general recommendations for cedros!

[alantani]

things you need for the trip - passport, tip money, a backpack, a norchill 48 can insulated cooler bag. 3 rods, 3 reels, 1 gallon zip lock bag's worth of tackle, clothes, personal items, and tequila.

schedule -

the day before the trip - we generally arrive the day before the trip and stay at the sea harbor inn on scott street.  you can stop at any number of shops on the way down and buy tackle.  dinner is at miguel's cocina, also on scott street, at 5pm.  meet up stairs at the bar.

the morning of the trip - we'll drive from san diego to cbx (cross border express) at otay mesa.  get reserved parking ahead of time.  i just did the parking reservation and it cost me $198.  https://www.crossborderxpress.com/en/#parking

when you arrive at the cbx, unload you gear and take them to the patio in the center where the tables are.  rosie will likely be there already.  one guy parks and the rest watch the gear.  when everyone arrives, rosie will start handing out licenses, cbx passes and plane tickets.  we will the push our stuff over the border on the cbx bridge, then drop down into mexican customs. once through customs, we will check in our rods and luggage and head to the gate. 

NO FISHING LINE IS ALLOWED IN CARRY ON LUGGSGE!!!!

personal items to pack - the usual passport, cell phone, wallet and glasses.  i pack lightweight long columbia pants and long sleeve shirts for sun protection.  quick dry undies are nice as well.  big straw hats are also nice.  you don't need to pack too much.  the ladies there will do your laundry for $5.  set out your dirty clothes at the end of the bed in the morning with a $5 bill on top, and will be back, folded and clean, at the end of the day.

rods and reels - i have a makaira 10 with 50 pound fluoro and a 50 pound phenix black diamond hybrid 809 for fly line mackerel, slow troll mackerel and rapala x-rap 15 trolling.  i take another makaira 10 with 50 pound fluoro and a 30 pound phenix black diamond hybrid 838 for casting surface iron and yoyo iron.  and i bring a lexa 400 with 30 pound fluoro and a phenix abyss 804 for tossing white swim baits and 4 ounce laser minnows. 

tackle - bring two rapala x-rap 15's, four yoyo irons, four surface irons, four laser minnows and four swim bait heads with a dozen swimbait tails (i like white).  the cheap bronze 2/0 mustad live bait hooks work great.  bring swivels, needle nose pliers and leader material.  bring four sibiki's with 6 ounce weights to make bait.  you can also bring halibut trap rigs, which are pretied leaders with a j-hook on top and a treble hook on bottom.  this stuff should all fit in a 1 gallon zip lock bag.

DO NOT BRING A LONG RANGE TACKLE BAG!!!!!

tips - i'm bringing $600 for tips - the skippers should get tipped $100-120 a day total, so that would be $50-60 per person, per day for the boat ride.  that leaves $360 to $400 for the three kitchen staff and 12 ground crew.  bring lots of $20's, 10's and 5's.

returning home - if you want to bring home 50 pounds of fish, you will have to limit your return luggage and carry on to 17 pounds total.  you can use a cooler bag from from cedros sportfishing.  most of us already have norchill bags.  i highly recommend ordering one of these right now if you do not have one already.  you can pack your gear in the norchill bag for the trip down.  on the return flight, you can fill the norchill bag with frozen fish.  then stuff your backpack with your reels, tackle, personal items and whatever clothes you want to return with.  anything more than 17 pounds will cut into the amount of fish that you want to bring home.  if you bring a 50 pound long range tackle bag, don't plan on bringing home fish.  note that reels count towards your 17 pounds.  rods do not. 

links -

cedros sportfishing - https://www.cedrossportfishing.com/

sea harbor inn - https://www.seaharborhotel.com/

CBX parking reservations - https://www.crossborderxpress.com/en/parking/

norchill 48 can insulated cooler - https://www.amazon.com/NorChill-Soft-Coolers-Cooler-Blue/dp/B00BV29O76/ref=sr_1_6?crid=13QAODJDNL47I&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.B1ZYbke5TLnvaCszs6FsYnrzl1rHXGAHP4erQSC5DL1HIHeuRXxjMO7v9GAHnLYhw7Q31WoMuQpC_oNQ41otatwnT6sFjXOOcBQD7dATTKejr3YJfPE5fRXVS4jojlTJ9riwzIJG_32ssvduFJgfQSjO355dtr4r8gG2ByC4UM1i0_sQemOr0f9jasheo7r-pLaoM5tRQL1JZb1xdeCNCOeCwwNbREBeMzAe1sqqTeRa5cyXWF06WRAStcc2D0TrUDqnPQ3Jl7FuNmlFJuSC3iI7fi9LJfrDbOnskWfqfjY.OEJd60gGsFqJOLA5v7sM4_D7fBRivapCAc7SnQLEo0I&dib_tag=se&keywords=norchill%2Bcooler%2Bbag&qid=1721149278&sprefix=norchill%2B%2Caps%2C226&sr=8-6&th=1&psc=1

i'm sure to add stuff later.  if anyone else wants to add stuff, please do so. i'm certain that i forgot a ton of things. 

