I have determined the ultimate secret for sport fishing success on Boqueron Beach. If you are interested in Puerto Rico beach fishing, this secret will work for anyone, but most importantly it allows shoreline fishermen to access fish successfully. Read on to find out what it is.

Boqueron Beach is situated in Cabo Rojo, along the West Coast of Puerto Rico. Turns out, it is pretty much an under utilized sport fishing resource, for a variety of factors:

• Mangroves close in the harbor on one side, so it is not accessible unless you have a boat.
• Boat docks are either private or far too busy with people to be effective for most of the higher frequency game fish. If you want to fish the dock for Tarpon, you can do so, but it should be either early morning (sunrise for a few hours), or near sunset on days when the pueblo (i.e. town center) is not too active. There are 3 docks closest to the beach/marina that are suitable. The tarpon also obey the fishing secret for this beach.
• The beach is a swimming beach and is buoyed off for a huge length of beach. There is too much swimming activity most days to be fishing there, I am certain it is not allowed, and even if it were, you should not be fishing an area where swimmers frequent.
• The section of beach suitable for fishing is after the swimming area ends up until the water way entrance to the lagoon. If you want to access this part of the beach you have few choices that do not involve a lot of walking in the heat, with heavy gear. Basically, you pay to enter the beach parking area, park as far up as you can, and then walk the beach with gear to the fishing spot. Or you pay to rent the rental houses and do the same from there. The larger rentals (clay capped 3 story high rentals) visible at the end of the beach mark the fishing area. Renting these for a few days gives you direct access to the fish accessible area of the beach.

The result of these factors is that it is going to be extremely rare for you to see anyone other than *me* fishing the Boqueron Beach near the lagoon (unless fishing from the other shore, not accessible via the beach without a boat).

It is simple too far to walk for most in all the day time heat. When walking with your gear, you will no doubt wish you could rent one of the ATVs the park officers use to zip around the beach. On top of that, I would say that most people who ventured to try fishing the beach did not end up having success unless they discovered the secret on their own.

As for rod/reel combinations, you do not need to be a pro nor do you need to be equipped like a pro. A simple surf style rod from Walmart ($30 range) should do the trick. Equip it with 15 to 20 lb. mono line, and a 18 to 24 inch 30 lb. wire leader for the sharp toothed predators. I use a simple uni-knot which will do the trick. But set your drag loose enough that you can release line with a small effort of your hand. Otherwise, large fish will run and break your line quickly.

For hooks I like a size 1/0 Mustad since it is large enough to hook the bait, but also small enough not to interfere with the swimming of the live bait.

And now the secret. It turns out it seems to be all about the bait at Boqueron Beach.

First of all, I do *not* use weight or sinkers. You cast using the weight of the bait fish itself. You should wade into the water, especially when fishing the shallows part so that you can cast out into the deeper water. Without using weight, the bait fish should be able to swim free enough to look natural, but will appear separated from the school and will not be able to get away quick enough when a predator spots it.

But the ultimate secret is what that live bait fish is. Turns out, it pretty much has to be mullet. They swim in fast moving, alert, schools along the beach. They are very strong swimming fish, and extremely durable. They will survive for you, as long as you keep them in the water. Size matters. 3 to 4 inches in length seems to be optimal. This gives them swimming ability even with the leader attached, but also makes them an appetizer size meal for mullet snapper, shark, tarpon and barracuda.

Learn to use a cast net. It is a must. Nobody in the Boqueron area I know of is selling live bait. Walk the beach looking for surface breaking schools, birds diving, or just by sight using polarized glasses. Most often you'll be successful when a larger school just so happen to be swimming 2 to 3 feet from shore. They react quick to the net. Usually you won't outsmart them unless you have a very large cast net, or the school turns in the wrong direction. All in all, expect to spend a lot of time chasing bait. Therefore, make sure you have a bucket with an aerator pump attached. When you finally caught a few extra, you want to keep them alive.

I hook them through the top. They have very hard bodies, so you can hook them shallow and still keep them on, which also makes more *hook* available to embed in the predator, especially with a smaller 1/0 hook.

Cast out as far as you can and let the bait do its own swimming. Reel back in and re-cast if the bait comes back to shore.

I've proven this technique on Barracuda, shark, and mullet snapper. No other bait fish (live or dead) or lure I have tried has caught a single fish!

Here is an example of someone that got extemely lucky in his mullet search:

The Insider

See also:

Boqueron Beach Fishing Reports

Go fishing with Captain Rosario - Guided Fishing Tours in Boqueron