The new marina has arrived to San Jose Del Cabo, it’s called Puerto Los Cabos.
Most definitely, it has taken it’s fair share of time, but the Corona family has done a magnificent job in constructing and getting up and running the new marina and harbor in San Jose Del Cabo. So long are the days of needing to drive all the way into Cabo San Lucas to launch your boat at the launch ramp there. If you are living or vacationing closer to San Jose Del Cabo, it is a very simply drive through town and the estuary to the new marina. There is a nice webpage that talks about the making of the Puerto Los Cabos marina right here(for more information on that if you like.)
Some great features of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina:
Very easy to use launch ramp (never a wait, and some happy local Mexicans are there to help you out if you like)
Some of the nicest looking fillet tables for cutting up your catch when you return (look at the picture below)
Several nice public bathrooms (great places to drop a stinky load before or after fishing)
A nice beach to take a quick dip, or to drop your kids off at while you go out fishing for the day
Tons of panga boats to charter for fishing trips if you don’t have your own fishing boat
Live bait is often available from some of the locals if you arrive early enough in the morning
Several different taco stands and smaller restaurants are scattered around the marina (don’t be scared if they look like they haven’t been cleaned in years, those ones are usually the best tasting. Best bet is to hit up a taco stand that has the most locals eating at it. And feel free to bring your fish that you’ve caught right on in, and most places will cook it up for you
There is a fishing tackle shop that you can buy fishing gear and a Mexican Fishing License if you like (people over the age of 12 need to purchase a fishing license and it is around $15 or less per day)
Drydock storage facilities for boats that are needing a more long term solution
Other boat services and haul out options are available
Puerto Los Cabos Marina Pictures:
Puerto Los Cabos Marina (near the launch ramp)the fish filleting tables at the marina (girl sometimes included)the red car is launching our boatSome Amigos fishing on the docks in the marina
View of Palmilla Bay between San Jose and Cabo San Lucas
Today December 29, 2011 is the beginning of an 11 day long fishing trip. What’s great is that the weather is looking quite a bit better this morning compared to the reports that we have heard from several amigos and local Mexican fishing guides down here in Cabo. I guess the past few days, the weather has been relatively cool, with some variable to heavy winds in the afternoons.
This morning, the winds are very light, and the seas appear very calm here at Palmilla Bay. Palmilla bay is located in-between the two towns of San Jose del Cabo and the more famous Cabo San Lucas. Of the two towns, it is much closer to San Jose del Cabo.
Later on today, we are going to launch the Grady White boat we have down here, and take it out for some fishing. We are still deciding where exactly to fish, but it is probably that we will launch out of San Jose del Cabo in their new marina, and then maybe take a stroll up the Sea of Cortez to the Gordo Banks. There have been some reports of yellowfin tuna and dorado being taken out at the banks which is great news. My wife is telling me not to come back to sea until we have some fish for her to eat. I’m sure other fishermen can understand the pressures we go through.
In terms of how we plan on catching anything, well, we will probably be trolling heavy lures behind the boat, and if we get lucky, we might end up purchasing some live bait from some other amigos.
Time will tell, but since it’s been three years since I was down here in Cabo, I think we should be really lucky this time around.
More Cabo fishing updates will follow over the week, and hopefully some nice pictures of fish both being caught, and maybe even some live fishing videos.
Much of the best salmon fishing off the California Coast is happening right in Santa Cruz which is part of the Monterrey Bay. There seems to be some great action for quite some time now just a few minutes ride by private boat or charter boat from the Santa Cruz harbor, and salmon are being caught with sardines and others from trolling lures in the 70-100 feet range.
Most of the salmon fishing has been the best while bringing your fishing gear down below the 80 foot mark, but for those of you who enjoy fishing much higher to the surface, there is always a decent chance you will get a strike up higher too.
With fishing conditions being very good so far in September, many of the party boats and private yachts have come back to the docks with averages of 1 salmon for every two people, and often the numbers have been much higher. There have also been some larger than normal salmon caught over the past two weeks. There was one confirmed 36 lb. salmon caught with an anchovy three miles off Capitola in 80 feet of water, and there have been numerous 20 lb. salmon reports over the past month too.
