MARLIN CATCHES OFF SOUTHERN BAJA INCLUDE
STRIPED MARLIN, BLUE MARLIN, AND BLACK MARLIN

Nov. 22-28, 2004, Capt. George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Fishing water on the Sea of Cortez side of Cabo San Lucas remained in the 77 degree range with blue water, but as you approached the area of the Gorda Banks, the northeast wind became noticeable and the water became pretty rough. Darn those winter winds! On the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas at the end of the week there was a finger of warm water about 80 degrees on the San Jaime Bank. Everywhere else around Cabo San Lucas the water was in the 77-78 degree range. Choppy water was the norm on the Pacific side early in the week but as the wind changed later on the water became smooth.

Cabo San Lucas had clouds every day, but also plenty of sun. Our temperatures were almost perfect with nights getting as low as 60 degrees, with daytime highs in the high 80s. No rain came with the clouds, and the wind varied between 5 and 12 knots from the northwest early in the week and the northeast later in the week. Cabo San Lucas bait was almost all mackerel this week with a few Sardinas as well. Big baits were $2 each while the Sardinas were $20-25 a scoop.

I only heard of two blue marlin and one black marlin being caught this week at Cabo San Lucas, but the bite on the striped marlin has begun to take off. The fish have been fairly close as well, which really helps.

The striped marlin had been stacking up on the rocky points on the Pacific side early in the week and as the week progressed some of the fish started moving offshore a bit. At the end of the week Cabo San Lucas Striped Marlin fishing was best about 7 miles offshore of the light house toward the west. Slow trolled live bait worked pretty good as did rigged dead baits. Lures were a distant third choice but still brought fish up.

A few Cabo San Lucas fishing boats got into football yellowfin tuna early in the week, among offshore porpoise pods, but there were not many of these fish. One boat did get into a good showing of fish off the Outer Gorda Banks on Friday. Being the only boat there helped as he was able to get around two dozen quality fish in the 30-40 pound class and one fish around 80 pounds.

Dorado were scarce in numbers this week at Cabo San Lucas, unless you were able to find something floating and then you needed to be the first boat there to do well. Two dorado a day was a good catch this week and many of the fish that were found were small ones in the 8-10 pound class. A few good fish in the 30-pound range were landed but all in all things were a bit slow. Best bets for fish not associated with floating debris was the points on the Sea of Cortez side, close to shore, using small live baits or chumming for them.

Here in Cabo San Lucas it was a fairly slow week for wahoo, but I had an invitation from a friend to fish with him up at Iman banks on the Cortez side on Friday, and I was shown what a good Wahoo bite is! We had 10 strikes on live bait and landed two fish in the 40-pound class. It was difficult to set the hook well on these fish while using #30 and #25 line, but we had a blast. That was the only consistent action for Wahoo this week as far as I know.

Calm water on the Pacific side allowed the Cabo San Lucas panga fleet to work the shore line hard, and inshore fishing is starting to pick up. A few dinky sierras are showing up and there are still a few nice roosterfish scattered around. Bottom fishing for Snapper and Grouper is still a fair bet and just off the Cabo San Lucas beaches smaller game such as Skipjack and Bonito as well as small Dorado can keep the light tackle angler happy.

Cabo San Lucas marlin action heated up and every thing else has remained about the same as we came on to the full moon. I expected the tuna bite to improve with the full moon and maybe it has, but the fish are too far out for us to find out!