Prolog

Several years ago I visited the East Cape area as a SCUBA diver. Friends and I spent a week of diving aboard the Solmar V vessel out of Cabo San Lucas. We sailed up the Sea of Cortez to near La Paz, stopping to dive along the way. I was very impressed with the vast schools of tuna and jacks we saw on almost every dive. One morning before diving, the boat Captain and I took out one of the inflatable "Pangas" (a Zodiac-style craft). With in a few minutes of trolling Rapala-style plugs I had landed a 30 pound yellow fin tuna. I was hooked!

I promised myself I would one day return to fish those waters.

The kick start to this expedition came last summer when Bob Veverka, author of a number of fishing books including Innovative Saltwater Flies, gave a slide show presentation at my fishing club. Many of his pictures came from his trips to the East Cape. I spoke with Bob after the presentation and obtained that names of several hotels along the East Cape that cater to fishermen. A few phone calls, a credit card and we were set!

This is article, presented as a travel log, is a day-by-day account of our 9 day adventure.

WARNING: Reading this article may be hazardous to your credit card. Only read if you can resist making travel plans. ;)

Fishing Tackle and Equipment List

This is a list of the tackle we brought for this trip:

Fly rod – Graphite 10-12 rod

Fly reel – Penn 4G w/350 yards 30 lb. test Micron backing

Fly Lines – Teeny 550, #10 Orvis Wonder Line intermediate, #10 Cortland 444SL Floating

Flies – A variety of superhair clousers and Surf Candy style minnows in various combinations of green, blue and white. Also several large clousers in green, white and hot pink. Finally, some large deceivers in similar colors. All tied on either Owner, Gamakatsu or Tiemco hooks.

Spin rod – 8 foot graphite

Spin reel – Penn 5500 with spools of 12 and 15 lb. test.

Lures – a W-I-D-E assortment of casting tins, Bombers, Mirrow Lures, and of course feather jigs and rubber skirted lures by Ballyhood, Zurker and Wilson for trolling.

Hooks – An assortment of Gamakatsu 4X Octopus and Live Bait hooks, Owner Flyliner hooks and Mustad 94150 hooks in sizes from 1/0 to 8/0 (with 1/0 thru 3/0 being the most often used and therefore the most taken).

Conventional tackle – We decided to rent tackle at the hotel. Being our first trip we were uncertain what type or how heavy to bring and thought it would be best to use what they use on the East Cape. Overall, we were not disappointed with the quality of the rods and reels available on the boats.

Leaders – Both hard nylon and fluorocarbon in strengths from 20 to 80 lb. test. Also some Malin Boa wire in 40 and 60 lb. test (wasn’t used).

Day 1

We left LaGuardia Airport in New York at 7am headed for San Jose del Cabo. After a quick change of planes in Dallas/Fort Worth Texas, we landed at Cabo International Airport at about 2pm (local time). The airport is being remodeled into a much more modern port than I remember it being when I made my first visit to San Jose del Cabo years before. You still have to walk from the plane to the terminal and that first blast of the desert heat is a real eye opener. Never mind the saying "But it’s dry heat" – heat is heat!

We had arranged for East Cape Transfers to pick us up and take us to our hotel Playa del Sol in Los Barriles. After clearing Mexican customs and immigration they were right out side waiting for with an air conditioned van.

Los Barriles is home to two of the more popular East Cape hotels: Playa del Sol and Palmas de Cortez. The town is approximately 70 miles North of San Jose del Cabo and about 40 miles South of La Paz. Our van ride from the airport, at times along narrow mountain roads, was about an hour.

We checked into Playa del Sol and took a moment to enjoy our air conditioned room. By now it was mid afternoon and many of the boats were returning from their days fishing. We went down to the dock in front of the hotel and the first boat we saw was unloading a large catch of yellow fin tuna. A good sign. The next boat also unloaded tuna and also brought in a blue marlin estimated at 250 pounds. Catch&Release is encouraged so bringing one in was unusual. Later we watched as the skilled hotel staff filleted it into steaks. Overall, a very good sign for the week to come. Later we confirmed our fishing plans with the office: 4 days of fishing on Super Panga craft.

