Cabo Girls Trip

Once again I had the privilege of being a guest on Linda William's II Success for a girls fishing trip out of Cabo San Lucas. Linda, Barbara, Susan and I caught the Friday morning Alaska Airlines flight to Cabo. A short two hours later, Captain Cubby (Kevin Pahl) picked us up at San Jose del Cabo Airport and drove us to the marina where Linda's beautiful 60 foot Hatteras is docked and where we would call home for the next six days.

Saturday morning we were up and ready when Cubby arrived at 7 am to get the boat ready for our fishing day. Antonio, his deck hand, arrived at the same time. Mike Powell joined the crew as well. Bait was loaded (10 pieces at $3 each), tackle readied, switch from shore power to generators, and whatever else it takes to get the boat ready.

We made a quick run to pick up the breakfast burritos, smoothies, etc. that we ordered for crew and passenger's breakfasts and then we were off. It was just after 8 am. As we rounded the cape heading for the Pacific side, we encountered flat calm seas. Our goal today was to catch dorado to take to Panchos for our dinner. Cubby trolled us around something he called the 1000 mile bank or spot until we picked up a nice beautiful dorado around noon.

Mission accomplished, Captain Cubby headed towards the Jaime Bank to look for tuna. We spent the rest the day trolling marlin lures and a little black and silver hoochie - which caught a couple small yellowfin tuna. It was a gorgeous day on the water and a beautiful evening when we returned to dock.

After cleaning up, we took our dorado (Mahi Mahi) to Panchos and they prepared it three different ways for us: blackened, grilled and breaded and served it with 6 different sauces. We stuffed ourselves and still had fish left for the next day's lunch.

Sunday morning was the same routine except that Annie Murphy joined us this day. She and her husband own and operate dinner cruise boats in Cabo. Annie and her husband are a delightfully entertaining couple to spend time with. Quite charming!

We departed the harbor around 8 am and trolled over the 1000 mile bank again. Afternoon, Cubby headed out to the Jaime Bank and out came the Yummee Flyer on the Kite. Now it got exciting. The bank was loaded with birds and dolphins - spinners, spotties and commons.

Cubby's kite set up is 7 feet of 300# mono crimped to two back to back 7691 hooks in 9/0 size slid inside a 7" Yummee. This is connected to a snap swivel connected to 100# spectra with a 1 1/2 ounce sliding sinker and a kite float above it.

As the Yummee was trolled, Antonio would yank the line causing the Yummee to skip across the water like a live flyer. As the Yummee hit the water, tuna would blow up on it usually inhaling the flyer and hooking themselves as well. We caught 9 yellowfin tuna at the bank this day and 8 were hooked on the Yummee Flyer and 1 on live bait. The tuna ranged from 30 to 70 pounds and Annie caught her personal best. We had a rotation going so we each caught two tuna except for Susan. She will be first up tomorrow.

We were late getting back to dock and we had tuna to process. Mexico prohibits filleting fish at sea so we had wait until we returned. Cubby and Antonio filleted the fish, while Linda, Susan, Barbara and I bagged and sealed the filets. It was 10 pm by the time we finished and the only place open for dinner was Solomon's on the boardwalk. It was delicious - I had the pecan chicken.

Monday morning we headed back out to the Jaime Bank. Mike joined us again. We still had flat calm seas, water temperatures at 85.3 degrees, air temperatures around 97 and high humidity. We drank lots of water or frozen bottles of Crystal Light. The trip to the bank takes around an hour - about 25 miles. We located the porpoise and out went the kite. 8 yellowfin tuna today (2 each for Linda, Susan, Barbara and me) and all of these were on the Yummee. The Yummee under the kite was the ticket. Other boats without the Yummee were struggling to get a bite. The tuna were on small 3 inch fry but there were loads of live flyers all around.

Tuesday Barbara left us to fly home to be with Hubby for his surgery on Thursday (which I was told went well). We missed you Barb.

We got a late start as our first stop was the fuel dock. We got out of the harbor about 9:30 am. The weather had come up on the Pacific side so we couldn't go back out to the Jaime Bank. We ended up trolling back in towards the Sea of Cortez until we got out of the rough seas. I made us some Poke out of the tuna we caught Monday and sliced up some sashimi for lunch. Nothing like fresh tuna.

We only caught one small dorado all day. It was still a beautiful day on the water. Water temperatures were warmer here - 87 degrees. We went to Nick San for dinner - sushi. It was wonderful and not crowded at all.

Wednesday was our last fishing day. Annie and her husband joined us as did Mike and Glenda Powell. Weather was still up on the Pacific side so back around to the inside.

Cubby and guys spent hours with the Gyros looking for fish and birds. We trolled the outer Gordo Bank and ended up on the inner - Punta Gordo. The porpoise were here - spinners, spotties and commons. Out went the Kite with the Yummee. We picked up a couple yellowfin. We even had a marlin on for a short time.  One disheartening sight was a tuna pen being towed towards Cabo.  Pretty far south for a pen boat.

I made some tuna tataki, sashimi and smoked fish pate for snacks/lunch. I also set out other leftovers and sandwich fixings. It was a beautiful day- clear skies, 98 degrees, water at 88 degrees.

It was just before six in the evening and we were trolling the Yummee close to two pangas when a 150 pound tuna blew up on the Yummee, and kept blowing out on it but just didn't get it. Just as Cubby said I think I'll make one more pass before heading to dock, it happened. A big boil and we were on. Susan was up so she strapped into her harness and started to work on the fish. 55 minutes later, the big tuna was still not yielding to her pressure. She asked me to take over. After 50 more minutes, I hadn't made significant progress either. This fish was easily over two hundred pounds and we only had 100 pound spectra with just a scant 7 feet of 300 pound mono connected to it. Not the stuff that allows the pressure needed to bring this fish in. Cubby was resistant to me tightening the drag so I didn't but I also knew that if the fish wasn't coming in, it was a lost cause. Time is a killer.

Sharing is what these trips are about and share I did. Linda took over. She really put the pressure to the fish and had it coming when the spectra parted. We never saw the fish.

It was dark and late when we got back to dock.

Another late dinner - 10:30 pm. After dinner, we stopped at the Jazz Bar before calling it a night. Charming husband and wife owners - husband plays the piano and wife sings. Nice way to end the trip.

It was with long faces Thursday morning that we packed, cleaned, did laundry then packed up the ice chests with tuna for the trip home. We were all able to upgrade to First Class so our bags were free to check as was our dinner and drink on the flight home. We thought we might get entertainment too as our attendant was chosen for American Idol and it was his last flight - but alas, he must have had stage fright.

It was a perfect trip - great weather, good fishing, wonderful company and truly a carefree vacation. Thanks again Linda for your friendship.