STRIPED MARLIN STILL BITING AT CABO
AS WATER TEMPERATURES NEAR 90 DEGREES

Aug. 15-21, 2005, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico Fishing:

Cabo San Lucas daytime highs have been right at 100 degrees. That water temperature break that ran north-south just to the west of the 95 spot was still there at the end of the week and the warm side was 86 degrees and the cool side was 84 degrees. Up in the Sea of Cortez we saw temperatures in the 88-89 degree range, with the warmest spot being right on top of the Gorda Bank. On the Pacific the water was cooler with temperatures ranging from 78 to 84 degrees. Cabo San Lucas winds varied their direction this week and at the end of the week there was little chop anywhere as the winds became very light.

There was Caballito available from the Cabo San Lucas bait boats at the normal $2 per bait and there were small Mackerel as well at the same price.

Marlin were the high note for the week for about half the boats. I found it amazing that we were still having the kind of striped marlin action that we had considering the time of year.

If you were in the right spot this week there were billfish to be caught at Cabo San Lucas. Tide change was very important this week.

Friday was a big fish hunt with high tide at 9:12 a.m., and 10 miles outside the Westin Hotel we hooked three striped marlin within an hour after the tide change and I worked the same small area for another three hours with only one half hearted strike.

On Saturday at the Golden Gate Bank within one hour of the tide change at 10:09 we had released three Striped Marlin and had two other strikes. One Cabo San Lucas sportfishing boat ended up releasing 7 Striped Marlin from the same spot. Another friend caught a 600 pound Black Marlin, hooking the fish an hour after the tide change. The fish at Cabo San Lucas were concentrated, but the spots were scattered around.

I didn't hear of any large yellowfin tuna caught at Cabo San Lucas this week. The nice fish that were up around the Golden Gate bank last week seemed to have moved on. There were still fish with the porpoise, but they were smaller than footballs. I called them nerf-balls, fish that were perfect Marlin bait size at 4-5 pounds. Other than that I heard of nothing in our area this week.

Most of the Dorado being found on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas. Floating debris would hold an occasional nice fish to 60 pounds but most of the fish found were in the 8-15 pound class with the smaller fish more prevalent.

There were a few wahoo in the 30-45 pound class reported from around the banks on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, but no concentrations of them.

Inshore fishing at Cabo San Lucas was slow with just a few bottom fish and a few Roosterfish being found on the Pacific side. Most of the Cabo San Lucas sportfishing Pangas have been working from the 50 fathom line to five miles out looking for Tuna, Dorado and Marlin.