STRIPED MARLIN FISHING IS CONSISTENT ON THE PACIFIC SIDE

Aug. 1-7, 2005, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas report, Baja California Sur, Mexico Fishing:

Cabo San Lucas fishing vacation area daytime highs have touched 100 degrees this week, but out on the ocean things are quite a bit cooler. There is no bad weather forecast for the next week. Fingers crossed.

The fishing water on the Sea of Cortez has been flat and warm with surface temperatures between 80 and 86 degrees. On the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas there has been a bit of a swell with some chop in the afternoon, but the water has been between 75 and 80 degrees. There is a nice temperature break running south from the 95 spot for 20 miles and it has held in the area for several days now.

There was Caballito available from the local Cabo San Lucas bait boats at the normal $2 per bait and the bait receiver in front had Mackerel, but they were saving it for special boats and had taken their sign down.

This has been a very good week for Cabo San Lucas sportfishing boats that wanted Striped marlin. Most of the fish were located at the San Jaime Banks and anglers were getting at least one shot and often multiple shots at fish each day. Top boat that I know of came in with 7 flags flying while the average was one or two with a few boats getting three or four fish per trip.

Along with the Striped Marlin the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas was putting out quite a few Sailfish as well, with many of them over 100 pounds.

As far as Blue Marlin go, there have been fish out there but not a lot of them reported as being caught and released yet. The results of the Bisbee's East Cape Tournament are in and for three days of fishing among 56 boats they released 25 Blues and only weighed on over 300 pounds. Perhaps it is a matter of time before these fish have moved into our area.

There are still scattered small football fish around the coastal fishing areas on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, and there were a few school fish found right in front of town just before the weekend. Some of the school fish were in the 60 pound class and provided last minute excitement for boats coming in after a long trip.

We were seeing a lot more Dorado this week than last week, and they have been close to home as well, from just off the coast on the Pacific side to the San Jaime Banks. The majority of the fish have been small; around 8-10 pounds but there have been fish in the 50 pound class caught as well.

The Wahoo have been pretty non-responsive this last week.

More of the Cabo San Lucas charter fishing Pangas have been going offshore than have been going inshore. Also they are having some shark action along with the usual inshore species. Some Roosters are still out there and they have been pretty decent size. The beaches on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas have had most of the inshore action with the Roosterfish, Pompano, Pargo and Grouper biting pretty well. Fresh Mullet slow trolled alive was the key to getting into the Roosterfish and any of the small live baits fished on the bottom resulted in action from the Pargo and Grouper.

Warm water on the Sea of Cortez has brought the normal Cabo San Lucas fishing to almost a standstill, with the only thing happening just now being Blue Marin with an occasional Dorado. Most of the action has been on the Pacific side. As soon as we start seeing more Skipjack and small Yellowfin we should get more Blues in the area, big fish follow their bait!