That's My Story

INSHORE ARTIFICIALS

Originally published in Western Outdoor News the week of Nov. 27, 2007

Where I am down here, we don’t do a lot of fishing with artificials. By that, I mean almost all our fishing is with live and/or dead bait. It’s just the way things are. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. And we catch plenty of fish.

We don’t troll much. We don’t throw plastics into the rocks. We don’t deep jig. We don’t throw iron. Don’t get me wrong. We catch a lot of fish, but normally we have so much live bait around that you just don’t need to do much more than pin a bait on the hook. Put the line in the water and then don’t drop the rod.

People ask why. But think about it. Using artificials is really nothing more than trying to get some non-natural object to act like something living or organic to entice a fish to think it’s worth eating.

A lot of times, I feel kinda bad. Fishing with artificials is probably some of the most fun fishing you can do, especially in the Baja. When the fishing is so easy with live or dead bait, so many anglers miss the fun and satisfaction of fooling a gamefish into ripping into a piece of molded plastic, rubber, or metal.

Believe me, when you’re reeling that lure back in and it abruptly stops and the handle of the reel freezes. You stop. You lean back and the rod doubles over.

In a nano-second your emotions go from, “Dang, I’m hung up on the bottom!” to “Oh yea, I’m bit!” when your rig suddenly starts screaming. Lures hung up on the bottom don’t suddenly strip line! Artificial lures don’t suddenly start swimming off on their own!

This time of year is particularly conducive to fishing the artificials. My personal favorite is throwing iron..metal jigs…into, around and down to structure. Whether you’re fishing the Coronado Islands near the border or all the way down to Cabo up to the East Cape, La Paz and up again towards Loreto, Mulege, Santa Rosalia and further north, there’s places to throw the iron.

Often, this time of year is windy anyway. I like bluewater species as much as the next guy, but when the winds blow, unless I really have to, I’d much rather find calmer inshore or protected waters to fish.

This is where iron fishing can be so very effective.

You don’t even need to be able to cast. Simply dropping heavier iron down and jigging it up and down or fishing it on the retrieve back to the boat can produce some monstrous strikes.

If you do know how to throw, either with conventional tackle or spinning gear, you’ll be able to cover even more water. Throw towards drop-offs, around reefs, between rocks and into holes. Look for places where the currents eddy or where bait congregates.

I fish a lot around Espiritu Santo and Cerralvo Island near our spots in La Paz. There’s probably 100 miles of coastline up, down and around those two islands. While almost any of those rocky areas could be fishable, I look for certain tell-tale signs.

One of the best is simply look for bird crap on the rocks. See all that white stuff in certain areas? Birds did that. Why there? Well, often it’s because there’s a source of food nearby like sardines or some other baitfish that keeps the birds nearby. Well, if there’s baitfish, then the fish that eat the bait will also likely be around too.

Depending on how deep the area is, I’ll throw heavy lures if there’s a drop off. I’ll throw surface lures if it’s shallow. I’ll throw plugs, floaters, or crank baits if bait, birds and fish are thrashing on the surface!

No doubt, you’ll lose gear. It’s like the old days of fishing deep water rockcod. The rockfish were near the bottom. They were near structure. If you don’t get hung up and snagged now and then, you weren’t fishing close enough to the areas holding the fish!

Simply put, you gotta take your game to the fish in order to make them come out. The fish that inhabit the rocks of Baja aren’t like the pelagic blue water bad boys like tuna and dorado that swim all over the map looking for food.

The fish in the rocks stay in the rocks. Their meals almost have to swim by their noses to get them to charge. You almost have to bonk them on the nose.

They’re not going to go far for a meal before they head back to their holes. By the same token, when you do get hit, the first reaction of these fish is to bull straight back to safety. Safety means sharp rocks and reefs. So, be prepared to lose a lure or two and just accept it as part of the sport.

If you’re coming down the next few months, pack a little iron. Be a little flexible. You’d be surprised about all the fish that often get ignored waiting for something to swim by their noses!

That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com