Reader Report

First Person Report: Early birds nab yellowtails WON reader gets into winter cabrilla, big forkies in La Paz BY MIKE MONTGOMERYPublished: Jan 27, 2012

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Western Outdoor News FIRST PERSON FISHING REPORT LA PAZ, Baja California — I just got back from La Paz where I spent 10 days and fished three of those with my brother-in-law Stan Clemmensen from Wolf Creek, MT. This is supposed to be the off-season for fishing down there but at least for us that does not seem to be the case. We caught several yellowtail over 40 pounds along with the smaller 20- to 30-pound variety. We also caught pargo, cabrilla, and so many very large 10- to 15-pound bonito that they became a problem. We were using 10- to 12-inch mackerel nose-hooked to a 5/0 hook for bait and sending it down about 200-foot with a 6-ounce sinker and 40-pound fluorocarbon leader. The first day fishing was a learning experience. We arrived at the bait grounds a little late (about 6:30 a.m.) and were able to make a few mackerel but not nearly enough. It wasn’t long before the bonito were tearing the mackerel off our bait rigs. I ended up losing one large yellowtail to the rocks and after the bonito took the remaining mackerel we fished the rest of the day for cabrilla and pargo along the shoreline near Las Arenas. Two days later we got a much earlier start. We arrived at Las Arenas about 5:30 a.m. Our capable driver, Andreas, said we were way too early but Efrain or pangero was very happy to see us and said we were right on time. We were able to make about 40 mackerel for bait and set up an early drift. We ended up with two yellows over 40 pounds and two over 30. The rest of the bait went to bonito (about 30 of them). We got back to the beach about noon, both of us very tired.   The wind blew for the next few days and we finally got back out on the last full day we were there. It was pretty much the same scenario as the second day, Andreas thinking we were there way too early and Efrain happy to see us. We landed one 40-pound class yellow and then the bonito took over. We moved north of our launching site and picked up a couple of smaller yellowtail and more bonito. We moved inshore and picked up a 20-pound class pargo lisa and more bonito.   All in all a very good trip especially considering this is the off season. As a side note the economy there is really suffering with the bad publicity about the drug problems on the mainland part of Mexico, and the economic problems in Europe and the U,S. There are quite a few restaurants that are closed (including my favorite hamburger place on Pineda Street.) and I understand the unemployment rate is 35 percent. To complicate things there have been about 10,000 people move here from the other side of the gulf where they no longer feel safe. If anyone can plan a few extra days to deal with the wind this is a great place to go fishing this time of year with light crowds and temperatures that are not 110 degrees.   Paul Montgomery is a resident of Vista, CA.   THE WINTER TRIP for Mike Montgomery and brother-in-law Stan Clemmensen  turned up a great variety of big yellows, pargo and tasty cabrilla.