by
Tony Peña
Just
catching bait at Cerralvo, the southernmost island in the sea of Cortez, can be
an adventure. Captain Mauricio Lucero Gonzalez of the Las Arenas Resort fleet
pointed the bow of the panga (outboard skiff) to a balled-up school of ladyfish
appearing like yellow sparkles in the clear water at the foot of the western
cliffs of the rugged, desert island. Our
quarry was big roosterfish but the key to success is catching the right kind of
bait first. Ladyfish (locally called
sabalo) are a premier rooster-enticer in this area of Baja.
The small bow platform provided firm footing as I made a lob cast to the
“ladies” with a simple torpedo sinker and hook combination.
A fast, jerky retrieve resulted in our first hookup of the morning.
As the ladyfish was pulled away from the school a big, lit-up roosterfish
with dorsal comb slicing the surface charged in seemingly out of nowhere
undoubtedly attracted by the commotion. A
frustrated Lucero looked at the 50-pounder swimming free knowing we had no bait.
Except mine. I free-spooled
the ladyfish and every time the rooster made a pass the lady did aerial
cartwheels to dodge the menace. Our
pleads of, “Take it! Take it!” were useless utterings.
Adding thumb pressure on the spool to slow the bait, the rooster rushed
in as the lady jumped and used the additional leverage to throw the hook.
In a blur both the bait and rooster were gone.
We
all knew we would get more chances later since fishing these Cerralvo Island
waters in early July is almost a sure bet for large roosterfish as well as blue
marlin, wahoo, yellowfin tuna, sailfish and nearshore bruisers such as cubera
(dog) snapper. The area is about a
25-mile drive by airport shuttle van from bustling La Paz but seems much farther
due to its solitude and pristine environment.
The spectacular dry desert landscape collides with the cobalt Sea of
Cortez in an abrupt confrontation of habitats that has appealed to anglers for
generations.
Within
an hour we had put nine ladyfish in the panga’s live well, which is created
simply by filling the hull space between the bow platform and first bench seat
with several buckets of water. We
were soon slow trolling along the blue-green edge of the sea just outside the
concentrations of baitfish. Cerralvo
is an epicenter for big roosterfish with its white sand beaches, rocky headlands
and submerged reefs. It’s deep
blue-water canyons serve as travel corridors for pelagic gamefish as well.
Nose-hooking
two ladyfish we slow-trolled them from Shimano TLD-15 lever drag outfits spooled
with 50-pound Power Pro Spectra with 30-feet of 40-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon
topshot. Trolling a meandering
pattern near the beach, one of the ladyfish baits started acting nervous.
A telltale dorsal comb, trademark of the roosterfish, showed behind the
hapless bait and rather than toying with it like so many roosters do, this one
charged ahead and hit it sideways with a vicious lunge.
It’s head looked like chiseled granite in profile.
“Big fish,” understated Lucero. These
long bodied ladyfish baits require time for even big roosters to swallow.
Forget a count to ten. Sometimes
it takes two or three minutes before
setting the hook. It’s critical to
not give too much time as well to avoid gut-hooking and injuring the fish before
a release. Roosterfish frequently
swallow ladyfish tail first as shown by crush marks along the body to the back
of the head on baits that have been pulled prematurely.
Roosterfish have no teeth to tear forage with.
They rely on powerful jaws with a gritty mouth to hold and swallow prey.
Captain
Lucero slowly followed the roosterfish to avoid having too much line out.
Even so, as the rooster picked up speed over 100 yards of line was off
the spool. Rapid acceleration is a
sign the bait has been swallowed and Lucero nodded his head, a subtle sign to
set the hook. Rick Casparian pushed
the lever drag to “strike” and cranked the handle hard.
Lucero speeded up the boat in the opposite direction to help set the hook
in the rooster’s hard jaws as well as to keep a tight line if the fish charged
the boat. The rod loaded up in a
smooth arc and line peeled off the spool from a heavy drag.
The panga was slowed down to neutral as the rooster was well-hooked,
aided by the low-stretch factor of the superbraid.
After a 35-minute give and take battle the rooster came to the surface,
gleaming on its side and thoroughly tired. Lucero
struggled to release the jaw-hooked fish after spending a few moments to revive
it fully, we estimated its weight at a conservative 70 pounds.
It was a nice trophy yet would not raise too many eyebrows in these Baja
waters. The all-tackle I.G.F.A.
world record of 114 pounds was taken in this La Paz region in 1960.
Roosters exceeding 80 pounds are still regularly encountered due, in
large part, to a catch and release ethic that is widely supported.
It is also advisable to use 30-pound tackle or heavier to avoid long
fights which can overstress and kill a big roosterfish.
