The fish made another run. I felt a gear break in the reel. A tooth had snapped. Every time the spool came around to that spot there was a little hitch pulling the rod to the right. By the time we got the fish to the boat, a 120lb. striped marlin, the rod gimbal was junk and so was the reel.

We tagged and released the fish and headed for port, the perfect ending to a perfect day on the water, beating the big fish. The boat can lose the fish, but to beat it, you have to wear it out or it wears you out, mano a pescado!

We had spent a successful day fishing the inner Gordo Bank, nearly 30 miles up the East side of the cape, for tuna. George Landrum, the owner of the Flyhooker suggested we leave a little early and troll home. "Maybe we'll find a dorado" he mused. No one was thinking marlin. It turned out to be the only marlin caught in Cabo this day.

The weather was unseasonably cool. Not since the 1920's had Cabo experienced such a cool winter. Water temperatures were in the low 60's nearly 10 degrees cooler than normal. Marlin and dorado, usually abundant, were few and far between. The few around were seeking out narrow bands of warmer water.

We got off the boat, prepared the tuna for the freezer and headed for Fisherman's Wharf where we enjoyed a plate of fish tacos, the best in town, before heading off to our hotel, Viva Cabo!, to clean up.

The hotel only has eight rooms but it has this huge covered terrace overlooking Boulevard, Marina. Stories of the day's adventures were swapped between guests over cerveza and Cuban cigars as we watched the action on the street below.

For dinner we took one of our yellowfin fillets over to Felix's restaurant where they prepared it for us three different ways: fried with a corn meal batter, garlic saut&eacut;, and broiled with salsa garnish. All three dishes were excellent. The meal came with beans, rice, and tortillas along with the salsa bar offering 20 different kinds of fresh salsa (explained in gringo) for only $6.50. Lots of restaurants will cook your fish but we would highly recommend this one.

We strolled around town, stopped at Cabo Wabo, Sammy Hagar's club and tequila factory, and the Giggling Marlin where you can get hung by your feet, a la marlin, and get your picture taken, and still made it back to the hotel before 10.

We had breakfast at Cheezburger Cheezburger (one of the only places open at 5am) and they also made us our box lunches for the boat. We boarded the Fishaholic and were buying bait at the harbor entrance as the sun came up.

We headed up the Pacific side of the peninsula and began trolling hoochies for Sierra, Spanish mackerel. Although the fish were small, 3 to 4 pounds, the action was nonstop. The sierra bite lasted until about 10 AM when it completely died.

We motored over to a small group of rocks, nearly on the beach, where nearly 20 boats were tossing caballito, live baits about 8 inches long, at the red snapper. We saw two fish caught. It was combat fishing Mexican style. Absolutely unbelievable there weren't any accidents.

After working a few more rock piles to no avail, the crew set up for trolling. We managed to entice a couple of skipjack tuna to hit a couple of miles straight south of the harbor. Although not very big, up to 20 pounds, these guys fight like a tuna twice their size.

We spent the evening doing a tequila tasting at La Casa del Tequila and dining at the Shrimp House where they sell shrimp by the kilo. How much can you eat?

In addition to some of the World's best fishing, other things to do while you're in Cabo include: snorkeling and skin diving, jeep tours, atv tours to the desert (we did this and would absolutely recommend it-wear long sleeves and socks), yacht charters, all you can drink party charters fondly known as the booze cruise, shopping, para-sailing, horseback riding, golf, whale watching, and shopping.

Although Los Cabos is a modern resort area, be sure and read the Angler's Cabo Survival Kit for important travel tips.

Read George Landrum's story Fishing with the "Sniffers"