LOTS OF STRIPED MARLIN ARE CONCENTRATED AT THE
TIP OF BAJA AS CABO SAN LUCAS BOATS FLY MULTIPLE FLAGS

June 20, 2004, Capt. George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

ABO SAN LUCAS WEATHER: This week’s temps at Cabo San Lucas remained the same as last week’s with the highs in the low to mid 90s. At night it dropped as low as the mid 60s. We had a day of strong wind on Wednesday and again Friday morning, but the rest of the week was calm. No rain of course!

CABO SAN LUCAS WATER: The water continues to warm right up and the coolest we have on the Pacific side at the end of the week was 71 degrees. On the Sea of Cortez up around the Westin and farther north, and out to 10 miles, the water has been in the low 80s with a lot of 82 degree water holding fish. Out past the 10 mile band from Cabo San Lucas the water drops back to 74 degrees for another 10 miles, then warms back up. Surface conditions were really choppy on the Cortez side and very bad on the Pacific when we had the winds blow, but other than that it was nice water this week.

BAIT: Small caballito at $2 per bait, some Mullet at $2 per bait and some Sardinas at $20 per bucket.

CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING:

BILLFISH: Lots of striped marlin this week! Many Cabo San Lucas boats were flying three or four Marlin flags when they returned for the day and the anglers said that they had seen “lots of fish all over the place”. Talking with the Captains, “all over the place” meant up the Cortez side off of the Palmilla and Gorda Banks area out to 10 miles (in that warm water band). The fish were biting well on live bait this week and lures took a second spot to bait. There were fish caught in other places around Cabo San Lucas as well, just not in the same numbers. Average size was 120 pounds.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Thank goodness the yellowfin tuna have been biting this week! There have not been a lot of them. They have not been very large on average, but they have been there. Most of the fish were blind strikes on Marlin lures and the fish were averaging 15 pounds. The warm water where the Striped Marlin were found held most of the fish. A lot of Cabo San Lucas boats have been going out to the San Jaime and south of there looking for larger Tuna, but there have been very few of them found.

DORADO: The Cabo San Lucas Dorado bite continues to pick up as the water warms and most of the boats seemed to be flying yellow flags this week. The fish are averaging 20 pounds and have been hitting almost anything put in front of them. Best bite was close to shore on the Cortez side of the Cape.

WAHOO: Again just a few fish around Cabo San Lucas. Hopefully with the warmer water and the moon changing the bite will pick up.

INSHORE: This week the inshore bite at Cabo San Lucas was a repeat of last weeks so here is a repeat on last weeks report! The Rooster fish have reappeared on the Pacific beaches and there have been jack crevalle mixed in as well. The roosterfish seem to be following the warm water as it creeps north. Most of the fish have been in the 20 pound class with a few larger ones in the mix. There were a couple of days when Pargo were biting off of the Cabo San Lucas Lighthouse in close to the rocks. Of course, live bait was the key on all these fish, Mullet for the Roosterfish and Sardinas for the Pargo.