i have to say, i never had any problem in Baja. the biggest issue for me came from Mexico letting the foreign harvest fleets rape the sea of cortez. fishing went into the tank for a long time after that. somewhere along the line the government realized that tourism was a big buck industry, probably with a lot of pressure from the millionaires in Cabo.
but it is 3rd world fishing for sure. panga's with zero safety gear, maybe a ripped float cushion or two but fish, you bet everywhere you ran, lots of beautiful dorado, yellow fin tuna and more rock fish than you possibly deal with. then i discovered costa rica! now there is a country with its collective head screwed on. 60% of the country is maintained as 'preserves' for wildlife. again, a tourism mindset as people will pay money to come and see the butterflies, howler monkies, tree sloths and all sorts of other interesting stuff, ever see a leaf cutter ant super highway?
fishing on the Osa pennisula is out of state of the art CCs with top notch gear run by captains who are local and have things dialed in. pacific sails, blue and striped marlin, yellow fin, more rock fish.......and you can do all of this using your saltwater fly gear, wow.
so for the cost of about 5 days of quality fishing in BC, i can do a 10 day trip to CR, including air fare. so what this comes down to is how and where do tourists want to spend their time and money. the biggest bang for the buck, all other things being a wash, is very important. their busy season is early spring with fisihng tapering off during some months so these captains are by no means working 365 days. i think what keeps the lodges going down that way is the blend of other activities they arrange and make available. that draws people to the area and keeps them afloat.
just some thoughts.
