5 Days in Cabo San Lucas(7/31-8/4)

[Latimeria]

I knew it was going to be a short trip to Cabo and a boat trip probably wouldn't be in the cards, but I planned to fish while the wife and daughter slept or was busy.
Long story short, my goal was to catch a surf rooster fish.  Goal number 2 was to get a half dozen new species.

We were kind of disappointed with the place we stayed at as accommodations go.  It was rated at a 4.5 star, but I would say a 3.5 would be more realistic.  I will add that the food was WORLD CLASS.  Definitely 5 star, so I guess things all equaled out.

Day one and I just drank with the wife.  The next morning I grabbed the conventional with 1.25oz Kastmaster and hunted for my rooster.  The waters by the resort was full of reef, so I started there and worked my way south.  My phone kept saying that I was in Cabo Bella, but we were 5 KM from Cabo San Lucas proper.  It wasn't long before I hooked up with a new species. 
Cornet Fish


I got bit a half dozen times, but kept losing the smaller ones.  I worked my way around the corner (about a mile) and found a sweet stretch of beach.  Only issue was the shore pound was about 18 feet tall! Well, you had sets of big stuff and then 4-5 minutes of 4-5' stuff.





I casted when opportunity allowed me and had a screamer!  I saw a few dark bars in a silvery fish in the distance and figured I had my rooster!!!  As I was getting him close, ther big sets started coming in and I tried to beach it as fast as possible!  No luck... The big wave spun it up to the heavens and I never felt or saw it after that.  I wasn't big at all, maybe only 20", but I was stoked that I would get my rooster this week!

I finally had to leave this spot as the surf got worse the further south I went.  I headed back to the reef to see busting fish!  I made a few casts and hooked up both times!  Both seemed like nice fish, but nothing huge.  The big issue was the hook never got into the mouth or I just never sent the hookset home hard enough...  In any case, I hooked up again and it was BIG!  Well bigger than anything that I felt in a while.  I'm guessing a big Toro, but that is only a guess as I never saw it.  I fought it for about 10 minutes when it just came undone... with my lure in its mouth.   

I regrouped and retied to get rewarded with a small Toro four casts later!



That was a great start and I thought that my surf rooster was near....

The next morning I hit the calm of the reef again.  Let me say that the pics don't do it justice.  The waves at the reef were 6' at sets, but you had a 5 minute window of small 3' stuff before the bigger stuff came through.  I mixed up my irons from Kastmasters to every live looking metal I had!  I almost lost count of the cornet Fish I hooked, but only got 5 or so to shore...









As I was walking back to the room, I saw a bunch of fish in the water!  Unfortunately this appeared to be in some zone for the resort, but I stuck the camera in the water and realized they must have been trained.









I have no shame and figured that I would hit that spot the next morning before anyone showed up!  Well, I got up before light and started tossing crack for not even a nibble, and then BAM!  Something big! It wound up being a Brassy Chub.  I'm still trying to get an + ID on it (pretty much ID'd by KenT), but as I reached for my camera, I realized that in my haste that I left it in the room.  Just as it hit me, I heard a guy tell me to get the hell out of there and it was a no fishing zone!  I turned around guilty as hell, and still counted it as species number 2.  I went back to the room and got my camera before bolting to the reef that I had success with the day before.



I hooked 5 Cornet Fish, but only got three in.  Most were in the 32-36" size, so It was fun to see and they were slimy to unhook! I then went back to back with something that fought like a Spottie.  It wasn't any spottie for sure!  Species number 3!!!  A Flag Cabrilla!  I caught two back to back and I started to realize that all of these fish were swimming together and I would get spats of same fish hits all at once in certain areas.




#2 and only about 8 inches so I didn't hold my hand up to make it look any smaller.



I kept casting along the reef when something real hit!!!  I fought him for about 5-7 minutes when he came up in the wave.  It was brown with whitish stripes and really bullied my gear.  I'm guessing 5 or 6 pounds but my gear wasn't the best for this situation.  In any case, it ran sideways and plinked me off in the reef.. UGH... More lures being fed to the reef and reef fish..
It looked to be a Barred Pargo which would have been a new species, but that was two new species that I lost in the surf so far.

I was done for the day but decided to pull double duty the next day.  Morning and afternoon.
The view of the resort from the south reef.



The next morning, I had Roosters and Toro on the mind.  Instead in the next hour and a half, all I caught was Cornet Fish.  A bunch of them.  I switched up irons and still only saw those slimy bastards.











Once again I get slammed by something and never see this one, but it felt like a bonita or tuna type of fish.  With the MH bass gear I was using and alll the reef around, I didn't stand a chance.  God, I was not ready for anything big, but I doubt I might been able to get it with the right gear with all of that reef around.

