Visitors to Los Cabos are enjoying exciting times, as we are now in the midst of the peak fall sportfishing season. The largest of all fishing tournaments, Bisbee’s Black and Blue, was held this past week and once again this event ended with the jackpot marlin being caught in the final moments on the last day and more exciting yet, the top two largest marlin were landed by women anglers. See all the catches for the tournament at CatchStat.com
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| Team II Success weighs in a 774lb Blue Marlin in the last 10 minutes on the last day of the 2013 Bisbee's Black & Blue Marlin Tournament. |
Fleets have been traveling in all directions, scouting out all of the
possible fishing grounds within range, ocean water temperatures are now
averaging about 84 degrees throughout the area, not much temperature
variance, though we do expect that a cooling off trend will begin during
this next week. Bait situation has been day to day, with very small
sized sardinas being netted off rocky stretches near Santa Maria, there
were caballito available and even some mackerel were offered earlier in
the week, as well as ballyhoo and slabs of squid at the dock area. There
were options of catching larger baitfish on the grounds, overall the
bait resource has been sufficient, main problem now was dealing with the
relentless north winds that were swirling from out of the southwest as
well.
Anglers were finding a mix of dorado, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and
billfish, none of which were especially numerous. With ocean
temperatures holding warm this late, we are expecting the action to
become more consistent after these weather patterns stabilize. Recently
the action has been limited to an average of several fish in combination
per charter, though there were exceptions for other anglers that
happened to be at the right place.
The large yellowfin tuna are still on the Gordo Banks, everyday there
have been a couple of hook ups reported, not many of these larger tuna
were actually landed, tuna up to 314 lb. were accounted for by the local
panga fleet, with others lost after extended battles. Smaller football
sized yellowfin were found near Santa Maria and on the Gordo Banks or
Iman Bank, though this action was sporadic and most boats that did land
these fish would only catch a few fish. Dorado were mixed in, found in
medium sized schools spread out, most of these fish were weighing less
than fifteen pounds, with an occasional specimen to 20 pounds being
reported. The main factor for fewer all around numbers of fish was the
relentless winds which limited where boats could comfortable and
practically concentrate their efforts.
Wahoo were hiding out most of the week, only a handful of these fish
were landed, with other numerous strikes missed. This is now the time we
expect to see these fish make their presence known. Once again, as this
weather front passes through we do expect things to get back on track.
Not much bottom action was even attempted during these winds times,
anglers found it hard enough to troll or drift fish the surface, let
alone try to hold the bottom.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos
Marina sent out approximately 205 charters for this past week, with
anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 black marlin, 4 blue marlin,
16 striped marlin, 18 sailfish, 13 wahoo, 4 amberjack, 14 bonito, 14
pargo, 2 surgeonfish , 35 triggerfish,10 cabrilla, 15 sierra, 260 dorado
and 125 yellowfin tuna.
Rancho Leonero - East Cape
It has been a windy week down here.Thursday ,Friday and Saturday were
blown out. Today is beautiful again.typical scenario for this time of
year.That said the fishing has been good.
Still good bait available, the squid returned and the bait guys have had good Caballitos and Ballyhoo on offer.
Most of the Bill fish action was around Sailfish this week. The strong
Blue Marlin bite of last week seemed to fall away a bit. This could also
be as a result of the light fishing departures!!.Stripers are around
but were picky biters.Ballyhoo and Caballitos doing the most work.
Dorado continue to bite all over the bay. Some bigger bulls earlier in
the week to 40#. Schoolies of smaller fish taking chunks of squid.
Good sized Jacks and a lot of Roosters to 25# in all the usual spots.
Good times for the fly fishermen. Caballitos doing the trick.
The breezy conditions definately turned the water over producing
slightly cooler surface.This brought on some Sierra around the
lighthouse and Punta Colorada.
Cabo San Lucas - Gaviota Fleet
The Lady Anglers sure came out on top in the Bisbee Black & Blue Marlin Tournament and went home with the bulk of the cash prize loot. Biggest fish, a 774 lb. blue marlin was taken aboard the "II Success" by lady angler Linda Williams, earning $368,675.00. It was the biggest fish of the week and the largest ever weighed in by lady angler in the B&B. 104 teams were in the 3-day fishing event. Martha McNabb, fishing "Retriever" settled for 2nd place and largest cash payout with her 525 lb. blue marlin that was worth $1,185,862.00, having entered all the cash jackpots. "Titan", the first sailboat to ever compete in the event captured first place in the release division, collecting $63,537.00 for 3 blue marlin releases. Overall reports reflected for the 104 boats released 58 blue marlin, 3 black marlin along with dozens of striped marlin and sailfish. On the final day of the event, Austin Angel & his family team, fishing aboard the "Sea Angel", captured $966,680.00, with a 313 lb. blue marlin, having entered an across the board bet in all jackpots. While a 5th place fish, the optional jackpots can make a huge difference in the cash payouts. Unquestionably, it was the ladies night to shine at the 2013 Bisbee Black & Blue Marlin Tournament.
The MDM groups, fishing Saturday & Sunday aboard 28 local sportfishers, reflected top-notch fishing results that included some 300 fish or so and produced 1 black marlin, 5 blue marlin, 69 stripers and 225 dorado in their mixed bag catches. Additionally, the combined fishing effort of the Gaviota Sportfishing Fleet and Fish Cabo Fleet for a total of 44 days fished reflected 1 blue marlin, (250 lbs.) 43 stripers, (41 released) 2 Wahoo, 47 yellowfin tuna and 174 dorado. It has been a terrific fishing week for many anglers and shaping up for more to come.
Cabo Climate: Partly cloudy days but plenty of sunshine for the area. Temps ranged from 68 nights to 90 daytime highs with light & variable surface winds from 5-13 mph, flowing from the southeast to westerly directions.
Sea Conditions: Excellent sea conditions with excellent sea temps that ranged from 82 to 84.5 degrees and stretched from the Finger Bank, (55 miles NW of Cabo on the Pacific side to Las Frailes on the Sea of Cortez side.
Best Fishing Area: The better fishing remains on the Pacific side of Cabo. The Jaime Bank was one of the better spots for billfish and the Herradura was best for the yellowfin tuna. Dorado were scattered around to all areas on the Pacific side.
Best Bait/Lure: Most of the black & blue marlin were taken on larger artificial lures and rigged baits from the tuna tubes, pre-caught before the tournament days started. Most of the sailfish and stripers were taken on live baits. Dorado were taken on both, artificials, feathers and live baits.
Live Bait Supply: There was no problem with the live bait supply with good caballito availability for the anglers at $3.00 per bait pricing.
