THE LITTLE PANGA THAT COULD
Originally Published the Week of Oct. 25, 2016 in Western Outdoor News
It’s Baja. It’s the fall. It’s “tournament season.”
Up and down the Baja, but especially in southern Baja, this is an exciting time to visit. Weather is awesome. Airline rates go down. Towns are less crowded as families are mostly back in school.
At least, the kids are back and school. Mom and dad can take a few days off and run to Mexico for some R ‘n’ R between the hectic summer and the approaching holidays at the end of November.
It’s also a great time to fish and that’s a big reason there’s so many tournaments…big and small…going on this time of year. Marlin tournaments. Tuna tournaments. Catch-and-release tournaments. Dorado tournaments. Charity tournaments.
True-to-form, there’s a lot of big money involved. Hundreds of thousands…even millions of dollars in purse money to be won.
But, on the other side of it, big money to play as well.
Mega-yacht-sportfishers…100’ foot battlewagons…professional crews and fishermen from around the world with every gadget; every bit of technology; any “edge” that will get them that big check on the last day.
And then, there’s the little skiffs and pangas.
Dwarfed in the middle of the pack of world-class sportfishers, they’re bobbing around out there. Huffing and puffing and ready to join the fray.
There’s Bob and Mike with their favorite captain Armando and his son Nacho.
And there’s Kevin and Patty too. And her brother Alex with their hopes pinned on Captain Julio and his panga skills.
The little pangas that could. The little pangas that can.
With a 75hp motor; a canvas baitwell hanging off the transom; an ice chest full of beer and burritos. No one has matching “team shirts.” There’s no air-conditioned salon. You want air? Drive the boat faster!
There’s no tuna tower or flybridge. They’ve got a radio; a tank of gas; their rods …and a world of hope, enthusiasm and expectation.
I love ‘em. They make me smile.
It’s like rooting for the Jamaican bobsled team or the marathon runner from some village in Tibet who has zero endorsements and one pair of shoes.
Running and barking with the big dogs. Perfectly entitled to howl at the moon!
The little panga. Like that kid’s story about the “Little Engine That Could.”
I think I can. I think I can.
“Nice to see ya kid, but stay outta our way and our wake,” says the big sportfisher. “You might get hurt.”
“You just watch me!” says the little panga with a feisty rev of it’s little Mercury motor. Vroom vroom vroom!
The audacity. Panga-chests puffed out. Every right to be in the lineup!
They become local and crowd favorites. As blue-collar as it gets. Pulling for the little guy against the goliaths.
And just like in the story books, every now and then, the tortoise beats the hare. Every now and then, the “Rudy” comes off the bench to score the winning touchdown and Rocky busts up Apollo Creed’s rib to win the title.
At one prestigious tournament, two local kids got enough donations from friends and neighbors and running their own fund-raisers to charter a friend’s panga. A local tackle store jumped aboard with provisions. A sandwich shop donated meals.
They came in third out’ve more than 100 teams and earned enough money to pay everyone back with interest. The docks erupted when their fish was weighed and they were literally carried off on shoulders like the winning coach at the Super Bowl.
I saw another local panga team win a tournament using a home-made lure. The lure had been made by the captain’s grandfather back when abuelo was a local commercial fisherman in the days when they used 6hp pull-start lawnmower outboards.
The captain told me, “My grandfather gave it to me just for this event. He said, the lure was good enough to feed the family for many years. It will bring us luck.”
One of our own panga captains entered a tournament in San Jose del Cabo a number of years ago and won a sizeable prize.
I was very excited for him.
He told me that all the big boats went way offshore to chase the schools of tuna. His little panga did not have the range so he stayed closer to shore. He found a school of tuna and happened to catch the winning tuna!
I asked him how big it was expecting him to tell me a story of a monster yellowfin tuna.
He laughed and held his hands about 3 feet apart.
“Fifteen kilos (30 pounds)” he grinned.
“That’s all? That small?”
“It only had to be bigger than the next one!” he smiled back.
You just never know.
You don’t have to be the biggest, fastest or fanciest. You don’t have to be the richest.You just have to be the best. Or the luckiest. For one day. One morning or one afternoon.
And that could happen to anyone at these tournaments! Anyone can play.
Yes, you could. Yes, you can!
That’s our story!
Jonathan
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Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004. Along with his wife and fishing buddy, Jilly, 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!
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