Initially, it was almost undetectable except to the experienced eye. A small ripple. A discoloration of the water. But if you looked carefully, it was there. A large patch of copper-colored water just below the surface. It was the size of a suburban lawn.
And it was moving!
Like an undulating amoeba it elongated and compacted then strung itself out again then pulled back into a dense rusty patch with occasional flashes of bright orange or red.
The anglers in the surrounding pangas watched with anxious fascination as the surging mass came closer. The water was no more than 20 feet deep and in the warm waters of the Sea of Cortez, huge boulders, could be seen on the reef below. Fingers pointed, voices murmered and anglers got twitchy as the patch moved in and out of the glare of the rising Baja sun disappearing only to be met again with “There! Look, there it is!” emanating simultaneously from several onlookers.
Then, one of the panga captains tossed a handful of sardines at the mass.
And all hell erupted! Like turning on a light switch, the sardines hit the water to be greeted with explosions of big shouldered fish and broad tails; slashing bodies and orange-hued scaled backs seemingly big enough to saddle! The thick mass of amorphous color had been transformed into a maelstrom of attacking bodies intent on shredding every last morsel that hit the water as now more boat captains tossed handfuls of bait into the boils
“Oh, wow! What is that?”
“Sheesh! Did you see that?”
“Lookit the size of those!”
Wonder had turned to awe…to admiration…to perhaps even a little nervousness.
“Oh my gawd. They look like Japanese koi on steroids! They’re huge!”
Rods zinged. Trolling motors kicked in. More bait hit the water met time and again with explosions of rusty bodies. Excitement meters ratcheted up into red! This was gonna be great! This is what we came for. This is pargo fishing that you hear about! Battle stations. We’re gonna kick some pargo tail! Whooo-weeee!
But within the span of a few hours. Elation had turned to frustration and disappointment. “Never seen anything like that,” said more than one dejected angler.
“I musta hooked ten of them,” said another. “I didn’t boat a single fish!
“I hooked a few and couldn’t stop them with 60 pound test and drags buttoned down to max!” replied another puzzled fisherman.
“Those freaking rocks below cut me off every single time,” I heard another say. “How do you stop a fish that heads into a cave?”
“At least you got bit,” chimed in another. “They crashed on every bit of chum we threw, but would not hit anything with a hook. It was like they knew which ones weren’t real food.”
“I tried heavy line to avoid the rocks, but couldn’t get bit. But when I switched to lighter line, I got bit. But how do you stop a fish with a freight train attitude and knows every crack and crevice down there? I got sawed off every single time!” explained another.
That’s pargo fishing in the Baja! One of the most prized and perhaps one of the most frustrating fish imaginable, pargo probably send more anglers into conniptions than any other fish in the Sea of Cortez.
In springtime, schools of these fish come up into the shallows of the southern Baja and it gives a whole new meaning to “rockfishing.” These aren’t your deep-water pacifist species you see in the states. On the contrary. These fish have attitude coupled with linebacker mentality plus the agility, intelligence and keen eyesight that make fishing for them as challenging as any you will ever do.
These fish can be anywhere from 5 to close to 100 pounds and in waters that you are shallower than your home swimming pool. That is, if your swimming pool bottom was covered with rocks, boulders, sharp reefs, caves and crevices that can saw off 80 pound mono in one zingpowie breath!
Actually, about the only thing in common with “rock fishing” as many anglers know it, is that the term “pargo” down here in the Baja is the generic name for several of these critters. Just like so many fish north of the border are called “rock cod” but the term applies to a score if different fish.
With the pargo, it’s sometimes confusing. There are the “pargo lisa” (aka “mullet snapper “ and “goat snapper”) that look like a giant red or orange carp with a bullet-shaped head. Then there’s the “pargo perro” (aka “dog-tooth snapper” or “cubera snapper”) that has a deep full-body like a bass and is often the color of a copper penny with about one-third of the body being it’s large muscular head. There is also the “pargo mullato” (aka “barred pargo”) which is more flat and is often vertically striped avocado green and orange as well as the “pargo rojo” (or “red snapper”). All of these fish have tank-like armored scales and a mouthful of chopper-fanged teeth and sharp spines and gillplates perfect suited to take you down.
But how do you catch them? I have to admit that I used to to actually teach a pargo seminar and I honestly don’t know! More often than not the pargo win and I used to tell my student that if you hook 10 and get one to the boat you’re doing well. I would also tell them to be aware of the frustration of seeing so many huge fish blowing up then not being able to catch any.
All you can do is try to increase your odds at success.
Reels should have excellent drags. Don’t even come to play if your drags aren’t squared away. You don’t need a lot of line capacity in your reels since the fish are literally in shallow water and aren’t going to make any tuna-like blistering runs. So, I like a two-speeded reel similar in size to a Penn 4/0 Senator style. The newer reels like Avet, Pro Gear, Accurate, Okuma, Shimano, Diawa, Penn and others all have reels that fit the bill.
Rods should be short and beefy. You do not need a long rod to cast so stay short and put your energy into a rod that’s going to help you lift and stop the powerful pargo runs. Even if I’m using the lighter line, a trolling-style rod or something in that class is preferred. My own personal “pargo sticks” are 4 ½’ to 5 ½ ‘ long and rated 50-100 pounds.
My line? Hmmmmm…you’ll get a lot of argument, but I prefer green mono. It would seem logical to use spectra, but these fish have such good eyesight that you at least need mono on top. Further, the fish are often so shallow you never get deep enough into the spool to get into the spectra.
In my last few seasons, I’ve noticed a remarkable difference when I used fluorocarbon leaders. I don’t think leaders joined with a swivel work as well so learn to join lines-to-lines with several simple knots that are easy to learn. Whatever you do tie your hook to, the paradox is that lighter lines are less visible (even with fluro) and your bait will swim better, ergo, you get more bites. The trade-off is that with lighter lines you’ll also get broken off more. Finding the balance between bait presentation and saving your line from the rocks is critical.
As for baits, I’ve never found lures to work well…or at all! I’m not saying they will never work but live bait is the best. Having sardines allows you to chum the fish up so you can cast a flyliner bait into the boils. However, I’ve also tagged the larger pargo slow trolling a mackerel, small barracuda and even a small needlefish. I cut small vertical scores into the side of the larger baits and also nip off a bit of the tail so the larger bait swims erratically. Just be prepared to be short bit and losing the tail. Sometimes a trap hook works, but often it doesn’t. I attribute it to the keen eyesight of the pargo themselves.
Besides having the right gear and the right bait, you need two other things. You’d better have your “A Game” together because any miscue and within seconds you’ve lost your fish. Even if your captain guns the boat to try to pull the fish away from the rocks, any hesitation on your part and the pargo will turn his head into the rocks.
The last thing you need is luck! Better to be lucky than good! Oh…and bring a sense of humor and humility too. These fish have a knack for bringing that out of more than a few anglers.
PHOTO 1: Jillene Stevens of S. California came down on her birthday and has a hold of a nice sierra taken right off the beach in front of the old Hotel Las Arenas. Literally within feet of the waterline (note how flat the water is!) schools of the fast moving toothy fish have been the top catch this past week.
PHOTO 2: Jon Luker of Santa Maria CA hung this nice roosterfish off Espiritu Santo Island north of La Paz fishing live bait.
PHOTO 3: Another of our good amigos, Steve Marabella of Wilmington CA got a variety of fish while fishing with us for 4 days all out of Muertos/ Las Arenas including, sierra, yellow snapper, pargo, bonito, and pargo and jack crevalle like the one’s he’s holding here. 
That's My Story 