SCHOOL-SIZED YELLOWFIN TUNA BEING CAUGHT CLOSE
TO THE CABO SAN LUCAS ARCH AND UP TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

Dec. 26-31, 2005, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas fishing area daytime highs were around 80 degrees and nighttime lows were at 60 degrees. We had a few cloudy days early in the week but it cleared up nicely at the end, with no rain, and the wind did not blow too badly.

The swells on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas died down this week, but we did have a couple of days of windy weather that kicked up some choppy conditions during the middle of the week. The same conditions existed on the Cortez side early in the week if you went up past the Gorda Banks, but still the conditions were fishable.

Cabo San Lucas sportfishing water on the Pacific side has been right around 70-71 degrees with very green water close to shore but getting a bit bluer the farther out you go.

On the Cortez side of Cabo San Lucas, the fishing water north of the Gorda Banks was off color and cool at an average of 68-69 degrees around Los Frailes to 70-71 degrees off of Punta Gorda. Going farther south until you reached the Cape the water became a great blue color and warmed up to 74 degrees once you got a mile off shore.

There was a mix of Mackerel and Caballito live baits available this week at the normal $2 per bait. Sardinas were available from Pangas up at Palmilla at the normal $20 per scoop.

I overheard one guy talking on the radio that the striped marlin bite at the Finger Bank was still going on as they had released 22 fish on Tuesday. The choppy conditions kept a lot of the smaller Cabo San Lucas charter fishing boats from getting up there, but the water was reported as blue and full of life.

Closer to Cabo San Lucas, the Striped Marlin bite that had been happening just off the lighthouse has ended for the most part as the water turned a very pea-green color and the big bait ball that had been on the ledge moved away. There were reports that the Golden Gate still had a lot of fish on it with blue water so that may be the target for the coming week unless the bait and fish move over to the 95 spot.

No Swordfish have been reported yet at Cabo San Lucas, but with the cooling water and the green color coming it won't be long until we start to see a few on the surface.

There were quite a few football yellowfin tuna to 20 pounds taken off the lighthouse and the Cabo San Lucas arch by sportfishing boats that chummed and baited with Sardines this week, but that ended with the arrival of the green water. Other fish to 100 pounds were reported being found between 15 and 30 miles to the west and south, under the Porpoise. The larger fish were taken on live bait; the medium fish bit well on cedar plugs and the footballs were suckers for small hoochies in silver and blue.

The Cabo San Lucas dorado bite remained poor this week with only a few boats finding more than one fish at a time and most of them were right around 10-15 pounds. A few fish to 30 pounds were caught as well, but they were few and far between.

The wahoo bite was very slow and the fish were an accidental catch.

Very little inshore fishing was done off of the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas this week due to both the large swells and the green water. Sportfishing boats working the shoreline on the Cortez side were reporting some Sierra to 8 pounds and a few decent Amberjack as well as a scattering of Pargo to 20 pounds found among the rocks. Most of the Panga fleet was working just offshore looking for Yellowfin and Bonita and they had decent luck with those fish as well as a few smaller Dorado.