Later in the afternoon we walked up the road to Tios tackle shop. It was stocked mostly with very large marlin trolling lures in green/yellow (dorado colors), black/purple and orange/yellow.

That night we had a Mexican buffet dinner: Chilies, enchiladas, rice, refried beans, tortilla bread, etc. The food was good and we knew at least we wouldn’t starve.

Day 2

Up before the dawn for a breakfast of scrabbled eggs and toast with fresh squeeze OJ. We boarded our boat at about 7am, a bright yellow super panga named Siboney (we asked what it means and were told it’s just a name) with our guide Juan Carlos. The boat was about 20 feet long with in inboard motor. It was an easy 40 minute run in calm seas South to Punta Colorado as the first rays of the sun came over the horizon. A brief stop at one of the bait boats off the beach (5-6 large scoops of sardines for $20 USD) and we headed offshore to meet the fleet that was already gathering at the tuna grounds.

We decided to try bait before the long rod. I rigged my spin rod with the 15# test line. The tag end was tied to a small black barrel swivel. Then I added about 2 feet of 20# fluorocarbon as a leader and tied a size 1/0 Owner Flyliner hook to the end. Juan added a small split shot to the line just above the swivel and baited my hook with live anchovy. He told me to just free spool it out slowly. I did as he said while he turned to rig a rod for Lisa. I had let out about 50 feet of line when - WHAM!. As I closed the bail and the drag started screaming as the rod bent over. That was a fast start! About 10 minutes later I had fat yellowfin of about 15 pounds in the boat. To make a long story short that’s how the next two and a half hours went. Lisa and I bailed yellowfins from 8 to 15 pounds while Juan frantically tried to gaff, unhook and rebait us while keeping a steady stream of live anchovies going over the side as chum.

Fish were boiling all over the surface, so I decided it was time to try the flyrod. I rigged a 20 lb. test fluorocarbon leader and tied on small sea foam green over white Super Hair streamer with lots of silver flash. I went to the bow where I had more room to work (one of the advantages of fishing from a Panga and not cruiser) and cast into the boils that came up to feed on our chum. After several frustrating casts my line tightened up and I yelled "FISH ON!" so loud people in the other boats were staring. The tuna sounded and the battle was on. I foolishly tried to hold the line with my finger and burned a nice cut into my index finger (took days for the blister to heal!) After about 10 minutes Juan gaffed the fish, about 12 pounds of fighting muscle! I was wiped so I went back to bait fishing for awhile.

To shorten things, the bite lasted until about 11:00am. We had limited out on yellowfins by then anyway (5 per person per day). Lisa had hooked a nice dorado of about 20 pounds but it broke off at boat side. There would be more later in the week.

We ate our lunch (fried chicken, cheese sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, fresh fruit and soda) while our guide ready lines for trolling.

We spent the next 3 hours trolling rubber skirts from the light house at Punta Arena going North past Punta Colorado to almost back at the hotel. The action was slow. We got a few strikes but nothing hooked up. One hit near Punta Arena left a large white water splash in our wake. I thought it was a large dorado but Juan said it was a marlin. Didn’t see the strike so I can’t be sure. But what we did notice was that most of the strikes, including the big dorado/marlin strike, was on a small blue/silver/white "hoochy" skirt Juan had. That would prove to be very important later.

We returned to dock at about 3pm, totally exhausted!! Our total catch for the day was 18 yellow fins from 8 to 15 pounds (3 over the limit and we were given a warning by the hotel's fishing manager). We gave half the catch to the hotel and the rest to Juan.

That night, in addition to the regular dinner of shrimp and scallop soup, breaded shrimp with rice and peas&carrot, each table received a platter of fresh grilled tuna with lime. Dessert was smooth cheesecake.

