BEST STRIPED MARLIN ACTION FOUND OFF
SAN JOSE DEL CABO ON THE CORTEZ SIDE

July 11-17, 2005, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas fishing report, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Clear skies with few if any clouds were the norm for this week in the Cabo San Lucas vacation fishing area. Consistent wind on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas kept the fishing water there choppy, but on the Sea of Cortez things were pretty good with just a bit of a ground swell and a bit of a chop in the late afternoon. Cabo San Lucas daytime highs were in the mid to high 90s and nighttime lows were in the mid 70s.

Water temperatures have been climbing. We were seeing blue water in the 82 degree range from just outside of Cabo San Lucas, and up the past the Gorda Banks on the Cortez side, while the Pacific side water was a lot cooler, around the low 70s for the most part, and very green close to shore. This lasted until the weekend, and then the California current re-exerted itself and pushed the warm water back toward the Punta Gorda area.

Most of the Billfish action this week at Cabo San Lucas was on Striped Marlin and most of the action happened up around the San Jose del Cabo canyon area. The majority of fish seen and caught were just outside of the red hill area. Trolling at slightly faster than normal speeds, around 9 knots with lures seemed to produce real well for the boats trying it. The average size of the Striped Marlin was small, just around 100 pounds, but there were plenty of them to be found. There were a few nice Blue Marlin found as well. A few Sailfish have begun to appear in the local Cabo San Lucas fishing waters as well.

Tuna were scarce this week in the Cabo San Lucas sportfishing area. The fish that were caught were footballs for the most part. One day early in the week boats that braved the ocean conditions on the Pacific side and went out 40 miles got into a decent school of fish in the 60-80 pound range.

More Dorado were found this week than were found last week, but the bite at Cabo San Lucas is still not wide open. Let the water continue to warm another week and things might begin to happen.

There were some nice Wahoo found this week from the edges of the San Jose Canyon by boats working the area for Striped Marlin. I had a trip on Wednesday when we had three lures cut off by the razor gang.

Inshore fishing action has been slow at Cabo San Lucas, with just a few Roosterfish and Pargo, along with a scattering of Amberjack and Jack Crevalle. Most of the action has been on the Pacific side so it has been an early morning bite, before the wind picks up.

Bait was almost all Caballito this week, but there were a few Mackerel in the mix and they were all at the normal $2 per bait.

Fishing at Cabo San Lucas was looking good at the middle of the week, but with the movement of the cool water back toward the Cortez side of the Cape, the good thoughts may have been a bit premature. None of us have experienced the cool water hanging around as long as this season has done and we all hope things get back to normal quickly.