That's My Story

FISH FOR WHAT’s THERE – PUBLISHED WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS OCT. ’04

Given that I run a fishing and diving operation down here in Baja, there’s not too many of us operators that stick around if you’re not good. I mean…you gotta produce fish! That’s the bottom line, right? Well, let me tell ya, I don’t care how good any of us operators might be, there’s a limit. I mean, what do I tell the client who complains to me in the dead of December “How come we can’t catch blue marlin?” Or the guy who recently came back with a rack of nice football tuna and told me he had a bad day. “Tell the captain to catch bigger fish tomorrow!” he said. He was serious. Oh if I only had a magic wand or magic fishing dust…sigh…

Truth be told, old Jacques Cousteau may have called the Sea of Cortez the “aquarium of the world”, but like a football quarterback that is most successful taking what the defense gives him, I we can only fish for what’s there. I can’t make world-class roosterfish jump into the boat or make dorado magically appear if it’s the wrong time of the year or the water and conditions aren’t cooperative. Unfortunately, I get a lot of questions from folks asking just for such miracles and, at times, blaming me for the absence of certain species. You guys that run operations in Baja just nod your head. You know exactly what I’m talking about. This is especially true in the winter months when winds can howl; seas can get grumpy and many snowbirds from colder states come to find sunshine and the big gamefish they’ve read about in all the brochures.

Admittedly, if it’s Baja, anything can happen and it’s not unheard of to get bent on the kinds of species that make Baja famous, but many times, folks overlook the great inshore fishing Baja offers, especially in the colder winter months. I’ve always been of the opinion that if you can’t make the fish bigger, make the tackle smaller and go tear up the inshore species. Often, many of the inshore species can be just as mean, nasty and sometimes even larger than their offshore cousins. I’m talking about yellowtail, cabrilla, seabass, amberjack, jack crevalle, sierra and snapper, among others. Maybe they aren’t always the poster-fish that get all the glamour shots, but most fight hard, taste great, and are under-appreciated.

Tackle is hardly complicated. Even a good spinning rod, some shiny spoons or crank baits or some plastics are worth hours of fun. Fishing from the shore or working in and out with pangas, kayaks or cruisers can be an eventful day. I recently spent a day with a TV crew from the Sportsman’s Channel to see how many species we could do and rolled on 15 different species from jacks to bonito and cabrilla to rainbow runners. At no time were we in water deeper than we could have stood up in and never further than 50 yards from the beach. I have a number or regulars who show up with bass rods year after year in the winter and never seem to stop being bent. I’ll take a day inshore in calmer waters catching fish over bouncing around offshore any day. Cacer Chang, formerly of Tady Lures, has to be one of the best. Spend a day with him throwing crank baits into the rocks and you’ll catch 10 times more than my guys working offshore. With something like 2000 miles of coastline, Baja has tons of structure that will produce fish if you just fish for what’s there. At least until I discover some kind of magic wand…

Update on reels – A few columns ago I thought we cleared up the “line on reels” airline debate in which we were specifically told by Aero California that it was fine to carry-on the reels. Since then, several of you have e-mailed me that they were stopped and asked to check-in their reels. Good old Aero Cal. There’s a reason that even here in Mexico the locals call them “Aero Tal Vez” (Aero Maybe). They reserve the right to change their minds…and not tell anyone about it.

That’s my story!