castaway$
Senior Nomad
Posts: 742
Registered: 7-31-2007
Location: Gold Hill, Oregon
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Mood: Fish on!
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Hire a Panga? The story of my 1st Panga trip
2000 was our first trip to Baja, I had just bought a boat to fish the Oregon coast, a 1999 20' trophy, and as soon as I purchased it my neighbor, a 20
year Baja vet, started banging on me to go with him on his annual trip.
Being cautious my wife and I decided to fly into Loreto for Fourth Of July and check things out, our plan was to rent a car and get a feel for driving
in Baja and take a few guided trips to check out the fishing.
Driving around wasn't to bad with the exception of the side trip to Mulege, it wasn't the drive or Mulege we just didn't expect to come up over a rise
and see teenagers with automatic weapons, needless to say the Military checkpoint scared the heck out of us but we got over it quiclky.
Back to fishing, I had pre booked a couple days from a VERY reputable outfitter in Loreto (not going to mention the name because I still think they
are a good) and they arranged to pick us up at the resort we were staying in at Nopolo before daylight. As luck would have it there had been a serious
storm a couple days before we were scheduled to fish and all of the people that were scheduled to go had to wait, when the sea settled down there were
more people waiting to go than there were guides available, we weren't aware of the situation or we would have waited a few days.
We met the owner of the company on the beach and we were introduced to our Captain Jesus, I asked if he spoke any english and was told no, but it
shouldn't be a problem.
As we approached the Panga I noticed the Panguero pulled the owner off to the side for a "private" conversation which I attemted to eaves drop on
however it was in Spanish so I didn't have a clue as to what was being said. A few moments later the owner came over to me and said "we have a slight
problem, the Panguero doesn't have any hooks with him, so he is going to take you over to Loreto Where I will meet him and give him some hooks", you
would think that the red light would have just come on but hey it's Mexico lets just roll with it and see how it turns out.
We get to Loreto pick up the hooks and were off, on the way out I noticed all of the other Pangas were heading out in a north/east direction then
stopping and throwing cast nets for bait, but not us, we kept racing due east.
After about 10 minutes at full throttle we were startled when water started to shoot up from the bottom of the Panga in a stream about the size of a
50 cent piece, Jesus quickly shut down the throttle and we could clearly see the hole in the bottom of the boat and I was thinking we gonna sink,
Jesus fumbled around, smiling the whole time, and found a plug which he quickly forced in the hole and stopped the flooding water. After plugging the
hole he began to scoop out the water until it was pretty much gone and then proceeded towards the open sea, we were stunned and didn't say a word
because we didn't know what to say and he wouldn't understand anyway.
After another 15 minutes or so Jesus stopped the panga and started to rig a fishing pole with an unusual lure, he dropped it over the side and began
to fish while looking at us with a big smile.
After about 10 minutes of this I asked "Jesus, aren't we supposed to be fishing?" Of course he didn't understand and just kept smiling and fishing. By
now the other Pangas had started to pass us and we were really starting to rethink this trip and maybe try to tell this guy take us back in---- then
he got a strike, a significant one that put a serious bend in the 2x4 rod he was using. As soon as he was sure it was hooked good he handed the rod
off to my wife and she battled what appeared to be a very strong but sluggish fish for 5-10 minutes, it turned out to be a HUGE squid which Jesus
promptly cut up. We caught 2 more squid and then we were off.
Jesus rigged the squid pieces to be trolled so they would skip on the surface, we trolled for about 2 hours before we finally got a strike on my wifes
pole. My wife is a VERY good fisherperson and would put a lot of men to shame but because of the excitement she grabbed and Jerked at the pole and
missed the fish, after all we had been through the gray cloud of disappointment hung over both of our heads.
We trolled for another hour or so with nothing and my wife was encouraging me to try to get him to fish for somthing else, we just wanted to catch
something.
After many hand signals and dredging up every word of Spanish I remembered from my 9 week spanish course in the 7th grade i was pretty sure he new
what I wanted he said "Cochi? Trigger?" I just said "si" hoping for some action.
