Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report January 2 - 8, 2016

Overall Catch Success Rate All Species Combined 94%

Numbers at a glance: Billfish 65%, Dorado 58%, Tuna 13%, Other 18%

BILLFISH: Fishing in 2016 got off to a good with steady catches of striped marlin and dorado and a nice appearance of tuna too.  Weather seems to be back on track and we have been experiencing cool evenings and brisk early mornings which the fish seem to like.  The marlin bite is not in super strong swing but is totally acceptable with sixty five percent of the boats catching between one and three striped marlin in a day, with the odd sailfish here and there along with some late season blue marlin.  Water temperature is still a little warmer than normal - it should be 70 F but is right around 74 F, which may explain why we haven’t seen the mass migration from further north that usually takes place around this time.  On January 2nd, Pisces Tracy Ann released three striped marlin, all on the small side, just before San Jaime, for good friend Rick Walsh, who also boated a small tuna.  This same day, new addition to the fleet Hot Rod released two striped marlin and caught two dorado and a wahoo; a very satisfactory day for a group of Tennessee anglers.  Next day out 28 ft. Andrea fished a different area between one and seven miles off of Land’s End and managed to catch three striped marlin, bigger at 120 to 140 LBS for Isaac and May visiting from Denver.  Another boat with a triple marlin day was La Brisa with the Levine family from Austin on board.  Their marlin ranged from 100 to 140 LBS and were caught on live caballito at Pozo de Cota on the Pacific side – the two dorado they landed took lures.  This same boat repeated their success with three marlin on January 8th for Matt and Hunter Robinson from Texas as they fished at Los Arcos.  The fish released were from 80 to 140 LBS and all took live bait.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 77 billfish this week, consisting of 74 striped marlin and 3 sailfish.  Marlin was the top sportfish catch this week for Pisces anglers.

OTHER SPECIES: After marlin, dorado was the most likely catch, the difference here was that multiple catches were more likely with catches of up to nine fish per day as large as 25 LBS.  West Bend, Wisconsin anglers James, Jason, Sam & Steve were pleased to catch nine dorado near La Antena as well as release a striped marlin aboard Pisces Andrea.  La Brisa, fishing a little closer at Migrino managed eighty dorado this same day for Simendinger family, all on live bait.  Our total dorado count this week was 140 fish.  Yellowfin tuna showed up at one of their favorite haunts, San Jaime, but were not a sure thing.  Ruthless released one of the smallest yellowfin tunas we have ever seen at around 2 LBS.  One of the top tuna producers was C Rod who had twenty tunas up to 20 LBS at San Jaime for the Bradley family from Texas, who used both cedar plugs and kite to get hooked up.  It was interesting to see a different species of tuna close to the yellowfin, skipjacks; usually found closer to shore.   Thirteen percent of our charters found yellowfin and when encountered catches of up to twenty fish could be had, resulting in a total tuna catch of 97fish.  The skipjacks weren’t found by so many boats, but when you hit the school you could load up, in fact our anglers caught 88 of these little guys, with many released; they are strong on light tackle.  The BIG STORY this week is the largest wahoo we have seen in 15 years – the monster fish hit a Chiwillie lure off of Margaritas with such ferocity that the crew thought it was a sea lion at first. Dean Reed from Cape Canaveral reeled in this beauty on Tracy Ann, which when weighed on a certified scale was 87 LBS!  Several other smaller wahoo were caught this week but none came close to this one.  Pangas inshore were able to catch stray marlin plus a few sierra and pompano.

LOCATION:  Pacific from Lands’ End to San Jaime.

WEATHER: Light rain on New Year’s Day, partly cloudy skies that cleared midweek with some chop on the Pacific depending on wind.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP:  74 F

BEST LURES:  Live bait.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg. 

BIG FISHING NEWS OUT OF CABO SAN LUCAS

Yesterday afternoon we heard that a big fish would be coming in, caught aboard a local charter boat “Mucho Loco”.  The rumor through the grapevine was that it might be close to a thousand pounds, but there was some skepticism as to whether it was true.  By dark the boat had not arrived and most people forgot about it and went home.  We got a call around 9.00 pm from a friend saying that a big fish was being weighed on the main scale right in the thick of the pedestrian area.  We rushed over there to see a massive blue marlin hanging up and were approached by Captain Bernabe Ruiz who had caught the fish aboard his boat “Bad Medicine” a 35 ft. Cabot.  

We assumed the information we had received was incorrect and we had been given the wrong boat name.   Captain Bernabe, known as “Lobito” (little wolf), told us that the fish weighed 684 lbs., but we noticed that the bill was resting on the ground; the scale frame simply wasn’t big enough, but then again the fish was thirteen and a half feet long – so our guess is that it actually weighed more, easily over 700 lbs.  Captain Bernabe told us that he had been fishing at Golden Gate on the Pacific when at 10.15 am he spotted the massive fish eating a dorado on the surface.   He acted fast pulling out a big dorado colored lure and attached it to his 80 lb. test rig, raced over to the fish and dropped the lure in front of it, which it pounced upon.  They got a solid hook-up and the battle was on for the four men on board.  The fish was extremely strong, so strong in fact that it took them 9 hours and 40 minutes to subdue after taking turns at the rod.   Back at the docks the anglers, were dazed and sunburnt but ecstatic – their relieved wives met them to congratulate them (they were supposed to have been back from fishing at 3.00 pm).  The first angler we spoke to was Kevin Lautt from  West Fargo in North Dakota, the 52 year old Coca Cola sales rep was giddy with excitement;  he told us “this is my first time in Cabo and my first time deep sea fishing – the biggest fish I’ve caught is a 15 lb. northern pike”.   The other anglers were John Priggi from Windsor, Colorado, Mitch McKaig from Moorhead, Minnesota and Raymond Johnson, a beet farmer, from Glyndon, Minnesota.  Ray told us that he comes to Cabo regularly and that the group had all been friends for over 20 years – all of the guys had helped him out on the farm and he said “I am thrilled that this lifetime fishing achievement could be shared with my friends”.  

At this time we wondered where local photographer Mario was, strange that he wasn’t there snapping pictures or writing up the taxidermy order.  We gave him a call and he said he was on the other side of the marina at the other scale, with the big fish…  We thought what big fish; we are standing right next to it.  He told us that Mucho Loco the boat we had originally heard about had finally shown up, two men aged 74 and 79 and hooked a very big blue marlin around five miles out from the Old Lighthouse, also on a lure.  The old timers, obviously in great physical shape brought the fish to the boat in five hours.  This fish however, was even bigger at 773 lbs., also a blue marlin.  The fish was filleted and shared by all the crews, families and friends who were very thankful to receive such a gift.  We were unable to interview the anglers but will follow up with more information when we have it.  There is always a tinge of sadness to see these magnificent creatures on the dock and not in the ocean, but this is great news for Cabo San Lucas, helping the town hold its position as one of the top fishing destinations in the world.  A lot of families still being affected economically from the hurricane will have plenty of quality food for weeks to come and the anglers will have memories to last a lifetime.