It is not often you get an invite to fish your way down the Baja coastline aboard a sport fishing yacht.
The Merin family hails from Lodi, and they are experienced at the trip from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. Their boat, named “The Other Office,” is a beautiful 48-foot Silverton, and it creates a perfect platform for the journey. I was lucky enough to make the trip with the family.
We departed San Diego at close to midnight. After loading live bait, we steamed out of port with the Coronado Islands ahead and more than 750 miles to go.
The next morning, we awoke outside Sacramento reef. It’s a treacherous location to navigate, but we were safely offshore with a light breeze off the stern, and “The Other Office” was riding nicely.
I had spent many days working this stretch of coastline as a young man on the long-range boats of San Diego, but I never had such luxury and friendly camaraderie as on this trip.
We traveled through the night, taking shifts at the helm.
We all awoke to an ominous sunrise over Cedros Island, about 380 miles south of San Diego. The bonito were chomping the troll lures like ravenous wild dogs! After catching a few, we pulled the trolling gear and looked for some yellowtail.
After sliding up to a floating kelp patty, Ryan Merin dropped an iron lure to the bottom and hooked into a thick-shouldered yellowtail that struggled all the way to the boat. We caught as many yellowtails as we cared to keep, and then we decided to steam into Turtle Bay for fuel and possibly some fresh lobster.
We were successful in getting both, along with fresh prawns and a live bait tank full of sardines. Turtle Bay was good to us.
We decided to leave the bay at sunset and planned to steam south all night to get to a spot outside Punta Abreojos.
Wahoo greeted us there, and they took our trolling lures at the speed of light — wahoo are the fastest-swimming fish in the ocean. We were happy to have some wahoo aboard.
We had plenty of fish and continued to travel south, fishing from one spot to the next.
Dave Merin proved his skills with a yellowfin tuna close to the 100-pound mark. Scott Merin sharpened his knife while steaming rice and made a sushi lunch I will never forget.
G.W. Merin is the boat owner and father to Ryan, Scott and David. He navigated us safely, and we took a last traditional swim before heading into the port of Cabo San Lucas, where we were greeted like royalty.
This was a trip of a lifetime, and fond memories were made.
• Mike Baxter has fished in the Monterey Bay Area since he was a boy and has been a licensed charter boat captain for more than 15 years. Contact him at ca************@ya***.com.
