FOUR MARLIN A DAY COMMON FOR BOATS FISHING AT CABO SAN LUCAS

June 10, 2004, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

BILLFISH: As predicted Cabo San Lucas striped marlin took off in a great way this past week. Catches of up to four marlin a boat were common and clients came back raving about the number of fish they had seen, in some cases twenty of more in a day, as well as spotting whale-sharks, dolphins and manta rays.

A warm current coming from the Sea of Cortez, pushed this way and turned Cabo San Lucas fishing on for striped marlin and the odd sailfish here and there. June 9th was a good day for Cabo San Lucas as both "Tracy Ann" & "Ni Modo" released five marlin each.

The Mowery family from Georgia were aboard "Tracy Ann" and Nolan Draney, here on his annual trip from California, was aboard "Ni Modo".

June 5th was another really good day. "La Brisa" released four, as well as boating a sixty-six pound wahoo. "Rebecca" & "Andrea" also had quadruple catches this day. Alan Porter visiting from Northern Ireland was thrilled to catch and release four striped marlin, aboard "Valerie", fishing with cousin and local Cabo San Lucas resident Tracy Dunlop and family.

Most fishing was a pretty long way off from Cabo San Lucas, between Palmilla and Destiladeras on the Cortez side. Just like last week, there were a lot of fish up on the surface but not all would take bait. In fact it was about a 40/60 on lures and bait.

Pisces anglers caught a total of ninety-seven striped marlin at Cabo San Lucas this week, of which ninety-three were released as well as a sailfish. Weights were fair from 120 to 180 lbs. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined was eighty-nine percent with eighty-four percent of boats catching marlin.

OTHER CABO SAN LUCAS SPECIES: Quite slow for smaller game, that's always the way it is, when we've got tons of marlin, people want tuna! After marlin the next most caught fish at Cabo San Lucas was dorado, but these were just off fish caught here and there whilst trolling. It was rare to get more than one, but when caught they were big, from 30 to 60 lbs - about fifteen percent of charters landed dorado. It was even slimmer pickings for Cabo San Lucas tuna, with just a few caught in the 20 to 30 lb class. Cabo San Lucas inshore boats did well on roosterfish, sierra, amberjack, triggerfish and a few skipjacks. We had just one wahoo, as mentioned above, aboard "La Brisa".

CABO SAN LUCAS LOCATIONS: Palmilla to Destiladeras 5 to 18 miles offshore.

CABO SAN LUCAS WEATHER CONDITIONS: clear, sunny skies, rough seas with whitecaps on a couple of days, now calm.

AVERAGE CABO SAN LUCAS WATER TEMP: 75-79 F

BEST CABO SAN LUCAS LURES: Live bait, green/yellow, petroleros.