Fishing Cabo San Lucas

[Innovator]

Hey Guys,

I am heading down to Cabo at the end of the week to fish the IGFA/Rolex, just wondering if anyone has ever fished this tournament or has fished there? Any advise on gear, circle hooks, best way to get bait there (i.e. frozen ballyhoo) We are limited to 30lbs. test outfits. I have talked to a few people who told me it is mainly a sight fishing deal, but what works as far as the troll goes. I will have plenty of Dredges in my arsenal, I can guarantee that!!

Thanks,

Kevin

[Swami]

It's been a few years since I've fished in Cabo but I'm guessing things haven't changed too much. Here are a few thoughts but feel free to PM me for more info.

The IGFA uses a boat draw so you'll be on a great boat one day, a not-so-good boat one day and something in between for two days so be prepared with your own hooks, leader material, crimps, rigging floss and needles, snap swivels, the works. If they have it on the boat, great, if not you're still in the game.

Most of the time the locals will pull four medium-sized lures while they're searching for fish on the surface so have one crewmember watch the spread--everyone else should be looking out to the sides for tailing stripeys. Binoculars help, and stabilized ones are even better. When a fish is spotted, the captain will immediately pin the throttles and race for the fish so be ready to crank in the lines when he does this (usually without warning, just bam, off and running).

The skipper will pull up beside a fish on the surface and expect you to pitch out a live bait in front of it, so you'll need a couple rods suited for this--good backbone but long enough and with enough tip action to whip a bait out 30 yards or so. A TLD25 or Shimano Tyrnos type reel is perfect for this. I like the Eagle Claw 2004ELs in 6/0 to 8/0, depending on the size of the bait, bridled to the forehead so they swim. It's pretty exciting to bait a fish on the surface like this.

Dredges work great when trolling! Be ready with that same pitch bait to drop it over to anything that raises to the dredge but also be ready to clear it in a hurry when the captain wants to take off for a tailer on the surface. They also like you to pitch a live bait to any fish that are raised to the lures but aren't hooked right away, feeling that the hook-up ratio is better on bait than a lure.

You may be able to have bait shipped straight to your hotel or to someplace like Minerva's. She may also have some bait for sale so check with her in advance. I think you can pack a cooler as luggage but the airline rules change so much on dry ice that it's a pain in the butt.

Hope this helps--good luck in the tournament!

[Innovator]

Thanks Swami, great info. I can't wait, been dying to fish the Pacific for years, I'm sure we will enjoy ourselves at the Corona tent!!!!

[Innovator]

Well Guys, I'm off tommorrow morning, I will try to take some action shots, for the SFC crowd, and post some reports. Looking forward to fishing Cabo. Dredges are loaded, circles are rigged, new line on the gear. Time to have some fun!!!!

[tom s]

ALWAYS dump at least 1 bait on a jig bite,hookup or not,the strippers usually are not alone.A bait fish is more of a sure deal than a jig fish.JMO,Tom

[scarecrow86]

zm-2 zuckers in green/black,flyingfish,petrolero and bleeding mack to start but mainly dropping back w/ hookless teasers or casting on the feeder packs fishing was tight last year with 30 or so boats fishing a quarter mile of fishing area kinda krazy hooked fish were jumping everywhere and every one was hooked up. dont know much about your dredge idea be ready to run n gun west coast style and learn to hook your bait good enough to cast but hurt it as little as possible in hooking it fast fresh baits usually get bit first. Some days can get crazy we have released up to 48 in one day up on the finger and catching over 240 fish in 7 days

[Captain Fred Archer]

Innovator,

It would be a good idea to leave the dredges at home and prepare yourself for a very different kind of fishing. The rotating boat thing is an uncontrollable variable that you can't do anything about, but there are many things that you can, but they are likely very, very different than anything that you have done before.

First, bear in mind that this is a numbers game...and those numbers are usually mind-boggling to those new to this fishery. The top crews catch many, many fish. And while most of the local charterboats, with the exceptions of the top ones, do the old, traditional "troll lures and cast and drop back live mackerel and caballitos (goggle eyes) to raised and spotted fish" thing, the big guns simply do not do that.

A very good and long term buddy of mine just got back from Cabo a few days ago. He was part of the team that established the world record for C&R's marlin two years ago. His team has also won several of the C&R tournaments (they will not fish kill tournaments) lately - several, not one. The last day that they were there, they released ninety-one stripers with only two anglers fishing. The day before they released fifty.

They used to cast live mackerel to the fish, like everyone else did down there, but now they prefer both ballyhoo and big sardines- both dead. They do a quick cure on the sardines when they catch them. Bridled circle hooks only. (They have plenty of rigs to start out and have one guy who does nothing but prep leaders and bridle baits.)

They cast at their fish with star drags and thirty pound. The idea is to get the fish to the boat and released under IGFA rules as quickly as possible, which means that they do everything that they can to keep the fish up top. This is done the opposite way one might think - with very little pressure, not a lot of it. Cast the dead bait into the feeders, then immediately start twitching it back toward you. When a fish comes from behind and engulfs the bait, do not set the hook. Just come tight nice and easy and keep subtle pressure on the fish. This won't alarm him and since he's already pointing at the boat, he'll keep coming, get into range of the leader man and it's "grab, cut, and a new leader and bait."

Yes, this takes a lot of cooperation, anglers who know what they're doing, and a great leaderman and wheelman. This team consists mostly of brothers and their dad and they have been doing this for a lot of years now and are a well-oiled machine. (I'm pretty sure that they aren't fishing the tournament, but there are a few other very talented teams down there who know and practice this game who will be.)

Ballyhoo used to be an unheard of bait down there. The head of the team that I am writing about, my nephew David Brackmann and I brought them in over fifteen years ago, long before anyone else used them. Minny probably has them, but I sure would check long before I went down and no matter what, I'd take a bunch of standards and maybe some dinks down with me. It used to be easy to do that and is more than worth trying. You want to avoid taking the time to make bait if you can and if you do, the sardinas are the better target right now...there are massive schools of them right now. Kill them and quick brine them when you do. Be forewarned, if you get a traditional Mexican crew, they will think that you are nuts to do this.

Last tip...these fish are universally schooled up on the bigger species of sardina (especially lately) and mackerel schools - at least the concentrations that you want to fish - forget the singles. Look for and work the schools of marlin. When the bite slows down, back down right into the bait ball, which busts them up and that usually has the marlin back and feeding again.

Of course, all of this is predicated on the other anglers you are fishing with and the boat crew being on the same page in many ways. I can't help you on that one and it will likely be the biggest challenge of them all.

Good luck!

Website www.FredArchersWorldofFishing.com

[lilharcher]

Well Guys, I'm off tommorrow morning, I will try to take some action shots, for the SFC crowd, and post some reports. Looking forward to fishing Cabo. Dredges are loaded, circles are rigged, new line on the gear. Time to have some fun!!!!

Fred and Scarecrow, you guys are a tad bit late

He left on May 9, 2008!

[Captain Fred Archer]

Oh well, we tried!

It's a tough deal to go down there for the first time and fish against those hardcore C&R guys anyway, expecially with the Rolex rules basically mitigating against teams. Big game fishing is certainly a team game, if nothing else.

Hopefully, Innovator has a great trip anyway. The fish have really been on, but I think this tournament will be on the full moon...uh, oh!

[Ace1st]

Fred and Scarecrow, you guys are a tad bit late

He left on May 9, 2008!

Well how did he do anyway!!