We tucked into a rocky spot next to the island and YES! we started to catch a few fish, not big, but fish.
After about an hour we had a bunch of triggers and we headed in, the wind had picked up and the boat beat me so hard my spine still hurts 10 years
later (not really).
When we arrived back at the resort Jesus attempted to dump us off with a mess of un filleted fish but the resort staff helped and we did get our fish
cleaned.
After an interesting outing it was a much neeeded c-cktail hour to laugh at the experieince and feel blessed we were still alive.
Later that day the owner called and asked how it went and if we wanted to go for the second day, needless to say she got an ear full and then gave us
a discounted second trip with Jesus #2 (thats what we called him) and it turned out to be a great trip, we didn't catch any really big dorado's but it
was fun.
This was a lot of fun remembering this and sharing it.
I have been taking my boat ever since and love every minute I get to spend in Baja, Leaving in a little over a week with my wife and my boat, can't
wait to see what this adventure will bring.
Would I go out with a Panga today? Heck ya life is an adventure.
Live Indubiously!
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sanquintinsince73
Super Nomad
Posts: 1494
Registered: 6-8-2010
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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Great story! Yeah, we sometimes get a little nervous at checkpoints but then I remember I was once a teenager with a fully automatic M-16....semper
fi.
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KurtG
Super Nomad
Posts: 1205
Registered: 1-27-2004
Location: California Central Coast
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Mood: Press On Regardless!!
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| Quote: | Originally posted by sanquintinsince73
Great story! Yeah, we sometimes get a little nervous at checkpoints but then I remember I was once a teenager with a fully automatic M-16....semper
fi. |
That phrase always pushes my hot button as well. Like you I was a "teenager with automatic weapons" just like thousands of other young American men.
This phrase is degrading to the young Mexicans doing their national service and is degrading to every young American who served in our military. I
will continue to challenge it every time I see it in relationship to the checkpoints. Rant over!
Kurt
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castaway$
Senior Nomad
Posts: 742
Registered: 7-31-2007
Location: Gold Hill, Oregon
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Mood: Fish on!
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KurtG- The term "teenagers with automatic weapons" wasn't meant in a duragatory way with respect to the young men serving Mexico! I also served when I
was much younger and I would bet I was described in a similiar manner, it's just a way of describing younger people when you get older no matter what
they may be doing, and lets face it some of them may very well be teenagers doing something that I feel is VERY honorable work.
Live Indubiously!
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
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I get that. Often refer to them as kids. And almost always, they are the nicest people. While I'd prefer there be no check points, so my trip will be
faster, we've often had humorous exchanges with the "kids".
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Brian L
Nomad
Posts: 250
Registered: 6-21-2010
Location: Alpine, CA
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Mood: No Bad Days
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Years ago my wife and I hired a panga for the morning in San Felipe. I give credit to my wife for not stopping fishing even while she chummed the
waters with puke. The panga guys with us laughed a lot, but had a lot of respect that she didn't complain and even kept pulling them in!
Our first experience with the military checkpoint was on our way to SF. We had our two pug dogs with us, and they couldn't get enough of the dogs.
They had never seen them before. (This was before the Men in Black movie popularized them) One guy even wrote the word pug on his hand with his pen.
Brian
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Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
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Great story, I thought the fishing was always better with Jesus. Maybe not. Did he tell you to fish from the other side?
Iflyfish
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Ah yes, the ride back.
The trick is to stand with your knees flexed so that the boat and legs below the knees are moving up and down but your body stays level.
Easier said than done once you reach your 'golden' years.
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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Mood: Everchangin'
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that's why they say the worst day fishing is better than, well, almost anything! 
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GrOUper-GAr
Nomad
Posts: 107
Registered: 1-9-2010
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| Quote: | Originally posted by sanquintinsince73
Great story! Yeah, we sometimes get a little nervous at checkpoints but then I remember I was once a teenager with a fully automatic M-16....semper
fi. |
YOu obv!0usLy dont TraveL with a CardBoard CutOUT of yer Mascot and a Guitar.
! PrEFeRiR!A eSTaR eN baJa !
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