Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report September 12 - 18, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 96%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 85%, Tuna 52%, other 17%

 

 

BILLFISH:  Fishing was outstanding this week in Los Cabo with plenty of action for anglers; the result showing in a ninety six percent success rate overall with a generous portion of that number attributed to billfish.  The week started out on a good note with Tracy Ann catching and releasing three striped marlin and a sailfish, between the 95 and 11.50 spots for Jeremy Ross & friends from Lufkin, Texas.  The fish took a combination of bait and lures.  Our first blue marlin of the week was brought to the boat, after a two hour fight, by Ben Jones from Austin, Texas aboard Adriana.  The fish was estimated at 200 LBS & hit a green & yellow lure ten miles out from Land’s End, before being safely released.  September 14th saw incredible action for fishermen, as Bill Collector released a 350 LB blue marlin outside the 95 spot, also on a green lure for Robert & Sara Wallace, from Texas who were fishing with Chrism & Kimberly Cain & Matthew & Shelby Baugh. This same day Tracy Ann headed 30 miles out & ended up releasing FIVE sailfish & boating ten tuna for Dave Smith & friends, also from Texas.  Valerie released a 200 LB blue at the 95 spot on a live caballito for Andrew Scoggin from Memphis, Tennessee.  La Brisa also managed a blue marlin this day for Nigel Ashurst & party who also boated a 110 LB tuna.  Jay & Paige Pegel - father and daughter from Fountain, Colorado had their hands full on September 16th aboard 28 ft. Adriana as they released FIVE striped marlin & a pilot shark as well as boating six tuna – now that’s a lot of fish!  Andrea, C Rod & Knot Workin also had blue marlin released in the 180 to 250 LB category.  Hot Rod, the latest addition to Pisces had a fun day on September 18th for Gary Stricker & friends as they released two striped marlin, two sailfish & boated four tuna.  Other notable catches this same day were aboard 31ft Bertram Tiburon where two blue marlin were released forty miles out for Darwin Zavadil & Weston Smith & Tracy Ann, also a 31 ft. Bertram for three sailfish, two striped marlin & three tuna for Dave Smith, who fished several days. Pisces anglers caught a total of 82 billfish this week consisting of 39 striped marlin, 33 sailfish & 10 blue marlin.  The marlin & sailfish action was the surest catch this week.

OTHER SPECIES:  Tuna catches took off in a great way but we don’t know how long this will last as we have spotted huge commercial tuna boats in the area which may have a negative impact.  Even though anglers love to catch this challenging species we have to keep in mind that tuna is not classified as a sportsfish but rather is viewed as a commercial resource by the Mexican government.  Knot Workin started us off with a couple of nice tuna at 130 and 150 LBS each (bigger than a lot of the marlin caught), with one caught on a kite & the other on a yellow lure by David Kroczak & party.  La Brisa also had a sizeable tuna with a 158 LB fish for Tim Carson from Puyallup, WA. Nobody could top Dave Smith’s huge 249 LB & 167 LB tunas caught on Tracy Ann 35 miles out – oh & they released a sailfish too.  Tuna catches ranged from one to twenty fish, with sizes ranging from 5 LB (released) to the big fish mentioned above, with catches predominantly on the Pacific side.  Just a couple of dorado were caught this week, which makes us wonder if commercial boats are making a dent in their stocks.  Seventeen percent of our catches were made up of skipjacks, triggerfish, bonitas, grouper, amberjack & a single wahoo. 

LOCATION: San Jaime, 95 spot, 11.50 spot, 10-30 miles out from Lands’ End, Herradura, 20 to 40 miles out from the Old Lighthouse.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Hot & humid, some scattered heavy rain showers, seas moderate to calm.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 86 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito for sailfish, bait & assorted lures for marlin, cedar plugs for small tuna & assorted lures for large tuna.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report September 5 - 11, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 88%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 88%, Dorado 21%, Tuna 15%, Other 37%

BILLFISH:  One of the best weeks of the year for billfish, even though the port was closed for two days due to the proximity of Hurricane Linda.  The biggest fish we’ve seen so far this year was landed off of San Jose aboard a 22 ft. panga Viviana I on September 11th by local angler Carlos Cota Lucero.  The huge black marlin weighed in at 765 lbs. and took just two and a half hours to boat.  The next day this same location produced another black marlin, caught aboard Alexandriana with Captain Antonio Guluarte; this fish was 436 lbs. and took a Chiwilie lure at the Inner Gordo Bank – thanks to Erick from La Playita for passing us the news on these two admirable fish.  Early on in the week we had some smaller blue marlin, such as one landed aboard Contessa 85 feet out on a pleasure cruise; the fish was estimated at a little over 100 lbs. and was caught by the Valbh family from Florida just one mile out for the arch.  This same day Australian angler Brett Hewerdine and friends fished aboard 55 ft. Flora T and were thrilled to release a 250 lb. blue marlin they caught at Punta Gorda on a petrolero lure, as well as a wahoo, dorado and skipjack.  On September 7th Bill Collector did really well to release a blue marlin and two sailfish at the 11.50 spot for Jennifer Hill & Stephen Kelly from Texas.  This same day fellow Texan Clint Herbst and friends were out on Listo but on the Pacific side, 32 miles out form the Old Lighthouse, where they released two sailfish, a striped marlin and boated three tuna up to 120 lbs.  Tracy Ann fished in close this day at 4 miles and released a 250 lb. blue marlin for Arkansas anglers Craig and Donna Wing.  Most anglers shut out by the rain on the 8th & 9th shut out by the rain, were able to reschedule which was a good thing, as fishing seemed to get even better.  Tracy Ann picked the pace right up after two day in port and scored two striped marlin and two sailfish for Thomas & Rebecca Hobb from Pikeville, Kentucky on September 10th at the 95 spot.  To close out the week Cabolero had an outstanding catch of five sailfish and a striped marlin nine miles out from Lands’ End by Aaron & Charles Earnhardt from Tennessee.  Not far behind, it was again Tracy Ann  with three sailfish and striped marlin released at the 11.50 spot for Jeff Anderson fishing with Jeremy & Amy Ross, all on live bait, this same day.  Billfish were the most common catch this week, with seventy nine percent of our charters catching big game species.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 54 billfish consisting of 18 striped marlin, 32 sailfish and 4 blue marlin. 

