Fishing Bahia De Los Angeles - In-depth Travel Guide
Bahia De Los Angeles Fishing: Your guide to a trip of your life time!
I'll tell you this. After you fish Baja once, it will forever hold a special place in your heart. With that being said, I want to encourage and help everyone plan a road trip to BOLA (Bahia De Los Angeles) to get a taste of the one-of-a-kind fishery they have. Let's get into what we all came for, the advice:
This blog will be straightforward to help you organize and plan accordingly for your first and or next visit to Bahia De Los Angeles.
From here on out I will refer to Bahia De Los Angeles to BOLA to keep it short.
BEFORE YOU HIT THE ROAD - PLAN
One of the most important things in life is to plan. Get a piece of paper, and a pen and write it down.
The following advice I give you is from my own experience and let me say, I am no expert but I will ALWAYS share the knowledge I have received from others or through my own experiences.
Before you leave your house make sure you check off all of the things mentioned above. You are more than welcome to click, download and print out the following checklist to stay organized.
Feel free to change, or add, anything you might need to the list:
PARTY SIZE
The number of people that join you on the trip will determine how much you will spend. I personally recommend 2-4 people with 4 people only being an option IF you have a big truck or are taking multiple cars. Our recent trip was 3 people in a Toyota Tacoma and there was only space for 1 person in the back. It is also important to think about your fishing space. Are you willing to cut down on your party size and increase your trip cost so you can fish comfortably on the panga?
COST OF STAY - COSTA DEL SOL
There are a few different places you can stay in BOLA and I will only speak of our recent experience as we have no prior knowledge of any other lodges, if you have heard great things about other places please share with us in the comment section below!
Costa Del Sol was recommended to us by Charles, owner of FishArmz, and we rated it a 10/10 due to the location, cleanliness, restaurant, AC, and Wi-Fi. It was an incredible experience to be picked up right in front of our place of stay and dropped off at the same spot. Additionally, they can cook your catch of the day if you would like to enjoy it! We recommend battered fish tacos with rice, beans, and fresh warm tortillas de harina.
Costa Del Sol charged $1,700 pesos or ~$100 USD per night for a room with 3 beds. Divide the cost by your group size and you are looking at anywhere from $25-50 per person per night. You can pay either with Pesos or US on the day of arrival/departure (cash only). I did want to mention that Costa Del Sol is safe and secure. In fact, they have an overnight security guard to watch over the parking lot and the rooms.
COST OF FISHING - FISHARMZ
Most pangas charge anywhere from $450-550 USD (not including tip) per day. Typical fishing hours are from 6am-3pm.
As for our fishing experience, we booked with Missael from FishArmz, a new 28’ Super Panga with a 150hp Mercury Outboard which is priced at $550 USD + Tip.
COST OF CAR INSURANCE
Although it is not necessary, we do recommend you get car insurance as we all know, accidents can happen at any time. You can expect to pay anywhere from $30-50 USD for car insurance. There are 2 ways of getting car insurance, you can either call your current insurance provider and see what their rates are for traveling to Mexico or you can get insurance through Baja Bound.
COST OF MEXICAN FISHING LICENSE
If you do not have a Mexican fishing license, you can acquire a day/weekly/monthly/yearly license through FONMAR.
DAY 1 - HITTING THE ROAD
It is important to note that our starting point for BOLA was San Diego. The quickest and safest way to get to the border is to take the 8 East all the way to Calexico and cross into Mexicali. Once you reach Mexicali you just pass through the city, head toward San Felipe, and do a straight shot down South into BOLA. I recommend you use Google Maps, just make sure you have it preloaded and opened up the whole time as there are places where you will not have any service.
EXCHANGING CURRENCY + IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR MONEY
You can pay in USD at a majority of places. The only thing is that some places may take your dollar for $15 pesos instead of what it's actually worth, ~$17 pesos. If you are a first-timer traveling into Mexico, you can use your debit or credit card at gas stations, OXXO’s, Calimax, and some restaurants.
First Stop - Exchanging Money (If needed)
Here’s what I recommend you withdraw cash for:
- Lodging
- Fishing Trip + Tip
- Gas
- Food & Drinks
- Emergency money
Alternative: What you can also do is try to pay with your debit/credit card wherever you can and if they do not accept the card then you can pay with cash. FISHING TRIPS AND STAYS MUST BE PAID CASH.
NOTE: You will be charged in pesos on your card and your bank will decide what they convert it for. If you do not travel to Mexico regularly, call your bank and notify them that you will be traveling to Mexico so they do not decline any transactions.
Although you do not need to, I personally like to exchange at least $100 USD to spend at the Mercados to buy a bunch of snacks, ice, beers, drinks, etc. If you are considering exchanging money it is best to exchange your money a few days before your trip. If you forgot, it’s okay, there are plenty of places in Calexico but most of them open at 8-10am. There is only 1 spot that opens up at 6:45am every day and that is California Super Market Casa de Cambio, which is where we exchanged our money, it is a small window on the front side of the market, you can miss it pretty quick.
