COLD FISHING WATER AND WINDS
HAMPER FISHING ON CABO'S PACIFIC SIDE

May 27-June 2, 2005, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas sport fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Although the wind laid down for a couple of days at Cabo San Lucas, it picked up again with a vengeance especially on the Pacific side. Added to this were the cold water temperatures ranging from 62 to 67 degrees surrounding the Cape, which lead to a drop in billfish catches; in fact only 20 percent of Pisces Fleet charters caught marlin this past week.

The better catches were at the start of this report: Joseph Staropdi and friends from New York, had the highest marlin catch, with three released aboard "Ni Modo" on May 27th, in the Destiladeras area.

The most consistent boat for us this week though, was "Rebecca" who released a total of six marlin throughout the week. The key to this boat's success was they didn't fish the same area any one day. Each fish they caught was in a different area.

There was one day this week when bait was scarce, with more caballito than mackerel available, nevertheless Cabo San Lucas sportfishing crews made use of this less favorable bait fish, by fishing for roosters inshore when the marlin was slow.

All the marlin caught were on live bait. Pisces anglers caught a total of 17 striped marlin of which 16 were released. Our overall catch success rate for all species combined was 85 percent.

Thank goodness for the tuna this week. Pisces anglers achieved a combined catch of 401 yellowfin, ranging from 15 to 30 lbs. Top producer was Yahoo with over 20 fish on May 28th. The tuna were quite widespread with fish found straight off of Land's End, 14-15 miles out, 14 miles off of the Old Lighthouse and some off of Cabeza Ballena.

Sixty-six percent of our Cabo San Lucas sportfishing charters caught tuna, with the average catch being eight fish per boat. These weren't the only type of tuna caught, there were also quite a few white skipjack, which is the kind that is good to eat.

Wahoo catches at Cabo San Lucas were pretty good too. "Ni Modo" had three this week, one a 50 lb'er early in the week, followed by a double header on June 1st for John Treace, with a 92 lb fish, the biggest we've seen in quite a while and a 55 lb fish, which is a decent size also. We had several other fish in the 50 to 60 lb class. Overall eight percent of charters found wahoo. Inshore boats caught sierra up to 10 lbs, skipjacks, a few pargo, jack crevalle and some roosters.

LOCATION: Destiladeras on the Cortez side to San Cristobal on the Pacific.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, windy, choppy on the way back in.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 66 F.

BEST LURES: Live bait.