Shore_Fisher
Guest
I recently took a vacation down in Puerto Vallarta and managed to get a few hours of fishing on the beach in front of the resort each morning/evening.
I started fishing with the standard bait (shrimp and squid pilfered from the kitchens) and lures I use a Penasco, without much luck. Then, one morning, a local chap brought me over what looked like a giant flea - about 2 inches long, with a humped back and legs tucked under the shell. He motioned for me to hook the beast through the back of the shell and out near the rear end. This did not look very appetizing to me, but within half a second of hitting the water I had a 2-3 lb fish hooked up. It is a bit difficult to identify the monster, but it could have been a White Grunt. Unfortunately no pictures...
Anyway, I ended up with a few dozen of these, a couple of smaller catfish-like fish and a nice sized puffer-type fish, so good fishing all round really. After missing a few hook-ups, I realized that I was dulling the hook trying to pierce the shell, so I took to drilling a small hole by rotating my knife point into the shell and putting the hook through that. Hooked every one after that.
It took me quite a while to recognize the signs of one of the little critters under the sand in the wash at the waters edge (Just a small half moon of darker sand showing where it had burrowed under), but once I got it, it was pretty easy to just look for one as required before each cast. My question is whether anyone knows what these crabs are called, and whether they also inhabit the waters around PP? I expect they would be superb bait here too.
I started fishing with the standard bait (shrimp and squid pilfered from the kitchens) and lures I use a Penasco, without much luck. Then, one morning, a local chap brought me over what looked like a giant flea - about 2 inches long, with a humped back and legs tucked under the shell. He motioned for me to hook the beast through the back of the shell and out near the rear end. This did not look very appetizing to me, but within half a second of hitting the water I had a 2-3 lb fish hooked up. It is a bit difficult to identify the monster, but it could have been a White Grunt. Unfortunately no pictures...
Anyway, I ended up with a few dozen of these, a couple of smaller catfish-like fish and a nice sized puffer-type fish, so good fishing all round really. After missing a few hook-ups, I realized that I was dulling the hook trying to pierce the shell, so I took to drilling a small hole by rotating my knife point into the shell and putting the hook through that. Hooked every one after that.
It took me quite a while to recognize the signs of one of the little critters under the sand in the wash at the waters edge (Just a small half moon of darker sand showing where it had burrowed under), but once I got it, it was pretty easy to just look for one as required before each cast. My question is whether anyone knows what these crabs are called, and whether they also inhabit the waters around PP? I expect they would be superb bait here too.