Day 3

Rising again before sunrise and after a breakfast of pancakes, we were down at the boat dock by 7am. Siboney had been requested by another guest so we were assigned to a different Panga for the day. As it turned out that was a good move. Our new boat was Viejo Amigo (Old Friend) and our guide was a young man named Israel. Though a little smaller than Siboney (looked like about 18 or 19 feet long) and with an outboard instead we immediately saw it was rigged for serious fishing: Fighting chair in the bow (not so good for fly casting however), outriggers, several heavy duty outfits already rigged for trolling, etc.

A brief stop at the local bait boat (by now bait boats were coming closer to the dock) for our daily anchovy supply, then we headed out to the tuna grounds. The small boat turned out to be a real speed demon. We easily out ran many of the larger cruisers that had left the dock before us.

When we arrived at the tuna grounds it was as the day before, tuna boiling all over and everyone had bent rods. In no time we were into yellow fins again. Each hook up was greeted with shouts of "Hookah! Hookah!" We easily caught almost all our limit by mid morning so Israel began to setup rods for trolling. As he did the tuna kept boiling around the boat so I decided to try some casting. I tied a green/silver Deadly Dick tin on and went to the bow. My first cast into a boil I got a hook up. Israel seemed quite shocked as there were no bait rods on the water. Apparently casting to breaking schools, while common for tuna in the Northeast, is something not often done on the East Cape.

After landing that tuna (about 10 pounds) we motored up to another pod of breaking fish, one cast, one hook up again. He seemed almost giddy at this type of fishing. I guess not too many visitors to the East Cape cast small surface tins to breaking tuna. Deep jigging is done, but apparently not much casting. We spent the next 40 minutes or so going from pod to pod casting and hooking up. I explained to him how to get us along side the breaking fish and not to go through them. He caught on quick and we had a blast as we finished out of limit on tuna for the day.

Then we settled back for some trolling. Israel put out 4 lines, combinations of large black/purple skirts for marlin and smaller feathers for tuna and dorado. He tried hard. We trolled inshore, offshore, parallel, across the bluewater/greenwater line, etc. but to no avail. Finally we called it quits a a little after 2pm.

As we approached the dock, suddenly our guide turned hard to the left and headed towards another boat. In short we saw what he had noticed – they were into fish! A smaller local craft was dragging strip baits on small pink/white hoochies around a floating bait basket near the moorings. And they were catching dorado! Israel quickly cut some strips out of a yellow fin and we baited up. I cast my bait towards the float. In a few seconds I was on! A small dorado about 10 pounds was leaping like an acrobat. We go it in and as Lisa battled her own dorado I decided to give the long rod a shot. I tied on a pink/white Clouser and cast towards the float. I had several hits before hooking up. Not big fish but still a good fight. And all this just a few hundred yards from the dock! We ended up keeping 3 dorado and releasing another. As we did before, we gave half our catch to the hotel for dinner (including the dorado) and half to the guide. Dinner that night, besides the fish was caught, consisted of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and steamed mixed veggies. Dessert was an incredible banana cream pie!

But by that evening the wind was picking up. Tropical Storm Eliana was bearing down on Baja from the South and was expected to be a hurricane before land fall. That evening Playa del Sol and Palma de Cortez began pulling their fleets from the water. Not an easy thing when there are no lamps or boat slings. It’s all done by trailer and heavy CAT.

Day 4

Our planned day off. Just as well as the entire fleet was on land waiting to see what would happen with the storm. At 7am they had also pulled in the movable dock (the last two had also been destroyed by hurricanes).

After breakfast (pancakes and eggs) Lisa and I walked into town. We walked up to the local "shopping mall" off Mexico Highway #1 and stopped in at the East Cape Smoke House. Smokey was there and greeted us with a smile. We talked fishing and sampled his smoked tuna. Awesome! We decided then and there the next fish we get we would have smoked. As we eat and talked he received a radio bulletin (VHF is a popular and effective way to communicate on the east Cape) about the storm. It was raining heavily in Cabo and the wind was just a scant 3 miles per hour short of a hurricane. Not a good sign. But hope springs eternal.

