Accurate friend Dave Marciano was looking to do something different in the way of fishing and wanted to take his wife Nancy along for the adventure. After talking with Sergio about the Cedro’s Adventure experience, we decided to take the plunge and book it. We left for Cedros on a Monday with the van stopping at my house in San Clemente to pick myself, Dave and Douglas (Nilsen Twins), and our guests Dave and Nancy Marciano of Hard Merchandise fame for the drive down to Ensenada airport to fly to Cedro’s.

We picked up a couple other guys headed to the island with pick ups starting at 6am, breakfast in Ensenada and the flight, we arrived in Cedros around 1:30 pm. The travel experience was the easiest I have done  in all my years of traveling to fishing destinations. Very well organized and the team of individuals were extremely competent in their jobs and making the whole experience very easy and enjoyable. Once on the island it was time to rig set ups and organize tackle.

There were three basic setups we were using included a 8′ cousins or Seeker Jig stick Heavy with a Fury 600N 4.1 ratio reel with 65b braid with a 50 yard top shot of 40 mono for surface iron. The mono top shot makes it easier to cast the surface iron in the wind versus straight braid. The second setup was a 7′ Heavy action rod with a FURY FX2-600N reel filled with 65 lb braid with a 6 foot leader of 40 or 50 lb mono for Yo-Yo or live bait fishing. This setup was very good for grouper, deep Yellowtail, and rock fish which are targeted during the day and it also worked great on the keeper Seabass that roam the shore line. The last set up we had in our quiver was a 7.5 or 8 foot MH-H trigger stick for the trophy calico bass fishing around the island. The reel we used was a Daiwa or Lews 300 size bait caster with 50 to 65 lb braid and a small topcoat of mono or Fluorocarbon in the 50 to 80 lb range depending on the cover fished. The last setup we put in the boat was a Cousins Raze 808HT rod with a Valiant BV-300 reel spooled with 40 lb braid and a 40 lb Fluorocarbon leader for fishing Okuma Squish jigs on the yellow grounds. This one outfit was the fun stick if you were clear of structure. Lightweight and easy to use gave it plenty of rail time during slower morning surface iron bites.

The basic tackle used was Tady 45’s, Salas 7X lights, Salas 6X, light jigs like Okuma Squish jigs, Shimano Colt Snipers, Megabaits, and Flat fall jigs. Mint green or blue surface irons were the popular choice with green and blue light jigs being very effective. The key is to keep the surface iron in the water so the 4.1 gear ratio helped with that and increased the percentage of getting that bite.

The pure number of yellowtail in the morning made it hard to go calico fishing until that bite fizzled around 1 or 2 pm. Then it was full speed calico around the island with plastics and jerk baits. Boiler fishing at its funnest is the only way to describe Cedros and if its good, the action is non stop. They have a great halibut fishery on the sand beaches in between the boilers and a pointer 78 Lucky Craft is the ticket.

We also had an excellent White Seabass bite going on right off the runway in the afternoon with no real giants but numbers of fun sized fish. The last stop in the afternoon would be the meat hole for groupers, rockfish, and other things that go bump in the dark water below. We would bust out the 65 or 80lb rigs and use the mackerels we caught in the morning for bait. Super fun fishing a little deeper water for mystery fish.

The accommodations for the trip at Cedros Adventures where awesome with three small houses the had 3 rooms each. Private showers in these houses and a great veranda to spend the evenings on around a fire talking fish. Food was great with fish, steak, and mexican food plus they packed lunches daily that got us thru hectic days of catching fish.

If you want to check out a place that has a great fishery you need to Cedros Island at least once in your life. Can’t beat it. Check into Cedros Adventures they make you feel right at home.

Hope your lines are tight ones.

Ben

Team Accurate