Cedros Island Gear Recommendations

[rogan]

Cedros gear list

In the months leading up to my first Cedros trip, I was a mess. I was new to saltwater fishing, had never caught a yellowtail, owned four saltwater reels, two of which were 20 to 30lb setups and not really appropriate for this trip, and I had never been in a panga. Add to that, we were traveling out of the country to Mexico and Alan was the only person I knew on the trip. My prior saltwater experiences were half a dozen day type inshore trips for rockfish. I was hungry for information and spent a chuck of time researching everything I could about Cedros and yellowtail fishing. Thanks to the great people on this site, I got a bunch of great info, made my choices and had an excellent adventure.

So now I have been to Cedros with Alan, MarkT, Brendan and Jack(natch!) four trips, and I would like to offer my advice on this subject. All four of them have contributed to my success and learning curve when it comes to fishing Cedros and fishing for yellowtail. I have also learned from all my other fishing partners during these trips. In no way am I contradicting their advice or suggesting they don't know what they are talking about. I just want to share my experiences and thought process behind the gear I choose to bring.

First, what are your targeted species? There are several options:  yellowtail, calicos, halibut, pinto bass, sheepshead, black seabass and many bycatches like barracuda and bonito... I have seen my fellow travelers choose to target certain types of species, or certain methods of fishing, so the gear you choose should be dependent on what you want to catch and how you want to fish.

I will temper the above statement with "be prepared with a little of everything" because each year I have been there, one tactic was stronger than the others and some fish are more available than others in a given week. I prefer to fish for yellowtail. First year, surface irons worked well and caught the majority of my fish. Year two was the year of slow trolling live mackerel. Year three was a combo year with trolling rapalas for the first three days, but day four I caught 5 yellows in 20 minutes on yoyo iron. Year four was the year of the rapala, it was the only thing that worked and color didn't matter, any rapala in 20 or 30 size worked. So for me, each year has produced a different technique, but that technique had to be discovered during the week.

Second, what is your purpose for the trip? For me, this trip has a very large scope. It's the entire process; from choosing gear (line, hooks, lures, rods, reels, clothing, tools, sun protection, etc) to practicing with the gear, to planning the trip and posting about it here, then executing the trip and telling tall tales afterwards... Catching fish is part of the process, but it is only a part of the adventure. I enjoy bringing home some fish to eat, but if the trip was catch and release only with no option to bring home fish, I would still go.

Because I choose to place so much emphasis on the adventure part of the trip, it means I am less concerned about weight, and balancing how much gear I bring against how much fish I can bring home is of a lesser concern. I am the type of person who likes to be well prepared for all possible situations, so I bring too much gear. Alan is correct with his gear selection, you can fish the entire week with what he recommends. But I have spent the previous year selecting, testing and dreaming about catching fish with many differing methods and equipment, so I want to bring them all!!! All of my previous thoughts are also based on the fact that I get one trip per year. These four days in Cedros are the only saltwater days I will get until next year's trip. I want to ensure that I can catch fish, and I prefer to do with my gear, so I bring too much. Yes, there is a tackle shop on the island and they have good gear, but I don't want to rely on that shop for my needs. 
So, knowing that I like to target yellowtail, that I am fishing for the adventure more than the food and that I like to bring my own gear, what do I actually take on the trip?

Rod/reel combos:
#1 has to be a 50# setup. 65 or 80lb braid (200yds minimum) with a 10 to 50 yd topshot of 50# mono on a 7ft or 7ft6in 50lb rod. Your choice of lever drag or star drag, but it needs to be capable of 20lb drag settings (and not be maxed out at that setting). With this one combo, you could troll live macs, troll rapalas, throw surface iron or drop yoyo irons. I prefer to cast mono instead of braid, hence my recommendation of 50 yards of mono topshot. While it is better as a trolling outfit, a lever drag could do everything if it's a combo you are comfortable casting. I know 20lbs of drag may seem high, but there are times when you have about 10 seconds to control the yellowtail, or you will lose it to the kelp or the rocks. It's happened to me at least three times and the most prominent example for me was a 30lb yellow hooked on a live mac while I was using a makaira 8, calstar 7ft 50lb trolling rod with a preset 18lbs of drag. The fish pulled drag and made it to the kelp in less than 10 seconds and by the time we reversed back on the fish, it was gone. I know it was a 30# fish because I had caught another 30# yellow 15 minutes prior and the fight was the same. (My partner Frank, caught a 40# yellow 15 minutes before my 30, we were in the midst of some big yellows)

