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Baja Fishing Report
Cabo team takes 4th consecutive IFGA win!
By Robin Wade/WON Staff Writer Published: May 22, 2012
CABO SAN LUCAS — With water that went from perfect to perfectly awful, 46 teams from 21 countries battled it out for the chance to be named the “World Champions” at the IGFA Offshore this past week in Cabo San Lucas. Setting records the first few days with numbers of striped marlin, by the fourth day, the winds picked up, fog moved in and the waters cooled some 10 degrees shutting the bite down.
“The team from Cabo, representing Mexico, released 37 marlin to take first place and win their fourth consecutive title,” Tracy Ehrenberg from Pisces Sportfishing said.”The team consisted of Hernando Gonzalez, Arturo Montelongo, Job Villavicencio and Lucas Orantes from Cabo San Lucas and Manuel Pizarro from San Jose del Cabo. The first day saw fast and furious action with hook ups reported before 8 a.m. and Pisces’ Valerie took the top spot for releasing 11 striped marlin for the Cabo team.”
“On the first day of the event 139 striped marlin were released; a very impressive number,” Ehrenberg said. “Day two was even better with 152 striped marlin released. Day three saw the Cabo team draw the Pisces 42-foot Bertram Yahoo and managing to release 15 marlin. Other outstanding boats for us in the first few days included the Great Escape Jr. which released 12 marlin in one day and Rebecca for releasing nine.”
“The fourth day of the tournament saw the fishing shut down as a cold wind blew from the Pacific, which was blanketed in fog and water temperatures dropped,” Ehrenberg said. “From a third day catch of 102 marlin, it dropped to just 8 fish on the final day. The Cabo team winners had a whopping 7,400 points for catching 37 marlin, with the second place team from Spain totaling 19 marlin and 3,800 points and third place with 3,600 points went to the Portuguese team with 18 marlin.”
“Cabo San Lucas enjoyed a ‘billfish bonanza’ for this year's IGFA Tournament,” Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters said. “Overall, it was a dead, rigged bait tournament and the bite was phenomenal. The Fish Cabo reported 13 hook-ups for the first day but angler error only allowed for a 4 fish release count. They had a total of 9 releases for three days; the fourth was pretty much a bust for everyone as cold water returned.”
“I had reports of some boats landing 12 or 13 billfish for a single day, with anglers that well understood the setting of the strikes,” Edwards said. “According to Fish Cabo owner, Roberto Marquez, the stripers were all over in the Sea of Cortez side of Cabo with concentrations of fish from the 95-fathom spot on to the 1150-fathom spot, as well as, above and outside the Gorda Banks area. The combined fishing report for the Gaviota and Fish Cabo fleets, for a total of 20 charters totaled 34 stripers released, 4 dorado, 6 skipjack tuna and 3 roosterfish.”
Capt Landrum of Fly Hooker Sportfishing described conditions this way. “We started the week with water between Cabo and the East Cape at 75-77 degrees and those temperatures held for Tuesday, even though there was a small intrusion of cooler water about 15 miles offshore, just to the outside of the 1150 area,” Landrum said. “On Wednesday the water to the Gorda Banks had cooled to 70 degrees and Wednesday night the winds picked up.”
“The current from the Pacific side came on strong so that by Thursday morning the same area between Cabo and San Jose had dropped 10 degrees overnight to 60 degrees,” Landrum said. “On the Pacific side the water became very rough due to the winds and by the end of the week we had water as cold as 55 degrees along the coast and extending past the Cape to the southwest 50 miles. That water was very dirty and green. The surface conditions moderated over the weekend but the water remained cold and dirty.”
Landrum said for anglers wanting something besides marlin, inshore was the way to go. “Pompano have shown up in good numbers, averaging 6 to 9 pounds,” he said. “They are great eating fish and fun to fight and all of them were caught on the Cortez side of the Cape. There were some scattered yellowtail and sierra as well, but the numbers of sierra dropped off a bit from the previous week. Mix in some decent snapper and some amberjack and there was action and meals to be had fishing inshore, as well as some small roosterfish.”
FRESH OFF THE TOURNEY TRAIL — After helping the Cabo team win the IGFA Offshore this past week, the Valerie was right back to business as usual, helping Michael Carreno from Danville, CA catch his first striper. Weighing approximately 150 pounds, the striped marlin was caught and released on a live caballito at 11.50 spot. PHOTO COURTESY OF PISCES SPORTFISHING
In other Baja fishing action:
— EAST CAPE: It’s been three weeks of tough catching, even with plenty of game fish out there but there’s also been plenty of bait for them to forage for as well. But when the fish don’t want what everyone is offering, it’s time to switch things up.
“The water was 78 to 81 degrees and warmer than normal,” John Ireland at Rancho Leonero said. “And there was a huge temperature break just south of Las Arenas with a nine- to ten-degree difference between the water to the north and south.”
“The marlin were taking trolled lures and live bait equally and our anglers were seeing lots of tailers,” Ireland said. “They are a little line shy, but almost all our boats targeting billfish released at least one or two per day and there was an even mix of sails and stripers. Not only that, they were very close inside; 90 percent of the fish released were within sight of the hotel.”
“The roosterfish bite is also starting to improve, with bigger fish this past week,” Ireland said. “Russ from Cabala’s fished a half day Saturday and released 7 gallos between 15 and 35 pounds. The fishing for gallos, as in past years, will definitely improve through July. They are taking flies aggressively and really knocking the sardine.”
