DORADO CAUGHT ON RAIN DEBRIS BY CABO BOATS

Sept. 7, 2006, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas, Baja, Mexico:

We have a much shorter sportfishing report than usual because the port of Cabo San Lucas was closed last Friday and Saturday due to Hurricane John and very few charter boats were fishing throughout the week.

Anglers canceled their trips en masse and hotels redirected them to other resorts. Airlines did not fly in or out of Los Cabos for two days. However, we only got winds to 35 m.p.h. We also had rain nearly every day this week, turning Cabo into a Hawaii look-alike.

After the stormy weather Cabo charter fishing boats were on an exploratory mission to see where the fish would be.

It was almost a given that dorado would appear due to debris in the water but billfish are a bit more tricky.

The first day we fished after the storm was the Sept. 3rd and our only boat to get a marlin to stick was "Ni Modo" with a striped marlin released at the 95 spot as well as a dorado boated.

Other Pisces Fleet boats saw quite a few marlin and sailfish but couldn't get any serious hookups.

On Tuesday, September 5th, Adriana and Andrea released a blue marlin each, both at the 95 spot. Both fish were around 200 pounds.

During the following few fishing days there were striped marlin caught for every third or fourth boat. Right now there are more dorado and tuna than billfish.

Pisces Fleet's overall catch success rate this week for all species combined was 90 percent, with 23 percent of charters catching billfish. Pisces anglers caught a total of 11 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin and 1 sailfish, all but 2 marlin were released.

The Dorado is king in Cabo San Lucas right now with 57 percent of charters catching between 1 and 15 fish between 12 and 35 pounds. The dorado were found pretty close to Cabo at the end of the week, at Los Arcos and also 2 to 3 miles off the Old Lighthouse. Earlier in the week dorado were found at the 95 and 1150 spots. They are preferring live bait at this time.

Thirty four percent of Pisces Fleet charters caught yellowfin tuna, with catches of between 1 and 8 fish of 15 to 100 pounds.

Mike and Beth Fraser from Louisiana landed 4 fish from 40 to 100 pounds aboard "Valerie" on Tuesday at the 95 spot. The majority of our boats fished this area on Tuesday and all caught tuna as well as the odd blue or striped marlin.

Pisces Fleet had just a couple of wahoo again this week, small ones at 30 to 40 pounds.

Fishing locations included the 95 spot, 1150 spot, Los Arcos, Pozo de Cota, and the Old Lighthouse at the close of the week. Cabo weather was hot, and humid, with sporadic rain and seas calm.

(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.