CABO BOATS PUSHING INTO PACIFIC SIDE WIND
DURING WESTERN OUTDOOR NEWS TUNA FISHING TOURNAMENT

Oct. 31-Nov. 6, 2005, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Daytime highs in the Cabo San Lucas sportfishing area were in the low 90s and nighttime lows in the low 70s to high 60s this week, just about perfect.

Once again Cabo San Lucas had choppy fishing water on the Pacific side of the Cape as the wind prevailed from the NW and West, but a lot of people put up with it since there were fish out there.

There was a fairly strong temperature and color break running just to the outside of the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks this week with the warm side to the east at 82-83 degrees and the cold side at 77-78 degrees, a really strong break.

On the Cortez side of Cabo San Lucas, fishing conditions were just about as perfect as you could wish for. There were small distantly spaced swells and one to three feet with just a slight ripple on the water for most of the day, with a little chop developing in the late afternoon. We ended the week with a band of warm water at 84-85 degrees running across the Gorda Banks, 95 and 1150 spots and the water just to the outside of that at 80 degrees.

There was plenty of bait available this week even with the Western Outdoor News Tuna Tournament happening.

We kept our fingers crossed for better Tuna action this week but it just did not materialize, at least for the big fish. To my knowledge there were only two fish over 100 pounds weighed in among the 145 boats participating over two days. The largest was 199.7 pounds and was reported to have been caught among porpoise out around the Los Frailes area on the Cortez side.

The second largest fish weighed was in the 105 pound range and came from the Pacific, north of the Golden Gate Banks. On the first day, fish in the 40 pound class were taking jackpot money, on the second day there were a few in the 70 pound class that had anglers walking away from the scale happy.

The focus at Cabo San Lucas for at least two days this week was on Yellowfin Tuna during the Western Outdoor News tournament but with 145 boats out there Marlin were caught as well. A couple of days after the Bisbee was over a 700 pound Blue was brought in, and there were plenty of Striped Marlin to get anglers attention. The best concentrations seemed to be on the Cortez side around the 1150 and 95 spots, 5 miles to the south of the arch, early in the week on the Pacific side at the Golden Gate Bank and for those who could make the run and spend the fuel, up to the north around the Finger Bank, a 70 mile trip, not one most Cabo San Lucas fishing boats can make in one day. The action on Blue Marlin was spread out with most of it taking place on the Cortez side or on the warm side of the temperature break.

Most of the Dorado action came from the Pacific side and while there were a few fish in close to home, from the arch to the lighthouse, most of them were found much farther north, around the inside of the Golden Gate Bank. Average sizes were 15-25 pounds with a few hitting 30 pounds.

Almost all the Cabo San Lucas inshore Panga fishing action was on the small Yellowfin, Bonita and Skipjack along the Sea of Cortez coast.