[MarkT]

They aren't bringing the fish back in soft coolers anymore that you can load into your cooler when you're back? Use bigger hooks than a 2/0 for the Mac's!

[natch!]

 I usually bring size 5 and 7 hooks for the Macs. I like to have a dedicated 40 lb. surface jig rig, a trolling/YoYo rig and a third, hard to conjure combo for lighter bottom fishing, tossing small metals, (I like to go smaller than Alan here. 2-2 1/2 oz), live bait etc. I always want a fourth setup here, but Alan is right try and limit yourself to three.
 Last couple of trips the Captains have admonished me for not using 60 for trolling. Yet I sometimes find my drag settings on my 40 or 50 setups have been lightened a bit  when I get in the panga. My Spanish is not strong enough to find out what the advantage may be to heavier line with lighter drag.

 Jack

[MarkT]

I had a time where Javier insisted on 60# leader but 50# has always been good for me! The concern was his ability to wrap the line around his arm to pull it out if you get wrapped in the kelp.

[natch!]

Ah, that makes sense.

Jack

[jurelometer]

The nominal breaking strength is mostly irrelevant in this situation. We are actually choosing the approximate diameter.  50 vs 60 lb fluoro is around .65 vs .75 mm diameter with wide variation depending on brand and product line.  One product's 50 could be pretty close in diameter to another product's 60.

For a given leader hardness, the greater the diameter, the greater the resistance breaking from abrasion.  This is mostly the point of leaders for this type of fishing.   

If you ask the pangero or your boat mate what diameter in mm you should use for the leader, they will just stare at you

-J

[Bill B]

All packed and weighed my bag.  21#.  I also made a list of everything in the bag, irons, weights, hooks, reels, clothes, etc. so at the end of the trip I will know what to dump to make the 17# limit.  Figuring lost tackle, lead, consumables, give aways it shouldn't be difficult.

I have a 0400 hrs wake up, the wife and her friend will drive me down the CBX to arrive by 0800 hrs. 

Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.  Bill

[stoked4fishin]

Heck ya Bill!  Hope you guys get em,  I can't wait to go end-August!

[MarkT]

All packed and weighed my bag.  21#.  I also made a list of everything in the bag, irons, weights, hooks, reels, clothes, etc. so at the end of the trip I will know what to dump to make the 17# limit.  Figuring lost tackle, lead, consumables, give aways it shouldn't be difficult.

I have a 0400 hrs wake up, the wife and her friend will drive me down the CBX to arrive by 0800 hrs. 

Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.  Bill

Don't worry about the weight unless your goal is to bring back the max amount of fish possible.

[Brewcrafter]

Go get 'em guys!!!! - john

[MarkT]

The nominal breaking strength is mostly irrelevant in this situation. We are actually choosing the approximate diameter.  50 vs 60 lb fluoro is around .65 vs .75 mm diameter with wide variation depending on brand and product line.  One product's 50 could be pretty close in diameter to another product's 60.

For a given leader hardness, the greater the diameter, the greater the resistance breaking from abrasion.  This is mostly the point of leaders for this type of fishing.   

If you ask the pangero or your boat mate what diameter in mm you should use for the leader, they will just stare at you

-J

Diameter in mm? Dude, I'm 'murican, stick to # test that the mfg claims! Besides, the pangueros English doesn't support that question!

[jurelometer]

Exactly!  And they would probably look at you equally as funny if you were talking diameter using inches.

Just trying to remind folk that the point is diameter, not listed breaking strength.

But it would be fun to whip out some digital calipers, measure the leader and ask the pangero ¿Qué piensas?  His reply:  (while rolling his eyes) "Uso 60 libras"

-J

[MarkT]

I'm good with 50# Izor XXX!

[alantani]

one of the things that i found helpful was for the two guys to troll the same depth rapalas, maybe even the same colors, and drag them back behind the same distances to increase your odds of double hookups.  when we started doing that, we had several doubles. 

i'm setting up a trolling reel for mike pate and myself.  it will be the new jerry brown solid or hollow patriot brad that changes color every 50 feet, plus a 10 yard topshot of 60 pound fluoro.  that puts you 180 feet behind the boat, which seems to work just fine.