ENSENADA'S MATADOR SPORTFISHING VISITS CABO SAN LUCAS

Nov. 27, 2005, Emerald Argonza, Matador Sportfishing, Ensenada, Baja California, trip report for Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico Fishing:

While visiting Cabo San Lucas, I stayed at the Hotel Finisterra with team Matador, with the rest of the team doing surf fishing from the south of the Playa Grande all the way to the far north end of the beach using Accurate spinners hoping to hook up with big roosters, but there were only sierras, and jacks that were so thick they could have opened a fish market for themselves.

I went out fishing with one of Dorado Fleet's super pangas skippered by Andres and we fished just a few miles off the Cabo San Lucas light house, again using Accurate reels courtesy of Mike Packard from Accurate, but we only hooked up 1 dorado about 20 pounds caught slow trolling a live caballito on a boat rod and reel.

The next day on the 25th, I went fishing again with Dorado Fleet's Dorado 111 skippered by Julian and Jorge as his deckhand and we fished their favorite spot about 15-20 miles north of Cabo San Lucas, and had a really fun day of fishing.

I landed and released a 100 pound striped marlin on a live mackerel using a Boss Magnum 665H spooled with 65 pound spectra with a top shot of 40 pound Izor mono and a 125 pound leader and a 7/0 circle Sea Eagle Claw hook for better survivability after release with the help of Capt. Julian and deckhand Jorge.

The fight only lasted 15 minutes and the release way under 5 minutes. Great job Julian and Jorge! In my opinion, I could have use a lighter load of 20 pound line with no backing and would still have landed and released the fish with this reel which I am going to try on my next run of marlin fishing.

This is my first time using Accurate reels and I have never seen a reel in that size that could handle such a job and I would like to thank Mike Packard of Accurate for letting us use his reels which proved to be the best heavy duty salt water reel I have ever seen and yet so light in weight which makes it excellent tournament gear. For all of you serious anglers, Accurate is the way to go!