CABO SAN LUCAS HOSTS 25TH BISBEE'S BLACK AND BLUE MARLIN TOURNAMENT

Oct. 24-30, 2005, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas had sunny skies all week long with daytime highs in the low 90s and nighttime lows in the low 70s.

On the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, the water at the beginning of the week was pretty rough and choppy. At the end of the week things got a lot better. I was fishing on the Golden Gate on Saturday and it was very nice, small swells and no chop at all.

The Cortez side of Cabo San Lucas has cleaned up quite a bit and the blue water has moved in to within a couple of miles of shore, and the water temperature has been 80-82 degrees with a few spots at 83 degrees.

It was tournament fishing week at Cabo San Lucas so of course the price of bait went up. As an example, I paid $40 a day for three or four Caballito and a scoop of Sardines and felt lucky to get those.

We just completed the 25th anniversary of the Bisbee Black and Blue tournament.

On the first fishing day, almost all Cabo San Lucas boats except for about a dozen fished the Cortez side. The largest fish of the day was caught just past the 95 spot on a rootbeer-petrolero colored lure, was a 581 pound Black Marlin and took home $504K in the daily jackpots. One other qualifying fish was weighed, a 321 pound Black caught on live bait at the outer Gorda Bank and took home $378K. There were approximately 100 Striped Marlin, Sailfish and a few small Blue and Black Marlin released.

On the second fishing day only one qualifying fish was brought in, a 381 pound Blue Marlin that was caught on a Petrolero colored lure up around Punta Gorda and was worth $881K in the daily jackpots. There was also a #304 Yellowfin Tuna weighed by a boat that was not in the tournament but just wanted to get an official weight on the fish (pay attention for those of you in the Tuna tournament this coming week!). On the second day there were approximately 140 Striped Marlin, Sailfish and small Blue and Black Marlin released.

On the third day fishing there was only one qualifying fish weighed in, a 319 pound Blue Marlin and that fish brought in $378K while the rest of the daily jackpot rolled over to the fish caught the day before, another $504K to add to the $881K. There were about 100 reported releases on the third day.

Overall, 4 qualifying fish weighed, 4 underweight fish weighed, and about 350 fish reported released for an average of .66 fish per team per day.

Fishing was extremely slow for Yellowfin this week. The only large fish I know of was the one weighed in during the Bisbee.

Most of the Dorado action came from the Pacific side and while there were a few fish in close to home, from the arch to the lighthouse, most of them were found much farther north, around the inside of the Golden Gate Bank. Average sizes were 15-25 pounds with a few hitting 30 pounds.

Almost all the inshore Panga action at Cabo San Lucas was on the small Yellowfin, Bonita and Skipjack along the Sea of Cortez coast.