MULTIPLE STRIPED MARLIN CATCHES TYPICAL THIS
WEEK FOR CABO SAN LUCAS SPORTFISHING BOATS

June 17, 2004, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

It was a pretty spectacular week for striped marlin at Cabo San Lucas.

Overall, Pisces anglers caught a total of 103 striped marlin, of which one 101 were released, along with two sailfish.

The marlin catch success rate turned out to be 77 percent and our overall catch rate for all species combined was 87 percent.

Angler of the week has to be Nolan Draney and friends from Mission Viejo, California. Nolan's group caught and released five striped marlin, aboard "Ni Modo" on June 14th and then followed up on June 16th, with an amazing nine marlin released...way to go!

Another boat that did well was "Tracy Ann" with a total of seven marlin, putting them in first place in the BACS (Bay Area Chiropractors Society) tournament, a fun event, with all fish being released, for a group of Doctors from Houston.

Cabo San Lucas fishing boats routinely caught one or two striped marlin a day, with three and four fish a day not uncommon.

The top area is still Destiladeras and Cabo San Lucas boats are fishing twenty to thirty five miles up the coast from Cabo between three and ten miles offshore.

Practically everything has been with live bait, with boils seen frequently, so most of the time there's hardly a chance to get the lures out to troll with.

Cabo San Lucas water temperature has increased ranging, now from 76 to 80 F, an indicator that we are going to start seeing blue marlin. There was one shaky day, when boats saw fish, but couldn't get them to bite.

OTHER CABO SAN LUCAS SPECIES: Not a great deal going on offshore of Cabo San Lucas for smaller game, but we did have some nice catches, such as a 50 lb wahoo and 60 lb dorado, as well as two striped marlin released, aboard "Valerie" for Don and Donny Edwards from Westminster, California.

There were quite a few dorado and of a good size, too, with several in the 50 to 70 lb range. These were picked up whilst trolling for marlin with the average catch a single, fish and less frequently two or three.

Tuna was very slow at Cabo San Lucas; we caught a solitary 20 lb'er that was off course.

Inshore if you hit it right there was lots of action. Our friend Jim Burger from New York, fished aboard a panga for three days with captain Julio Figueroa and had an impressive tally over three days, consisting of ten rooster fish, three sierra, three jack crevalle, four red snapper, a couple of needlefish and a triggerfish as well as a 60 lb hammerhead shark - giving him a total of 24 fish, equivalent to 330 lbs of fish - Jim was kept busy and had a lot of fun on light tackle.

CABO SAN LUCAS WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, seas mostly calm.

LOCATION: Sea of Cortez, 20 to 35 miles up the coast from Cabo three to ten miles offshore, Destiladeras.

AVERAGE CABO SAN LUCAS WATER TEMP: 77 F

BEST LURES: Live bait.