Sammy Vigneri and I go all the way back to 1987 as friends. Grant Hartman and I met down here in Baja in 1996 when I drove down here all the way from Jackson Hole. Grant had just started Baja Anglers and I was on a six week long trip camped on a beach up north of Cabo. The fly shop I worked at wasn’t busy enough one winter so they told us to take some time off. I did. It was one of the best winters of all time.
As suspected, today Sam was too sick to leave the confines of our little hotel here on the Pacific coast of Baja. It was only Grant and I and a local commercial fisherman named Nico heading out on a panga. It stinks to leave Sam behind but he did not look or sound good. He’s a doc though so I suspect he’ll have himself up and running for our last day tomorrow.
Nico is a super nice local dude that actually speaks a little English. As a commercial fisherman, he rarely guides anglers and was completely new to the fly fishing thing. Grant and I had some explaining to do when we told him we wanted to fish the rocks for snapper and grouper. Nico was quick to tell us, “They don’t eat flies. They live down deep”. (meaning like “real” flies)
Nico caught on fast however. Once he had a look at our flies and saw that the concoctions were heavy and sink, he grinned and said he had a place. He took us right smack in the middle of a dozen or so buoys attached to lobster traps. Traps that were being checked as we fished.
The first thing that came to mind for Grant and I was getting hung up on a trap or rope if we hooked a big fish. But when you fish the rocks you need to lean on fish hard anyhow. This would be no different, we simply needed to keep our fish out of the rocks. No problem with a burly Winston and a Bauer Fly Reel!
It didn’t take long to start catching fish. Grant and I caught a heap of small sized broomtail grouper. It was great action. Its important when you have a guide unfamiliar with fly fishing to catch a fish right away. It makes a believer out of them and then they go along with our unique fishing way nicely.
We hadn’t gone far from the beach we launched the huge panga from. It seemed weird to be fishing right on the edge of a village amongst a bunch of lobster traps being attended by local lobster fisherman. But it worked. Not only did we catch a bunch of broomtails but also a few of the cartoonish looking lookdown fish.
After an hour or so of fishing right near where we started we requested a move. It wasn’t like we needed to move, but this area is pretty and we wanted to poke around and change the scenery. We probably should have stayed put because fishing wasn’t nearly as good anywhere else but the cruising was nice nonetheless.
Grant chilled out most of the morning. I fished hard like the madman I am when I have a fly rod in hand. I must have caught a dozen or so fish. Most were the broomtails but there were a few more lookdowns and a sand bass or two. It was a nice morning. This broomtail was our biggest of the day.
Fishing hard in the morning was a good thing for a couple excellent reasons. First of all, Nico’s trips run until about noon and not much past. He has a family and because we started early he likes to get home. On an sadder note, I’m coming down with the crud. I fished till the end but on the way in it hit me. I needed to lay down quick. Hopefully some afternoon rest and I’ll be right back on it in the morning.
In the meantime, please visit my webstore for “Christmas Gifts for the Angler that has Everything” and stuff those stockings with my fish decals from “Pescador on the Fly”.
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