I had my full of those slimy bastards and decided to see if the surf subsided at the SE facing beaches....
Nope...







I headed back to the north reef and decided to switch things up.  I grabbed some crack and started to poke around the reef.  (Let me say that the timeline in my head gets fuzzy at this point... way too many double Tequila Sunrises have started mixing days together, but I caught a hell of a lot more)

Lots of cool corals and beach critter shells.





Well, I found a sh!tload of Clown Hawkfish in my attempt to catch something different!!



I followed it up with a big Burrito Grunt!



I'll just combine the last two days as I fished hard every morning for an hour and a half looking for roosters and put in at least an hour in the afternoon.  All I got was BIG Cornetfish!!!! Back to back huge bastards!!!!



#2



More slimy bastards hit the beach.... I can't believe how many there are in the surf?!?!  Are some the same ones?



Cool tank fish.





Finescale Trigger that didn't make the cut.



Species #4 - Night Sargent



When I found them, they were an annoyance..



But the Clowns were big and rocking!



All different ones.  They were grouped together like a pod of blue perch!







Fatties every cast!  Well, that is until some locals saw me catching them and throwing them back.  They rolled up on the same rock as me armed with only a closed faced reel and no rod.  They were hand throwing the bait out and reeling in with the reel.  They wound up poaching my rock just like Squatch would.  It was annoying, but I took Squatch's advice when he says "It's their turf... you are the intruder"

I got one last good one before moving on. (probably 12 or more hawkfish on this morning/afternoon session.



Running low on bait...



I did score species #5 with a Banded Wrasse before calling it quits!



I switched up my shirt only once to the SCR shirt from the Bat Fight tank top.  Got to stick with what is working.





Once again, all of these days are a blur and I consumed mass quantities of tasty beverages while catching a bunch of small fish LOL.  The cool thing was this last morning after trying for roosters for an hour, I scored a few new species!  I started catching the now usual suspects...

This was the stuff I was looking at and poking my baits down into.





It's absolutly amazing how many fish you would see in these little pools!









Not to outdone by some more wrasse.





But the creme de la creme was two new species to add to my list.  I caught this Tinsel Squirrelfish (Species Number 6) that had a nasty couple of spines on each cheek.  It hurt like hell for such a tiny pin prick!!







The view from the reef while poking around.



Then just before I had to pack up, I got ripped by something!  I'm assuming it was a big triggerfish or something, but I never saw it in the white water and it busted out a 30 yard run before losing it.  I had to stay another 5 minutes now and made it count with species #7... A Guinefowl Pufferfish!!!!











Well, I'm losing my thoughts at the moment and need to hit the sack.  I had a bunch of what-ifs like a rooster, pargo, big Crevalle and a few unknowns (one felt bonito like) but it was a great time and I made the best of it.  Next time I'll get a boat, but finding fish on my own made everything that more special.
I will get that surf rooster here one of these days.  I've struck out the last 2 times down there, but hopefully the law of averages and fish gods smile kindly upon me.

Thanks for Reading and until next tide!

[vdisney]

Absolutely awesome pictures Tom, that surf looks insane to say the least.  Gotta give you an A+ for effort, glad you all had a good time................................V

[Pinoyfisher]

Ahh yeah!!! Felt like I was there with ya! Tried my hardest to get a guineafowl puffer swimming in the marina, but it wanted nothing to do with market shrimp. Lots of critter fish down there! You're lucky you had so much reef so close to you! I have to walk almost 2 miles to get to some from the resort I stay at. Bummer you didn't get a rooster or big toro, they're an effing blast!! This is technically the offseason for them though. I've heard of dorado caught from shore during this time of the year. I'll definitely be bringing some crack! Awesome trip Tom!

[xjchad]

Great report! Those fish are so cool looking!
Glad you guys were able to get away for awhile!

[BenCantrell]

That's some top notch species fishing!  Great pics too, really makes me want to visit.  Lots of cool species, and very little overlap from what we saw in Acapulco (tinsel squirrelfish, night sergeant, and guineafowl puffer).  And btw you're a bastard for catching that guineafowl.  Ryan and I tried and failed to catch dozens of them that were feeding around the dock pilings.

Roosterfish next time!

[1morecast]

Congrats on the new species....Tom!

[WheresMyBeer]

Hi KenT. What did you do with the real TOM?

Hahah just kidding. Killer trip man. Loved the photos and story to go with. you make the most of it for sure!

[HalibutJoel99]

Great report and pictures!

[BenCantrell]

Dear Tom, we're glad you're not dead.  Sincerely, the rest of us.

http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/3-people-murdered-on-beach-in-los-cabos/