Continuing
our northerly troll we spotted fragmented herds of wild goats foraging on
Cerralvo’s rugged, cactus-studded slopes.
By late morning, towering formations of frigate birds started to gather
in the Cerralvo Channel, which separates the island from the Baja mainland.
It averages only six miles in width but has a good mid-channel depth of
186 to 283 fathoms. The close-in
channel is a magnet for blue marlin yet is frequently overlooked by big-boat
anglers as they prefer to make longer runs offshore to deeper water.
Blue
marlin usually show up by late June or July to feed on immense schools of dorado
(dolphin) that are attracted to baited commercial shark floats anchored in deep
water and rafts of sargasso weed concentrated by the currents.
Plentiful black skipjack, yellowfin tuna, bonito and squid fill out the
marlins menu. Nutrient-rich
upwellings and 80- to 86-degree sea temperatures produce a steady supply of
forage for a number of gamefish species.
Replacing
our rooster rigs with billfish lures we ran to the first bird activity only a
few minutes from the Cerralvo shoreline. Nothing
showed and we trolled to visible targets such as the shark buoys, sargasso
patches and frigate bird activity. The
sea was full of life as a behemoth blue whale spouted on the surface and
porpoise leisurely fed in loose schools. A
flying fish skimmed the surface as a bull dorado was in hot pursuit and closing
fast as a frigate swooped in seemingly out of nowhere and snagged the flyer with
its great hooked beak within a few feet of the dorado’s gaping mouth.
We
caught a few dorado by casting surface poppers near the buoys as we trolled by.
Small yellowfin tuna were also hitting the poppers and small trolling
feathers. The table was definitely
set for the big pelagics to show. Relaxing
as we covered a gap of open “dead” water between the buoy line and distant
bird activity our starboard rod buckled low as line shot from the reel under
severe pressure. No one said
anything. We knew what it was.
The blue marlin burst from the surface and grey-hounded on its side like
a huge flat stone skipping over the water. Suddenly
it turned towards our stern as if recognizing its adversary and charged the
boat. Lucero gunned the outboard and
turned the panga at the same time as the marlin narrowly missed coming aboard.
The blue powered into the depths and refused to budge.
Switching to low gear on the Shimano TLD 20 two-speed and using a custom
fitted stand-up harness and belt made it possible to exert maximum pressure
without the fatigue and awkwardness created by unbalanced tackle, a necessity
when fishing from a diminutive panga.
Within
an hour the blue was tired enough to bring alongside for release.
With the panga’s low freeboard and open construction you don’t want a
thrashing, “green” marlin near the boat for safety reasons.
Unhooking the Moldcraft Softhead, Lucero pushed the rough bill away from
the gunwale and the marlin, estimated at 300 pounds, kicked its tail and
disappeared into the dark depths.
Before
returning to Las Arenas Resort in the afternoon, we raised another blue marlin
that threw the hook and released a big sailfish and several dorado between 25
and 40 pounds on light plugging tackle. Other
panga anglers, fanning out in all directions from the morning departure, had
good action with yellowfin tuna to 120 pounds, sailfish and blue marlin offshore
with a 700-pound blue taking big fish honors for the day.
Nearshore fishermen turned up cubera (dog) snapper to 45-pounds,
amberjack, wahoo, jack crevalle and cabrilla.
In addition, roosterfish to 80 pounds were released at Las Arenas as well
as Cerralvo.
Most
of the sportfishing in this region is accomplished from single outboard pangas
not equipped with fighting chairs. The
stand-up fishing style is standard with a maximum of 50-pound class tackle
preferred not only for the challenge but for safety reasons.
Standing up with a heavy 80-wide outfit locked in a harness from a
pitching, narrow-beamed boat with low gunwales is not recommended for anyone,
especially when hooked to a big marlin or yellowfin tuna.
Many anglers are adding both line capacity and line strength to smaller
reels by using superbraids with monofilament or fluorocarbon topshots to help
compensate for the lack of heavy tackle. Such
“mis-matches” will test the limit of your reels drag system, side plate
construction, handle integrity and overall ruggedness if you choose to use a
drag pressure commensurate with the line strength.
Compromising by using a setting higher than the reels design setting yet
less than 30 percent of the line strength will save on tackle breakdowns if
you’re not sure of your reels performance under extreme stress.
The
peak fishing season runs from April to October which coincides with warm to hot
weather and calm to moderate seas. The
early spring fishery concentrates on striped marlin, wahoo, dorado, yellowtail,
cubera snapper, mullet snapper, sierra mackerel, grouper, amberjack and cabrilla.
By summer, these gamefish are joined by blue and black marlin, yellowfin
tuna, sailfish, roosterfish, pompano, jack crevalle and bigeye trevally.
