For FishingMagician.com, I'm Eric Granstrom. Local knowledge cannot be possibly undervalued. This is the case for fishing, or hunting, or even trying to find a good place to eat. You have to spend the time talking to people and getting the lay of the land from those who are intimately familiar with it. Such was the case for me in Mexico recently. My wife and I spent our honeymoon at Puerto Vallarta and I spent time talking with the locals about fishing. I considered chartering a boat and going out, but I wanted to know what was biting first. Turns out, the cold water had moved in and the bite was off. So I saved my $300 and enjoyed the sunshine from the comfort of a beach chair. I did, however, spend an early evening speaking with a man named Rodrigo who had been visiting his family in Puerto Vallarta from Sacramento since October. He was surf casting, using a drop weight with a double-hook setup with shrimp for bait. We stood ankle deep in the warm Pacific as he cast time and time again. He only caught a puffer fish. Which made me a little leery about where I stepped. Until next time, Good Fishing!