the front of our awesome beach house...

A tying lesson, baja style...

Trying to land the craziest fish I have ever caught...

A decent rooster. One of two that I caught on the trip. Larger fish were caught though...

This is Eric and the beast of a fish that he caught from the beach. I wasn't so lucky...


The really good photos of the the tying lesson and Eric were taken by my Baja Roommate, Aaron Otto. To see more pictures from the trip go to his site at this link here... LINK