FIRST BLUE MARLIN OF THE SEASON CAUGHT BY FLY HOOKER

July 9, 2006, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The Cabo San Lucas fishing area had the daytime highs to 102 degrees and no rain.

On the Cortez side of Cabo we have had surface water temperature readings up to 90 degrees. Off of East Cape the water is very warm, averaging 87 degrees on the surface. On the Pacific side we are already receiving reports of 80-degree water covering the Golden Gate Bank. It is bluing up nicely in that direction as well.

Bait is mostly Mackerel, Caballito and Mullet at the normal $2 per bait.

The summer fishing season in Cabo San Lucas is upon us. I hooked my first blue marlin of the season. The hook pulled with the fish 300 yards out, but that is my first of the year, so now for me, it is "official" and the big gear is coming out.

Over the radio I heard that there were fish ranging in size from 200 to 600 pounds caught. There were also a few black marlin. Surprisingly, there were still a lot of Striped Marlin as well. Most of the billfish action occurred within 10 miles of shore, and the action was not concentrated in any one area,

Yellowfin tuna that were found were 90 percent footballs, between 6 and 10 pounds in size. Most of the boats were releasing these baby Tuna, but quite a few boats were loading up just to put meat in the coolers.

Dorado were found everywhere and almost every boat got some. A few boats did very well with fish counts of five or more, most in the 10-20 pound class with a few fish to 50 pounds.

Most Cabo San Lucas sportfishing boats were lucky to get one Wahoo strike, even if they were concentrating of the fish. The best results seemed to come from the Punta Gorda, La Fortuna area and around the Iman Banks, as live bait slow trolled very early in the morning produced consistent fish every day. Elsewhere the bite was slow.

Roosterfish action at Cabo San Lucas is beginning to get better with more quality fish being found but the key is still having fresh, lively Mullet in the bait tank. With the calm water we had most of the week many, if not most, of the Panga fleet boats were working offshore for Dorado and Marlin.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from Cabo San Lucas and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Cabo San Lucas may be found at Mexfish.com's main Cabo San Lucas page.