Every season varies as to the arrival of the migratory pelagic species
and the abundance of forage available to attract them.
For the last two years, the month of May has been exceptional for striped
marlin, sailfish, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and nearshore resident species gorging
on large schools of sardines, squid and mackerel.
However, during May of this year the fishing was relatively slow due to
an influx of cool, green water and an explosion of a squid biomass that kept the
gamefish satiated.
From
July to October the seas are usually glassy-calm and blue water is found close
to shore at Cerralvo Island and the nearby Baja beaches.
At times, the calm weather will be interrupted by brief thunderstorm
activity from the south resulting in short, steep windblown waves commonly
referred to as the “Cortez chop” by Baja regulars.
From November to April the wind usually comes from the north and chilly
cold fronts can blow for weeks which have made the long, north-facing beach at
Bahía de la Ventana a renowned haven for windsurfers.
The
great variety of gamefish at Cerralvo can create a tackle selection challenge
for those anglers who want to be prepared for “everything.”
Light spinning or bait-casting outfits in the 12-pound range, medium
level-wind and conventional combinations from 15- to 30-pound classes and
trolling tackle in the 50-pound range will usually suffice for bait and small
game catching, popping and jigging or live bait fishing as well as blue water
trolling, respectively. For the
tough nearshore bruisers such as cubera snapper, amberjack and grouper, most
anglers choose the heaviest tackle in their arsenal to have a chance with these
powerful rock dwellers. Although
live bait fishing is very popular, a variety of lures can also be effective from
lipped swimming plugs, surface poppers, metal jigs and spoons to
offshore-skirted lures for pelagics. First
time visiting anglers should consult with a Baja travel outfitter for more
specific tackle suggestions.
Regardless
of what gamefish are targeted most anglers will encounter hook-ups with outsized
brutes that will challenge you, your tackle and the small boat your fishing on
in these prolific Sea of Cortez waters.
The
island was first discovered by Spanish explorer Fortun Jimenez during a voyage
into the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) in 1533 and was named Isla de
Santiago. The island was inhabited
by the Pericu Indians who subsisted on the abundant seafood gathered along the
shore and from the fruit of the pitahaya cactus that grows on the nearly barren
island. Pearl beds along the west
shoreline were particularly rich and pearling was exploited by the Spanish soon
after the island’s discovery. In
1632, a Spanish pearler, Francisco de Ortega, took over the pearling operation
and gave Isla (Island) Cerralvo its current name in honor of the Viceroy of New
Spain.
In
more recent times, the southern end of the island was visited occasionally by
the vagabundos del mar which they used as a burial ground.
Remnants of their graves still remain.
The vagabundos were originally comprised of Yaqui Indians from the upper
Cortez who abandoned the land over a century ago for a life of wandering at sea
aboard flimsy sailing canoes. The
hospitable vagabundos were joined over the years by other men seeking solitude
and freedom and their number “swelled” to about 300.
They became renowned for their benevolent acts, including saving mariners
from shipwrecks, while refusing rewards and gifts.
Only rumors hint of their continued existence.
Cerralvo is currently uninhabited except by local commercial fishermen
that may camp on its shores for a night or two.
Productive
fish habitat for anglers can be a navigational hazard for mariners.
Inner Montana Rock, which has a rocky highpoint of only 4-feet below the
surface, was struck by the S.S. Montana in 1874, thus giving its name to this
fishy graveyard. A lighthouse at
nearby Punta Viejos now warns mariners of the hazardous reefs off southern
Cerralvo.
Cerralvo
Island is about 16 miles long and 4 miles wide with a mountainous profile with
peaks reaching 2,518-feet. Its scrub
and cactus vegetation supports a population of goats and wildcats.
Most of its eastern shoreline is rocky with a few prominent headlands.
The western face is broken with intermittent rocky points and arroyos
(streambeds) with small sand beaches. A
long beach and sandy point forms the southwest extremity.
Offshore
structure includes La Reina (Seal Rock) about 4 miles north of Cerralvo and
Inner Montana Rock about 3/4 mile southward of Punta Sudeste at the island’s
south end. Its underwater rocky terrain continues southward in depths of 30 to
100-feet before rising abruptly again about 1 1/2 miles offshore. This second
ridgeis called Montana Rock and is generally favored over the Inner Rock because
it is near deeper water. Within ¼ mile it drops off to 100 fathoms and
eventually connects with the 1000-fathom shelf that brings big pelagics such as
blue marlin to its doorstep. Productive fishing areas for pelagics include the
88-Fathom Bank 12 miles east of Cerralvo, “Yellow Bluff’ on the northeastern
side of Cerralvo and Cerralvo Channel.
