Zihuatenejo/Ixtapa

Headed way south for a little Thanksgiving getaway with some friends. I fished on Sunday off a small panga with Capt. Cheva who is part of Capt. Adolfo's crew (the same guy that was on ESPN's segment on fly fishing for saltwater species in that region of Mexico). Needless, to say Cheva was most excellent putting me into 30+ bonito, spanish mackeral, mackeral, needle fish and even a pajaro! It was amazing to see the huge schools of bonito crashing the surface chasing sardina. All the bonito were in tthe 3-6 kilo range, here is the first bonito on the 8W. I will say that fighting these guys on an 8W was tough!! Especially, when I started getting into some of the bigger ones I was very undergunned. On Wednesday, I headed out with Dave Pardo and luck would have it that Cheva had a cancellation and we got to go out with him again. On day two, I rigged up my reel on a 10W and it was better but it was still a work-out on the 6 kilo bonito. That day we pulled in close to 60 bonito, spanish macks and regular macks. The highlight of the day was the yellowtail jacks that we got into... what a spectacle of them chasing an 8" plug on the surface followed by a fight that would have surely busted our fly rods in half had we used them. What a trip... next up Lake Cahuilla... the Riverside County fish and game department recently stocked the lake with 3-4 lb rainbows. -G