Baja's Bounty

By Nick Honachefsky

A beaming streak of sunlight broke the crystal clear horizon on the East Cape of the Baja Peninsula, lighting up the Mexican coastline with a warming crimson everglow. The scene was utterly placid on the Sea of Cortez - flat calm seas, salt-laden breezes, gulls lazily gliding above the cool sand beaches. It was an awakening of senses on all levels. At the Buena Vista Beach Resort, I was filming an episode of my television show Hookin’ Up with Nick and Mariko, and though I had been to Buena Vista before, it was an added treat to experience it with my cohost Mariko Izumi, as she had never heard the call of the Sea of Cortez before. “This is a hidden part of Mexico” I told her. “You’re going to see some sights and surprises here that are the best kept secret around.”

RED DEVILS

The day started with marlin in mind, but no sooner did we fire up the engines on the 35 foot Care-less to chase pelagics than we were cutting them again only a mile from the Buena Vista dock in 3000 feet of water. “Calamar aqui!”, our captain shouted. Our pelagic gameplan changed in an instant. The fishfinder screen marked red blobs all through the water column and the fleet was dedicated and concentrated in one area for one specific goal – Humboldt squid – aka Red Devils, incredibly formidable 5 foot long 100-pound squid that have been known to attack and take chunks out of men, but are equally intelligent creatures that communicate through a complex system of chromatophoric flashes. Without hesitation, Mariko and I unwrapped massive foot-long squid jigs that looked like they’d be a lot of trouble if you put them in your jeans pocket, and dropped them down lower and lower into the water column, until around the 200 foot mark the jig..just…stopped. Squid on! Buckling over, I pumped and reeled crank after crank, until a 60-pound Humboldt was on deck, switching color patterns from red to pink to white in all sorts of geometric shapes and patterns along its skin - truly an amazing sight to behold. “Don’t touch his arms, hombre!” Felipe the mate warned me as thousands of knife-bladed, pointed beak-like graspers lined the Red Devils tentacles, and he grabbed the squid by its mantle and placed him in the cooler. I turned around to see Mariko bent over, sweating and swearing as another huge Humboldt was giving her a workout. “Ugh! These squid are a chore to reel in!” she shouted out, but fifteen minutes later, another Humboldt lay on deck. Two drops,two squid, and we had enough calamari to test out at the dinner table. “C’mon, lets find some marleen,” said Felipe.

SEAMOUNT PELAGICS

Engines blazing, we pointed the bow to the marlin grounds, another 400 yards away, a total of a mere mile and half off the beach in 6000 feet of water. Live goggle eyes were sent out on a five rod W spread pattern, the baits trolling at a speed of 4 knots through the calming, azure bluewater. Before the squid ink saturating our clothes had time to dry, a raised bill pierced the shotgun line bait. “Marleeen! Marleen!” Felipe shouted. Quickly, Felipe free-lined a goggle eye to wave enticingly back into the spread, and in a split instant, not one, but two more bills came piercing out of the water behind the livie. “Uno! Dos Tres! Marleeen!”, counted Felipe with an incredulous look on his face. Three striped marlin billing our baits in the spread - a tripleheader of interest! I couldn’t believe our luck to raise three stripers, but no sooner were the bills up and inspecting our baits that they went back down never to be seen again. The thrill alone of raising a trifecta of striped marlin in the spread was more than enough to get my heart pumping.

After the marlin madness, minutes passed without a hit, then an hour. Just as we were kicking back about to crack open our first Modelo of the morning, the port line snapped. Mariko shot out of her seat and quickly beat me to the rod, as a high flyin’ 15-pound dorado was launching itself acrobatically off the stern. “Keep him next to the boat!” I instructed Mariko, with visions of a doubleheader hookup in mind. I grabbed my spinning rod rigged with a white 1-ounce bucktail,hooking on a tentacle from one of the Humboldts we kept, and dropped a cast right near Mariko’s fighting dorado. The result was inevitable. Bam! I was tied fast to another 15-pounderand together, we bested both dorado and had visions of fresh fish tacos at the lunch table.

