Reprinted with permission from The Baja Catch: A Fishing, Travel & Remote Camping Manual for Baja California (Mexico), 3rd Edition, by Neil Kelly and Gene Kira. See complete information on The Baja Catch and Jointed Rebel lures, as well as online ordering from our BajaDestinations.com secure shopping cart.

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How To Catch Thousands of Fish of Dozens of Species

In sheer numbers, the water less than 100 feet deep, near shore and around the reefs is where you will catch 80 percent of your fish. We use spinning gear loaded with 25-lb line for this type of fishing. More on tackle later.

• Drive to places where you can camp on the beach right in the middle of the best fishing action and launch your boat directly into the fishing water in front of camp. You can usually fish continuously right from launch all the way back to the beach upon return to camp.

• You will get the most action during the morning bite, from the first light of dawn until about 10 a.m. The evening bite is also good, from about 4 p.m. until dark.

• Snap on your chosen lure, toss it in, and move out toward the shoreline drop-off. This is where the water changes color from a light emerald green to a deep blue. This area may be only a few feet off the beach or several hundred yards, depending on bottom contour.

• Your lure only needs to be about 30 to 40 feet behind the boat. Even 20 feet is often enough. It's amazing how close to the boat the fish will come. When the action is really good, it's fun to troll a 10-foot line and watch the fish come zooming up to hit your lure. We have even caught them with no line out at all, i.e., with the lure wound all the way up to the rod tip, by dipping the rod into the water.

• If you want your lure to run deeper, give it extra line. Within limits, the more line you give it, the deeper it will run. Also, the slower you troll, the deeper your lure will go.

• Set the drag for about five to seven pounds (the line should pull out easily), and do not fool around with it while fighting a fish. Use your thumb or finger on the spool for additional drag when pumping in a big fish, releasing immediately if it starts to run. The most common mistake made when bringing a "hot" fish to gaff is to tighten the drag at the last second in order to bring the fish within range of the hook. No! No! A thousand times no! This will often result in breaking your line or tearing the hook out of the fish's mouth.

• Adjust motor speed to troll at about three to six knots, so the rod tip just shows a nice throbbing from the lure action. Usually, the slower you go, the more fish you will catch. It's almost impossible to be too slow. This is a problem with most boats over 16 feet long. They can't slow down enough, even at idle, unless they tilt the motor way up, pull a sea anchor, or block the prop thrust somehow.

WHAT TECHNIQUE?--About as unorthodox as it gets, Gifford Kira, in the bow of a canoe just a short paddle from camp at Bahia Agua Verde, Baja California Sur, Mexico, hauls back on a 10-weight fly rod that was used to cast a Jointed Rebel lure. The fish was a real nice yellow snapper. Photo reprinted with permission from The Baja Catch.

• When the action is thin, vary your trolling speed from very slow to medium. Keep varying speed. The right lure action might be anything from completely dead in the water to skipping over the surface. There is no "system" to this, except to test all the variables by changing speed and lures until you get hits.

• With a constant eye on the weather, troll your plugs along the beaches, rocks, islas and reefs out to maybe two miles, but usually within 1,000 yards of shore, usually in waters from ten to 500 feet deep.

• Zigzag along in slow, wide turns every 50 yards or so, like a snake travels, going inshore into about five feet of water (or less, if you're Neil!), then out again until you've crossed the edge of the shelf and are over deep blue water. Then zig gently in again. Look for signs of fish or dark, rocky patches on the bottom. Look for birds working, floating scum lines, anything unusual that might indicate the presence of fish food, and therefore fish. You can almost never be too shallow. If you can feel the bill of your lure "ticking" occasionally on the bottom, you're doing just fine.

• When a fish strikes, throw the motor into neutral and glide to a stop as the fish is fought. Reel the unstruck lures in carefully at about trolling speed, for multiple strikes are highly likely at this time.