We then stopped into the East Cape Tackle Shop. I picked up 4 hoochies – 2 large blue/white and 2 small pink white along with a package of quarter-once egg sinkers. Total cost: $8 USD. From reading the book Baja Catch I was familiar with how to rig them.

As we walked back we felt the wind picking up more and more as the morning went on. But no rain and only high fair weather clouds. By mid afternoon, much to our joy and reflief the wind was dying down and the seas reducing. The storm had passed to our East and hadn’t entered the Sea of Cortez. Even Cabo was seeing sun again. The fishing manager at the hotel said they would probably be getting the boats back into the water early the next morning and we might be able to get in half a day’s fishing. That was great news! And of course, we requested Viejo Amigo again.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in casual rest in and around the pool, catching up on my reading and also rigging the hoochies I had bought that morning. I rigged the lures as follows: For one of the small pink/white hoochies I used a 3 foot leader of 40 lb. test fluorocarbon. I inserted one of the egg sinkers into the nose of the hoochy and threaded the leader through it. The hook was a 3/0 Gamakatsu 4X Octopus. I tied a black barrel swivel to the upper end of the leader to finish it off. For one of the large blue/white hoochy I used 60 lb. test fluorocarbon for about a 3 foot leader again with an egg sinker in the nose. I attached an 8/0 Gamakatsu Live Bait hook (had expected to use them for marlin) and a barrel swivel. The last rig I combined the two remaining large and small hoochies. That is, I put one egg sinker into the nose of the remaining large blue/white hoochy and one in the nose of the last small pink/white hoochy. Then I threaded a section of 80 lb. test fluorocarbon leader material through the nose the large hoochy then the nose of the small hoochy. Thus, the small pink/white hoochy was held under the larger blue/white hoochy in a double skirt fashion. I ended the rig off with an 8/0 Gamakatsu Live Bait hook and a barrel swivel and folded all three hoochy rigs into one of my lure bags.

Day 5

Rising early again as we didn’t know exactly when the boats would be ready and didn’t want to be delayed leaving. As it turned out, the storm was gone and they had already been up before dawn launch the boats. After a quick breakfast of eggs, potatoes and toast we were down by the sea wall at 7:15am with our gear when we saw our trusty craft approaching. But there was no dock as yet! In the tradition of fishermen everywhere, they beached the Panga (can’t do that with a cruiser!), we climb aboard with barely a foot wet and they shoved us off. We had only lost perhaps 20 minutes of our normal schedule.

The storm hadn’t effected the tuna bite. They were there and were hungry! And bigger! These fish were running well into the teens now. And putting one heck of bend in the rod.

One of the more unusual things that happened was when one of our lines (with a heavy weight) got near the bottom (over 200 feet below!). At first we thought it was good sized tuna. But when it came up we had gotten a nice red snapper! (aka pargo or group though those names also apply to other fish). This got us thinking for later.

By mid morning we had almost our limit on tuna so we decided to head inshore and try for some real pargo and cabrilla (a type of bass). We fished the rocks South of Rancho Buena Vista in an area known as the Shark Shack. We had lots of action but unfortunately not with pargo or cabrilla. Needlefish would steal our anchovy baits with in seconds of hitting the bottom. We must have feed 4 dozen anchovies to the needles before we decided to stop wasting time. Before moving on we tried some slow trolling of live anchovies in hopes of a roosterfish but had no takers, only more needlefish.

At that point we decided to head back offshore and use up the rest of our anchovy baits on filling our limit of tuna. The tuna were still obliging and we easily finished filling our tuna limit for the day. So we rigged up skirts, including the blue/white-pink/white combo hoochy and started trolling home.

