The Audacity of Big Fish on a Fly Rod

If you’re serious about doing a little fly fishing, I have some really stout 1/0 & 3/0 hooks (Owner Aki hooks) and a decent amount of tying materials. Clousers and Decievers, along with some Enrico Puglisi style flies are probably good bets. I also have some medium sized 1/0 & 3/0 rabbit strip flies, which I tied for Tarpon (Black Death & Purple Death flies). I like the Puglisi flies, as they are made of synthetic hair and don’t hold the water (lots lighter for casting). Barbell eyes are good, as they will get the flies down several feet pretty quickly and keep them down, as you strip the flies in (and you’ll be stripping as fast as you possibly can in most cases). You may want to get or tie a few offshore poppers as well (I have not tied any and don’t plan to, as they are a pain and take too much time). I have a good 12wt reel (Nautilus CCF 12 with a 12wt sink tip line & an extra spool with a 12wt floating line) which should pair nicely with your new 12wt rod.

What kind of rod did you get (is it really, really fast and does it have a very stout butt section…….it needs to be fast and stout to double-haul a heavy 12wt sink tip line)? Oh, by the way, be practicing your double hauling technique with a heavy line and heavy weight (think of a fly that weighs about as much as a small wet sock) on the end of a really heavy fly line. You’ll need to be able to double haul and throw almost all, if not all of a fly line, with only a few false casts. The sink tip is like a shooting head and you only need the sink tip plus about 5-10 feet of the running line out, in order to throw the entire fly line; if you double haul effectively (you may already know this stuff from your salmon fishing trips). Ian and I discussed the fly fishing possibilities a bit and I agree with him. Landing a good sized fish on a fly rod takes a long time compared to the heavy gear we usually troll offshore. We should have a fly rod rigged and ready to go and only use it if we get into schools of smaller fish or we’ve caught so many fish that nobody cares if we hook something sizeable on the fly rod and we’re out of commission for an hour or two, fighting the beast.

One last thought – The Clousers and Decievers should work well in the shallows on snapper & most other inshore species, so we should be able to throw a few flies in the evenings, even if we don’t throw any offshore. When I was fishing the Yucatan a couple of weeks ago, we did this. Throw the fly, let it sink and then make the first strip and expect a strike on the first strip or the first drop between the first & second strip. The almost immediate strike was really consistent. If I didn’t have a strike with the first 4 strips, it was time to pick it up and recast.

Ian the Collaborator

Of course Ian thought to contact past charterers and get some insider info on fishing. Everybody does that don't they? Great job Ian. Here is a response:

You guys ought to have fun.

Your biggest concern in Sept. will be hurricanes. We were delayed a day or two last August. The boat is comfortable in pretty snotty seas, but we’ve only seen that one day in probably 30 days on the boat.

The fishing should be good all around Isla Cerralvo that time of year. We’d recommend hiring Raul as a captain so he can keep you in the fish, communicate with other boats and arrange for live bait where available (muertos bay and punta arena pangueros). He’ll fish dusk-to-dawn, but you should offer to spell him at the wheel occasionally so he can nap or take a shower. He trolls while you nap and eat.

You’ll be able to anchor for the night in Muertos Bay (they have free internet and phone at the 1 restaurant—El Cardon). Other Anchorages are La Ventana, Punta Arena de Ventana, coves in and around Isla Cerralvo, Isla Espirito Santo and up North at Isla San Francisco.

We like to go north sometimes because the islands are so remote and we’re usually all by ourselves. Everybody will try to steer you to the “South” meaning Muertos Bay and La Ventana to fish the 88 and Cerralvo. The fishing here is usually very good. The only down side is that there are a lot of other pangas on the good spots—but with a lot of boats on the water, someone usually finds the fish and calls it in on the radio.

There’s a fish bag under the front cabin bed. It is good for keeping fish fresh all day (add a little bit of ice and salt water to create a slurry). At the end-of-day, fillet the fish and put on ice.

We usually arrange with Raphael to come out and bring ice, fuel and sometimes take a cooler of fish back with him so it keeps better. Of course, we give him a good tip for driving an hour out of La Paz. He can also meet you at Playa Tecolote, at the top of the Peninsula. There are beach front palapa restaurants there we like to spend a lazy afternoon at occasionally.

Have fun!

Dean