ENOUGH MONEY TALK!
Second Stop - Breakfast, Gas and Snacks!
Let's keep this trip rolling! Alright after hitting the road for a few hours you should start building an appetite by the time you arrive in San Felipe. We like to stop for breakfast at El Molcajete Restaurant, I personally recommend you get their "mixed plate" which has a little bit of everything. Machaca con huevo, chilaquiles, bacon, hash browns, and beans! 10/10, my mouth is watering now!
Before you get to El Mocajete Restaurant we recommend you stop at Calimax if you need to purchase any other snacks/drinks and or last-minute things. You can fuel up at the Pemex or Chevron which are 1 minute away, you can't miss them (you can pay with card).
Again, if you need beer, ice, or snacks you can go to the Mercado across the street from El Molcajete, Mercado Alicias El Tunel.
Third Stop - Shore Fishing! (Optional)
As you continue your journey through Baja you will notice there are shore spots that look FISHHHY! I recommend that you start your shore pound journey once you get close to Puertocitos or once you start seeing some good structures/rocks that go into the water. There are some pretty awesome spots to fish along the coast but just be careful with the quick turnouts and oncoming traffic.
Here's some additional information: The turnouts are all gravel roads and parking is at your own risk. Keep in mind that this may take some time out of your day as you have to put your reel on your rod, rig up, walk to the spot, fish, and put everything away again.
TIGHT DRAGS, PULL HARD.
PIT STOP - Last stretch to Bahia De Los Angeles
ETA to BOLA from Gonzaga - 2 hours.
After Puertocitos you'll reach San Luiz Gonzaga where there is a nice mercado called Rancho Grande where you can stop to use the restroom and buy last-minute items. Right across the street, there is a PEMEX where you can fill up one more time before you do a full send to BOLA.
AL FIN - BAHIA DE LOS ANGELES!
Finally! You have arrived in Bahia De Los Angeles.
Check into your place of stay, settle in a bit and if you're in for the mission, pack up your favorite setup and hit the shore! Depending on the time of year you can catch some big corvina, halibut, spotted bass, and cabrilla from the shore. We tried to go fish Punta la Gringa but we had no luck as it was really windy and the water temp was pretty cold.
If you're not fishing, this is the time to clear out your car, grab some dinner and start assembling all your fishing gear to be ready to go in the morning! Wake up at 5:00am, gather your belongings, and be ready to be picked up in front of the restaurant at Costa Del Sol by FishArm at 6:00am, if that's the route you end up going.
There are 2 mercados that we recommend. One of them is within walking distance and is called La Isla (a 2-minute walk) perfect for beer, alcohol, and snacks, across the street from Costa Del Sol. Mercado Xitali is a 10-minute walk from Costa Del Sol and it opens at 5:00am and they sell ice.
DAY 2 - CABRILLA FISHING!
The best part has come. This is what you drove 10+ hours down for. Live in the present moment, soak it all in!
Tie on your favorite lures, figure out the pattern, find what lures and colors are working, and stick to those!
FISHARMZ Bahia De Los Angeles Fishing Photo Gallery:
DAY 3 - YELLOWTAIL FISHING
Due to strong winds gusting up to 45mph, we could not make the long run to the north point of Isla Angel de la Guardia on the first day. Thankfully, God was with us on the second day and we did the 45 Mile run to the Yellowtail grounds. And let me tell you... IT WAS WORTH IT.
Properly plan out your trip with your party to make sure everyone is on the same page. Safe travels and fish hard!
If you have any insight you would love to share with the rest of us please leave your knowledge down below in the "comment" section!
As always, thank you for the support over the past 8 years!
Much love,
Jared Saaib
Please contact me for fishing
Pretty cool post about BOLA one of my favorite places to fish in Mexico , but some info is missing that is very important. You don’t want to bring any kind of fillet knives , pocket knives , tuna spikes etc. The Mexican cops will really try and get you for stuff like that and threaten to take you to jail and lock you up after all the harassment they will eventually just take your as much of your money as they can in exchange for your freedom, it’s horrible and it happens a lot more often then you would think. Avoid the BS from the cops down in Baja in any way you can and just leave anything that would get you into a pickle down there at home. Just thought this might help fellow anglers on future trips. 🤙
Mexican auto insurance is now mandatory for Americans driving into Mexico (even if you stay close to border, no more "free zone.) Also, you left out the Tourist stamp process while crossing the border, it’s free if you are staying less than 1 week, or about $32 US per person if you are staying longer. If you have to make an insurance claim and do not have a stamped tourist card the insurance company will automatically deny your claim, additionally you can be turned around at any checkpoint without one. ps- Nice cabrilla!