Cedros Adventures Trip August, 2012
After a year of planning and anticipation we started out early Monday Aug. 20th. At the last minute 2 of the previously people were not able to go due to family crisis. We were able to fill one of the spots and one angler generously donated his ticket to one of our club members. The only contingency was that the donor would bring back some yellow tail filets for his family.
The team met at my house at 3:30 am after everyone’s goods were packed by Gilberto, our friendly chauffer, we left at approx… 4:15 am. We drove down and crossed the border with no trouble, stopped in Ensenada for a bite to eat. The restaurant that we stopped at was part of a hotel. The hotel had all the normal accommodations which were very much appreciated as we were told that the plane was going to be departing in approx. 3 hours. We were then told that we could lounge around the pool to pass the time, or we could use a room to take a snooze in. This is where I took nap #1. At approx. noon we were loaded back into the van and headed to the Ensenada airport, and there we had the usual check of luggage by the Mexican Military. The service that Gilberto, our chauffer gave us was just amazing. The entire time we did not have to move any of our own luggage. At approx. 1 PM we all got into the airplane and took a nice flight to Cedros Island. On our flight down, we were able to see the beautiful Baja coast along with many whales being sited. The landing at Cedros was very smooth, taking into consideration that the terrain looked a bit rough. Once again the Cedros Adventures guys grabbed all of our luggage and loaded it onto 2 trucks and we were off to the villa, approx. a 10 min. ride. The villa offered beautiful views of the ocean, in fact it sat right on the ocean. When we arrived at the villa we hunted down our rooms, which were all nicely appointed with comfortable accommodations. Each room had its own refrigerator which was stocked with bottled water and all the soda you wanted. Plus all the cookies and chips you could ever ask for. These items are all included – there was no additional charges for these much appreciated snacks/beverages.
After we got all of our gear out, a few of us decided to check out the sea shore. Casting out multiple times, there was only 1 Calico Bass caught. Now our hearts were ready for more excitement, but not till manana.
Dinner and the appetizers were always delicious and more food than most people could ever eat. Topped off with my favorite dessert, ice cream!
Tuesday, we woke up at 5:30 am and after a light cereal breakfast in our rooms, we were on the water by 6:15. My boat included Jim K & Jayson. Of course we can’t neglect to mention the food that was packed for all of us, always the best breakfast burritos followed with beef burritos for lunch. Personally, there is nothing better than the breakfast burrito chowed down while on the water. We started out jigging for yellow tail and caught a few averaging 20 – 30 lbs. Then Jim hooked up into a nice fish, that turned out to be a black sea bass at 47 lbs.
A few minutes later I hooked into a white sea bass that turned out to be the biggest white sea bass ever for me, at 57 lbs. 
By noon we had 9 yellowtail, between 20 – 30 lbs. So our captain heads to a kelp covered high spot to catch calicos. Over the remaining 5 hours we caught over 100 calicos with the fish ranging from 2-6 lbs.
Over the next few days, the other boats had some great catches. On Floyd’s first day he lost 3 makeral baits to the sea lions, as these were being slow trolled behind the boat. On his second and third day he caught a 39 lb yellowtail, calicos up to 6 lbs., bonito at 10 lbs and a barracuda at 9 lbs.
Ken and his son in law, Eric, had many large yellowtail including Ken’s largest one of the trip at 40.1 lbs.
Eric had many yellowtail up to 37 lbs and calico up to 8 lbs.
Mike K and his buddy Eric and Merrilee were together.
Merrilee brought home yellowtail 27-28 lbs, she had more of her big makeral baits and Yellowtail eaten by our seemingly ‘very friendly and cute well-fed sea lions’.
Mike K and Eric also went home with many good size yellow tail and calicos
We all fished till we were more than tired. Our boat fished 11 ½ hours most days while other boats chose to come in after a 9 hour day. You could fish as long as you wanted or as little as you wanted. You were even able to come in for lunch and then head back out. It was always your choice.
Day 2 on our boat (Rick, Jayson & Jim K) fished for Calicos, we easily caught 100 calicos a day. Jayson and Jim were tied for big fish honors with 2 Calicos at 7 lbs each. My largest was approx.. 5 lbs. Our skipper knew how to maneuver the boat right into the rocks using the waves so that we could cast right to the spots that we had targeted. Every spot produced good size fish.
Day 3 we fished for nothing but Calicos, however Jayson did catch an 11 lb Sheephead, and we caught a few small yellowtail in the kelp which is always fun on bass gear. Jayson and Jim had to break their tie for the largest calico bass, it came later in the day and Jayson hooked up with the largest calico for the trip at 8 lbs 11 oz. 
I came back with my personal best with 2 fish almost back to back with 6 lb 10 oz followed by another bass at 6 lb 11 oz.
After a day of fishing the employees at the villa would always be waiting anxiously for us and offering us 3-4 platters of appetizers, which ranged from quesadillas to ceviche, guacamole and chips and much more.
The hotel accommodations also offered a great place for us to rinse off our gear with fresh water, and every dinner that we had was always better than the day before. The last night we were all treated to 2# ribeye steaks cooked over a wood barbeque. The last night I was also surprised with a strawberry cake celebrating my birthday.
This was definitely the best trip of my life time! There have been many wonderful places that I have had the privilege of fishing, but this trip was the best of the best. There was no detail that was left undone. It was so outstanding that it is hard to describe each and every detail that was so lavishly provided for us.
The staff was always very friendly and very happy to answer any question and meet any need that we had. They were always there with a helping hand, asking what they could do to help.
We have already scheduled a trip for next year in June 17-21st. As of right now, there are only 3 openings left.
Video of our trip down:
Below is a quick edit of some video of Rick Chalmers, Jim Kiech and Jayson Quimby getting some good ones the first morning.
Below is an edit of Rick Chalmers, Jim Kiech and Jayson Quimby getting some good Calico Bass fishing in!!
FIB’ers Cedros Isalnd Calico Bass Fishing 08222012 from Kelp Kritter on Vimeo.
Below are over 300 photos taken on 4 different cameras, and placed in no particular order.
