Baja hopes to lure kids to pier fish

OUTDOORS REPORT Baja hopes to lure kids to pier fish By Ed Zieralski UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER January 8, 2008 Take a fishing pier, chum it up with a lot of bait, invite some kids for a tournament with the long-range goal to improve underwater habitat and structure, all for better fishing. That would be a great concept here in Southern California, right? But considering all the legal, environmental and bureaucratic hoops organizers would have to jump through, don't look for it happening here any time soon. Instead, it's happening 15 miles south of Tijuana, at the Rosarito Beach Hotel's Sportfishing Pier, a 500-foot structure that hotel owner Hugo Torres has big plans for. He'll start it off Jan. 20 with the inaugural Martin Luther King Weekend Barred Surf Perch Tournament at the Rosarito Beach Hotel Sportfishing Pier. There will be free bait and refreshments for kids 14 and under. It goes from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., with prizes for the biggest and most fish. Tom Gatch, author of “Hooked on Baja” and an authority on Baja travel and real estate, will host the tournament along with Torres, who also is the mayor of the town. “They plan a regular chumming regimen and also have plans to build up the reef in front of the pier,” Gatch said. For more information about the tournament or Rosarito Beach Hotel and Sportfishing Pier, call (800) 343-8582. Closer to home, Gatch will be at Borders in Mission Valley (1072 Camino Del Rio North) on Thursday night at 7 to discuss his book and sign copies of it. Gatch's book is a must read for all who want to visit Baja for fishing, diving or other adventuring. In addition to some very good fishing information, maps, GPS and waypoints around key islands and bays, he also spices the book with some terrific recipes, invaluable real estate and travel tips and personality profiles of Baja characters. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Zieralski: (619) 293-1225; ed.zieralski@uniontrib.com