One suggestion would be to contact the local harbor master before you plan to leave your house to find out the local weather conditions. It’s definitely worth the quick phone call to find out what might be happening on the ocean during your salmon fishing before you head out of the driveway. And what a great way to head out if the harbormaster tells you the water is flat calm and no wind expected the rest of the day.
We just finished fishing the Stanislaus River off Highway 4, and man was it an excellent few days of fishing for trout. With all of the rain this year, the river was running higher than we have ever seen it, and that seemed to positively impact our overall fishing numbers.
Please watch the video of how the fishing ended up:
Our fishing trip started out with buying some live crickets and night crawler worms from Ebbetts Pass Sporting Goods. They are located just off Highway 4 in Arnold, CA. This store I thought was going to be great in terms of help, as the young guy I talked to the day before told me the owner would be there the next day when I planned on driving through their town, but not so much the case. Actually, the old man was cool and helpful with some fishing tips, but his wife was VERY un-cool and actually quite rude. She was trying to tell my friend and I we could not fish where we were planning on fishing off Boards Crossing, which ended up being completely NOT TRUE. Quite strange that she would act so rude to new customers trying to bring her business to her fishing shop.
Either way, this place did not disturb our fishing trip, and we pretty much laughed her off a few miles down the road as a grump.
The drive from Arnold to Boards Crossing Road is not very far at all. And for sure B Davis and I were pretty pumped to get the fishing line in the water, because this was the first time we had live crickets to fish with. In the past we had used pretty much everything else, but not crickets yet.
We started off walking down a good ways downriver to what is known as “The Gorge”. It’s about a 45 minute walk from the actual Boards Crossing, but once we got there, it was well worth the hike. Since the water of the Stanislaus is running so high right now.
Fishing With the Sun Shinning
On our first day of fishing, we met a girl at the local breakfast restaurant down in Murphy’s, California. And, since she looked like she might know something about trout fishing on the Stanislaus, we asked her what she would recommend. And of course, any
Brad's first Trout on a Lure at the Stanislaus Gorge
fisherman or woman has their own opinions on everything, but this girl told us you won’t catch any trout in the middle of the day. Well, that too was WRONG. We sure caught a ton of trout in the middle of the day. In-fact, all of the trout we caught from the Gorge was during the middle of the day when the sun was shinning pretty hard. Of course, after the long hike down the river, it might have been a better idea to fish later or just stay out of the sun for a little while longer, but we didn’t. The trout kept pouncing on the crickets so we just couldn’t stop. Brad even caught a German Brown Trout on a spinner, and that was his first trout on a lure EVER.
Speaking of fisherwomen, we ran into one of the best we have ever seen on all of our adventures trout fishing off Highway 4. There was a young girl maybe in her early twenties who was sitting down in a lawn chair in the shade with her fishing pole and book, who was absolutely nailing the fish. She was using salmon eggs and the trout were loving it. We noticed that in the span of about 45 minutes, she must have pulled in about 3 keeper trout, and eventually she got up and left with a string of 5 nice sized 12-14 inch trout for dinner. Congrats to her, and it was great to see trout being caught out of the Stanislaus on salmon eggs. We ourselves did not have any luck with using the salmon eggs however.
Catching Trout with Crickets:
There are a few things we learned about fishing with crickets to catch the trout. Here is a list:
get used to chasing the crickets around on the ground after you take one from the cage
Once you have one, hold it with two fingers(thumb and pointer) while you are hooking it
Hook the cricket in the thorax and than back through the neck
When the small trout nibble, relax and take a few seconds before you jerk the fishing pole
When the larger trout strike, you will know for sure
Keep the crickets in a cool place out of the direct sunlight
A “half tube” of crickets lasted two of us 2 full days
Don’t spend more than $4 on a half tube of live crickets
Use either a bobber or a few hooks to get the cricket presenting properly
When fishing with crickets, don’t freak out about the cricket juice that comes out after the initial hooking
Pictures of Rainbow Trout from the 2011 Stanislaus Fishing Trip:
One of the first Rainbows of the trip, notice the sun is out
Brad taking the hook out of the trouts mouth
An excellent shot of "The Gorge" on the Stanislaus Riverthis is what we called "the beach"frying up some rainbow trout in the morning for breakfast