Sure enough about a mile from the dock a rod bent over and it’s reel began to sing. You guessed it – a fish was on the hoochy! We brought in a nice dorado of about 12 pounds.

When we returned to dock this time we decide to have some of our catch smoked to be taken home. The crew from the East Cape Smoke House was at dockside and eagerly took our fish back to work their magic.

That evening the hotel bar served cold dorado ceviche for happy hour. It was great!! And we of course asked for Israel and Viejo Amigo once again for our final day of fishing.

Dinner that night was, you guessed it, more fresh fish along with Filet Mignon, scallop Potatoes and salad. Dessert was a rich chocolate cake.

Day 6

By now we were battered, tired, and very sore. But loving it! And the tired especially showed on the face of our guide Israel. I think we were really working him harder than most guest normally do. We didn’t mean to and he took it well with no complaints as we once again headed out at 7am for our final day at sea.

The tuna were there but the bite was much slower today than in the previous 3 fishing days. We took some fish on live anchovies but the action was noticeably slower. It we very hard to keep the fish near the boat. They’d rise to chum then sound again. However they were still getting bigger. We saw one boat land a fish that was at least 40 pounds. Ours were comfortably in the high teens and easily reaching the 20 pound mark. But they were slow picking as the morning went on.

I decided to try working deeper in hopes of a bigger fish. Adding more shots to my line brought it down fast. Near the bottom I had a hit that I couldn’t move. It was pumping so I know it wasn’t just hung up. Finally, in one powerful run that took half my 15 lb. test spool the fish was gone. So I had to re-rig. But this time I opted to use one of the guide’s 80 pound class outfits. I made a leader out of 60 lb. test fluorocarbon with a 3/0 Gamakatsu 4X Octopus hook at one end and attached the other end to a 3 oz. drail sinker. The main line was attached to the other end of the drail.

I baited up with a big lively anchovy and sent it to the dark bottom over 200 feet below. One turn off the bottom and I waited. Didn’t take long. The hit didn’t come hard. More like just tension pulling on the line, probably due to the use of mono for fishing such great depths (something like Fireline or Spiderwire would probably have worked better). I tightened the drag and leaned back to set the hook. Whatever it was it was pumping and taking drag. It was a lot of effort to haul it up but when it finally came with in view, to our surprise it wasn’t a tuna but a big red snapper!

I rebaited and sent it back down again. A few minutes later the rod was again pumping. It was another snapper! So as the tuna action melted away the snapper fishing too it’s place. One big hit that ultimately broke the leader when I couldn’t get it much off the bottom we guess was a large grouper. Just one of those mysteries.

By noon we had enough snapper and decided to give trolling one more shot. We headed South to the light house at Punta Arena again and put out 5 rods. The outer two on both sides where rigged with the large blue/white-pink/white hoochy and the single blue/white hoochy. The inner two were rigged with a hit pink feather jig and a dorado colored (yellow/green) cedar plug. The middle rod was set with a large black/purple "smoker" in hopes of a marlin.

We trolled around the light house area for 45 minutes but not a hit. Then we began the slow troll home. A little past Punta Colorado we had a hit – one the hoochy of course! A nice dorado of about 15 pounds. I replaced the cedar plug with a blue/white feather jig since blue seemed to be their favorite of late (probably because of all the flying fish around).

About 5 miles out from the dock we got another hit – on the same hoochy! Another dorado about 10 pounds. A few minutes later a third hit on the other hoochy! This dorado was smaller and lip hooked so we decided to like it go (much to the surprise of our guide). Finally, only a few hundred yards from the dock we got our final hit of our trip. This time the dorado took the blue/white feather jig. The fish was also small and lip hooked so it too was released. But what a week it had been!

Dinner that night was fresh fish along with shrimp and scallop cocktail, spaghetti with tomato meat sauce and salad. Dessert was apple pie.

