That's My Story

IMPULSE FISHING IN DECEMBER

Originally published the week of Dec. 4, 2007 in Western Outdoor News

This is about that time of year when it’s cold. It’s cloudy. Your summer fishing fun is over and your rods and gear are stacked in the garage. Someone mentions something about getting the Christmas lights outta storage and that’s the LAST thing you want to hear. You get antsy so you play with the TV remote praying for a football game or some fishing show playing re-runs.

You don’t really feel like getting all bundled up and trudging out to the local fishing hole for planted trout. You had fun doing that two weeks ago with the kids catching but you still have fluorescent dough bait under your fingernails and, admit it, two pound test and #14 hooks are getting hard on your old eyes.

It’s fun for a few hours with the kids sitting in a folding lawn chair, but you really need to pull on something! Twelve-inch trout are fun…for awhile. Your fingers are twitchy and no way you’re gonna wrangle another “kitchen pass” to run down to Cabo or Loreto or the East Cape for a week. Certainly not with the holidays on the way. And surely not with your posse of guys who are all in the same predicament as you.

“I have a Pop Warner barbecue to do.”
“My relatives are coming for the holidays and my wife wants me to paint the guest room.”
“The school Christmas parade is coming up!”
“I have to help bake cookies!” (Not sure if this is acceptable by man-law rules as an excuse).

Waaaa Waaaa Waaaa Waaaa Waaaaa…you know your buddies are genuinely stuck and you can appreciate that. But where do you go to scratch the itch?

Impulse fishing! Road trip!

It’s what you and your older brother and sometimes dad did when life was simpler. You simply grabbed the gear and took off.

Fishermen are good at being impulsive. See a new reel…buy it! Your buddy has a lure that you don’t…get one! Someone puts a shot of tequila on the bar in front of you…oh-oh! But just one!

Some of the best impulse fishing out of S.California is simply a few hours drive over the border. Ensenada, Castro’s Camp, San Quintin and a few other places are a great weekend get-away that are tailor-made for a shoot-down-shoot-back trip.

Especially during winter when crowds are down for the same reasons mentioned above, you can get into some really nice fishing a short road trip away. If you can, hit WON or the internet and make a reservation. Cruisers are nice, but I’ve done some of my best fishing in the pangas.

Bait is not always available so bring deep water jigging plastics and heavy iron for fishing offshore. If you’re going to fish the beaches, I always like throwing little motor-oil colored grubs for perch or setting up with sand crabs.

Offshore, there’s a surprising variety of fish to be taken. On the bottom, look for reds, ling cod, sculpin, whitefish and other rock fish. Over sand bottoms, halibut are still around. In the middle of the water column, sand bass and calicos can still be on the chew. Up on the surface, depending on conditions, don’t be surprised to hit barracuda, bonito and perhaps late season yellowtail. Many is the time when I threw iron all day and got hits on every throw with log barracuda that would make you think it was summer.

If you do make a spur-of-the-moment trip, do take a breath before you jump in the car; fire the ignition with your ice chest of beer.

Know where you’re going. Mexico is no place to get lost, especially if your Spanish isn’t up to snuff. Folks are very helpful, but best to have a clue first so you don’t end up going in circles in the dark down a one-way street in Tijuana.

You would be surprised how many anglers I run into that don’t even have a map in their car. They somehow find their way but a map would certainly be helpful.

Bring your identification papers and don’t forget insurance which can be easily and cheaply purchased at the border. Make photo copies if you can and put them someplace else in case you misplace the originals.

Remember in Mexico, you are guilty until you prove your innocence or that you have insurance. It’s your “get out of jail free” card. You also want to make sure that when it’s time to come home that the man at the U.S. border smiles and waves you through to U.S. soil. The kids will be ticked if you miss Christmas.

Lastly, don’t travel alone for Pete’s sake for all the obvious reasons. Bring a wingman. Besides, it’s no fun fishing by yourself. And make sure people know where you’re going and when you expect to be home.

The Christmas lights can wait one more weekend. Right?

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