Tim Farrell holds of the "right kind"...a big pargo taken close to shore!

Richard Sawaske holds up a trophy-sized pargo liso (mullet snapper)

This is what big dog-tooth (cubera snapper/ pargo perro) look like!

ADDICTION!

Originally Published in Western Outdoor News the Week of March 9, 2011

            I’m not a gambler at heart.  Not that I haven’t gone through life taking risks, but I just hate losing.  I understand the compulsion to win. 

            I guess like a gambler it’s…one more horse.  One more hand of cards.  One more spin.  One more quarter in the machine. The “next one” is “guaranteed!”  I got it figured out.  I got a “system.”

            Sound familiar?

            How often have I heard those phrases like that over my almost two-decades here in Baja when it comes to fishing for pargo…the red ugly beasts of the Baja!

            Rookies have no idea.  They ask how long it will take to catch a “limit” of pargo.

            Veterans return each season with a new “angle” or “rig” or other “sure-fire” plan or “foolproof” method. Or they have the  newest  piece of angling technology that will surely show these  wiley fish their proper place in the food chain and the fish box.   Surely, they MUST SUBMIT!

            More often than not, it is us who are put/kept in our places.  Sitting or standing in disbelief amid broken lines; straightened hooks; frayed leaders and shattered dreams of finally getting our photo in WON!

            You say you don’t even know what a pargo is?  Never seen a photo of a pargo?  That’s because compared to all the tuna, marlin, dorad, wahoo, roosterfish and other “glamour” species, there aren’t that many photos out there!  It’s pretty hard to take a photo of a fish that doesn’t allow itself to be caught very often.

            However, in Mexico, the “pargo” term is generally applied to three main types of fish. 

            First, there is the Pargo Liso, a.k.a “mullet snapper”.

            Second, there is the “Pargo Mulato, a.k.a “barred pargo.”

            Finally the Pargo Rojo, a.k.a “dog-tooth snapper” or “cubera snapper” or “pargo colorado.”

            All look a bit different, but share some common characteristics.  They all have big nasty teeth, sharp gillplates and scales.  They tend to range in color from copper to red to rust with highlights of orange and sometimes green.  They range from smaller 5 pounders to 70 pounders or more.

              They inhabit reefs, rocks, caves and generally any structure like sunken pilings, ships or anything else offering great cover for them to ambush their prey and optimum opportunity to shred your line and lose your tackle. And, they are all tremendously powerful with bullish freight-train attitudes when hooked.

             They can be aggressive or cagey and cautious.  Blessed with great eyesight, they’ll shun a bait or lure that isn’t presented  “just right.”

            Sometimes they are found as solitary fish.  But during the spring, the “fever sets in” and schools of them come into the shallow rocky areas around reefs, high spots and islands, especially in the southern Baja regions. 

            Seen from the surface as moving undulating dark spots of red, I’ve often described it to others as imagining “a giant Japanese koi pond on steroids.”  Throwing chum or a hooked bait into the middle of it sometimes, it’s like watching giant piranha go “on the feed” as huge backs and wide tails with flashes of red and copper explode at the surface.

            As a writer, perhaps it’s one of my favorite species to write about.  As a fisherman, it’s one of my most frustrating fish to stalk.  As a guide and outfitter here in La Paz, it’s clearly, the most amusing.

            I have often told a skeptical client, “If you hook 10 and bring 1 to the boat, consider yourself lucky.” 

            But, I have seen grown men throw their rods in the water or snap them against the gunwale of a panga in frustration.  I have heard the curses to the fish gods and seen the “rending of cloth” so to speak. 

            And each season at this time of year, I hear the “plans” as if no-one had ever thought of it before.  Everyone has their new “system” or “plan of attack.” that will surely correct missed opportunities of the past.

            “This time, I’m using a shorter rod, but a bigger reel.”

            “80 pound test is the ticket this time”

            “Lighter line, but I’m using  new super-duper drags and a circle hook”

            “Wire leader is the ticket”

            “Slow trolled small needlefish on flurocarbon leader can’t miss.”

            “Wait until all the rest of the boats leave, then be the only boat out there and only use half-a-sardine so they won’t bite the tail off this year”

            “A double trap hook set up is guaranteed!”

            And off they march and launch to their appointed dates with destiny. 

            On the water losing fish-after-fish.  And, like gamblers…”Just one more try! This next one will be the one!”  They cast again.  They bait again.  Often, only to return beaten and defeated. 

            By a big fish with a brain the size of a pea.

            “Just wait ’til next year.  I’ve got some new ideas for next year!”  they say.

            Optimism is eternal.  Everyone has a “system.”

 _______________________________________

Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004.  Along with his wife, Jill, they own and run the Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico  www.tailhunter-international.com.  They also run their Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the famous La Paz malecon waterfront.  If you’d like to contact him directly, his e-mail is riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com  or drop by the restaurant to say hi!