Cold hearted Cedros gives up the calicos
The morning started off with a 9-pound calico for skiff driver Travis Johnson, but out where the pangeros said there was a "soccer field" of yellowtail the breeze off the offcolor water was arctic and it was almost impossible to stand up, much less throw the surface iron. Wind is no stranger on long trips along the Baja coast, but 58-degree water and no yellowtail fishing at Cedros Island is not what you hope for or expect.

When a run across to the mainland found Chester Rock in no better shape, Qualifier 105 skipper Joe Crisci decided it was time to head up the backside out of the wind and find some fresh water for the skiffs other than the beat up spots around the salt processing plant.

We would find only the slightest sign of the yellowtail that live in the lee. The big discovery was great the calico bass bite when the water is on the cooler side and on a steady warming trend.

Crisci didn't stop the boat until we reached the lighthouse and small town/fish camp. Birds dipped in the kelp against the shore and the water was flat calm in the bay below the point. Chartermaster Barry Brightenburg jumped in to run the skiff with this writer and Jerry Coble and Larry George. Normally Ron Wait would have been in the boat with them, but he didn't want to head into the bumpy water above the point Barry intended to target. Turned out the other skiffs went that way, too, so it didn't work out for him, but I got to fish with some talented bass fishermen.

Both this trip and the previous run on the Q found an abundant spawn of candlefish (aka lizardfish), often given away by large bird schools dipping in the thick kelp beds. There were no biters under the first such batch of birds, and by now the wind was up and the only way to fish was to fish the "potholes" in the kelp while using the stringers as a temporary anchor line to slow the skiff down. Jerry had the hot hand early and Larry nailed his share. I caught my first bass of the trip and found the key to what would be great calico action for most of the rest of the 7-day -- the fish really wanted the clear with red flake Fish Trap with the fluorescent orange tail.

After picking away at a good catch, we finally got blown out of the northern sector and finished off in the kelp well to the inside of the big boat. Noticing that the bass came up and made tentative moves at the Shimano Waxwing and surface iron Barry threw, I started to look for lanes to cast the plastic. The brushguard on the WAR head gave me the confidence to let the bait sink to the bottom and a slow-roll retrieve resulted in a quality bass a cast. The pattern held true through the next morning's run with my regular partner's Mike McElravy and Robin Schuler and it didn't hurt that Barry found a way through the kelp to the inside boilers up north (which also added to the pucker factor). But I knew the bait was still hot. My buddy Steve Suveg was on the first run that morning and hammered the fish on the same color Fish Trap.

Even more good news was that the weather, while still bumpy, had come way down and we would make the run to San Benitos that afternoon after the other skiff rotation got to fish down the calm side of Cedros. In the warmer flat water they found out the bass were all over the topwater lures. "It was all on the Waxwing, I'm now a believer," said Steve Weiss. "It's the best thing Shimano ever made," said his skiff mate Tom Hampton.

On to the Bush.

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