CABO - A New Experience!

We had dinner with an old friend recently when the subject of fishing came up. He said his sister was an avid fisherman with a boat in Cabo and we should get together. When his sister, Linda, phoned a couple weeks ago and said she needed a fishing partner for a week in Cabo, I didn’t hesitate. I cleared my calendar, got my airline tickets and bought a Mexican fishing license and met her at LAX. And “Yes” I really went fishing with someone I met for the first time when we got to the airport for our flight. And “No” I wasn’t concerned as fishing folks are great people and Linda turned out to be the best of the best.

Our Alaska Airlines flight was delayed for two hours due to a mechanical in Seattle so we didn’t arrive in Cabo until 4:00 pm. Captain Cubby Pahl (previously a sportboat captain) picked us up and drove us to the marina. We walked from the parking lot to Dock K-8 where we boarded “II Success,” Linda’s 60 foot Hatteras and our home for the next week. I had the privilege of staying in the forward stateroom which has its’ own TV and bath with shower. The Success is a beautiful yacht and wonderful fishing platform with a cruising speed of 30 knots. The speed I was soon to appreciate.






The Forward Stateroom

Galley and Salon

Our first evening we dined at Soloman’s on the main boardwalk which is a short walk from Dock K. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and talked about the next day’s fishing plans. We would be fishing marlin at the Golden Gate Bank – stand-up style rather than use the fighting chair. In fact, the chair was used to hold rods and bait nets. Since the boat is so fast, Cubby said we wouldn’t need to leave before 8:00 a.m. We also talked about the fishing community and I learned that the Success is Berkley supported and Bob Hoose had told Cubby all about me. It is a small world.

The next morning I was up early anyway, long before daylight. Other boats left the harbor while I had my coffee and checked my email. Captain Cubby and deckhand Antonio arrived around 7 a.m. As I was standing on the back deck, I heard my name being called. When I looked up I saw Johnnie, an Excel crew member, standing there. What a pleasant surprise. Linda ordered breakfast burritos for the crew from a shop on the boardwalk and we picked them up.

Departing Dock

Captain Cubby and Linda

By 8 a.m. we were on our way and by 9 a.m. we were at the bank making bait – mackerel. Cubby makes his own 8 fly bait rigs using red and yellow yarn. He says the mackerel like the yarn and the Mexican sardines don’t and the sardines are the weaker baits. Catching bait during the daylight was a new experience but it was very effective. The baits were down 150 to 250 feet and it took about an hour to fill the tanks.

The rods were all set up with spectra backing, about 200 yards of Hi-Vis 50 pound Berkley monofilament line and a 20 foot leader of 100 pound Big Game plus a 3 foot fluorocarbon leader of Berkley 100 pound Vanish. The hooks were 8/0 Eagle Claw 2004 Elf (thin wire) tied on using a Palomar knot that let the hook swing freely. We slow trolled our live mackerel back 50 yards or so and had to hold our rods straight up to allow the captain and us to see our baits and the marlin bite when it comes.

It didn’t take long to hook our first striped marlin and Linda insisted I take the first rotation. Fishing from a yacht is a very different experience than from an anchored sportboat. There are no high rails to lean your arms or waist against. Instead there are low, but nicely padded, gunnels to lean your knees into. As I reeled my fish in, Cubby backed down on the fish and with the low gunnels I got my first saltwater shower of the trip. It wouldn’t be the last and I found for stability purposes, I was better off fishing barefoot than slipping around inside wet shoes. The fish put on a wonderful show jumping many times before going deep. Once the fish came to leader, Antonio grabbed the leader and released the fish.
Linda hooked and landed the next fish in short order then Cubby got called in on a dead seal affectionately referred to as a “gas bag.”

We made an 8 mile run north and found the “gas bag” loaded with dorado. We caught boat limits (or more) of dorado and turned the spot over to Martha on the Retriever. The Retriever is in the same marina across from the Success. Cubby headed for home while Antonio filleted the dorado and Linda and I sealed them in freezer bags.

