CABO SAN LUCAS PORT STORM CLOSURE
CATCHES BOATS ALREADY FISHING AT SEA

July 16, 2004, Nancy Chaloner, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas fishing report, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

BILLFISH: A rather exciting week here in Cabo San Lucas with the first tropical depression of the season sneaking up on us on Monday night. Tropical storm Blas caused the Cabo San Lucas Port Captain to make a quick last minute decision and close the port much to the the dismay of everyone who was already out fishing. Yes, all the boats had left when the ten to twelve foot waves, not very common here had the Port captain scrambling to get everyone back in.

The following day the seas remained elevated but Chris Larsen and his wife stuck it out and caught and released a huge striped marlin aboard the Valerie.

Our only black marlin of the week was caught by Dr. Rick Walsh and wife Donna on the Tracy Ann, they also released a striped marlin and boarded a seventy pound yellowfin tuna. The same day Nick Germanio and his family from New Jersey released a “large” blue marlin.

Needless to say Cabo San Lucas fishing was great with a total of 35 striped marlin, nine blue marlin, one black marlin and three sailfish caught by Pisces anglers. Seventy five percent was the overall catch success rate last week, not bad considering we lost a day due to the storm.

OTHER SPECIES: The Cabo San Lucas dorado catch had seemed to have taken off in the last couple of weeks but now we are finally seeing some good sized ones. Floating debris flushed out of the arroyos from the rain has them schooling in many areas. Rob Seas from Belgrade Montana caught a nice fifty pounder on La Brisa last Saturday, he also released a blue and striped marlin! Not much happening on the tuna front but that could be because they are on the Pacific side and the fleet has been fishing mainly the Sea of Cortez.

Inshore was slow this week as the huge surf prevented the pangas from going to their usual hot spots. Francisco, captain of the 22ft Salsa decided to try his luck a little further out and did well on the dorado.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Summer is officially here at Cabo San Lucas, two days of rain last week and more in the forecast. The good news is the cloud and even the rain keep things cooler for anglers and don’t seem to bother the fish what so ever. The day time temperature is hovering around 96F and the nights a touch cooler. Once the storm passed by the winds subsided and the latter part of the week the seas were calm.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: Sea of Cortez 84F – 88F, and the Pacific 74F – 80F

BEST LURES: Black ,silver and purple petroleros for the big marlin and yellow, orange and green for the dorado.