#2 in my line up is a surface iron combo, it has to be a combo that you can cast well! 50lb braid minimum, 200+ yards with a long topshot of 50lb mono, 60+ yards. Rod is 7 to 8ft rated to throw the weight of the jigs you are fishing. When I say "cast well," I don't mean maximum distance, I mean a reel that you are not backlashing. Something that allows you to chuck an iron 40yds on a moving/pitching panga or side flip it 20yds cause the yellows followed in your partner's hooked yellow and they are right next to the boat and a short flip will get you bit. This means you have to practice with it before the trip. This was probably the single best piece of advice I got from the experienced members. I practiced several times before my first trip and it paid off. It's one thing to stand on level ground and make a couple dozen casts in fair weather. It's totally different to make consistent casts on day four of the trip with all the casting fatigue while pitching and yawing in 10 foot swells with a 20+ mph wind in a panga on the SW side of the island. The swells are big enough that the other panga 100 yds away completely disappears in the bottom of the trough. Is it necessary to fish these conditions? No, but if the yellows are there, then I will be too (remember the adventure part). 

Let's spend a minute talking about casting distance. At Cedros, in the panga, distance is not the answer. There are several reasons for this. The panga is a stealthy boat, especially compared to a San Diego long range boat. The yellows are usually not boat shy. I have caught many on irons less than 10 yards from the panga, with my best surface iron memory occurring last year. I had a 15lb yellow chase my iron to the boat, I gave an extra pause and twitch at boat side, the same way you would for a pike or musky, and the yellow blasted my iron. There was less than 10ft of line from my rod tip to the lure. There is also the issue of structure. Some of the most productive yellowtail water at Cedros is only 80ft deep, and most of that is covered with kelp. If you make a 40yd cast (160 feet) and the yellow hits it on the first few cranks, the fish has more than enough line to hang you up in the kelp or the rocks. Lost fish, lost gear, not fun.

Because maximum casting distance is not required to get bit, I prefer a shorter rod between 7 and 8 feet. Yes, you can bring a 9 or 10 foot rod, but you will also have to carry it through the airport twice! My first year I brought a 9 foot rod and managed to smack it into some piece of the airport ceiling or support column 5 times (fortunately no damage). I also discovered it was much more difficult to get the yellows close to the boat for the gaff shot. With my personal casting skills, I can cast an iron the same distance with an 8 foot rod as a 9 footer, but with less travel and fish landing concerns.

3) Now you have to make a choice for your third rod:

A)  Calico bass setup – Some form of levelwind baitcaster (Lexa, Komodo, Tranx, etc) with a 30lb stick
Or
B)  40lb backup setup – This will be used to replace either the 50lb or surface iron setups if either should suffer a catastrophic failure and become unusable for the remainder of the trip.
Two setups are all you really need, but if you want to fish for a specific species, or you are like me and want a backup, then bring a third setup based on how you fish.

I have used different gear over my four trips, but if I had 5 minutes to grab gear and head out the door to fish in Cedros, this is what I would grab:

1)   Surface iron: Progear pacifica 2500 (upgrade bridge, sleeve, drags and handle) with 65lb braid and 70 yds of 50lb p-line original smoke mono, Phenix black diamond 809h custom wrapped with long handle for throwing surface iron (primary purpose), but can also be used to yoyo or even troll in a pinch.
2)   Trolling/dropper/yoyo:  Makaira 8 with 65lb braid and 5 foot 60lb mono leader, Calstar GF 700H.
3)   Backup reel:  Penn Baja special 113hn (purchased from Bryan with all the upgrades, thank you Bryan, may you rest in peace) spooled with 65lb braid and 50 yards of 50lb p-line smoke, G Loomis pelagic PSR84-40C (7 foot 40lb). This setup can do anything.

I will no longer bring a calico rig. This is a personal choice. I have dedicated three half day fishing sessions, spread out over three trips, to just fish for calicos, and I can't catch them. First time I landed five in 4 hours and the remaining two sessions resulted in zero calicos. Since I can't catch them, I will concentrate on yellows or halibut, cause I can catch them. This is a personal problem and should in no way reflect in your gear choices, because many other anglers have had 100+ calico days, I'm just not one of them.

Now that rods/reels are sorted, what else is needed. Lets talk about artificial lures.
Surface Iron!!! This is the reason we go to Cedros and fish for yellows. Surface Iron for yellows is the best fishing you can do. I know, bold statement, but it is pretty cool. Active fishing where you are casting and winding, enticing big fish to bite a big lure. You are winding along and all of a sudden it gets really difficult to wind cause that 20lb yellow just clamped on to your lure and now he's pulling 12+ pounds of drag and running for several seconds and you start to worry if he's gonna hang you in the kelp or break you in the structure... it's one of the best fishing moments you can have. Bring 4 surface irons. Color and style are up to you, cause I have seen all versions work, just pick what you like and pick a jig that swims well. If you ask the Cedros captains what to fish, the standard answer is "blue and white." I agree, have one in that color.