Cerralvo
is like magic when it comes to attracting gamefish and Montana Rock has the
biggest variety of fish in the region. Sails
come in so thick at times that scuba divers often see constant groups going by
plus marlin and swordfish. The wahoo
swim along the Montana drop-off and there are still lots of 100-pound fish
around. They average 40-50 pounds.
During the spring hundreds of big pargo or dog snapper (cubera) from 20
to 80 pounds gather at Montana, however, getting a big one to the boat is
another matter. Pargo put on an
incredible burst of power which is usually enough to cut even 100-pound line off
in the rocks.
The
underwater structure from the island to Montana is full of rock outcroppings,
caves, valleys and sand which is awesome habitat.
Divers say it’s not unusual to be surrounded by 100-pound amberjack
here and anglers get there share of fish exceeding 70 pounds.
Grouper over 400 pounds come into the shallows during May.
There seems to be bigger cabrilla around now but the pargo lisa (mullet
snapper) and cubera snapper may have diminished some.
Roosterfish are still around in good numbers from schools of little fish
to some over 70 pounds. The big
roosters seem to travel in pairs a lot so it’s a good idea to troll two baits.
They are found around both sand and rock areas especially if schools of
ladyfish or sardinas are at the island. The
white sand beaches at Las Arenas is another good choice for trophy-class
roosters.
La
Reina has less structure and fewer fish except it’s better for yellowtail from
December to May. There are lots of
amberjack there as well.
Punta
Arena del la Ventana, commonly known as Las Arenas, occupies a spectacular
promontory overlooking the Sea of Cortez and its southernmost island, 16-mile
long Isla Cerralvo. It lies in a
remote stretch of Baja desert coast between the port city of La Paz and the more
numerous resorts of the famed East Cape. There
are several alternatives available in getting to and fishing the region.
The
nearest international airport is at La Paz where a Las Arenas Resort shuttle van
will transport anglers and gear to Las Arenas in about one hour via paved
highway and scenic desert landscape. Airport
taxis are readily available for anglers that choose to stay in one of numerous
hotels in La Paz. The international
airport at San José del Cabo, which primarily serves Los Cabos, can also be
used but is nearly a three hour drive from the region.
Most
anglers fish Las Arenas/Cerralvo in either of two ways.
The most convenient access is at Las Arenas Resort (888-644-7376 or
619-460-4319) where guests are only a few minutes away from boarding a panga.
The 40-room hotel, with tackle shop, swimming pool, full service dining
room and bar is the only onsite accommodation in the region.
Its solitude, friendly staff and panoramic views have been attracting a
repeat clientele for decades.
Anglers
staying in La Paz are transported on a daily schedule to the waiting panga
fleets at Las Arenas or nearby Bahía de los Muertos.
(Some boats operating from La Paz may fish the north end of Cerralvo and
La Reina but not on a regular schedule due to the longer boat ride).
David Jones’ Fishermens Fleet pangas (011-52-112-21313) are
headquartered at Muertos Bay and has some of the most experienced skippers
available in the region. Jones
offers a complete package including low cost accommodations in La Paz if
desired. Reservations can be made
with the following travel outfitters for both Las Arenas Resort and La Paz
alternatives: Cass Tours,
800-593-6510/714-692-6970; Rod and Reel Adventures, 800-356-6982; Lynn Rose
Tours, 800-525-9527; Baja fishing Adventures, 800-458-3688; Blue Water Tours,
800-799-8475 (California) or 800-698-5300 (U.S.); and Try Baja!, 800-250-3186.
Panga
fishing is a bargain with full-day rates starting at about $75 per person for a
two-angler charter. Super pangas
that typically include a center console, live bait well with pump system, bimini
top and 70-horsepower outboard are about $90 per person.
Ice, bottled water, preferred beverages, lunch, fish cleaning and storage
are standard at Las Arenas Resort. La
Paz package trips add the cost of ground transportation and any rental fishing
equipment. Tips of 10 to 20 percent
of the charter cost are customary for the pangero (skipper).
U.S. citizens don’t need a passport to enter Mexico. Proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate is required. Special requirements apply to an individual parent with child, children traveling alone, a child traveling with a divorced or foster parent and other circumstances. All visitors require a tourist card which currently costs approximately $21 and is valid for a six-month period. All anglers require a Mexican fishing license, usually issued through the fleet or resort manager. Private boaters must have a Mexican boat permit and Mexican car insurance. Anglers should also obtain a copy of the Mexican Fishing Regulations. Consult your professional travel outfitter for necessary permits and information about travel in Baja.
PHONE 619-462-7875
FAX 619-435-6009
E-MAIL: tonypena@rovingagnler.com
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