CABO SAN LUCAS MARLIN FISHING HAS AN UP-AND-DOWN WEEK

Nov. 12-19, 2004, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas marlin fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico Report:

Fishing this week in Cabo San Lucas was pretty fantastic for many people, whilst others drew a blank. There were some great days and some where a third of the boats got skunked, but as mentioned before we are going through a transition stage with fish spread out; saying this, the overall Cabo San Lucas catch success rate for all species combined was still very decent at eighty-seven percent.

Caryl Hitt & Charles Johnson, from Catharpin, VA fished on "Valerie" on November 13th and scored, a blue, striped, and sailfish all released, 25 miles out from Land's End, where the Sea of Cortez and Pacific merge. The blue was moderate in size at around 250 lbs and took a blue & black lure. The sailfish bit the same lure and the striped took a live bait.

On the 15th, "Ruthless" released three Cabo San Lucas striped marlin, pretty much in the same area, for Terry Hesch from Duluth, MN.

This same day the Estes family from Gainesville, TX had a blue marlin and striped marlin, a little closer in at 10 miles off of Land's End.

Roy Kirkland & Mark Cirelli, from Boise ID had a bumper day on the 16th, releasing a blue marlin, two stripers and landing 6 tuna and 1 dorado.

Cabo San Lucas fishing then slowed down for a couple of days, but perked up again on the 19th, when Roger and Dave Wright from Alabama and Colorado, respectively, released a blue and a striped marlin aboard, "La Brisa" again off of Land's End.

It was nice to see anglers from all over the U.S. and even nicer to see the amount of blue marlin we had this week, with the stripers promising to break open at any moment.

The Cabo San Lucas billfish catch success rate this week was forty-three percent and Pisces anglers caught a total of 53 billfish, consisting of 46 striped marlin - 44 released, 5 blues and 2 sails, all released.

There was a dramatic fall on dorado catches this week, from over 80% of charters catching down to 36%, which was pretty much expected. How long could it go on? Boats still caught anywhere from one to a half-dozen and occasionally more, but fewer boats found them. Weights were not anything unusual at 18 to 35 lbs.

Yellowfin tuna showed up a little, late for the Cabo San Lucas Tuna Tournament, as boats loaded up on them midweek, most were footballs, but one monster, 205 lbs, was caught by John Sempe aboard "Kahuna." The fight was not easy and John has the blisters to prove it. Twenty-seven percent of boats landed tuna.

Cabo San Lucas wahoo catches were on the slow side, but we still had several, ranging from 20 to 60 lbs. Inshore there were some roosterfish up to 30 lbs, along with a few skipjacks, some amberjacks and the odd grouper.

LOCATION: Mostly on the Pacific, Land's End to Golden Gate, a couple of days fishing was good at the 95 spot and Cabeza de Ballena on the Cortez side.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Mostly clear skies, Cabo San Lucas seas calm to moderate, perfect temperature, day time sunny, evenings fairly cool.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 76-78 F.

BEST LURES: Live bait, green/yellow, blue/black, red/black.