TUNA AT LOS FRAILES, BOATS FISHING INSIDE CABO PULMO MARINE PARK

July 15, 2006, Jim Lenthal, Los Frailes, Cabo Pulmo marine park, East Cape, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

We just came back from a week at Los Frailes, Baja California Sur, Mexico. We fished one day out of Cabo Pulmo. Tuna and skipjack were just 3 to 4 kilometers off of Pulmo Point. Lots of hotel boats were in the area. The waters were also swarming with needlefish which made flylining for tuna difficult and tedious.

The largest yellowfin tuna we caught in 4 hours of fishing was about 25 pounds. My first ever Wahoo was caught while flylining a small sardine. That fish weighed about 20 pounds.

East Cape weather was unseasonably warm for the second week in July with temps in the mid to upper 90s every day.

I am still having problems with my outboard so for only the second time in 20 plus years I hired a panga out of Cabo Pulmo. Paco has three or four pangas on the beach there that he charters out for $160 per half-day of 4-plus hours, driver, rods and bait included. They launch over a very rocky beach inside the reef. When I use my Bay Runner we launch at Los Frailes Bay over a sandy beach.

The sardinas were very small but plentiful. They make bait just around the corner at Pulmo Point, almost in the surf.

The water was slightly green out for a kilometer or two, but then a very clear blue color. I didn't have a thermometer but the water temperature was in low to mid 80s.

Interestingly, all the bait catching and fish catching is being done in the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Preserve. The National Marine Preserve extends several kilometers out into the Sea of Cortez from a point just north of Las Barracas to just south of Los Frailes.

There is supposed to be no fishing, bait catching, etc., and the area is well posted. However, it is basically ignored by everyone including the hotel boats from Los Barriles, East Cape. I believe the scores of divers at the Cabo Pulmo reef do refrain from catching any of the marine life but I am not certain of that.

There is even a major fish camp on the beach at Bahia Los Frailes that is certainly questionable. The fish camp also nets for bait in and around the point. I guess that's just Mexico.

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