STRIPED MARLIN ACTION IS PACKED IN CLOSE TO THE CABO ARCH

Jan. 10-16, 2005, Capt. George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas has been cold enough in the mornings and evenings that a sweater has been needed. Cabo San Lucas night time lows have been down to the mid-50s and our day time highs in the high 70s. It was partly cloudy most of the week, and on Wednesday we had pretty strong winds from the northwest but they died down on Thursday. No rain this week, but that is no surprise.

There was no big change in Cabo San Lucas sea surface water temperatures this week with the exception of a cold upwelling right at the Cape that worked its way up the coast on the Cortez side. This water temperature right at Cabo San Lucas was 68-70 degrees. The water temperature within 20 miles of the coast on both sides of the Cape was pretty steady at 72-73 degrees this week and there was a band of warm water to 76 degrees just past that distance on the Cortez side of Cabo San Lucas. On the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, once you got up past the Golden Gate Bank the water temperature dropped to 71 and the same thing happened on the Cortez side once you got past Punta Gorda.

This week the bait available at Cabo San Lucas was a mix of caballito and mackerel. They have been the normal $2 per bait.

Tuesday was a banner day of fishing at Cabo San Lucas for striped marlin as the fish were packed up and close to home. The best fishing area to be was within 8 miles of Cabo San Lucas just off the arch to the lighthouse, and they were feeding heavily. Most Cabo San Lucas charter fishing boats that worked the area were able to get at least several fish hooked up and almost everyone came in flying at least two Marlin flags. The most I heard of on one boat was 8 Striped Marlin released that day, and they were biting anything offered, even dead bait on a drop back. That night the wind kicked up and by the morning the fish had scattered. The Cabo San Lucas bite from Wednesday on was not as good with the fish scattered all over the place, but there were still pockets of fish popping up here and there feeding hard. Watching for the Frigate birds stooping on flying fish was the key to getting on the feeders before they went down, and once the fish were found it was often a race between boats to be the first on to the spot and to toss the bait.

This week's Cabo San Lucas fishing for yellowfin tuna is a repeat of last weeks with the exception of the Jaime Banks area. One of the long range boats out of San Diego has been working the area for a while and they have gotten several big Tuna, some of them over 300 pounds. A few of the local Cabo San Lucas fishing boats have been lucky to be there at the right time and have hooked up on nice fish as well. One Captain relayed to me a story of hooking up to one he swears would go over 400 pounds and having the hook pull just as the leader was taken in hand. There were fish in the 35-45 pound class found between 30 and 40 miles to the west during the middle of the week, but they were moving around a lot. A few fish were found up around and just to the north of the Golden Gate Banks as well. The best baits for the Tuna this week were feathers in dark colors if you were trolling and sardina and chiwillies if you were live baiting.

Cabo San Lucas dorado (mahi-mahi) action continues to be slow with the cooler water we have now, but there are still a few around. I don't think I would be targeting any of them from now on, at least not if I wanted to catch one bigger than 10 pounds. There are still small fish found close to shore and a few larger ones off shore, but they have almost all been incidental catch.

A few wahoo have been turning up every day at Cabo San Lucas but they have been incidental catches. The bite that we had last week for a few days died off quickly as the fish passed through. There may still be a decent bit at the banks but I have not heard of it.

Cabo San Lucas sierra action continued this week with the fish moving in closer to home. Up around the Cabo San Lucas lighthouse and Margarita there was good action just outside the breakers on fish to 6 pounds. A few boats that concentrated on them were able to fill fish boxes with these ceviche favorites. Other near shore fish were scattered and we are waiting for the Yellowtail to show up. Scattered jacks and needlefish as well as some Pompano rounded out the Cabo San Lucas surface fishing action and there have been some decent Snapper and grouper caught in the hours before and after high tide.