YES, THEY CAN!
Originally Published the Week of Nov. 17, 2020 in Western Outdoor Publications
A week ago in Cabo San Lucas, I had the great pleasure of once again working at the 22nd Annual Cabo Tuna Jackpot Tournament produced by Western Outdoor News.
What an event it is.
This year, 150 national and international fishing teams gathered for two days of fishing. Over one-million dollars of prize money in the pots! About 700 folks from all over the world come to play.
If you’ve never seen or participated in something like this, it’s a mind-boggling adrenaline rush to see all this energy, fishing talent, equipment and yes…money all charging out into the fishing grounds.
There are jaw-dropping super yachts that should be seen on “Lives of the Rich & Famous.” I believe the largest fishing vessel this year was 110’ mega cruiser that looked like a stream-lined cruise ship.
We gawked and ooh’d and ahhh’d at the gleaming 40, 50…70-foot battle-wagon sport-fishers. Shining with teak decks and tinted glass windows sporting out-riggers and thousands of dollars of fishing rods-and-reels on deck and no doubt equally expensive electronics aboard as well.
There were jet-boat sportfishers built for speed to the fishing grounds fast. Imagine four or five 400-horsepower motors hanging off the transom. They blew by like rocket ships.
As one of my friends mentioned, “If you gotta ask how much it costs to gas-up one any of these hard-chargers, you simply can’t afford it.”
As another 100-footer went by, another of our crew commented, “Sheesh…there are countries with navies that don’t have boats THAT big or THAT expensive!”
Indeed, a lot of hardware out there! Even if if you’re just “renting” the charter for a few days, it’s way above the my paygrade!
But, in the middle of all the finery. There they are.
And you can’t help but wanna shout or give a high-five to someone.
Yes, they are chugging along on 90-hp motors. Bouncing around in the wakes of the big boy cruisers.
It’s the local panga guys and the fishermen who swear by them. Simple rugged 24-foot ocean-going skiffs that are famous in Mexican waters.
They cobbled together entry fees and gas money to play. Often their client fishermen are roll-up-the-sleeves blue-collar guys.
Some beer in a tattered plastic ice chest. Sack lunches and bait in the bait-well. And they’re hot to go!
Do you remember Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea? It’s the story of aging “Santiago” who’s best fishing days are behind him. But he goes out every day to work the waters. The young bucks don’t pay him much mind.
But, all alone, he hooks and battles a legendary marlin in his little skiff.
If you have a line in the water, anything is possible.
And when you see these guys in the pangas, you can’t help but root for them. You gotta believe, they have a fighter’s chance.
Goliath beware! David has that one stone in his sling.
I wouldn’t hesitate to put a lot of panga skippers against anyone on a given day.
Chances are they’ve worked these waters their whole lives. They have never fished anywhere else. I once asked a panga captain if he had ever fished somewhere else beside his home territory.
He smiled. Shook his head and said, “Why?”
They know the waters, the currents, the little “nuances” that even high-technology cannot come close to finding. Hometown advantage. Nothing like local knowledge.
Satellites are fine. Technology has it’s place.
But give me a guy who didn’t learn his trade by fishing for fun. He learned his trade because he had to put food on the table for his family.
Day in. Day out.
If he didn’t catch, the family didn’t eat. Simple as that!
In fact, he probably trained the young hot-shots that are now blazing by him in the big cruisers. Chances are it’s one of his kids. And he knowingly smiles.
But, he’s probably forgotten more about fishing than the youngsters will ever know. I’ve always been of the mind that if you don’t use it, you lose it.
You might have mad sharp skills, but if you spend so much time relying on technology to do your thinking for you, the skills get dull. It’s like forgetting how to multiply because now you have a calculator.
They guy running the panga still relies on generations of knowledge. I’ll ride with THAT guy!
Frankly, I’d rather have a great captain on a so-so boat than a great boat with a so-so captain. I don’t need 10 deckhands. I don’t need an air-conditioned salon.
No doubt they are nice and good to have. But, if I had to bare-bones fish, I’ll take old Santiago in his skiff. His years of knowledge pitted against hi-tech fiberglass wonders is priceless.
Maybe a vanishing breed. A vanishing style.
The new age is upon us, but don’t throw out the old school just yet.
Like watching an old movie and seeing Cowboy Bob on his trusty horse getting the girl and catching the bad guy over the Fancy Dan in his horseless carriage.
So, there they were amid all the big guns with names like “Liquid Gold” with owners from Wyoming. And the Florida team riding on “Tropical Chubasco” or the young turks from New York on “Bull Market.”
We see “Pepe’s Panga” and there was “La Loca” and “Cazador” pulling right up along-side them. Ready to charge.
And sometimes win. I’ve seen it. The little pangas that could! .
Hard not to root for them and cheer all the louder.
That’s my 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.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: jonathan@tailhunter.com
Or drop by the restaurant to say hi. It’s right on the La Paz waterfront!
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Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website:
www.tailhunter-international.com
Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA 91942
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: http://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/
Tailhunter YouTube Video Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”
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