OTHER SPECIES:  This week we did see an improvement on smaller game with twenty one percent of boats landing dorado, however, catches were seldom more than one or two fish and usually no bigger than 15 lbs.  Tuna catches were a bit slower at fifteen percent but some of the fish did have some size to them at the 100 lb. plus mark.  We also know of a 300 lb. plus tuna caught aboard Fourplay out of La Playita.  Wahoo were a blessing this week with catches of this tasty fish quite steady with catches of up to three fish per boat as large as 50 lbs. Inshore triggerfish, grouper and skipjacks were caught.  One of the pangas we sent, Tres Amigos, did exceptionally well to release a sailfish and a hammerhead shark and catch eight tuna up to 20 lbs. for William Morris & Frank Brown from Texas.  

LOCATION: Boats fished both sides the Pacific and the Cortez, with Punta Gorda producing some of the bigger fish, other locations were Old Lighthouse, Lands’ End, 11.50 spot and Pozo de Cota. 

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Hot and humid, some rain, port closed Sept 8th and 9th, seas calm to moderate. 

AVERAGE WATER TEMPERATURE: 86 F 

BEST LURES: Live bait, petrolero, chilwillie, green colors.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.

Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report August 29 - September 4, 2015

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 86%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 51%, Dorado 32%, Tuna 15%

BILLFISH:  The numbers of anglers visiting Cabo took a nose dive as August came to a close and kids headed back to school so only a few boats were heading out each day, which means less boats out, less fish caught.  With that said we still saw a good mix on billfish with striped marlin dominating the pack.  Our hot boat this week was the Pisces 31 ft. Bertram La Brisa, for releasing a 450 lb. blue marlin just half a mile offshore at Las Margaritas for anglers John Nguyen, Mike Babieau & Nick Back.  It was a bit unusual that this large fish took a Caballito; as a bonus to this nice catch they also caught two wahoo for the table.  A couple of days before this La Brisa had another blue marlin on the Pacific side at Pozo de Cota, not as large this time at around 200 lbs. but nevertheless a strong fish that was released in a healthy condition.  Anglers on board Elise Mesayer, Cathy Veaze, Jake Verret & Dusty Hoffpauir from New Iberia, Louisiana had their work cut out for them though as they went on to boat a hefty  130 lb. yellowfin tuna.  Hiroshi Kakamura & Wataru Nagazumi from Tokyo were out on 28 ft. Andrea when they landed a 200 lb. plus blue marlin at the Golden Gate.  Another notable catch was aboard 28 ft.  Adriana for two nice striped marlin, up to 120 lbs. and two wahoo up to 35 lbs.  The only other boat that had more than one billfish was Tracy Ann fishing at the 11.50 spot with David McDonald & friends on board; they managed to release two sailfish up to 90 lbs.  There were some hit and miss days this week but more anglers were catching fish than in previous weeks, this is attributed to a bunch of wahoo appearing and boats going for a more sure thing than perhaps searching offshore for billfish.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 12 striped marlin, 4 blue marlin and 6 sailfish this week; all but two were released.

OTHER SPECIES:  The water has really been way too hot for inshore fish but this week we were thrilled to have an influx of wahoo – which meant a lot of tackle got lost, bitten off by their sharp teeth but a lot were caught too.  Flora T had a bumper day with seven wahoo up to 30 lbs.  and a skipjack for Dan Brinker & Dennis McAndrews along with their party of six , fishing at Las Margaritas; the fish were taken feathers and cedar plugs.  Many boats were able to get a wahoo or two, which is considered the best eating fish you can find.  Other than wahoo, there were a few more dorado this week, but nothing to write home about.  The dorado were small, seldom exceeding 20 lbs. and tended to be right around the 10 lb. mark, many just too tiny to keep were released.  Catches of dorado were on the Pacific and were of one to three fish.  Tuna catches were on the slow side with just fifteen percent of our charters catching one to three fish, with the exception being the 35 ft. Bertram Valerie who had eight of them up to 40 lbs.  plus a striped marlin released 20 miles out from the Lighthouse for Jesse Celestino and friends.  Just one 70 lb. pilot shark was released aboard Listo.  The only other catches were skipjacks and then again usually just a single fish.

WEATHER CONDITIONS:  Hot, partly cloudy, a local storm that lasted around 20 minutes brought strong winds and drenching rain to Cabo San Lucas, causing the power to go out for three hours.  Seas have some swell but mostly calm.

LOCATION: Mostly Pacific, lighthouse, Pozo de Cota, Margaritas, San Cristobal, Golden Gate and 95 spot on Cortez side.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 87 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, cedar plugs, feathers, green/blue, pink/blue.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.