Any Tips For Surf-Fishing The Cortez Side SJDC/CSL

[Midnightpass]

I’m going down to Baja, between San Jose Del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas one he Sea Of Cortez, in mid-April .. This isn’t a fishing trip but I am taking a travel rod and reel… The rod is a little over 9’ and is rated from about 1oz- 2oz… The biggest spinning reel I have is a old Stradic ci4 4000, other than a older Shimano Baitrunner 12000 (to big and heavy)…. I don’t have much use for a large spinner, but was thinking of getting a new Vanford 5000, which is really the same size as the 4000, with larger spool and power handle… I’m only planning on fishing from about daybreak until 8AM or so, right in front of my hotel… The rest of the day I’ll spend with my wife… I’ve watched some of Stephen Jansens YouTube Vids for pointers… He mentions that the spot in front of my resort as being pretty good in his “Where to fish” video…. You guys have any suggestions for lures, techniques, line size, leaders, and other terminal gear, please let me know… I’ve fished Cabo off of boats a couple of times, but this will be my 1st surf fish experience… I’m starting to get excited…
Butch

[foulhook]

My son and I fished the surf a few days there this summer. We caught about 10 new species which is always fun not knowing what your reeling in. We used the same type of lures we use here. However one thing that crushed the fish was squid, if you get a chance to buy some squid or shrimp it might be worth trying.

[Midnightpass]

My son and I fished the surf a few days there this summer. We caught about 10 new species which is always fun not knowing what your reeling in. We used the same type of lures we use here. However one thing that crushed the fish was squid, if you get a chance to buy some squid or shrimp it might be worth trying.

I probably won't be leaving the resort, so getting bait might be tough... What lures did you use?..I have the usual LCs small Kastmasters and Krocs and some other smaller stick baits... But I was thinking the lures would be too small for the much larger surf fish that are present there.... Were you fishing the sandy beaches, or rocky areas?... What types fish did you catch?...The area where I'm staying is mostly sand with some boiler rocks...

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Thanks for the help...
Butch

[foulhook]

We fished both the rocky areas and the sand. Krocs and LC's we used in the sand, my son did good in the rocky areas with small plastic baits. Some of the fish in the rocks would go to the sand to look for food in the afternoon. We caught black jacks, green jacks, jack crevalie, grafftopsail pompano, barred pargo, and cabrilla. No roosterfish, also lost a big fish after a big fight.

[Midnightpass]

Thanks for the reply... I went back and looked at your report about your trip... It looked like fun...My biggest concern is that I'll be underguned if a large fish comes along... But I'm not buying a rod and reel for this one trip... The Vanford 5000 that I plan on buying I can use here... It would be nice to use some bait for some of the misc rock dwellers, but without leaving the resort, that probably wont happen...
Butch

[Midnightpass]

Nobody else has done this?... Come on guys, If you knew me, you know I can use all of the help I can get to catch fish. ...
Butch

[camobass]

Anytime I ever pounded the shore down in that area, I just used a typical bass rod with 12lb mono and a Kroc or jerk bait. I didn’t have any fancy jerk baits back then but would probably stick with a LC now. If you. A get your hands on some fresh pulpo (octopus), that would produce. I used to catch them in the rocks further up north. You would get more triggers and parrot fish on the bait. I’ve never caught roosters on artificial. Only live bait.

[Midnightpass]

Thanks for the reply camobass.. I’ll be taking some Krocs and KM for sure… I doubt that I’ll be able to get any bait, unless I manage to get some from the kitchen at the resort.. I have no plans for leaving the hotel while there…
Butch

[camobass]

I’m sure you could ask some staff and kick them $20, they will get you some fresh Carnada (bait)!

[Mike M]

I heard Wesley Brough speak at a Fred Hall seminar a few years back. Cool guy and I'd like to fish with him sometime.

https://www.cabosurfcaster.com

[maraxus]

I did surf fishing at Cabo back in 2015 and once in 2017. I had two set ups with me, one was shimano stradic 5000 with 20 lb braid / 25 lb flouro leader paired with okuma nomad 7' travel rod. For me, this set up was sufficient for pretty much whatever I was able to catch on my trips. The second set up I had was okuma avenger 90 with 40 lb braid and 40 lb flouro leader paired with okuma nomad 10' travel rod. I mainly got the second set up after getting inspired by the videos of Cabosurfcaster and Stephen Jansen catching roosterfish, jack crevalle and sierra mackerel from the shore but I wasn't able to catch any of those. For the lures, I had various metal spoons, the silver 1 ounce acme kastmaster lookalike I got from Stephen Janssen's store was pretty productive. Caught a nice 2.2 lb cubera snapper from the shore with it along various baby groupers, hawkfish, etc. Also I threw bunch of stick baits, mainly 5-inch rapala x-raps which were also bitten by a good amount, I got baby leopard groupers, hawkfish, scorpionfish, trumpetfish. I'm pretty sure the luckycraft 110's would have bitten fine as well if I had them. Throwing soft swimbaits didn't occur to me back then but I have a feeling the fish that was biting on the stick bait would have taken the softbaits as well. I was fishing mostly on areas with rocky bottoms. I tried using shrimp as bait but all I got was bunch of porcupine fish, blowfish etc, so I stopped using bait and switched exclusively to lures after that. Also did go out with Wesley as well. In 2015, I got a baby rooster in our session. In the 2017 session we got skunked.

[Midnightpass]

I’m sure you could ask some staff and kick them $20, they will get you some fresh Carnada (bait)!

