The fishing around Cedros Island is similar to that in Southern California, but the yellowtail, calico bass, white sea bass, halibut and barracuda are bigger, stronger and meaner. After my August visit to this craggy, arid Pacific island about midway down the Baja Peninsula and 40 miles off the coast, I’d say Cedros Island is like SoCal fishing on acid.
I marveled at acres of sardines roiling the surface with such ferocity that the melee sounded like a raging downpour. I caught two trophy calico bass on a two-hook stick bait. But the capper was a school of ravenous yellowtail that surrounded a blue shark and forced it to the surface, where they repeatedly rammed its belly with their noses, making the shark cough up its last meal for them to devour. It was like watching a piscatorial version of chess club nerds turning the table on the school bully and stealing his lunch. This was my first day of fishing here, and I was sober as a judge.
Such eye-popping scenes are routine in the waters surrounding The island was designated a Mexican Biosphere Reserve in 2016, protecting and managing the abundant marine resources “for the benefit of
