BIG BLUE MARLIN SHOWING UP IN
JANUARY FISH COUNTS AT CABO SAN LUCAS

Jan. 9-15, 2006, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja fishing, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas fishing area highs have been in the low 80s to high 70s. Winds have been light.

The water temperature immediately to the south and directly to the east and west of Cabo San Lucas is mostly in the 76-78 degree range. On the Cortez side to the north of Punta Gorda the temperature drops off rapidly and the water becomes very green.

There was a mix of Mackerel and Caballito bait available this week..

A few Cabo San Lucas sportfishing boats reported very hard strikes from giant blue marlin this week. One guy got spooled on a fully filled Penn 80 set at 27 pounds of strike. Very few large blue marlin were reported landed. I was told of several releases of Blue Marlin in the 500-600 pound range.

Most of the Billfish action this week took place on the Pacific side from the lighthouse to the Golden Gate area. There are plenty of Striped Marlin there with most boats able to release two or three per day. There were scattered Stripers found up the Cortez side, but not much action reported north of the Punta Gorda area.

Right at the full moon there was some good Wahoo action reported from the inner Gorda Bank, the Grey Rock drop-off, the 95 Spot and the lighthouse. Most of the fish were in the 35-45 pound class.

Sierra fishing has continued with most of the fish being in the 4-6 pound class and an occasional fish to 10 pounds. There was some fair Roosterfish on the Pacific side up around the Los Arcos area as well. While most of the Roosters were in that small 5-8 pound category, there were fish caught that ran to 45 pounds, with quite a few in the 25-35 pound class as well.

The warm water to the south of Cabo San Lucas held some nice Dorado and almost every boat that went out this week was able to hook into one or two. There were plenty of scattered Dorado to 45 pounds found from just off the beach to 10 miles out.

The Yellowfin Tuna bite took a bit of a drop this past week. I wonder if all the Purse Seiners we have seen out there have anything to do with it? Most of the fish have been footballs to 20 pounds with an occasional 35-pound fish in the mix.

Cabo San Lucas boats working the rocky points at first light were able to score on some Yellowtail with the fish ranging from 12 pounds to 32 pounds.