Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report September 19 - October 2, 2015

BILLFISH: Before summer began there was some trepidation as to how the “El Nino” current would affect fishing, plus dire predictions for an active hurricane season.  So far the fears have been unfounded and in fact we are enjoyed some of the best summer fishing in years.  We don’t really have four seasons in Cabo, its’ summer – hot from July to mid-October and then spring from November to June, of course in varying degrees.  Southern California has also benefited from warmer than normal sea and air temperature and last week we saw two blue marlin hung up in San Diego in the 300 to 650 lb. class, unheard of in years.  This report Cabo saw several days of rain and a day when the Port Captain closed the port.  There were up and down days, with the down days tending to be after commercial tuna boats had swept the area, but the plentiful days outnumbered the slow days with billfish the most likely hook up.  We had many outstanding catches and are not able to mention them all, but Pisces Tracy Ann, a 31 ft. Bertram, definitely gets the top boat award this report.  On October 1st South Carolina anglers Andrew Feix and Paul Long were out with Captain Julio Castro aboard Tracy Ann and had travelled further than most boats venture; they were out 42 miles but it was well worth it.  They managed to release two blue marlin, a striped marlin and what appeared to be a white marlin – however, the consensus is that it was probably a juvenile striped marlin, as white marlin are only found in the Atlantic.  Without a tissue sample it is impossible to tell, but the anglers thought it better to release all their billfish.  They did however keep three tunas for the table.  Now that’s an incredible day of fishing!  Next day out Tracy Ann had Minneapolis anglers Bradley and Daniel Rhoades on board, along with Stephen Lawles they headed offshore again this time 38 miles and again did well, releasing two blue marlin and boating a 50 lb. tuna.  Earlier in the week this same boat released a blue marlin, sailfish, pilot shark and boated a dorado for Los Angeles anglers Juden Valdez and Mike Revilla.  Jason Allard and John Quillard from Michigan headed out on La Brisa towards the 95 spot; a nice blue marlin came up and inhaled two of the live baits they had set out.  The fish was a nice size at just over 300 lbs.  This wasn’t  the only nice blue,  Bill Collector a 32 ft. Cabo, released a 300 lb. blue marlin for Texas anglers Jeff & John Black as well as boating three tuna up to 45 lbs.  On September 22nd this same boat released two sailfish, a striped marlin, two pilot sharks and boated a dorado for Crystal and Jason from Apple Valley, California.  A really rare catch this week was a tiny baby striped marlin, weighing no more than 10 lbs., it was safely released aboard Tiburon by Edward Coleman and friends North Carolina September 26th, but this wasn’t the only one, Mike Hansen fishing aboard Adriana also released a slightly bigger baby, around 15 lbs. just below San Jaime. Larry and Deana Lybarger from Coco Beach, Florida had an outstanding day aboard La Brisa on September 21st – having a grand slam of a blue marlin, striped marlin and two sailfish released, plus a tuna kept.  These were some of the best catches and we could go on and on.  Of course we did have some boats “skunked” but even those that didn’t catch at least saw fish.  Pisces anglers caught a total of 105 billfish, consisting of 39 striped marlin, 18 blue marlin and 48 sailfish. All but three fish were released.

OTHER SPECIES:  Fewer boats caught tuna than marlin or sailfish but when they did catch tuna the numbers were better, with catches of up to fourteen yellowfin per boat.  Not only were they numerous many were of a good size. Pisces  C Rod was the only boat out on a rainy and stormy day (port was closed to all boats under 38 feet) despite the weather they did really well for a group of anglers from Georgia, catching twenty tuna ranging from 10 lbs. all the way up to an impressive 171 lb. fish.  Bill Collector had a nice day for tuna 38 miles offshore, for Mark Chiavetta and friends from San Jose, California; they managed to boat six tuna ranging in size from 25 to 150 lbs.  Worthy of mention also is Shambala’s 136 lb. tuna caught at San Jaime by Mark Moncilovic and friends. Pisces anglers caught a total of 271 tuna this week. Dorado catches were on the slow side with just 14 caught for our fleet.  There were several wahoo up to 50 lbs. as well as a few roosterfish snappers, skipjacks and triggerfish. 

LOCATION: Mostly Pacific from Land’s End to Golden Gate, San Jaime, 30-40 miles out, 95 spot.

WEATHER:  Partly cloudy, hot, mostly calm seas, several rainy days.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 86 F

BEST LURES: Live caballito, orange/black, blue/white, green/yellow, cedar plugs.

Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing by Tracy Ehrenberg.