Cabo San Lucas - non-kayak

Many thanks to those who PM'd me with info and details on fishing in the Cabo area. 

Just got back last night from trip to Cabo San Lucas.    I was up late the night before the trip preparing my newly acquired fly fishing alternative gear.   I bought a 2 piece 7 foot spinning rod and also a 6.5 foot 2 piece ugly stick to match against my conventional reel.   Both rods seemed a bit long for carry on, so i decided to play safer and brought the shorter ugly stick instead of the 7 footer, along with my 9 wt fly rod.   

First morning, i got up early somewhat after the crack of dawn and rushed out the door by 830AM.   My destination was only 5 minutes away from our lodging at the Westin Regina.   I arrived at the beach filled with anticipation and the prospect of casting my new ugly stick with my conventional reel.    Loaded up the reel, strung the rod, then was about to tie on a swivel, when i realized I left the conventional terminal gear in my luggage.   Rats!

Took down the conventional set up and loaded up my trusty 9 weight with 30 ft of T14.   It was 920 by the time i finished fussing with stripping basket, dilly dallying and all that.   I decided to forego a cup of coffee and headed straight down to the water.     The long beach front greeted me with a rock pile at my approach and another rockpile at the point some 400 yards north.  As I fussed around with my line, i caught a glimpse of some splashing around from the corner of my eyes.   Was it waves splashing on rocks or bait busting?   There it was again, right next to the rock piles - unmistakably fish busting, well within casting range.   A few casts and then, WHAM!   Rod bent over, i set the hook hard, felt a few strong tugs, then my rod went straight.   I retrieved the line back only to discover my fly was gone.  Tied on another fly and made a few more casts.  Again, the rod loaded up and bent deeply.  I felt the strong surge and heavy pulsing.   I kept the pressure on and stripped line in as fast as i could.    The fish was going nuts, but finally I caught a glimpse of it as I brought it out of the depths and close to the surf line.  It was about 30 inches long, and shaped like an eel with a long beak.  Then, the line went limp again, as the fish somehow spat the hook.   Fortunately, this one was kind enough to return my fly to me.  I continued to work the area for a few more grabs until finally I had another good hookset.   Third time was the charm.    I finally landed my first fish of the day and was assured of a no skunk day.    I hate getting skunked.   It was the same long  fish, about 30 inches, maybe 4-5 inches wide, long, toothy beak.    No wonder it cut my line first time around.    The fish seemed pleased to swim back to the clear, blue and turquoise colored water.   More casts and several follows but no takes, I concluded the fish in this spot had finished playing.    I worked my way up the beach towards the point. 

Cast after cast, and no takes.  Several times, I saw fish follow my fly right out of the depths and into the shallow surf.    My heart almost jumped out of my mouth when on one retrieve, a very large, dark shadow suddenly darted back to the depths after following my fly into knee deep water.  It must have been 7-8 pounds.

Around 10AM, the jacks started showing up, chasing bait along the shoreline.   It was so exhilarating to see the speed of these fish chasing and smashing fish from one end of the beach to another.   They would suddenly appear in front of me and in seconds be 50 yards down the beach.   I waited and watched the feeding frenzy work its way up or down the beach, trying to time my casts so I could anticipate their arrival in front of me.    I missed several takes, lost a few that I had worked into the surf, and then finally landed one  - a nice little jack of 16 inches.   These fish are not big, but they really can pack a punch, running and surging with amazing strength.    By 1030, it was getting time to head back home for family time.   But, the fish were still busting and biting, so it was too tough to tear myself away.   A few more casts and then its time to go.   In my frantic haste, my casts were getting sloppy.    I started losing flies to the high sand dunes on my back cast.     I tied on a smaller fly to make my cast easier.  I should have thought of that earlier, especially since the sardinas in the surf were actually much smaller than the flies I had been using.   The fish just loved the smaller flies.   I had several more takes and landed a couple more jacks, all around the same size as the first.   