We cleaned the boat, showered and took a load of dorado to Panchos to cook for our dinner. A huge platter was delivered to our table containing breaded fish sticks in the center and broiled mahi mahi on one end and blackened mahi mahi on the other end. Fresh tortillas, quacamole, beans and rice accompanied the platter. I have never had dorado taste better. I even ate the leftovers for lunch the next two days.

We were going to have guests join us on day two – the captain of the yacht in the slip next to us (Missing Lenk) and his girlfriend. When they boarded the boat the next morning, it turned out to be Mike Powell formerly with Fishworks Clothing and a friend of mine. How nice to fish with him and his charming southern girlfriend, Glenda. We picked up the breakfast burritos for crew and left for the bank. Unfortunately the weather was up this day but we still caught and released 5 marlin and had a wonderful day on the water.

Mike Powell and Glenda

Glenda's Marlin

Memo was our deckhand on day three and Cain was our deckhand on days four, five and six. Day four and five we fished Golden Gate Bank again and caught 7 marlin one day and 8 the next. One of Linda’s fish was a 210 pounder that died during the fight so it was brought aboard and filleted. The fish did not go to waste as Cubby took the fillets home to smoke. His smoked marlin is quite good especially when he makes a pate out of it. We had the opportunity to try both on this trip. On day five we were fly lining mackerel when a school of black porpoise came through. I had a 150 pound tuna jump clear out of the water towards my bait only to have a sea lion snatch the mackerel before the tuna got to it. Bummer!

Linda's 210# Striper

In the evenings we dined at different restaurants in the area – El Pollo de Oro (ribs and chicken). Patagonia (steak), Mi Casa (Mexican), and Soloman’s (fish, shrimp or steak). After dinner, we had drinks and people watched at the various bars Cabo is popular for – the Giggling Marlin, The Office (set on the sand of the beach), Cabo Wabo, etc. Although the boat has satellite TV, we never saw more than a few minutes of news in the morning as there were so many more interesting things to experience.

The Office

Our last day of fishing Cubby told us to be ready early – we were departing at 7 am. We topped off the fuel and Cubby kicked the engines up to 30 knots on calm seas. We stopped at Golden Gate to make bait and as soon as we filled the tanks, Cubby kicked the engines back up and headed to the Finger Bank. It was a wonderful ride until about 5 miles before the bank when it turned really snotty and he had to pull the throttles way back. It felt like we were barely doing 5 knots but when we made it to the bank, all we saw was birds, feeders and tailers (marlin everywhere). There had to be thousands of stripers and they were feeding. The bank was alive but the seas were very rough. Linda leaned over to me and whispered “this could be a 30 fish day” meaning we had a chance to break the previous boat record of 26 marlin in a single day. How right she was.

As soon as we cast our baits we were hooked up and just as quickly we were completely soaked as the water poured over the stern. A couple times we had to stop to bail but we didn’t care – the fish were biting. As fast as we landed a fish, Cain would hand us a baited rod. As soon as we cast out the bait, we were hooked up again. As we fought our fish, Cain would quickly tie on another leader, bait the rod, and set it in the holder. He would leader the next fish and we would start all over again. We had many double hook-ups which were more difficult because Cubby could only back down on one fish at a time and if the other fish was going the opposite direction, the fight on that fish had to wait as line poured off the reel. As the day progressed, the count went up and the weather backed off. We were at 10 fish around noon then we hit 20 and finally 30 but we just couldn’t stop. So at the end of the day, January 28, 2009, Linda and I caught 40 marlin and 3 dorado between the two of us and set a new boat record!

Cain our deckhand

Heading Home

What an experience! I have a new respect for marlin fishing and feel privileged to have been given such an opportunity to experience it. Linda is extremely generous and an excellent fisherman who pulls as hard (or harder) than I do on fish – and – someone I now call “friend.”