Fishing with "Chico and the Man" in Lopez Mateos

Just got back from a couple of weeks fishing in BCS. The first week was at Rancho Leonero on the East Cape. Fished four days only due to TS Octavo. Caught all the dorado you wanted using giant squid for bait. Pulling those rascals up from 300' at greylite really got you going in the morning. Great bait though. Kept one dorado for dinner and gave the rest of our limits to the captains we had and released the rest. The rooster fish and jacks were a blast to catch on light tackle. Then my wife flew home and my friend John picked me up and off to Lopez Mateos we went.

After a stop in La Paz to pick up John's 18' aluminum Bayrunner we arrived at Lopez Mateos around 4pm. Bajacalifornian, Jeff, invited us to stay at his house and he was waiting for us with Chico on the porch. Chico is a commercial fisherman and a long time friend of his. Chico was to be our guide to fish the mangroves of Mag Bay and outside the boca (opening to the Pacific).

Jeff was so kind to show us around town and introduce us to many people and the town's sights. Chico was off to catch us some live shrimp for bait using his cast net. The town was rustic but clean with many happy kids playing soccer and other kids' activities. I was amazed how many kids were in such a small town. With both parents working at the sardine canning plant must be a reason for the nice Mexican homes, cars and kids. The kids were handsome dressed up in their school uniforms. We also met a few Americans that just got back from fishing the outside that caught a few really nice sized wahoo. I'm guessing about 45 lbs. Over a beer I asked them about fishing the mangroves my main reason for coming to Lopez. I grew up fishing a similar habitat in southern Florida. My only goal was to catch a black snook. Anything else was a bonus.

Around dark Jeff took off back home to Loreto and left John and I the keys to his place. A two bedroom, 2 bath rustic former sportsman lodge with pictures of past fishing outings with Chico being the man. The house is just around the corner from the launch ramp. The next day Chico comes to the house at around 0900 for coffee and getting the boat ready for launch. He fishes the tides of the day. We launch from the beach encrusted with scallop shells, almost as hard as concrete. The day before Chico threw his cast net somewhere in the bay for live shrimp which he hid in a basket under a mangrove tree. We picked up the shrimp put it in a small livewell and my adventure for the elusive black snook commenced.

Over the next 2 days we fished the tides of the bay searching out the black snook catching many pargo, snapper, corvina and grouper instead. We searched all the way north past the last boca, Boca Animas, stopping at many locations Chico had in his memory of growing up fishing the mangroves. The bird life was incredible. The shrimp were in and many local pangas were slowing pulling their nets in search of a days income. Chico's boat became inoperable and we bought live shrimp from these guys for the next two days of my search.

One the 3rd day after two unsuccessful but rewarding days fishing for the black snook we decided with heavy emphasis from Chico to fish outside using my buddy John's 18' aluminum wash tub. I was very reluctant knowing how poorly John had prepared his boat for this. With Chico's panga out of commission I reluctantly agreed. I did want to know how hard it was to run the boca so in the future when I bring my Cabo216 down I can run it by myself. With Chico's expert guidance we ran between breaking waves in a zigzag pattern to clear the boca through a fog with only 200' visibility. I had my life vest on and intently watched the waves' direction that headed towards land in the event I needed to swim ashore.

After clearing the boca off we went to a reef about 9 miles from the boca. I'm guessing about 5-7 miles from shore after the fog cleared. There were about 3-4 commercial pangas out there fishing handlines while anchored. One of them was Chico's son. We anchored up at various location along the reef for a catch of yellowtail and the delicious golden red snapper using live shrimp for bait. In my haste to leave Rancho Leonero I had left 20 lbs of cleaned squid including the tentacles behind. Shame on me. It would have been great bait out there and would have kept those pesky spotted bass from stealing our bait. Then we trolled for a few hours before heading back picking up many bonito along the way.

We had to cut our time there short a day cuz my WORKING buddy had to get back for a corporate pop-up meeting. I did not wrestle with a black snook this trip but fell in love with the town of Lopez Mateos and found a friend and true sportsman in Chico. It was quite comical for all of us trying to communicate with John and I's very limited Spanish and Chico's limited English as well. Chico was so kind and patient with us and would identify each species of animal we came upon by its Spanish name and have us repeat it. We had him in stitches more than once with our pronunciations. But with finger pointing, sign language and tenacity we communicated.

After a tearful goodbye to Chico and his spouse at his house, we promised to be back next year if not sooner to seach for that black snook. We both promised to brush up on our Spanish and asked Chico to do the same. He just laughed and waved goodbye as we left his home by the water. I felt I just had left a long time friend and sadly watched him in the rear view mirror as we rumbled down the dusty road to home.















[Edited on 10-25-2013 by Lobsterman]

Great report

Hey Dennis,

Here's one son of Lopez . . . from 2003. His name is "Cinco".