As I approached the end of my stretch of beach, I decided to make my last cast before calling it a good day.   Bam!  Deep bendo in my rod, line ripped out of my hand, and the fish was on a screeching run.  What a fight the fish put on before I worked it into the shallow surf next to me.   Just as I could see its long dorsal fins identifying it as a rooster fish, all the relentless thrashing and splashing paid off for the fish and I was left empty handed.   I cast to the same spot and was immediately rewarded with a strong grab and jerk, but no fish.  Third cast and I was rewarded with my first rooster fish to hand.  In my subsequent casting frenzy, I lost 2 more flies to the sand dunes behind me.   It’s a terrible time to be tying on flies when I have a pod of feeding roosters in front of me.   Time was getting short as I had already passed the deadline I had set for myself to get home.    I made about 30 more last casts for the day, before my sense of family responsibility finally won over and I decided to call it a day.   You have no idea how hard it is to walk away from a school of eager rooster fish.   But, I would be in Cabo for several more days, and could always come back.   I had landed that long gar-like fish, 2 jacks and 3 roosters, and lost about 3 times that number of fish.   Not a bad morning, anyway. 

The next day, I started earlier to get the most out of my morning.    I was on the beach before 8AM.  I brought my new conventional tackle out so I could cast farther, or at least that was the idea.   A friend had told me how to cast the conventional gear, instructing me to thumb the spool at the end of the lure’s trajectory to avoid backlash.   It made perfect sense when he told me, but putting it into practice was quite a different story.    A few casts sailed out nicely, but just as I thought I had mastered it, my reel would snarl up in an ugly birds nest.  I had 30 pound test spectra line, but again and again, my reel snarled up, snapping the line at the end of the cast.  I watched in dismay as lure after lure sailed off into the horizon.   IT’s one thing to lose a fly I tied myself, but quite a different feeling to take a brand new, $6 lure out of a package and toss it off on the first cast.   Its really throwing money away, but given what’s been happening in the stock market these days, this way, I at least get a chance to see it disappear.    Finally, I met a bass fisherman who showed me how to set some kind of drag thing to reduce backlash.   He was delighted when I offered to let him cast my rod a few times.  We were less delighted when his casts also popped off 3 lures.   He was showing me the kind of retrieves he likes when suddenly the rod jerked down and we saw a nice fish hurl out of the water again and again about 60 feet out.     The next several casts also produced hits but those gar fish are hard to stick.    Fishing the second day was completely different from the first day.  No roosters, no jacks, but I did manage to land a lady fish, which saved me from the terrible skunk.    I always knew it was bad luck to bring a camera, so I consider myself lucky to have even caught one fish. 

I spent the 3rd day exploring other locations.    I fished one quiet little bay for an hour without seeing anything so I left.  The next location was fished by several locals who had caught several snappers.  But they were casting way farther than I could.    One guy caught a 5 pound rooster and 2 very nice sierras on live bait.    The fish were actively busting bait all around, but way beyond my casting range.   I decided to return to my original beach.  All was quiet and action was dead, except for a few hits that shredded up the few remaining plastic lures I had left.   I was down to 2 more rubbery/plastic lures when the action started up.  The first strong hit cut my lure in half.  Fortunately, the last lure survived 6 of those gar fish on, of which I landed 3, before the lure was finally lost. 

Having exhausted all my conventional tackle, my last fishing day was back on the fly rod.   Fishing was slow.   Several fish followed from the depths all the way into the surf, but never took.   I had called it a day and was trying to get back quickly.  I couldn’t resist casting as I walked past all that beautiful water.    I cast out and walked at a fast pace down the beach, swinging the fly out of the depths and dragging it in the surf behind me.   I was amazed when a fish about 2 feet long smashed and splashed my fly as it dragged in surf little more than ankle deep.   Just before leaving, I decided to work a little hole where the fish had chased my fly earlier.   I was saved from the skunk by a nice fish of about 15 inches.   I wish I knew the names of these fish.  It was like a pompano -   plate shaped, forked tail, silver colored, with very long, thin dorsal and ventral  fins that extended about 8 inches above and below.  In any case, since it saved me from the skunk, it was a beautiful fish. 