Days 7 and 8

Lisa and I spent the next two days just relaxing, talking with the other anglers at the hotel and seeing the sites. We took a ride into the country side with another couple and enjoyed seeing and meeting the locals.

Our order of smoked yellow fin was ready the day before we left and we could hardly keep ourselves from wanting to eat it right there.

On both days other anglers and new arrivals continued to do well with tuna and dorado. One couple from San Diego brought in a pair of dorado that, gutted, each weight over 40 pounds! They were taken farther offshore as they trolled for marlin.

Dinners consisted of BBQ ribs, mashed potatoes, corn with more of that incredible banana crème pie for dessert; Mexican buffet again on Saturday night.

Day 9

Tired and sore but happy with our success our East Cape Transfers ride was still on the job. An early morning pick up at the hotel and a too brief ride back to the airport in San Jose de Cabo.

Final fish count of our trip:

Yellow fin tuna – 55

Dorado – 8

Red Snappers - 6

Mexican Bonito – 2

Mackerel – 1

Needlefish – 1

Not too shabby!

And we will be back!

Things we learned on our trip (or Do's and Don'ts)

While we had a great, there were things that, had we known about, could have helped make it an even better trip. Below are some points we learned on our trip as well as some general observations from our trip:

• Fishing from a Super Panga is great for inshore and nearshore action. This is especially true for flyfishing or general light tackle. Size is no deterant to getting into good fish. And they are very fast too. However, the Cruisers have the greater fuel capacity and range sometimes needed to reach the offshore haunts of marlin, sailfish and bigger dorado. And with a cabin they are more comfortable for long hours of trolling.
  
   
• Water clarity can be gin clear. We were very happy to have brought fluorocarbon leaders! Don't skimp on the quality. Use a good brand name. Same with hooks: Gamakatsu and Owner rule, with Mustad 94150 a good backup. It's worth the extra price.
  
   
• You'll need live anchovies even if you're only flyfishing. The tuna and dorado love them as live chum. Don't be cheap. Get at least $20 a day worth (5 or 6 scoops).
  
   
• The marlin and sails often prefer live bait over artificials. Buy live mackerel or jacks. If you catch a Mexican Bonito save it and rig it ASAP. You never know when you need to throw it over quickly to a cruising marlin.
  
   
• Inexpensive hoochies work! Bring a good assortment of colors in blue, green, red and pink. Both large and small sizes along with egg sinkers of 1/4 to 1/2 ounces. Don't be afraid to mix and match colors on the boat too.
  
   
• Tackle provided on the boats was general good. The guides own their own tackle so sizes and makes vary from boat to boat. Penn Senators are most common. Overall we didn't have any problems with the tackle we used.
  
   
• Brings lots of water on the boat!! The sun will bake you fast, especially if you're fighting fish. Count on at least 2 or 3 large bottles per person. Skip the beer. Save that for bragging at the bar before dinner.
  
   
• Similarly, wear a good wide brim hat. The sun is intense!!
  
   
• Pace yourself. The combination of heat, sun and fish will wipe you out in no time if you don't take things slowly. Tomorrow is always another day.
  
   
• Be sure your camera is load with the proper film and camera settings for shooting in bright light. Over exposed pictures can happen easily.
  
   
• Have some of your fished smoked for the return home. It's great!!

The following is suggested reading if you are considering a trip to the East Cape or anywhere in Baja Mexico:

The Baja Adevnture Book by Walt Peterson	Baja Catch: A Fishing, Travel and Remote Camping Manual for Baja California by Neil Kelly and Gene Kira	Baja on the Fly by Nick Curcione
Gary Graham's No Nonsense Guide to Fly Fishing Southern Baja by Gary Graham	Bluewater Flyfishing by Trey Combs and Lefty Kreh	Innovative Saltwater Flies by Bob Veverka

striper flies saltwater flies fly fishing flies saltwater flyfishing flies crease fly fly-fishing saltwater flies flyfishing stripers bonefish tarpon

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