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My experience has been that if you are going to fish in the Sea of Cortez you really don't need much more than a panga and 4 to 5 hours. I emjoy multiple trips so I will call ahead to get a rate for multiple days. When you fish multiple days your rate can get as low as $150 - $200 per day for the entire panga. A person can easily fill an ice chest in a half day trip. I like dorado , grouper, cabrilla and tuna and will fill the ice chests up on these. Nothing but premium fillets.
On these fishing trips, one of the first sights you really notice once on the water is the sunrise over the Sea of Cortez and the mountains of the Baja slowly turning colors. These rugged mountains shadow each other while the sun comes up giving the mountains a different appearance in color and depth. As this change in light is happening the sea life becomes noticeable. We are always keeping an eye on the birds diving to find the bait fish which attract the game fish. Whales, dorado, dolphins , seals and other creatures show up occasionally to put on a show. Some of the really cool creatures are the little flying fish and the huge manta rays breaking the surface of the water.
Our accommodations are usually timeshare resorts on the beach along the Sea of Cortez. We exchange our time shares and occasionally purchase extra vacations for stays in these resorts through RCI and II. We also own a bunch of weeks at the Villa del Palmars which have resorts in Cabo and Loreto. I guess what Im saying is that the cost for the accommodations are very low for what we get.
Fishing costs not included in the charter are your fishing license at $26 for the year, bait and food. You need to tip well on these trips. We tip $2 a fish for filleting and $30 - $50 for taking us out. We clean the fillets up and put them in freezer bags when we get back to the resort. They are then placed in the resort freezer for another tip. I try to keep these fillets very flat and usually use the freezer in my room to get them this way. It cost about $1.50 - $2.00 per pound to have your whole fish professionally processed , vacuum packed and boxed at a processor if you can find one open. This by far the best route.
These small pangas do not have the best gear. I usually take a couple of rods and reels with me. I use the heavy boat rod and reel but if the reel looks like junk I will swap it out with mine. For trolling I bring a Shimano Tyrnos loaded with 80 pound power pro line and only use this reel if I feel I need to. I also have a nice knife and some terminal tackle.
So the cost breakdown is kind of like this for two people.
Airfare $1600
Car rental $300
Resort $1500
8 Fishing trips $1600
Food and entertainment $1000
mics $200
It looks like about $6200 for two weeks for two people. Adding a couple of more people does reduce costs. Two people can easily end up with 90 pounds of really nice fillets. These are packed frozen in two ice chests and then taped shut. If yellow tail tuna is the catch the price for these tasty fillets are between to $18.00 - $20.00 per pound. I would not have known that grouper fillets are about $18 - $24 per pound. Unbelievably to me, dorado fillets can sell for over $30 per pound at times.
I recommend to toss back any jacks, sail fish, marlin and shark as they taste kind of funky to our group. If you miss out on the above fish target Siera Mackerals or Pargo and Cabrilla.
Bill
On these fishing trips, one of the first sights you really notice once on the water is the sunrise over the Sea of Cortez and the mountains of the Baja slowly turning colors. These rugged mountains shadow each other while the sun comes up giving the mountains a different appearance in color and depth. As this change in light is happening the sea life becomes noticeable. We are always keeping an eye on the birds diving to find the bait fish which attract the game fish. Whales, dorado, dolphins , seals and other creatures show up occasionally to put on a show. Some of the really cool creatures are the little flying fish and the huge manta rays breaking the surface of the water.
Our accommodations are usually timeshare resorts on the beach along the Sea of Cortez. We exchange our time shares and occasionally purchase extra vacations for stays in these resorts through RCI and II. We also own a bunch of weeks at the Villa del Palmars which have resorts in Cabo and Loreto. I guess what Im saying is that the cost for the accommodations are very low for what we get.
Fishing costs not included in the charter are your fishing license at $26 for the year, bait and food. You need to tip well on these trips. We tip $2 a fish for filleting and $30 - $50 for taking us out. We clean the fillets up and put them in freezer bags when we get back to the resort. They are then placed in the resort freezer for another tip. I try to keep these fillets very flat and usually use the freezer in my room to get them this way. It cost about $1.50 - $2.00 per pound to have your whole fish professionally processed , vacuum packed and boxed at a processor if you can find one open. This by far the best route.
These small pangas do not have the best gear. I usually take a couple of rods and reels with me. I use the heavy boat rod and reel but if the reel looks like junk I will swap it out with mine. For trolling I bring a Shimano Tyrnos loaded with 80 pound power pro line and only use this reel if I feel I need to. I also have a nice knife and some terminal tackle.
So the cost breakdown is kind of like this for two people.
Airfare $1600
Car rental $300
Resort $1500
8 Fishing trips $1600
Food and entertainment $1000
mics $200
It looks like about $6200 for two weeks for two people. Adding a couple of more people does reduce costs. Two people can easily end up with 90 pounds of really nice fillets. These are packed frozen in two ice chests and then taped shut. If yellow tail tuna is the catch the price for these tasty fillets are between to $18.00 - $20.00 per pound. I would not have known that grouper fillets are about $18 - $24 per pound. Unbelievably to me, dorado fillets can sell for over $30 per pound at times.
I recommend to toss back any jacks, sail fish, marlin and shark as they taste kind of funky to our group. If you miss out on the above fish target Siera Mackerals or Pargo and Cabrilla.
Bill
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