STATE SPONSORED GOVERNOR'S CUP CIRCUIT FISHING TOURNAMENT AT LA PLAYITA

Oct. 1, 2006, Tracy Ehrenberg, Pisces Fleet, Cabo San Lucas, Baja Sur, Mexico:

This weekend Cabo San Lucas saw the second event of the state sponsored Governor's Cup fishing tournament circuit, which was a huge success.

The purpose of this series of fishing events is to change the mindset of the local population to sportfishing rather than commercial fishing.

The tournaments take place all over the Mexican State of Baja California Sur, including places not normally noted for sportfishing, such as Punta Abreojos, where the first tournament just took place.

Local species are fished for such as amberjack, yellowtail, needlefish and there are tournament categories shore fishing and panga fishing.

The tournaments get local people involved, especially children. Cash prizes are awarded and entry is free.

The prizes given are generated by taxes paid by big tournaments such as Bisbee's, as well as sponsorship.

The second fishing tournament on the circuit just took place at La Playita in San Jose del Cabo, and 706 anglers participated.

First place due to the lack of a 300-pound qualifying billfish, was won by Gilberto Rentaria with a 59 pound tuna.

Wahoo and dorado had different categories and the shore division went to Jesus Cota for a 20 pound snook.

In regular Cabo San Lucas fishing news, this week was not outstanding for billfish, but overall it is spot on for this time of year, a mixture of striped marlin, blue marlin and sailfish, along with excellent amounts of smaller game.

Cabo fishing boats not entered in the Governor's Cup tournament did quite well with a few fish over the 400 pound mark.

The Pisces Fleet charter boat "Tracy Ann" caught a 450 pound blue marlin for Andy Peterson at the 95 spot on September 24th.

A couple of days before the charter boat "C Rod" had a bonanza of one sailfish, one striped marlin, nine dorados and four yellowfin tuna.

Another notable catch was by "Rebecca" for Danny Williams, with a blue marlin released, three dorado and a wahoo.

"Ruthless" at the close of the week released a striped marlin and then went on to catch a wahoo and 12 dorado for Scott Pell from Dickinson, Texas.

Thirty-nine percent of Pisces Fleet charters caught billfish this week consisting of 19 striped marlin from 120 to 200 pounds, all but one were released, ten sailfish, all released, and nine blue marlin from 200 to 450 pounds, with six released.

Wahoo catches were on the slow side, but still we ended up with a half dozen in the 25 to 50 pound class.

Yellowfin tuna catches declined again this week with just 14 percent catching fish in the 20 to 40 pound class.

We were thrilled to see 86 percent of boats catch dorado this week. Weights were from 18 to 45 pounds and charters caught from one to 12 with the average around four fish per boat. The majority of dorado took lures with the big catches on the Pacific from Land's End to Golden Gate.

Summer weather returned again to Cabo San Lucas this week with a vengeance, with high temperatures and humidity, just what the fish love. Skies were partly cloudy and seas calm.

Boats fished from Destiladeras to Golden Gate, with better catches at Pozo de Cota, Migrino, Los Arcos, straight out from Land's End, off of San Jose, and the 95 spot. Blue marlin were caught both on the Cortez and Pacific sides.

The average water temperature was 86 degrees. Live bait for sailfish and striped marlin, assorted lures for blue marlin and dorado worked best.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from Cabo San Lucas and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for Cabo San Lucas may be found at Mexfish.com's main Cabo San Lucas page.