The Ebb and Flows of Cabo - Mid August, 2014

[Latimeria]

Wow, it's a whirlwind around here the minute I returned from the Middle Corridor of Los Cabos, but I will stick to the trip as it will take enough to just to try and put the trip into a story.

Let's start off with saying this was going to be a family trip in which all four of us were going on.  Funds and time were going to be limited, so I was going to just fly by the seat of my pants and probably just do some surf fishing to try and add to my life list and hopefully catch a brute or two.
The location was planted right in the Middle Corridor of Los Cabos, where the beach pound is so bad, they prohibit swimming due to the rip currents and dangerous shore pound.  I was armed with some MH gear that I hoped would catch a medium sized Rooster or Toro at the very least.  I've only fished the Cabo beach once before and really didn't put much time in as we mostly panga fished for yellows and tuna.

My general Gear.


The day we arrived, I was shocked to see overhead pounders crushing the beach!  I was thinking, "Oh crap... how am I going to fish that?".  It was rattling my legs every time the shore pound hit!  Day 1 and I decided to walk the beach and take it easy with the family while making mental notes on where to fish the next morning.
I got up well before light and headed out to smooth conditions!  I tried fishing the vast stretches of beach but quickly realized that you had little shot unless you were by some structure.


My goal was to catch a surf caught Rooster.  After that, I was looking to catch a variety and add to my life list.  The sets would roll through every 20 seconds or so and be absolutely HUGE!  Trying to beach a fish was going to be challenging with this calm one minute, crazy the next shore pound.  I also quickly realized that if your lure wasn't at least 1oz, it wasn't going to get far enough out to prevent the shore pound from throwing it right back at you!

While trying to figure out the speed of the retrieve, I get slammed with a nice fight!  A really nice Burrito Grunt! New species #1(Anistromus interupptus)


I then get slammed by something hard fighting!  I could see in the wave it was a Jack Crevalle!  My first Pacific Toro!  WHAT!?!?  The shore pound wave literally threw it and knocked it off the hook.  I tried chasing it in the receding water to no avail!  This was frustrating..

I get picked up again and this one was about 4 feet long and jumping!  It was a big old Houndfish! It was a crazy fight, but I got him to the beach to just be hit by a wave and knocked off.  Luckily the force pushed him up towards me and I grabbed him.  That was a really bad move.  It was super slimey and slid out of my grip until my had got near the head and POW!  OUCH!!!!  These teeth are much bigger than the little needlefish cousins!  He drew his blood and slipped back into the receding wave before I could get a second shot at grabbing him.  DOH!!!!!
I do consider him a catch and not even a sportsmen's release since I had that slimy bastard in my claws. New Species #2 (Tylosurus crocodilus)

I don't want to hear how calm the waters looked in the pictures as it would just sneak up on you on the steep beach.

Finally, Success!  Not big, but new species #3, Pacific Jack Crevalle (Caranx caninus)


I kept seeing what looked like mackerel or bonito crashing, but I couldn't get a cast out far enough to hook one.  Then one slipped up and I hooked him!  This one just unbuttoned out in front of me and didn't look like any bonito or mackerel I've seen before.  Too big for mackerel and nowhere near the color patterns of a bonito.  Later, the locals I talked to called it a bonito, but it definitely did not appear to be one from what I saw.

I got back to have breakfast with the family and do a little swimming before sneaking off again to fish a little more.  This time I get slammed and could not turn him.  I think it was another houndfish.  He ran across the reef and my line cut instantly.  I tied on the only other 1.25 oz kastmaster I had and on the next cast got picked up again!  I saw this one hit it and it was a nicer Toro!  That son of a bitch pulled line with the drag buttoned and busted me off on the reef!  Crap!  I tied on a 1 oz kastmaster, but couldn't get hit after that.

I switched up to crack on a C-Rig to see if that would catch anything.  well, crack kills even down there! Another Burrito Grunt.


I called it quits to hang with the family again, but planned on repeating this schedule for the next few days at minimum.

Day 2 was totally different than yesterday.  No fish boiling on bait and no bait to even be seen unlike the day before.  After an hour of casting the metal for nothing, I switched to the crack and got on the board with another Burrito Grunt.  These guys are pretty prevalent down there.


A little while later and a wave of Gaffstopsail Pompano just rolled in ans stayed around.  Not much fight to them, but catching is way more fun than not catching. New Species #4 (Trachinotus rhodopus)


I did have lots of company watching...


I returned for my post lunch trip and bites were tough to come by.  The surf was starting to get bigger and the wind was starting to blow.  I kept getting these little nibble and coming back with just a bit of crack.  I finally hooked one.  I actually didn't know he was on there until I got him to shore!  Ha!  New Species #5, Balloon Fish! (Diodon holocanthus)


The next morning was very windy with spots of heavy rain moving in and out.  The Ghost Crabs were everywhere and hard to catch, but I did bring something that closely resembled them! 1" peeler Gulp crabs!



And they worked for New Species #6 for a Bullseye Puffer! (Sphoeroides annulatus)
These are considered a pest down here... but I was stoked!



The clouds quickly darkened and the wind picked up. 


Tough conditions, but once again nothing wanted to bite the metal.  i switched back and forth between both rods until I got a flurry of New Species!
They were all pretty small, but it was especially fun to see what the hell the next catch would be!

New Species #7 Clown Hawkfish (Cirrhitus rivulatus)
I got 4 of these little suckers...



New Species #8 Banded Wrasse (Halichoeres notospilus)
These guys invaded the reef, but were hard to catch.  I did get 3 however after going theough a bunch of crack to do so!


