That's My Story

PHOTO 1: You never know what’s down there when you’re fishing the bottom. Stacy Amos holds up a nice pargo mulatto and a cabrilla (seabass).

PHOTO 2: Angela “Don’t call me Vicky” Farrell has a knack for big fish. She got this excellent mullet snapper (pargo liso) working the reefs and rocks.

Once Thanksgiving is over, most focus seems to turn towards the bigger holidays approaching much too fast. Fishing takes a distant back seat. It’s a “circular” phenomenon. Not as many people go fishing. Anglers think there’s not much fish to be caught. Ergo, fewer people go fishing.

But simply because the yellowtail or albacore aren’t on the chew off San Diego or the dorado on the East Cape have disappeared, doesn’t mean there’s no fish. I mean, c’mon, the fish don’t cease existence! They have to eat. They have to go somewhere from November to May, right?

Change tactics and focus. Adapt to conditions.

Some of my best Baja fishing took place when no one else was on the water during the winter months. Granted it might have been a little colder and windier. The seas were sometimes a bit rougher than normal, but we almost always caught fish and always had a good time.

When the fish aren’t feeding on the top, you have to take the meal down to them. To many anglers, “bottom fishing” is right up there with dragging fingernails across a blackboard. Visions of heavy weights; broomstick rods; and boring hours of cranking up lines from the deep don’t sound too exciting.

Frankly, I’m not into it either.

I often get asked about fishing during the winter months and I can see the disappointment in anglers when I have to tell them that their dreams of catching tuna, dorado and other bluewater species aren’t very probable during the winter. Their demeanor gets even more sullen when I tell them they’ll have to “bottom fish.”

But “bottom fishing” in Baja doesn’t mean going deep to the bottom of the submarine trenches either. It just means fishing closer to the bottom. In fact, you can do incredibly well in waters less than 100 feet deep and quite often much shallower. Think about it…30 yards of line is not much at all.

But put them out on a boat with relatively lighter tackle, some jigs or some hooks baited with fresh squid or live bait and let them drop down.

The long slender-type jigs like the old chrome diamond-style jigs that drop straight down and don’t flutter worked well as did any of those slender jigs (as opposed to the “candy-bar” style you actually cast out as a lure or use to yo-yo fish). The new “razor” style jigs that are very popular from many Japanese and Korean fishing companies are ideal. They don’t have to be heavy, but they should be “heavy enough” that they’re not drifting away in the current.

Whatever you’re using, you need to get down the water column and get near the bottom, whether it’s a reef, sand bottom, high spot or top of a seamount. Yes, you’ll get hun- up and lose some tackle. But if you don’t get hung up now and then, you’re not fishing close enough to the bottom.

Hit the bottom, then pull up a few cranks so you’re near, but not dragging on the bottom. Then, just raise your rod tip up and down and impart some movement to the jig or live bait. Raise it a few feet then drop it back down a few feet. You don’t have to crank the reel. Use the rod to raise and lower the line.

If you’re not bit, put the reel into freespool again to “find the bottom.” Especially if you’re drifting, you may have moved off the spot and you want your hooks close enough to the bottom where the fish are.

You don’t want to be too far up the water column. Waters are colder down there. Fish, especially the type that hang near the bottom, don’t move around alot either. So you have to bring their food almost right in front of their faces.

Rewards can be outstanding. Big snapper, pargo, seabass (cabrilla), amberjack and big grouper are all hanging down there. Pop on a small live mackeral or even a small bonito or skipjack on heavy tackle and you might even hook a big grouper or giant dog-tooth pargo.

Jonathan Roldan is the Baja Editor and his column appears every other week. He can be reached in La Paz at: riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com