The Baja Peninsula stretches southward from the border of California for nearly 800 miles before culminating at Cabo San Lucas and is separated from the rest of Mexico by the Sea of Cortez. Despite its reputation as a arid, barren desert, it is in reality a very diverse territory with several distinctive ecosystems ranging from Mediterranean to moderate woodlands in the mountain ranges.
It is also adjacent to a number of the most recognized saltwater fishing on the Pacific coast. The kind of fishing available from one of the peninsula’s Mexico beach rental facilities is practically as different as the terrain. To be sure, there are lots of deep sea charter tours with knowledgeable guides who will be glad to take you out into the Pacific or the Gulf in search of marlin, mahi-mahi or dolphin, but it’s just as promising to take a more passive line of attack. Many fishermen who camp out along one of Baja’s white beaches find it just as fruitfull to set up a pole, a line and some bait and let the fish come to them.
When it comes to low tech fishing, the natives can often teach tourists a thing or two. Using nothing other than glass bottle as a float, a lead weight and most any kind of inexpensive hook, area fisherman are able to cast a line a considerable distance into the water from the beach and wind up with some fine catches.
If you wind up camping beside the Sea of Cortez, you might do this type of fishing out of necessity given that markets are far apart and driving over the areas primitive roads can be a bone jarring experience to say the least. Beach rental accommodations with a substantial refrigerator and cooking area is quite convenient so you can stock up and not have to make too many visits into town for groceries.
There is a different side to Baja fishing and that is the competitive deep sea fishing tournaments that are repeatedly held out of San Cabo. There are three of these held each year, one of which is toward the end of July and the others which take place about the middle of October. These are earnest contests with equally significant prizes. In the 2010 East Cape Tournament, fifty six teams walked away with a total of over $304,000 in prize money, with one top prize of $64,515 going to a fisherman who reeled in a nearly 600 pound marlin.
Baja is more than fishing. With some of the most beautiful, undeveloped beaches on North America’s Pacific Coast, surfing is a common sport with guests and the waves compare quite satisfactorily with those off the coast of Hawaii. Baja ecotourism also embrace whale watching excursions all through the migration season as the California gray whales make their way to and from Alaska. The tour boats get close enough to these giant, but friendly denizens of the deep for tourists to actually stroke them. Baja Ecotours also offers scuba diving tours and photo excursions as well as eco friendly romantic getaways that are solar and wind powered.