Trip Report: A Dream Fishing Trip in Cabo – PART 1

Tim & Brenda enjoyed the fishing trip of a lifetime this month in Cabo San Lucas. Here, they share part 1 of their amazing vacation…

We arranged the trip through Earth Sea & Sky Vacations (“ESSV,” CaboVillas.com). Our agent was Hernan. He and ESSV did a magnificent job lining up everything from our transportation from and to the airport, to the hotel (Villa Del Palmar, all-inclusive), and our 4 days of fishing.

Like all stories there has to be a beginning. My bride of 38 years & I had never even dreamt of taking a fishing trip. We were inspired by a trip up the coast that I was fortunate enough to take a few weeks earlier. After seeing the photos and me raving about the beauty of the Baja and Sea of Cortez we decided to break the tradition of staying home and venture out. Since our daughters were otherwise detained for Thanksgiving, we decided to use that time to take our trip of a lifetime!

We started planning the trip in mid-October and with the help of Hernan and CaboVillas.com. Like young children waiting for Santa Claus, we would check the fishing reports and weather daily. Finally, after the longest 3 weeks in history it was time to go!

On the 20^th of November we left the house at 3:30AM to go to MSP for our flight to ORD to catch our connection to Los Cabos. The connection was tight (a dead sprint) but we made it. We arrived in San José del Cabo on time and managed our way out of the airport to meet our transportation. We did this with relative ease as we were pre-warned (by ESSV) about the timeshare sales persons at the airport. After our arrival, we took a long stroll to town and back walking Médano Beach (which is gorgeous). We took in dinner at the hotel which was very good. Then it was off to bed to rest to be ready for our first day of fishing.

We took a cab from the hotel to the marina ($7.00) at 6:00 AM and met the crew and got on board. At 6:30 AM we left to show the marina manager our fishing license and by 7:00 we were out and moving to begin fishing. We arrived at the spot that we would begin fishing around 7:30. With lures in the water the process began. We changed lures frequently but at 9:00 we had no action. At 10:15 one of the lines snapped loose, I yelled to the captain and looked back to see a huge marlin go airborne, at the same time the mate was off the flying bridge and grabbed the screaming rod. My wife & I reeled up the extra lines to make room for the fight that was about to take place, I sat in one of the fighting chairs was given the rod and the fight was officially on.

The first run he took lasted minutes, removing the mono and leaving only a fraction of the braided line to fight back from. The captain and mate were yelling back and forth keeping me in contact at all times with this huge fish. After 15 minutes and one more jump I had finally gotten back to the mono. However, this accomplishment was short-lived as he made another run. The fish made a run toward the boat and with the captain running the boat forward and the mate screaming at me, “reel! reel! reel! reel!” (something I would hear several more times). We gathered the slack before my opponent could shake himself loose. We went back and forth I would gain some line and then loose some. All in all we would battle for 40 – 45 minutes. When there was as shout of victory for the crew as they managed him up on the swimming platform.

The celebration with the obligatory beer and photos took place it was now 11:30. The fish measured 110+ inches and had a girth of 55. I was shaking from all the adrenaline. but managed to relax and enjoy the moment.

Now it was time to try for another, we put back in and began to troll for more. At 12:00 noon the crew decided we should change location and bait, so we did. We fished and ate lunch while giggling about what had already been accomplished that day. Suddenly, two releases went off and momentarily we had a double on dorado, mine spit the hook but Brenda’s was hung tight. This was her first ocean venture, her first ocean fish. She had a nice 10 -minute fight and landed her first dorado. She was smiles from ear to ear. She was even happier to be able to release the fish thanks to the handy work of our guides.

We completed our first day of fishing without any hooking up any more fish. On the way back into the marina, we raised our “fish flags” to do our wordless bragging. What we did not realize is that there would be a welcoming committee to meet us. The feather and flipper brigade swam in and flew in to give their congratulations. We would find out later that they did this for all the returning fishermen.

From the welcome home greeting we made our way back to the dock. Drank a beer with the crew, took a picture gave them a healthy tip, grabbed a piece of fish to cook for dinner and began the stroll back to our hotel. It is a short 25-minute walk from the marina to the hotel complex, even if stopping occasionally to discuss the possibility that the cigars that were being sold were actually Cubans.

Back at the hotel, we cleaned up and made our way out to dinner fresh fish in hand. By the way this is simply the best sashimi ever…no exceptions! We ate at the La Puerta in the Villa del Arco hotel. We brought the fish and the chef did the rest a splendid combination of salad, vegetables fresh fish. It was exquisite. There is a free trolley that runs between three hotels within the Villa Del Palmar. But distance is short and the walk after dinner is desired.

With day one of fishing behind us we could only hope to match day on. As it would turn out we beat day one. Not in size but in variety and numbers.

Read Part 2 Here…

More about Fishing in Los Cabos…