FINGER BANK STRIPED MARLIN BITE FIZZLES
FOR CABO SAN LUCAS SPORTFISHING BOATS

Jan. 1-8, 2006, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja Sur, Mexico Fishing:

Cabo San Lucas weather warmed up a bit and the wind disappeared, with daytime highs in the mid 80s and nights in the low 60s.

From Punta Gorda and north on the Cortez side the fishing water is 70 degrees. On the Pacific side we have water at 73 to 74 degrees out as far as the west side of the Golden Gate and San Jaime Banks. Past there it cools to 71 to 72 degrees. South of Cabo San Lucas, we have had a big warm water eddy with temperatures in the 76 to 78 degree range. Surface conditions on both sides of Cabo have been great with large rolling swells but no wind chop.

The striped marlin bite at the Finger Bank has dropped way off with a lot of boats making the trip with no results to show for it. There has been a fair concentration of fish off the Light house on the Pacific side and it seems that almost every day half the fleet is there soaking bait with the results being between one and three fish a day.

The yellowfin tuna are the most predictable catch. Mostly footballs to 15 pounds. The main tuna areas have been between the 95 spot and the San Jaime banks out to a distance of 35 miles. Slow trolling live Caballito in front of the Dolphin resulted in multiple fish in the 50-70 pound class for quite a few boats, and there were reports of fish to 150 pounds as well.

The warm water incursion we have has resulted in an improved Dorado bite with most of the action taking place right on the edge of the warm and cold water. The bite has been good just three miles from shore. There are fish close to the beach as well as just off the arch, but the seals and sea lions can be a problem there!

I heard of some Wahoo being caught this week but there were not many of them and the sizes were not large. Most of the reports were from the Cortez side up around the Gorda Banks and the Iman Bank area.

Inshore fishing is starting to improve with Sierra being the main catch. If the schools are found most of the boats have been catching 12 to 20 fish per trip. Some days the catch has been only one or two fish.

There was a mix of Mackerel and Caballito live bait available this week at the normal $2 per bait. Sardinas were available from Pangas up at Palmilla at the normal $20 per scoop.