YoYo irons: Some version of a vertical speed jig. Heavy enough to drop straight down and stay vertical as you retrieve with some speed. They usually hit on the retrieve. Like surface irons, color is your choice and the captains favorite is still blue and white. I have had personal success with smaller sizes (not smaller weights) in scrambled egg color. Bring 3 or four.

Trolling: Rapala x-rap 20 or 30 size. I'm gonna say that again. Rapala x-rap 20 or 30 size. Color doesn't matter, they all work: mackerel, sardine, ghost white, red head, silver, clown, bonito, uv sailfish, etc... I have seen them all catch fish. You can bring other trolling lures, but I think you are in for some disappointment. The x-raps work very well. Bring at least 2. There is one other trolling lure I will fish, the nomad DTX minnow in 140 size. Twice it has outfished the x-rap when fished side by side and at the same distance from the panga.

Other surface lures, Poppers and stick baits: I bring stick baits every year, and every year they stay in the tackle box. I know they work, but when it's time to throw a lure, I grab a surface iron. I do have one issue with stick baits, light weight and therefore difficult to cast. My surface irons are 2.5 to 3.5 ozs in weight, and my rod is set up to throw that weight range. My stick baits are 1.5oz and lighter, which makes throwing them on 50lb mono a real challenge. I lose distance (especially in the wind) and my chances of a backlash go way up. I have never tried a popper.
Soft plastics:  If you are fishing for calicos, bring your plastics. If you are not fishing for calicos, you can leave them at home. I bring a box of plastics filled with my handmade swimbaits (and a few store bought) every year. I have never caught a yellowtail on them, but I know it has been done. Another case of lighter weight lures that don't cast well on my heavier gear.

Switching tactics

Live bait: Slow trolling live mackerel is a very productive technique for large yellowtail. It's a slow, tedious way to fish, but if you want to target larger yellows, all my 25lb and larger fish have been caught on slow trolled macks. All you need for this technique is a hook. When I open my tackle box, every captain has looked inside to see what hooks I have, and every time, every captain has picked out a 4/0 owner standard mutu circle hook. Are they expensive? Yes. Do they work? Yes. Do I have at least four other styles and sizes of hooks? Yes. And the captains always pick that hook. I have never used more than three hooks per trip, so even if they cost a buck apiece, it's worth it to me to have a hook that won't fail. If you are targeting other species, then you need other hooks. Trap rigs, with a j-hook for the nose of the bait and a treble hook for the tail are used for halibut. Dropper loops for sheepshead and other bottom dwellers. So plan your hooks for your intended species.

Sabikis: The captains only want mackerels for bait, they throw back anything else. So bring sabikis built for macks, not the light weight sardine or anchovy versions. I want 15lb branch lines minimum (20+ lb main) so you can bring in multiple large macks at the same time. Have three so if you tangle them up, you have spares out of the package ready to go.

Weights: for both the sabiki and the dropper loops. Nothing less than 4 oz. I bring 2 of each: 4oz, 6oz and 8 oz. Seems heavy, until you load up 5 12in macks and they try to tangle your sabiki into a pretzel. If you are planning to target other species with specific techniques, like dropper looping for sheepshead, you might need heavier weight to battle the current or deal with the kelp.

Clothing: This is personal preference, but I prefer to wear nylon fishing pants and long sleeved "performance" sun shirts with hoods and neck/face gators with baseball cap. I hate dealing with sunscreen and having to reapply it over the course of the day, so I choose clothing that gives better sun protection than sunscreen. For shoes, I have used keen sandals because I prefer a closed toe shoe. If they get wet, they dry quickly. The Cedros staff will wash laundry for a small fee (about $5 a day), so I bring three sets of clothes; one to wear fishing, one to wear in the evening and the third is being washed by the staff. You could do the same thing with only two sets, I just prefer to have three. I also bring a waterproof lightweight jacket, as some mornings the spray from the panga gets a little wet and I have been rained on while fishing at the island.

Tools: I bring small braid scissors, split ring pliers, screwdriver with bits that fit my reels, knot tighteners, super glue, lighter, seasick meds, finger tape,  etc... The extra things that make fishing possible, so your list will vary. Two sets of sunglasses, for me this is non-negotiable.

Containment: I like to use plano 3600 sized tackle trays, single compartment version. One tray for each type of tackle, so I end up with 5 trays; Irons, trolling lures, soft plastics, tools and one spare empty tray that ends up holding the tackle I've used over the course of the day so I'm not trying to cram it all back into the original trays. It also allows me to keep the tackle exposed to saltwater separate and I can rinse one tray's worth of tackle with freshwater back at the lodge. These five trays fit in small nylon bag that is lightweight but strong enough to survive a trip through the conveyor belt at the airport. Same thing applies for my clothing, a small lightweight dufflebag. I use my clothing to wrap my reels to prevent unnecessary wear and tear. Each rod is in a mesh rod sock to protect guides and tiptops and they are strapped together with two small Velcro straps.

