MORE THAN A HUNDRED CABO BOATS CROWD
INTO HOT STRIPED MARLIN BITE AT OLD LIGHTHOUSE

Dec. 23-29, 2005, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The fishing week at Cabo San Lucas started out with a bang, with sensational fishing close to Cabo. I counted close to one hundred Cabo San Lucas boats in a two-square mile area off of the Old Lighthouse, no more than a mile-and-half from the beach.

This was not to last. Despite ideal fishing conditions, the fish dropped off after Tuesday, perhaps due to the pressure of so many Cabo San Lucas charter fishing boats in one area.

Vicente Torta, visiting from the Cayman Islands, set himself a challenge. Fishing with ultra light line aboard the "Tracy Ann" he was able to catch three striped marlin on 6 pound test, before gearing down to 4 pound, where he ended up with a broken rod.

"Andrea," a 28 foot boat, did exceptionally well on the 28th, with five striped marlin released, fishing a little further away than the herd of boats, at Morros Prietos, for Ed Katz from Ohio.

"Ni Modo" took a run up to the Finger Banks on the 29th. They did well with a total of nine striped marlin for William and Kristi Kleinfelter, Brian and John Hogan, Brendan Rivage-Seul all from Ivyland, Pennsylvania.

"Valerie" released four marlin on the 26th for the Olstad family from Canada, as did "Libre" this same day.

Famous guests this week were Beyonce and Kelly, from Destiny's Child, along with Jay Zee who caught a nice dorado aboard "Josephine", great well-mannered people who enjoyed all that Cabo has to offer.

The Shroeders from New Jersey released four striped marlin just one mile off of the Lighthouse on the 28th, aboard "Ruthless".

Our overall Cabo San Lucas sportfishing catch success rate for all species combined was 89 percent with 64 percent of charters catching marlin. Pisces anglers caught a total of 106 striped marlin of which 94 were released along with one sailfish.

Yellowfin tuna took up some of the slack when the marlin slowed, resulting in a catch success rate for this species of 29 percent. Weights ranged from 10 to 60 pounds and they were found over a widespread area ranging from San Jaime, pretty much to San Jose del Cabo. Catches were between 1 and 20 fish The top tuna fisherman this week was Rick Walsh, with a tally of 20 fish aboard "Rebecca".

Marlin were so close that many pangas were able to hook up, as well as getting good numbers of skipjack and some sierra and roosters.

The best fishing location was mostly on the Pacific at the Old Lighthouse, though some boats went to Cabeza de Ballena towards the close of the week.

Cabo San Lucas weather was perfect, with clear sunny skies, calm seas, and water temperatures Pacific 71 degrees, Sea of Cortez 74 degrees.