Cabo San Lucas
July 12 to 18, 2024, Overall Catch Success Rate, All Species Combined: Catch Success Rate 95%, Billfish, 87.84%, Dorado 14.86%, Tuna 16.22%, Other Species 22.97%.
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Pisces Fleet Sportfishing’s 29th week featured Striped Marlin, Sailfish, Yellowfin Tuna, Dorado, Wahoo, Silky Shark, and Needlefish, spread over a variety of locations from the 1150 Spot, 20 miles to the 130 Spot, the 95 Spot, and the Herradura. They enjoyed remarkable weather featuring clear skies, calm seas with five to six-foot waves, and winds from 12 to 16 miles per hour. The water temperatures ranged from 70 to 80 degrees, with ambient temperatures from 75 to 81 degrees ranging slightly from Friday through Thursday.
A sample of some of the action on Friday, July 12, included “ANDREA,” a 28-foot Uniflite with Captain Raul, Mate Marcelo, and anglers Adrian Burger, Louis Burger, and Wilus Burger from Harriman, Utah. The anglers kept busy releasing Six Striped Marlin, with an estimated weight of 100 to 130 pounds, taken on fresh caballito at the 1150 Spot and a single dorado on a Ballyhoo.
Brian and Mike Nelson from Flower Mound, Texas, fishing aboard the “LA CORONITA,” a 40-foot Cabo Express, with Captain Manuel, Sr., and Manuel, Junior as Crew, had quite a day with a total of Six Striped Marlin released with an estimated weight of 80 to 100 pounds hooked on Ballyhoo at the 1150 Spot.
On the 31-foot Bertram, the “RUTHLESS,” Captain Bruce and Mate Omar Samir and their anglers, Carey Williams, Michael Williams, Monte Williams, and Travis Budlong from Bulverde, Texas, released Four Striped Marlin weighing in the 100 to 110-pound range, and One dorado that were all taken on fresh caballito at the 1150 Spot.
Angler Robert Naftel from Georgia, California, hooked and released FIVE Striped Marlin, from 90 to 120 pounds and One Silky Shark weighing approximately 70 pounds, all on caballito and Ballyhoo at the 1150 Spot, wrapped up a fantastic Friday on the “KARINA,” a 30-foot Bertram with Captain Orlando and Mate Murillo Jorge Velez.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Calm seas with little wind, from 5-8 kts. in the afternoon.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 79-80 degrees.
BEST BAIT & LURES: Mackerel, Ballyhoo, Lisa and Cocinero, Cedar Plugs, Plumas, and various marlin lures.
Gordo Banks
This was a sweltering and humid week in Los Cabos with low tourist activity. We expect to continue seeing light crowds of anglers throughout July and August.
Caballito and sardina remain the primary bait source from the local marina. This week’s primary target species have been the striped marlin, and frozen Ballyhoo have been the go-to bait, as it has produced most of the marlin bites. The marlin fishing grounds are considered to be any of the local sites. There is a good chance of hooking into a marlin 3 to 20 miles from our marina while looking for surface activity. The inner and outer Gordos are good sites to begin, as there is plenty of bait concentrated in that area. We had a few reports of small blue marlin (under 200 pounds) hooked in the surrounding areas. A group of divers reported seeing a black marlin well over 500 pounds at the inner Gordo.
The best chance at finding a wahoo or dorado has been within the same area while looking for marlin. Fast-trolling Ballyhoo has produced the most strikes, though we saw some hookups on lures and live caballito. Most dorado are averaging 8-14 pounds, though we did have a big 40+ pound bull in the mix. The few wahoo that were landed were all over 30 pounds.
We picked a few nice snapper, amberjack, and grouper from the Vinorama, Imán, and La Fortuna rock piles; however, strong currents have made bottom fishing tough, and the strong currents do not allow anglers to fish the bottom efficiently.
Closer to shore, we are still catching some nice roosters, pompano, and jacks, with a handful of big Spanish mackerel (Sierra) also caught throughout our shoreline. Most of these Sierra were between 8 and 12 pounds.
Good Fishing, Brian Brictson
East Cape
The 20th Annual East Cape Dorado Shoot Out was scheduled for July 20, 2024, at the Van Wormer Resorts in Los Barriles. The East Cape Dorado Shoot Out tournament with its low entry fee, ($700 per team) along with its large payout is one of the most popular in Baja Sur.
The winning team, Angler Juan Antonio Geraldo, Thea Nachlour, and Jesus Arnaldo Geraldo from Los planes, La Paz, B.C.S., on the boat, the “Nadie,” walked away with a brand new 2023 4×4 Volkswagen Amarok pickup, and 1st Place of 41.7 thousand pesos, 2nd Place received $41.7 Thousand, and 3rd Place – $39.6 Thousand.
The rules are simple: catch the heaviest dorado, and you win the truck. There were also great prizes for 2nd and 3rd Place and the heaviest tuna and wahoo caught that day. The beauty of this one-day tournament format is that anyone can win. All it took was (a little?) luck, and you could walk away with a brand-new truck.
This year, there were 131 boats with 464 anglers registered; 25 dorado were weighed in, with 14 over 30 pounds! Seven wahoo were brought to the scale along with two tuna.
Dinner, Music, and over $50,000 in raffle items were given away.
When Registration opened, a king line was formed, and the outcome exceeded last year’s Bisbee East Cape Offshore by more than one-third, with 131 teams and over $311,000 Gross in jackpots.
La Paz
WEATHER: Strangely, it’s rather chilly and windy some mornings, and then again, it can be cloudy, but by late morning, it’s blazing sunny! Then, it’s just plain hot!!! At least it’s not very humid. Daytime temps are in the high 90s, and nights are in the 70s and are pleasant.
WATER: Some spots are now into the mid-80s on the surface and pretty blue, but the mornings can sometimes be a bit bumpy if the wind is breezy, but then it flattens out. The waters have gotten too warm for the yellowtail bite, which is almost over, but now bluewater species are showing up. Storms moving from the East Coast are not doing us any favors.
FISH HOOKED THIS WEEK: Dorado, tuna, roosterfish, striped marlin, blue marlin, white marlin, bonito, jack crevalle, yellowtail, pargo, cabrilla, snapper, pompano, trevally, and sharks.
FISHING SCALE 1-10: 5 to 6.5 (erratic/unpredictable)…Jonathan Roldan, Tailhunter Sportfishing
