The Owners Visit

May 8, 1999: The owners arrived at the Kaitlin for a visit and a sunset cruise.
 

We departed Baja Marina at 5:00 for an easterly cruise down to Cabo Real and return, a trip of about 2.5 hours. Seas were gentle in the lee of the hills around the harbor. We took the obligatory photos of the arch at Lands End, and worked our way through the other sunset cruisers, including yachts, pirate ships, disco catamarans, glass bottomed boats, jet skis and even pangas.
 
 

May 9, 1999: The owner's party and their pilot met at the dock at 8:30 for a fishing trip. We were at the peak week of the peak month of the marlin season. We took on a local mate, bought live bait from the local pangas, and set out on the 24 mile easterly run to Gordo Bank. The book was to drop lines at about 12 miles out and troll on to the final location, then troll or drift live bait as the situation dictated.
 
 

The fishing method for marlin here in Los Cabos is to troll plastic lures and teasers until a marlin makes a pass. If it fails to be interested in the plastics (usually the case) a live bait is drifted back to the fish, which can produce explosive results.

As someone said, seeing a marlin is a lot different than catching one, and we proved that. At 4 miles out, we passed a big striped marlin tailing on the surface. It wasn't 20 yards off the portside of the boat, and seemed unpreturbed as we sailed on by at 12 knots. We weren't quite ready for that one, and were still rigging the live bait rigs. It failed to turn on the plastics, and was gone somewhere astern before we got the chinese fire drill under control. As one who sees maybe one marlin in a week's fishing, I lamented the miss.

Twenty minutes later, another marlin swam by. This time we were a bit more ready. It crashed the far plastics without a hookup, and a bait was dutifully drifted back and lure retrival begun. Seconds later the marlin appeared 10 feet off the starboard quarter, crashing the remaining plastics. The live bait was well off the stern and heading further away in a hurry. The marlin left. I lamented some more. Two marlin at the boat in the same day. We rigged a 2nd live bait to be ready for future emergencies.

Soon a big wahoo cut the black and red lure off the starboard flatline. Brief hookup, big thrashing, limp line. Standard results for wahoo on the monofiliment leader used for billfish. This time Steve lamented. It was his $55 lure.

We passed an enormous school of porpoise, feeding over a large area of the ocean, and also saw 3-4 more free jumping marlin before noon. We then arrived at the Gordo Bank, where there must have been 3 dozen boats circling a 5 mile racetrack from N/E to S/W. Almost instantly we came upon another marlin swimming on the surface, and this time we did it all right.

Jose, the mate, hooked up the marlin and everyone scrambled to rig Barney into the fighting chair. We finally had a hookup! Barney fought the marlin for about 10 minutes when an adjacent boat began backing down over our line. The other boat had a fish on also but appeared to have plenty of room to manuever and knew of our fish. Our shouted warnings went unheeded. Fortunately, our fish sounded and they backed safely over our line, leaving us off their bow. Unfortunately, the boat then went forward, found our line, hooked it aboard with a gaff, and cut it.

Thus ended Barney's chance to get a marlin. There is little doubt the cutoff was deliberate. We spent a good 15 minutes speaking loudly toward them in spanish, anglo saxon, and universally understood sign language.

The boat was the Ursula III, so if you're in Cabo, consider avoiding this bunch. They are either grossly inconsiderate, or cannot drive a boat, neither of which needs any patronage. I'll post the agents name as soon as I have it, and we can avoid them also. The more we think about it, the madder we all get.
 
We fished a few more hours, getting one more marlin to crash the lines, for a total of 5 strikes that day. Freejumpers were everywhere, with 2 or 3 sometimes being visible at the same time. I lost count in the upper 40's, and we saw many more after that. Most boats caught and released 2-3 stripers that day, and I can see how with so many available. I spent some time videoing them, which supplied the above pictures.

During the entire day we were helped by our locally hired mate, Jose Teodoro Almanza, called YoYo by his friends on VHF channel 71. Usually he drives one of the 28' Ave boats (Ave I, Ave II, Ave III) but this was his day off and he did all the work on the fishing deck, tirelessly putting out lines, dropping livebait back, and setting the hook. He was very knowledgeable in the local area's fishing methods. After the day of fishing he helped Cisco wash down the boat. Jose can be reached for booking through Berta Mijares at 114.3.00.78, and can be called on VHF 71 under the name YoYo. We strongly recommend him for anyone needing local guidance, or use him and his mate on one of the Ave fleet, if you need a boat.

By 3:00 many of the folks had too much fun in and began to fall asleep. Everyone agreed we'd had a great day on the ocean, even if we hadn't boated any fish. Now that we know where they are, lookout!

We turned the boat toward Cabo San Lucas, and were dockside at our new slip at Marina Cabo San Lucas, where we'd been on the waiting list for two days. We were backed up to Plaza las Glorias, where I'd stayed a month earlier. We are now within walking distance of the necessities.
 
 
 
Tomorrow we'll get a better idea of the next week's plan.
To be continued.................