It was a warm, sunny, blue sky, calm sea winter day in Puerto Peñasco, the kind of day that needs little polish for perfection. Although some fine tuning can make it even better. First a stop, Reggie’s for the essentials, coffee, donut, and a burro for later. The plan was to fly fish with my friend Jeff Voigt. As an older fly fisher with no disillusionment of being young or handsome, most women are not going to give me a second look, even in my best fly fishing shirt. I feel fortunate when my wife gives me a grin and has a twinkle in her eye. My fly fishing fantasies don’t normally include boobies and wet heavy breathing, but this story does, and I was wondering how close to perfection it would get.
We launched our pontoon boats on the incoming tide from the Playa de Oro RV Park, and headed toward the Malecon, from Miridor Beach. We were casting size four Clousers, and catching Cabrilla, Grouper, and Flounder with sinking fly lines. A warm day in the winter time is 70 degrees, cool enough to wear waders, but usually I find them too warm. My friend Jeff suggests poly long johns under swim trunks. It is warm enough, and lighter than waders, but it’s a fashion statement that screams “Rodeo Clown”. Comfort is a big part of perfection.
Having rounded the point, I headed for the rock pile with the most bird droppings on it. This has always been a good place to fish. I was close enough to land a fly on the rocks, but cast just short. I stripped the fly rapidly and felt a bump almost immediately, sure enough I was hooked up with a Pompano. I invited my friend Jeff to make some casts into the rock pile. He was busy landing a big Trigger. Yes, this was a good fishing day. We normally release fish, but today we kept a nice Grouper, Flounder and a big Trigger for Duey in the RV Park. It doesn’t get much better than this.
After releasing my last fish I again turned my attention to the rock pile where I was sure to catch more Pompano. Setting on the rocks and taking in the sun was a good number of Brown Pelicans, and various Terns. I am more of a fish guy and sometimes don’t pay enough attention to the abundant bird life that we have here in Peñasco. I was soon buttoned up to another Pompano, and enjoying the struggle to land another fish. Suddenly a shadow flashed over my head and a large sea bird dived on my hooked fish. It was a Blue Footed Boobie, it was all I could do to keep the fish and bird apart. I knew if I allowed the bird to eat the fish my fly would be stuck to a bird that had no intention of giving it back. While I am trying to let the fish go and shoo the bird away I hear WHOoooofff! Uooooofff! I looked up just in time to see a pod of dolphin passing by breathing rhythmically.
We have many perfectly good fishing days in Puerto Peñasco, but not all of them have perfect weather, fly fishing with a friend, catching many fish, being too close to big boobies and listening to heavy breathing. Hope you enjoyed this fishing adventure, and I hope to see you on the water soon. Vince Deadmond “The Fly Fishing Hardware Guy” can be reached at Best Hardware 237 N Apache Trail Apache Junction, AZ vince@ajbest.com and 480 982 7461.