When everything is loaded up, my two bags and rod bundle are less than 20 lbs. In 2025, the airline reduced the luggage weight for passengers from 72lbs to 56 lbs. In past years, with 20lbs of gear, I was able to bring home about 50lbs of fish. This year it will be closer to 35lbs of fish. As previously mentioned, I am more interested in the adventure of the trip than in maximizing my fish filets, so 35lb of fish it is.
 
These are just my experiences. In no way am I saying that these observations are the only way to fish Cedros. As always, fishing is what you make of it. I have specific goals in mind, and so far I have been able to achieve them; solid adventure, excellent stories, great friendships, good gear and amazing fishing in a unique and special location.

[MarkT]

In '24 I took:
3700 size Plano box containing:
2 Rapala XRap Magnum (blue Mac) 20 & 30
1 Megabait (blue mac)
1 Colt Sniper 60g (sardine)
1 YoZuri hydro minnow lc 170 (wacky mackerel)
1 Vertrex Max Vibe 130 (blue sardine)
4 Salas 7x (mint, mint sardine, blue/white, green mackerel). Only used the mint sardine!
1 Shimano swim kick (green mac)
3 6xJr (blue/white, mint, scrambled egg). Only used the blue/white.
2 6x (blue/white)
4/0 Mutu, 8/0 EC circle hooks
2/0 Gorilla J hooks
TA clips
3 weedless lead heads with swim baits
1 Hookup bait (red)
1 Nomad Squidtrex 130
Plus:
4 Sabiki rigs
4/8/10 oz sinkers
Finger tape
Smitty soft pad
Dikes/Duckbills/Split ring pliers
Extra 50# mono
Sunscreen

I didn't use half of it! One surface iron, one yo-yo jig, a 30 size xrap magnum, a few hooks, and sinkers and done! Panguero tied up halibut trap rigs for us... worked great, I got 5 halibut.

50# is the way to go! Yo-yo/slow troll/fly line and surface iron, it's all you need. I had a 40# leader in my Lexa 400.

I had 3 rigs: 9' surface iron w/TranX 500 HG, 7.5' yoyo/troll w/JX Raptor, 8' bass rig w/ Lexa 400. Caught fish on all and they'll be back again this year!

The weight limit is 60# and ASG aren't weighing the rods... unlike what they said previously.

[Brewcrafter]

Lotta good info from Veteranos here... - john

[jurelometer]

Soft plastics:  If you are fishing for calicos, bring your plastics. If you are not fishing for calicos, you can leave them at home. I bring a box of plastics filled with my handmade swimbaits (and a few store bought) every year. I have never caught a yellowtail on them, but I know it has been done. Another case of lighter weight lures that don't cast well on my heavier gear.

Back when I was into to soft plastic lure design, I dedicated one of my trips to Cedros to testing swimbait protypes. I think around three weeks.  Hints:  go big on the size - really big. Use a tail with lots of action. Light colored much better than dark, but specific  colors didn't matter. The smaller the swimbait, the less it got bit.

The yellowtail tended to prefer the size/style in the photo over a surface iron when offered both at the same time.  A surface iron is more durable and much easier to cast for distance.  Yo-yo irons would outfish swimbaits when fishing deeper unless the bite was really slow.  I wouldn't bring swimbaits for Cedros yellowtail unless I really wanted to fish plastics.  They get chewed up fast, so you need to bring a lot of extras.

 Back in the day, the calico fishing was so good it got boring in less than an hour, but there had to be plenty of kelp around.  Some years, there was pretty decent calico fishing close to the usual yellowtail spots, but to get to the calico hotspots, you needed to dedicate a day to get up to the northwest-ish part of Cedros or hop over to the next island (Benitos?)

I would never bring more than two rods on the boat, and usually just tossed a few irons in a small box into my bag with my rain jacket.  No tackle box.  The SoCal guys with all that gear and those stupid-long (for a panga) rods just baffled me.

-J

[alantani]

awesome, all of you!!!

[MarkT]

You can definitely catch YT at Cedros when fishing plastics for Calico bass!

[boon]

Wild to me that apparently nobody is using offshore spinners for this surface iron business... or stickbaits, for that matter.

[MarkT]

Wild to me that apparently nobody is using offshore spinners for this surface iron business... or stickbaits, for that matter.

I've seen people throwing stick baits on spinners at Cedros, but not with a group I was with!

[jurelometer]

I also throw some poppers and stickbaits, but still prefer to use revolving spool reels with a levelwind.  We does get the jumbo yellowtail like you folk do. 30 lb range is big, and anything in the 40s is gunning for top fish for the week. So I don't need a jumbo offshore spinner.

The same levelwind outfit serves double duty as a inshore/calico setup.

-J