New Species #9 Mojarra Grunt (Haemulon scudderii)


New Species #10 Wintersteen Drum (Umbrina wintersteeni)


The rains came and I headed in to spend some quality family time.

The clouds would roll through and rain a little before clearing up to beautiful skies before having another front roll through.  Hannah and I saw some nice conditions and she wanted to go fishing!



We came across this shell of a porcupine fish...



Hannah and I had had some pretty good fishing also.
The Bullseye puffer...


Hannah caught a couple of these pompano!


She made me happy with her note in the sand to me...


She didn't like all these crazy jellies that were blowing in on the beach though...


Hey!  We both liked the next fish I caught and new species #11! Orangeside Triggerfish (Sufflamen verres)


Hannah even caught a Balloonfish!



We had a great day and called it quits.  Tomorrow was my last morning to fish.

The morning treated me to something special.  Soon as I saw the tracks I knew what it was. There were two sets on the immediate beach.






Any Guesses?


Yep, sea turtles laying eggs on the beach!  I must have just missed them, but it was very cool to just see the tracks.

I started off quick with more critters...






The sun came out but the clouds were ominous! 




Then I saw the spot in the distance and it was moving my way!  It's hard to see with the cheap zoom on my camera, but you can believe it was a big one!






Lightning, Thunder, Rain and a water spout actually made me RUN off the beach.  Holy crap was that a nasty one...

It cleared up within 45 minutes and I went out to get one more try at things.  I only brought one rod and a 1oz Cabela's jigging spoon...  Well, it was ON!  Fish were breaking water and I hooked and caught New Species #12!  A Reef Cornetfish!!! (Fistularia commersonii).
It was one of the coolest fish i caught and reached for the camera in my pocket...  WTF?!?!  No camera!!!!!  I forgot it back in the room!  NOOOOOOO!!!!
You'll just have to look it up, but it was a 3+ footer and just a crazy looking fish.  How do these things happen?  Well it was not over...  The "bonito" rolled back in and I finally got one of them!  It was not a bonito afterall, but New Species #13 for me, a frigate Mackerel or frigate tuna!!! (Auxis thazard thazard).... and once again, no pictures since I forgot the camera. 

The only thing I have to show the chaos is the tooth riddled Cabela's spoon. It went from "New in package" to damaged goods in no time. 


Well, it was time to go and I didn't get my Roosterfish or any monsters off the beach, but I did very well for myself and got 13 new species to add to my life list.  I did see about a dozen marlin jumping about 3/4 to a mile out over the week which was awesome and had a great time doing plenty of family activities while drinking way too many tequila based drinks.

There is a ton more to tell as it was a fun and crazy week, but I came back to some grounding news from back home which kind of took the wind out of my sails.  Thus, it was the Ebb and Flow from Cabo.

I hope you enjoyed the post as it took way to long to write, but I will add things when they come to me.  I actually have all the days blended together and 570 pictures to look through.  I grabbed the quick ones to put up a post just in case I had to catch another plane today, but I think this was the general tequila based timeline.  Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner has tequila on the menu.    

I will be back Los Cabos! I have a score to settle.


Thanks for reading and until next tide....

[sasquatch]

 Looks like a great trip.

[huck]

Awesome report! Congrats on the new species too.

[Latimeria]

Thanks Tim!  Great to see you on here. 

[Donfish]

2 of the 4 full days we have booked will be inshore fishing on pangas in feb the rest will be morning and evening assaults on the beach depending on the tequila flow.... Booking the panga trips ahead of the weekend so we can spend the weekend afu...

[MuskieBait]

Good going. Catching up, huh? 

[Latimeria]

Good going. Catching up, huh? 

I think I'm only at 230 species now Ken.  I'm not sure If I'll ever catch up to you unless I start fishing abroad or small and that's not my thing.   
Welcome aboard! 

[xpoc]

Beautiful pictures for a beautiful place. Thanks for the report!

I keep telling myself before I venture into Mexico I need to learn some Spanish first. Did you run into any circumstances that you found it necessary to speak the language?

[Latimeria]

Beautiful pictures for a beautiful place. Thanks for the report!

I keep telling myself before I venture into Mexico I need to learn some Spanish first. Did you run into any circumstances that you found it necessary to speak the language?

Thanks Boss.

Down there (touristy areas), most people speak English.  It's always helpful to know some common words and phrases in Spanish, but not entirely necessary. 

[Limits]

Good ol' Kastmaster and crack to the rescue!

Congrats on upping the lifetime species.

[raychavez91]

Awesome job on the addition of the new species man. Puffers are always interesting, use to catch em all the time in Florida and Puerto Rico when I was younger, the jacks where the other, I'd hook some brutes off the docks on topwaters, and would get wrecked on my calcutta 401 and 65# power pro lol 

[Limulus]

Fantastic report and congrats on all those new spp!

[Latimeria]

Fantastic report and congrats on all those new spp!

Thanks Boss. I have to check again, but I think I'm at 230 species right now on rod-n-reel.

[faster u fool]

Wow how I miss that place,  What a killer report and insane pics.  I told you that shore pound is no joke.  I kills more tourists than anything else..Bummer in the rooster. 
I just found out one of my old time friends had moved down there to pair up with another long time friend running boats.  And land based fishing services..  So if anyone is heading down let me know. Im hitting it in Feb.

[Pinoyfisher]

Great report Tom! You definitely scored more species than all of my Cabo trips combined, but I have been pretty fortunate in getting into some killer rooster action. August is pretty late for roosters though. I never thought about bring the crack as I usually stick to lures and cut market shrimp bought from the local Super Wal-Mart. Were you in Cabo near the marina or San Jose del Cabo where it sits right between the Cortez and the pacific?