SURF EXPEDITION

Back at the dock, Mariko and I discussed the possibility of landing some serious caliber fish with our feet planted in the sand. The decision was made and we rented ATV’s for a full-fledged surf fishing adventure through the cactus lined arroyo pits along the vast, vacant Los Cerritos beachfront. A three hour ride culminated at Lighthouse Point, a silent, serene setting, our ATV’s stacked with an arsenal of 13 foot heavy duty surf rods that can launch a lure out nearly a quarter mile and handle a 70-pound juiced up jack from the sands. It was time to go to work. I loaded the rod with a 3-ounce Robert’s Ranger jig, whipping out casts to the reef edge, splashing and crashing the lure along the surface. A monster boil erupted behind my jig, accompanied by black, waving, foot-long roosterfish fins poking out of the water. My knees nearly buckled at the sight,but after one more swipe at my jig, he was gone, my dreams lost to the whims of a wary roosterfish. Again and again, casts were made, this time followed by long, slender looking shadows, one of which finally committed to my lure. After a 7 minute battle, a 4 foot long houndsfish lay next to me on the sands, and I took great caution in releasing the snakelike primordial creature.

We decided to make a move and pushed full throttle along the Los Cerritos sands, 45 minutes north, to where an inlet comprised of jetty rocks lie – a roosterfish playground. There are times when you fish that your hands literally shake in anticipation, your body too wired to function properly. This was one of those magical times, and I had never caught a roosterfish from the surf in my life. As I launched my first cast over the rock-strewn surf, what followed was unlike any surf fishing I’ve ever experienced. One cast after another, the jig was being harassed by hordes of small roosters, sometimes three to four at a time. In a half hours span, I landed five roosters to 10 pounds and had another 15 knock the lures clean out of the water, the spirited roosters shaking the hooks out with wild aerial action. The smile on my face was as wide as the sunset over the Sierra de La Laguna mountain range. Racing the impending darkness, Mariko and I pointed the ATV’s back to the lodge. The dinner table was adorned with dorado fillets, draped with hummus, pesto and onions, accompanied by a dinner plate of tender calamari and spicy marinara sauce, all under a crystal clear night sky that unveiled the all too surreal white painted streaks of the sparkling Milky Way Galaxy.

LAST LICKS

A fishing story never ends at the prior evening’s celebratory meal, there is always the promise of the next morning. On our final day at Buena Vista Beach Resort, I woke up at 6 AM and tried to beat the 9 AM shuttle departure, setting out on a local panga in the predawn hours to slow-troll baits for an hour along the Sea of Cortez sands right in front of the lodge. After all, why not? As the sun rose, cockscomb fins knifed out of the water, spraying sardine schools, my adrenaline pumping through my veins. The first hooked sardine sent back drew a swirl, a crash, a hookup. That process repeated time and time again. Nearly a dozen roosters to 20 pounds were brought boat-side in an hour’s time. Seeing the clock read 8:55, I jumped off the boat and ran, smile plastered to my face, to catch the waiting shuttle. “Good thing you made it, we were gonna leave you,” said a smiling Mariko. “I got no problem with that,” I retorted, knowing full well that fishing never stops in the Sea of Surprises. SIDEBARWhat: Roosterfish, blue marlin, striped marlin, sailfish, dolphin, bonito, red snapper (huachinango), cabrilla, wahoo and yellowfin tuna.When: Year-round, with the peak season April through October.Who: Buena Vista Beach Resort is situated an hour’s ride north of the Los Cabos airport on the East Cape, along the Sea of Cortez, far enough from the hustle and bustle of the Cabo San Lucas circus. Buena Vista runs a shuttle service from the airport, and a variety of inshore and offshore guides are available at the lodge. Don’t forget to bring your passport. 800-752-3555; www.hotelbuenavista.com