Cabo Loco

[lineas tenso]

Cabo San Lucas 8th to 14th of July

This was my second attempt at fly fishing for marlin. The first attempt was in San Jose del Cabo in 2007 where my fishing partner, Allen Brock, and I soon learned that bait & switch fly fishing was a technique unknown to most Mexican boat captains. This time we decided to do our own teasing. We both purchased used teasing rods handcrafted by Brendan Rolt out of Cairns, Australia. These 2 piece rods have no guides and are very stiff 8’ beasts made to haul a teaser out of the water pronto.

The day before I left Virginia it was 101F: arriving at the San Jose Del Cabo airport the temperature in was in the high 80’s!!! We soon found out that the sea was too cool and the fish sighted were sunning on the surface = no hambre (hungry). This crazy weather explains why the locals call the peninsula Cabo Loco.

Day one: The captain and mate were wearing jackets and we soon rolled down our shirt sleeves. This chilly day no marlin showed in the three teaser spread.
Day two: we had a hot marlin on the stinger but the mate reeled the teaser too fast as the captain slowed the boat (definite NO-NO). We did a “Crazy Ivan” which lured the fish back but it soon lost interest. That fish may have been 90 lb.
On the third day it all came together. The Striped Marlin was a baby 60 pounder, but it was a first for me. I didn’t want the fish in the boat but the Mexicans were so happy that they had finally had a fly fisher land a marlin I was ignored. For the suelteme (release) I held the marlin by the upper bill as the boat moved ahead slow and eventually the marlin struggle free and swam away in great shape.

The third fish, in 5 days, hit the short line hard head teaser, hung on for 6’ and then disappeared. The captain said it was a sailfish.

We purchased two plastic skirts at Minerva’s Tackle Store for strip bait teasers as we tried to get the Mexicans to ALWAYS have a belly strip on all the teasers. That didn’t happen. Bait was very scarce at U$ 3 bucks a pop, so many mornings we took the time to troll for caballito (goggle eye), bulletos (mackerel), and barrilete (black skip jack) at Los Arcos. These small fish were used for belly strips.

Day 6: We hired a panga driver and chased roosters fish (Pez Gallo) at Los Arcos in the AM and then went north 25 miles to a small bay with a fast sloping sandy beach. Our guide slowly towed two live mullet for hook less-teasers. The roosters hit fast but didn’t stay up long enough to get off a good cast. The panga in front & behind hooked up on live bait. One fish reported to be 40+. Last month on the same beach pangas were catching four + roosters per day.

We are already planning our next trip to Cabo Loco.

[jbird]

That is a sweet photo! Congrats on your first marlin!!

It took me 3 or 4 times to baja before I realized hiring any panguero to accomodate flyfishing was a waste of time and money. They will nod and agree they understand your intentions....NOT!

It is soooooooo worth paying the extra $$ to hire flyfishing outfits down there. Especially reputable guys like Grant Hartman and Gary Graham and Jay Murakoshi further up the baja.

You will not regret spending the extra money. Grant Hartman specializes in Marlin on the fly out of Cabo San Lucas.

[Darian]

Hey!!! Hey!!!.... Got into a Marlin didja Great photo. They're really a beautiful fish all lit up near the boat.... Congrats!!!! Im goin' back to La Ventana in October. Hopin' for another good Ahi and some Dorado....