Cedros Sportfishing, September 3-7, 2018

so, um, this was a pretty awesome trip.....  

a little history - for the last 20 years, i've fished mostly on the spirit of adventure out of san diego and we had frequently at fished cedros island for yellowtail.  the fishing at cedros in the past had always ranged from decent to epic.  my understanding of the changes at the islands in the last few years is limited.  i know only that the island is now closed to large boats, both san diego long range and, more importantly, the bait boats that would come in and swoop up everything they could net.  i think this leaves the local panga fleet out of the local harbor with near exclusive access to these waters.  i think, more importantly, it leaves the sardine and mackerel populations intact.  now, these pangas will exert their own fishing pressure on the island, taking fish within their limited range.  still, their range is can be considerable if the weather will cooperate, there aren't that many pangas in operation, and there is alot of water around the island.  this means fishing can be epic.........

there are a couple of operations on the island that can take you out fishing.  for those of you who have met rosie flowers (far left) with cedros sportfishing, you know what a dynamic personality she is.  well, she decided we were going fishing with her and that was that!  a charter is normally five days and takes a party of 12.  we were able to backfill for rachel's (3rd from the left) group of four and suddenly we had a fishing trip scheduled.  



sunday - september 2, 2018 - i drove down to riverside the day before and stayed overnight at pete's place, then pete and i left for san diego and picked up these three guys at the airport.  you might recognize some of them from previous reports.  from left to right, there's me, ron from washington, todd from british columbia, mike from georgia and pete from riverside.  we had rooms at the vagabond, which always means dinner at miguel's!






monday, september 3rd, 2018

that morning, only slightly hung over, we drove from the vagabond to the CXB, or cross border express.  it is aptly named.  crossing into mexico is incredibly easy and equally fast.  you drop off your gear, go park in a secured lot, and then hoof it back to your group.  





you now take elevators on the california side going up, push your gear in carts over the border on a bridge to the mexico side, take elevators down to go through mexican customs, then you enter the tijuana airport.  from the airport lobby, you take a bus to your plane. except for the walk that you take on the bridge itself, you have a cedros sportfishing person with you the entire way.  



your gear has already been loaded onto a commercial flight.  





the flight was amazingly smooth and easy.







from the air, the island is spectacular.  









once on the ground, our gear is offloaded by airport staff and checked for drugs.  remember that marijuana is not legal in mexico.  





we took a van ride to the lodge got settled in quickly.  our gear was already ahead of us.  



welcome to cedros sportfishing!





the rooms are nice.  actually much nicer than the vagabond hotel that we were staying in the night before!



we actually had time to fish the afternoon of the first day!







most of the boats are fiberglass pangas.





there is one center console.  



the dock allows easy access on and off.  your gear is already on the boat ahead of you when you arrive to go out and fish.  when you return, you walk off first and they offload your fish for a few photos.  then you take a van back to the lodge. your fish goes to the processors and your gear comes back to the lodge later so you can rerig for the next day.  this is all part of the service that they provide for you.  



meals are simple, but there is plenty of food and no one goes hungry.





and evenings are relaxing.








september 4th, 2018

breakfast at 6am, fishing at 7am.  





it's all about the yellowtail!  bring a 30 pound rod for calicos and sabikis, but don't do what i did and loose six fish in a row because i stubbornly wanted to use 30 pound test for yellowtail and thought i could get away with it.  once i switched over to 50 pound, i started landing fish instead of just breaking them off.





it's also a gorgeous island to see up close!





but it's really all about the yellowtail!





there is time to relax before dinner.  several of these guys were retired military, so the stories were always entertaining!









and then there's dinner!










september 5th, 2018

everyone was up early, breakfast was quick, and our gear was already on the boat.  we just walked on, headed out short to make bait then look a 30 minute run to go fish.











this one was funny.  the boat was twisting around and my line went under the boat.  then it started taking off.  i thought for sure the line was wrapped in the prop.













another fluid filled afternoon back at the lodge, another great dinner, and another relaxing evening.   not sure how much more of this i'll be able to stand.......






september 6th, 2018

you've got to get up pretty early to see these guys.  they are up at 5am to take our gear down to the boat.  everything will be loaded up before we arrive.  we just have to have breakfast, then take an easy van ride to the boats, and walk on board.



yup, just walk on board and go fish......



the weather picked up alot this last morning.



finally, we turned tail and ran back on the inside to drop off our fish and have the processors start early.  





20-30 pound beauties, all of them!



i decided to take the rest of the afternoon off and relax.  it's ALOT of fishing in a very short period of time. richard gave me a ride back, but we stopped off and the processing facility so i could take a quick tour.

 

fish are all iced on the boat.



they are driven straight to the processors.



they are weighed.



they are cut up.







they are vacuumed sealed.







and then frozen.  right now they use plain freezers, but a flash freezer goes in at the end of this year.  





they also UV treat their own water and make their own ice.  





back at the lodge, preparations are being made for dinner!  rib eyes!!!!!!














september 7th, 2018

last day.  time for one more group photo before we leave.





back on the guppy for our flight home.  we're a few jigs lighter and 600 pounds of yellowtail filet heavier.  





last chance to thank richard, our translator, for all of his help!





back at the tijuana airport, we breezed through customs, we loaded up our gear and we headed our separate ways for home.  



yup, this was a pretty awesome trip.  rosie already has us on the books for next year.  all eight guys from the 2018 group will be back for 2019, plus four more, so the trip is already filled.  there is the possibility that they may extend their season to november, so i may try to book a november 2019 trip as well.  thanks to all the cedros sportfishing staff that made this an awesome trip.  

Thanks for the GREAT report Alan!

Awesome! I've been down there on the "Q" and Shogun, but have been talking about taking this type of epic trip for a while. Thanks for helping me too think about it even more

looks like an awesome trip Alan!  id like to do that at least once in my life.  Btw nice meeting you and the crew last week in morro bay!

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you know, they have an operation that runs kayak trips, but the pangas are the way to go.  you can cover alot more water that way!

Awesome! I've been down there on the "Q" and Shogun, but have been talking about taking this type of epic trip for a while. Thanks for helping me too think about it even more

I'm down! 

Thanks for another great report, Alan!

Always enjoy your reports! ... D lets do it!