That is a thought, but not sure I want to mess with the mess of bait... I'll probably just "Gentleman Fish" (Keep my hands non-stinky )

I heard Wesley Brough speak at a Fred Hall seminar a few years back. Cool guy and I'd like to fish with him sometime.

https://www.cabosurfcaster.com

Thanks Mike... I've been thinking of doing just that.. My only concern is the "run-n-gun" chasing bait and boils that a lot of the guys do down there... There is no running on these old knees any more... A slow, steady walk is about all you'll get outta me any more... I wouldn't want to hold up Wesley or the rest of his group... I still may contact him and see what he says...

I did surf fishing at Cabo back in 2015 and once in 2017. I had two set ups with me, one was shimano stradic 5000 with 20 lb braid / 25 lb flouro leader paired with okuma nomad 7' travel rod. For me, this set up was sufficient for pretty much whatever I was able to catch on my trips. The second set up I had was okuma avenger 90 with 40 lb braid and 40 lb flouro leader paired with okuma nomad 10' travel rod. I mainly got the second set up after getting inspired by the videos of Cabosurfcaster and Stephen Jansen catching roosterfish, jack crevalle and sierra mackerel from the shore but I wasn't able to catch any of those. For the lures, I had various metal spoons, the silver 1 ounce acme kastmaster lookalike I got from Stephen Janssen's store was pretty productive. Caught a nice 2.2 lb cubera snapper from the shore with it along various baby groupers, hawkfish, etc. Also I threw bunch of stick baits, mainly 5-inch rapala x-raps which were also bitten by a good amount, I got baby leopard groupers, hawkfish, scorpionfish, trumpetfish. I'm pretty sure the luckycraft 110's would have bitten fine as well if I had them. Throwing soft swimbaits didn't occur to me back then but I have a feeling the fish that was biting on the stick bait would have taken the softbaits as well. I was fishing mostly on areas with rocky bottoms. I tried using shrimp as bait but all I got was bunch of porcupine fish, blowfish etc, so I stopped using bait and switched exclusively to lures after that. Also did go out with Wesley as well. In 2015, I got a baby rooster in our session. In the 2017 session we got skunked.

Looks like a lot of fun, and thanks for all of the gear recommendations... What part of Cabo did you fish?... I'll be on the Sea Of Cortez side, about 1/2 way between CSL and SJDC... Mostly sand with some boiler rocks about...

Thanks guys...
Butch

[maraxus]

When I was fishing on my own, I fished between Cabo San Lucas and SJDC as well, but it was close to CSL side. I believe on the surf fishing sessions with Westley / Cabosurfcaster, we were fishing on the west coast of CSLm, on the Pacific ocean side

[Midnightpass]

When I was fishing on my own, I fished between Cabo San Lucas and SJDC as well, but it was close to CSL side. I believe on the surf fishing sessions with Westley / Cabosurfcaster, we were fishing on the west coast of CSLm, on the Pacific ocean side

Thanks... From what I learned about Wesley, it seems that he fishes the Pacific side mostly... I'll be chucking lures on the Cortez side most mornings while I'm there..
Butch

[galen]

One thing to add. Do you have a Mexican license? When we left from the marina they had a little table set up for licenses. Definitely worth the $20.00 to not worry about the federales giving you any grief on the beach

[Midnightpass]

I do not have a Mexican fishing license… I have fished on the Mexican Caribbean , and never used or needed one… Is there more of an issue in Baja?… I know legally I don’t need one, but if there a problem with the federales, I guess I should just get one… Can I get one here, before going? I’m not really planning on leaving the resort, so I can’t just go out and buy one…
Butch

[camobass]

I do not have a Mexican fishing license… I have fished on the Mexican Caribbean , and never used or needed one… Is there more of an issue in Baja?… I know legally I don’t need one, but if there a problem with the federales, I guess I should just get one… Can I get one here, before going? I’m not really planning on leaving the resort, so I can’t just go out and buy one…
Butch

This place can take care of all your paper work needs including licensing. They are awesome
https://www.discoverbaja.com/

[Midnightpass]

I do not have a Mexican fishing license… I have fished on the Mexican Caribbean , and never used or needed one… Is there more of an issue in Baja?… I know legally I don’t need one, but if there a problem with the federales, I guess I should just get one… Can I get one here, before going? I’m not really planning on leaving the resort, so I can’t just go out and buy one…
Butch

This place can take care of all your paper work needs including licensing. They are awesome
https://www.discoverbaja.com/

Thank you..
Butch

[galen]

I do not have a Mexican fishing license… I have fished on the Mexican Caribbean , and never used or needed one… Is there more of an issue in Baja?… I know legally I don’t need one, but if there a problem with the federales, I guess I should just get one… Can I get one here, before going? I’m not really planning on leaving the resort, so I can’t just go out and buy one…
Butch

This place can take care of all your paper work needs including licensing. They are awesome
https://www.discoverbaja.com/

Looks like shore fishing is exempt, good to know. We fished by boat only. We stayed at Cabo Azul, very nice but the beach was pretty unfishable out front. My 2 cents, bring stuff you can cast far( jigs, poppers). We saw action past the breakers.

[Midnightpass]

I heard Wesley Brough speak at a Fred Hall seminar a few years back. Cool guy and I'd like to fish with him sometime.

https://www.cabosurfcaster.com

Mike… Wes Broughiw gonna be at the Long Beach, Hall Show next week.. I may try and get down there and see him…
Butch