CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING SEES ITS EXPECTED
DRAMATIC MARCH SLOW-DOWN IN MARLIN ACTION

March 4-10, 2005, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas had a dramatic slow down on marlin fishing this week, but then again this is what we expect during March. Nevertheless we did have a catch rate of 15 percent on marlin, which is a lot better than last year; we didn't' catch a single billfish this same time last year.

We only had a couple of charter fishing boats that had more than one marlin, starting with "Rebecca" on March 5th for Cathy Sahr and Trevor Buzzell from Minnesota.

This same day "Adriana" also has two for Vincent and John Joyce from the U.K.

The other catches were spread out with nobody doing more than one marlin, despite some sightings and even hookups.

Practically everybody went fishing on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas up to the San Jaime area where yellowfin tuna had been reported.

On March 9th, "Valerie" kept her guests busy with a striped marlin, 21 tuna and 3 skipjacks, for Wilson Brett Smith and party from Midland, Texas.

With the colder weather the Cabo San Lucas marlin bite will probably remain slow over the next couple of weeks, but the slack should be taken up by other species. Pisces anglers caught a total of 13 striped marlin this week of which twelve were released.

Yellowfin tuna were very welcome this week, with 55 percent of our Cabo San Lucas sportfishing charters hooking up to fish from 15 to 70 lbs, with the average being around 20 lbs. The Cabo San Lucas lighthouse to San Jamie on the Pacific was the most popular area, though some boats went up to Golden Gate too and some tuna were also found on the Cortez side by Chileno. They took cedar plugs and medium size lures. Catches on yellowfin ranged from one to twenty fish per boat, with the average around four or five. Chris Tarbell on the "Andrea" had the biggest fish, at 70 lbs on March 4th. We totaled 201 yellowfin, the type of catch we have in April usually.

Dorado catches picked up a bit this week with 18 percent of our Cabo San Lucas charters catching fish in the 15 to 25 lb class. They were almost exclusively incidental catches whilst trolling for marlin, however, "Ni Modo" found a school, 15 miles off the lighthouse, for Todd Keppy and were able to get 15 to the boat.

"La Brisa" had a beautiful 80 lb wahoo on the 10th a well as nine tuna for Ellen & Michael Rothman from Boca Raton, fishing with Robert & Cindy Troyer from Omaha. Inshore, Cabo San Lucas charter fishing pangas got a variety of fish such as sierra, red snapper, cabrilla and some rooster fish.

Cabo San Lucas weather was sunny, with daytime temps in the low 80's, nighttime in the low 60's, seas were a bit rough with whitecaps on the Pacific a couple of days due to the wind.

The average water temperature at Cabo San Lucas was 68 degrees, and the best fishing baits were cedar plugs, green/yellow, and live bait.