Everything you need to know before your trip.
We get a lot of questions about tackle, tipping, payment, supplies, etc. In an effort to answer some of those questions and help you prepare for your trip, here are answers to our most frequently asked questions.
Target Species
Target species in this part of Baja include: Marlin, Wahoo, Tuna, Dorado, Pargo, Yellowtail, Bass, Amberjack, Red Snapper, Sailfish, Sierra, Roosterfish, and more.
Useful Extras
- A good set of needle nose pliers comes in handy for line cutting and hook removal.
- Remember to bring sunscreen and a large hat — the Baja sun gets very warm in the summer months.
- Please bring your own zip lock style bags to pack your fillets in — one gallon freezer bags are the right size.
- We have some rod belts here at the house, but if you have your own, bring it along to help us ensure an adequate supply.
- A quality ice chest in the 50-60 quart size will do well on the boats and not go too far overweight at the airport.
- For those transferring to U.S. carriers on the way home: they enforce a limit of 72 pounds per box, and exceeding that limit brings some healthy charges.
What Sort of Tackle Should I Bring?
It really depends on the time of year you’re taking your trip and the species you’re going to pursue. We use 30, 40 and 80 pound line on our in-house tackle, loaded on Penn reels — usually the 500, 113HL, and 114HL models. The rods we use are 7 foot live bait action and 6 foot standup style. We use exclusively Maxima green line; over the years our skippers feel it provides the optimum combination of toughness and invisibility in the water. Fish are caught all year long on other lines as well — if you have a favorite, use it.
As for lures, 90% of our fishing is done on live bait. We do use Rapalas in the CD-14 and CD-18 sizes regularly. For yellowfin tuna the preference is Mackerel colors — blue, green and silver/black back. When they’re around, wahoo are caught on Rapalas, Marauders and Wahoo Whackers. Particularly in the spring, orange Rapalas are good on cabrilla. Occasionally we use feathers for dorado and marlin — many different types are good, with smaller feathered varieties in Mexican flag, blue and white, dorado, and all white working well over the years.
The hooks we use for live bait are Mustad 94151 live bait hooks. Sizes vary from #4 to #9/0, with the most universal sizes being #2, #1 and #1/0 for sardina, and #3/0, #5/0, and #7/0 for larger baits. During pargo season and for the largest billfish baits, the #9/0 are the ticket. Anything else you’ve used with success, try here.
— David Jones