I learned later that people had been catching fish right on the beach where I was staying.   On my last day there, I saw fish busting right in front of me and I also saw one of the workers walk back with a stringer of parrot and tiger fish.

Its great to be back home, but part of me is still back in Cabo, standing knee deep in surf, gazing out into the mysterious, clear, blue, turquoise colored water, as whales breach in the distance, stingrays sail through the air and skip across the  surface, and jacks rip bait up and down the beach.    You never know what you will find on the end of your line down there.

Great read man, thanks for posting.

way to go! roosters and jacks on the fly!  From shore no less! that is quite the accomplishment..

those long fish are needle fish- they're almost a bane down there-- but at least they do provide some action...


Those jacks sure can pull hard--i'm still smiling at my avatar fight!

Well done & well written!

PJ

Hey, thanks for writing that up. Your post helped me make up my mind to take a little fishing gear down there next time I'm down for the family vacation. I've done the Panga thing, but fishing from the beach sounds fun...and free!

Thanks for the comments!

I was going to do the panga thing too, and am pretty sure it would have ended with more fish, but I REALLY enjoyed the shore fishing.  Besides being free, there is more sense of adventure, discovery, accomplishment.  While catching on a panga is always fun, its quite another thing to find and discover a new beach, read its features, stare into the blue depths, watch fish chase your fly or lure right up to your feet and then dash away.   Shore fishing can be less fish, yet a greater experience overall.   I would definitely recommend bringing fishing gear if you go down there.

I can see how those needle fish can be a nuisance, tearing up lures and flies, but they did provide good action and fight.   Any fish that takes a presentation is ok by me.   (i guess i am that desperate!)  On hindsight, i think if fishing near those needle fish, again, i would use flies tied with synthetics instead of bucktail.   MAybe the synthetics would withstand the teeth better. 

That was a great report. I just loved it. We have a timeshare at Playa Grande in Cabo and have been out to the Westin for the sales pitch. That is a beautiful beach right there. Your description of the fishing was just awesome. It was like I was standing in that nice clear water watching you cast. I go down every year in May and this year I'm bringing my own tackle and rent a kayak, paddle around to the lands end and jig for yellowtail. A spinning reel for sure for surf casting and my TLD 5.2-1 for rapid retrieve jigging with big chrome spoons. Welcome home. Its kind of bittersweet when we get back.Did you guys go out to the new zip lines?

My brother has several time shares in Cabo and has been trying to get me out there for many, many years, but i always declined.   I went a couple years ago and cast futilely to the marauding jacks (which made it extra sweet to catch them this time), but caught fish from a panga one day and on a big fast boat another day.   After this trip, I view Cabo a bit differently.   I have only barely scratched the surface on all there is to catch down there.    I would have liked to rent a kayak to access more fishy waters, but didnt have time to research where to do that.   IT would be awesome to catch yellowtail on a kayak out there.    What are the new zip lines?

They strung some cables across one of the deep canyons up a wide river bed. I am not sure just which one it was. We went there last year and it was a blast. The longest zip line was a half mile with 400 yard drop in the center. It was totally safe and well worth the cost. We went to the westin for the presentation and worked the guy on the bus for a ton of stuff and then enjoyed the great buffet at the westin. We worked them for over 400.00 worth of stuff. You lose a half day doing it but hey what the hell.

those zip lines sound fun!

Man, you can negotiate!   I only got a panga ride out of my half day sales pitch i had to listen to - definitely not worth the time.   You could probably negotiate a fish on to dry land!

The Westin gives those guys that promote a visit to the resort so much money if you show up. Anything that you bargainfor is deducted from the money they give the guy on the bus. I have been told that they get up to 500,00 if you show up. Then whatever you negotiate for is deducted from that amount. So they still could get 100.00 Which ain't bad for a days work for them.All you do is keep asking for more.