Bucket List: Marlin Fishing in Cabo

Eric's had a big item on his bucket list for a very long time: fishing for Marlin in the Pacific Ocean.

The fishing trip was our first officially scheduled event and it was on Tuesday.  We arrived at the Cabo marina on Tuesday morning at 6:15.

We met up with our crew from Pisces Fishing Co; Captain Orlando and First Mate Sylvester, on the 28' boat named Andrea.

Excitedly, we climbed in and slowly took off, out of the marina.  We passed many beautiful yachts and ships on our way out.

 Eric had chartered the private boat for the two of us for the entire day.  We had the option to stay close in the Sea of Cortez and fish for mahi mahi, grouper, sea bass, snapper, and blow fish... OR, to go out deep into the Pacific and fish for bill fish, like blue marlin, striped marlin, and sailfish.  We chose the latter, of course.

 The boat ride to the beginning of our trolling spot was an hour and a half.  When we arrived, First Mate Sylvester started prepping the poles, adding large jigs that resembled squid.

At 8:15 AM, less than 5 minutes after we arrived to our starting spot, our story hits a peak.

Admittedly, I didn't have my camera on me (it was still in our bag) and I was taking in the beauties of the big open waters around me.  Eric was entranced also, viewing the sea and eagerly anticipating the day.

Sylvester was busy tying a jig onto the second of four poles that we'd be using that day.

Just then, Eric pointed to something in the water.  When I looked, there was a very large sailed fin sticking out of the water, chasing our boat, hooked onto the very first jig that had been tied!  

Completely stunned and paralyzed, I gawked while Eric yelled to Sylvester that we had a fish on.  Eric leaped up and Sylvester started to shout to the captain, very loudly - in Spanish.  It was unexpected chaos and excitement!  Sylvester grabbed the line, set the hook, and gave the rod to Eric.

As Eric was looking down at the reel for a brief moment, I saw the marlin leap out of the water, just like you see on TV.  It was incredible!

Eric was beyond excited; his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he said his heart was pounding out of his chest!

But then, like a snap of my fingers, that was it.  

Eric continued to reel just in case, but told me the fish was off.  He had missed even seeing the fish leap!   What a moment... elation turned into a sickness in our stomachs. 

Note: The fish above was not "our fish" - Dumb me, I had been so awestruck by my surroundings.  And, who would have thought we would have had a fish on, not five minutes into our start?!?!?!

Eric, heart still racing, sat back in the chair.  He asked Sylvester about the fish.  Sylvester said, "It was big!".  Eric asked him how big.. and if it was maybe 150-200 lbs.  Sylvester said, "No, it was BIG!".  I guess we don't know what means really and never will.  I saw it.  It was big.  And it was beautiful and majestic.  Sylvester said, "We'll get you another one!"

We trolled at approximately 7 nautical miles per hour the entire day.   Each hour that passed, we wondered about if we'd see another bill fish.  

But, in the meantime, we saw a lot of very cool wildlife in the water.  At least one pod of dolphins were swimming back and forth around our traveling vessel.  Eric and I were frightened that they would get caught up in our fishing lines or try to take the bait.  Thankfully, they did not!  

I didn't get any great pictures of them jumping, unfortunately.  They were quicker than I was!

We saw stingray that came out of the water too.  I never knew that stingray came to the surface!

Later, the captain yelled to us to look to the side of the boat; there were whales!  Amazing!

Not knowing which type of whale this was, Eric did some checking online and found that the species is a Fin (or Finback) Whale.

Mid-day, we saw a large group of bait fish, swarming around the top of the water.

Thinking perhaps this would attract bill fish, the captain circled this area for a while.  Alas, no bites.

At about 2:30, the first mate announced that it was time to head back to shore.  Hearts...sunk... the fishing was over and the day had climaxed much too early.   Bittersweet, it was.

The ride back to the marina was what I called a rodeo; the captain was speeding at what felt like 90 miles an hour, crashing through the waves, while we bounced up and down.  Eric and I were hanging on for dear lives.  I knew we'd have sore neck and arm muscles from trying to hold ourselves!

Another hour and a half or so later, we arrived back into the marina.

As we were coming in, we enjoyed some beautiful and interesting boats and scenery.

 We had a friendly pelican who had hopped onto our boat as we headed in.  He stayed there for quite some time!   A happy sea lion had also managed to plop himself up onto the back of our boat too, but I missed getting a picture.

When we arrived to the dock, another friendly sea lion was hanging out, swimming back and forth.

 He came up to the dock and the crew tried to give him what was left of our live bait fish.  Apparently, he'd has his fill, as he wouldn't take it.  He just wanted to hang out.

When we docked, the first mate told us that when the other boats called in to report their days, only one of the boats had caught a marlin that day.  I guess it was a tough day for everyone.

Eric is planning his next trip to marlin fish.  This time, he'll book two to three days, just in case.  :-)