Lines not hooked up should be cast around the boat, being careful not to foul the line with the fish on it. If you've hit a school, you'll be able to hook up on the casts. If you get no action on the casts (five casts without a strike is "no action"), shift the motor back into gear and make a big "figure-eight," trolling the lures over the general area of the last strike, and you'll probably locate the school again.

• If you get a strike on the troll, but the fish slips off, immediately engage the motor and hit the throttle, making the boat and the lures jump forward (never stand up in a small boat when actively fishing), and 80% of the time you'll rehook your lost fish or one of his brothers. Double or triple hookups are common at this critical time.

• Note how deep the water is where you get the most strikes. Concentrate your fishing at that depth. At times the fish are almost on the beach and at other times they're way out. Note that there is very little correlation between water depth and the size of the fish you catch. The resident species are usually caught out to about 500 yards of shore. These include spotted bay bass, triggerfish, leopard grouper, gulf grouper, cabrilla, hogfish, barred pargo, snapper, pompano, and halibut. Most of the migrators will come within 100 yards of shore, including sierra, yellowtail, skipjack, bonito, barracuda, roosterfish, jack crevalle, ladyfish, agujón, white seabass, corvina, totuava (protected), and croaker. This means two things: First, you don't have to go far out. Second, you never know what will strike next.

• If there is a second angler in the boat, he or she fishes off the starboard side. This allows the driver to handle the motor tiller while fishing off the port side. The rods should be held straight out, separating the lures by about 15 feet. If a third person is fishing, the "driver" fishes over the motor with 30 to 40 feet of line out, and the other two anglers should keep 50 to 70 feet of line out, thus forming a "V" pattern with the center lure closest to the boat. Don't let anybody troll a long line. With the many tight turns that you will be making, this will result in hopeless tangles.

• For some reason, the hottest action often comes when the lures are swimming in a turn instead of in a straight line. Therefore, when you let a line out for trolling, don't just let it pull out straight behind the moving boat. Instead, cast the line out the proper distance, but out sideways from the boat. That way, the lure will follow a curving path as it takes up its proper trolling position behind the boat. Many times, the lure will be struck while traveling this curving path. Another time to troll in a curving path is when approaching an area of diving birds and boiling fish. Rather than just plow right through, probably spooking the fish and ending the action, troll in zigzags and big "S" curves along the edge of the boils. Then--with everybody alert to watch their lines and prevent tangles--cut sharply around the boils, causing the lures to follow a curving path right through the feeding fish. Wham! Double hookups! Throw the motor into neutral to fight the hooked fish, and cast into the action with the unstruck lines, reeling in smartly. Usually you hook up within a few cranks of the reel.

• If you aren't getting bit, keep switching lures, varying color, swimming depth, and size until you find the hot setup. Why are fish so precisely selective and unpredictably variable in what they will bite from day to day and even from hour to hour? Who knows or cares? Just keep feeding 'em different combinations until they start eating.

• If fishing is slow and the fish are spread out in small pods, when you do get a strike, land the fish as quickly as possible, crank in all lines and do a quick 180-degree U-turn, trolling right back over the spot of the hookup. This procedure will sometimes net you three or four fish before the action stops.

• When action has been steady but suddenly stops, the fish have probably dropped well below the surface, chasing bait fish, and they can't see your lure. Try a deep-diving lure trolled slowly on a long, long line to reach them.

• When fish start running over 20 pounds, switch to 40-pound line on conventional star drag gear, and lures such as five-and-a-half-inch Rebels or Rapala Magnums. We use 12-inch wire leaders with these. As you get more than about 500 yards from shore or more than about 100 feet deep, your chances of hitting dorado, tuna, or billfish increase. It's time to switch to 40-pound tackle and skirted-squids.

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Reprinted from The Baja Catch: A Fishing, Travel & Remote Camping Manual for Baja California (Mexico), 3rd Edition. May not be copied or reproduced without written permission. Important warning, notice, and disclaimer about the information contained in The Baja Catch.

MEXICO FISHING < REBEL LURES < EXPERT TECHNIQUE FOR FISHING WITH JOINTED REBEL LURES