Reposted from a recent March
Cabo is famous for the fishing, but we were out for meat as much as for sport and, as I mentioned, we are not really into hassling the big fish from the big boats anymore. Leave them fish alone!
We set out early with Carlos in his super-ponga to find "Sierra" - Sierra Mackeral (similar to the Atlantic Spanish Mackeral, but larger) - for dinner for ten invitees. We needed the meat but good sport is always the bonus.
I always say, "Huntin' and fishin' ain't shopping." It's a risk to invite people before catching the fish, but it's never failed for me. The Lord provideth the tortillas and the fishes. We caught 8 but really only needed 6, so had leftovers for breakfast. (We Yankees believe in fish for breakfast.)
Being lazy and on vacation, we brought our 8 cleaned and skinned mackeral over to Solomon's Landing on the marina to prepare it for us all for dinner six hours later. Since we supplied the fish, it wasn't a big expense except for the cocktails.
It was a good dinner party. Margueritas the size of bathtubs. Here was the result at 7 pm that evening -
First course: Sierra Ceviche - the best ceviche I have ever had in my life. Sierra is said to be the best fish in the world for ceviche, and I cannot dispute that. I could live on Sierra Ceviche and Margueritas:
After the dynamite ceviche, they brought platters of our Sierras cooked three ways - chef's choice: Fried with coconut, baked with capers, olives and peppers, and baked Rockefeller style (like Oysters Rockefeller) - all wonderful Mexican cooking:
Story and pics below the fold -
Picking up a fishing license at 6:30 am (government license guy was 1/2 hour late, of course):
Carlos at the helm, leaving Cabo San Lucas harbor at dawn:
We caught some of our fish trolling, and later some using live sardine baits. Whales kept passing our fishing area, and a Sea Lion appeared and stole a hooked fish from a neighboring boat. Hilarity ensued. Why don't they stay in zoos, where they belong?
That's one of my companions on the left and our Captain Carlos, a 37 year-old grandfather, on the right. He told us "I never liked school. Too hard. I only loved fishing. So I became a fisherman, and learned about the fish." He is rightly proud of his new 150 hp Suzuki engine, which is very quiet and moves his ponga along just fine.
Your Editor, hard at work:
For a couple of bucks, Mexicans on the dock cleaned and skinned our mackerals while the Pelicanos waited around for scraps -
Then we brought our fillets over to Solomon's to leave them off and to find some wholesome refreshment. Those Pacificos taste darn good in Mexico, with a squirt of fresh lime. We had a couple each ($1.50 US per beer) and then had to get moving before the womenfolk got crabby:
