STRIPED MARLIN BITE MOVES AROUND TO THE SEA OF CORTEZ SIDE

Jan. 24-30, 2005, Capt. George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja Sur, Mexico:

The striped marlin at Cabo San Lucas have scattered a bit, but it seems that almost everyone had a shot at a fish. Most of the fishing has been taking place in the Sea of Cortez around the 95 spot and the 1150. There was a story circulating of a boat having landed a Blue Marlin in the 700-pound range, but I have no idea if it was true. The water is still warm enough on the Cortez side that it would not surprise me, though.

There has been plenty of food out there, so the marlin have been slow to take live bait. The mix was about half on live bait and half on lures.

Football yellowfin tuna associated with Porpoise were found scattered throughout the Cabo San Lucas fishing area, but there was no concentration of them. One exception was the Inman Bank, just to the north of the Gorda where fish in the 15-40 pound class were found by boats drifting live Sardinas.

With the influx of cooler water on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, dorado (mahi-mahi) fishing dropped off a bit. Most of the fish were found on the Cortez and they were fairly small with an average weight of 8 pounds. Slightly larger fish found farther off shore were mostly blind strikes.

Cooler water on the Pacific side brought the Sierra fishing closer to Cabo San Lucas. The hot spot for the week was the Migrino area, both from boats and from the beach. Small hootchies and bright colored Rapalas caught their share of fish in the 4-5 pound class.

Once again Cabo San Lucas had just a little rain during the middle of the week, along with a bit of cloud cover but it moved away fairly quickly and we had the sun shine on us again during the last part of the week. Night time lows have been a pretty chilly, mid 50s, and our daytime highs in the high 70s. Winds at Cabo San Lucas have been from the NNW and North at 5-15 knots with the higher speeds in the afternoons. Up on the Sea of Cortez side there have been some afternoons where the wind blew a bit harder.

Surface conditions on the Cortez side of Cabo San Lucas have been fair in the mornings up to Punta Gorda. On the Cortez side there has been a small band of cooler water running from the beach to just a mile off that has been 70 degrees. Farther out the temperature has been about 73-74 degrees over the 95 spot, the 1150, and Gordo Banks.

On the Pacific there were some large swells at the end of the week but the surface conditions were fair, with wind chop in the afternoons. The water near shore has been in the 67-68 degree range out to a mile or two and then warmed up slightly to 69-70 degrees all the way past the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks.

This week the bait available at Cabo San Lucas has been almost all Mackerel with just a few very small Caballito in the mix.