Inside, Ireland said big sierra were taken daily. “It's way late for sierra but that being said, sierra to 10 pounds were being taken daily. This has been a big pompano year and the good fishing continues. Drift fishing using live sardine has been working all this season.”
“Fishing continued to be fairly tough,” Eddie Dalmau from Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts said. “This was the third straight week that fishing has not been up to par. It hasn’t been for a lack of fish, rather there is just too much food for the fish to eat. Bait fishermen have been seeing mass amounts of small squid in the water while they were out catching bait. This would explain why guests are seeing 12 to 15 marlin, but can’t seem to get them to bite. Some boats were fortunate enough to land up to 4 billfish in a day and the bite seems to be only 5 to 8 miles out from Hotel Palmas De Cortez.”
“We are starting to see some nice schools of dorado though,” Dalmau said. “Most of them have been to the north at the shark buoys and further up by the ocho-ocho (88-fathom spot). Those who have gone to the north for dorado have either landed several small ones or one big 35- to 50-pound one. Thursday and Friday seemed to be the best days with a nice 50-pound bull caught on the Whiskey and lots more smaller ones came in Saturday.”
“We also saw some nice roosterfish this past week,” Dalmau said. “Those who come inshore in the afternoons were rewarded with roosters ranging from 10- to 55 pounds. One guest had an 11 rooster day on the cruiser Rosa early in the week. And another guest was lucky enough to land a beautiful 55-pound rooster while fishing onboard the cruiser Pez Vela. The rooster bite seems to be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and close to shore from Buena Vista down to La Ribera.”
Buena Vista Beach Resort reported the same. “Our counts were down this past week,” Felipe Valdez said for the property. “Considering the number of launches, their returns were a little poor. And the fish that did come in were full of small squid, they were stuffed. Considering everything; there were a lot of fish to observe and many were baited. Even the boats that got skunked came back with happy guests. There is an amazing variety of fish and other sea life out there, but with so much bait, now’s the time to switch things up.”
“We had both striped marlin and sailfish released this past week but a few that had been tail wrapped or lost the battle and brought in had squid in them,” Valdez said. “We also had a few roosters, some right off our beach since there has been a bait ball hanging out here. Also on the list were pompano, jack crevalle, sierra, snapper and a few nice-sized dorado. The problem has not been finding fish; it’s been getting them to bite with so much bait out there.”
“The striped marlin are thick from Rancho Leonero to Punta Perico,” Mark Rayor from Jen Wren Sportfishing said. “There were also a few nice dorado and some sailfish in the mix. All day fish are putting on an incredible and exciting show; jumping, tailing and feeding. But the fish are plugged with squid, making it hard for anglers to get the bite. Seeing all the life has not allowed many dull moments though. It has been action packed; baiting fish after fish hunting for one that would go.”
“Live bait has been hard to come by,” Rayor said. “The bait pangeros have not been able to make bait at night so frozen ballyhoo has been the only option for purchase in the morning. It is a bit of a weird phenomenon because a mix of Spanish mackerel and sardineta are coming to the surface about a mile offshore as soon as the sun rises. We have been able to catch the bait that won't bite in the dark for the pangeros. Sardines have completely evaporated and cannot be found anywhere. I was talking with some of the pangeros at Muertos Bay and they believe the bait has just gone deep.”
“But the fishing has been difficult and I have had to give it 100 percent to get the job done,” Rayor said. “Today (Sunday) was dead flat, calm and the morning was very slow. I'm always trying to change things up when it is not happening and decided to pull a Witch Doctor; that is a big mirror flasher to attract fish. It was not out there 10 minutes when we got a double on quality dorado. It also attracted a couple marlin in the afternoon. Trying a squid chain was another idea a few days ago. I'm always trying to take it to the fish. When the bite is tough the tough get going.”
For more Mexico fishing reports visit: www.bajafisherman.com
Readers: To have your reports included in the Baja report, send photos and e-mails to baja@wonews.com.
NICE WAY TO END THE DAY — The rooster bite seems to be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. close to shore from Buena Vista down to La Ribera so many are ending their trip by spending a little time right off the beaches. Jim Goerg was lucky enough to land this beautiful 55-pound rooster while fishing onboard the cruiser Pez Vela out of Palmas De Cortez. PHOTO COURTESY OF HOTEL PALMAS DE CORTEZ
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CABO SAN LUCAS — With water that went from perfect to perfectly awful, 46 teams from 21 countries battled it out for the chance to be named the “World Champions” at the IGFA Offshore this past week in Cabo San Lucas. Setting records the first few days with numbers of striped marlin, by the fourth day, the winds picked up, fog moved in and the waters cooled some 10 degrees shutting the bite down. “The team from Cabo, representing Mexico, released 37 marlin to take first place and win their fourth consecutive title,” Tracy Ehrenberg from Pisces Sportfishing said.”The team consisted of Hernando Gonzalez, Arturo Montelongo, Job Villavicencio and Lucas Orantes from Cabo San Lucas and Manuel Pizarro from San Jose del Cabo. The first day saw fast and furious action with hook ups reported before 8 a.m. and Pisces’ Valerie took the top spot for releasing 11 striped marlin for the Cabo team.” “On the first day of the event 139 striped marlin were released; a very impressive number,” Ehrenberg said. “Day two was even better with 152 striped marlin released. Day three saw the Cabo team draw the Pisces 42-foot Bertram Yahoo and managing to release 15 marlin. Other outstanding boats for us in the first few days included the Great Escape Jr. which released 12 marlin in one day and Rebecca for releasing nine.” “The fourth day of the tournament saw the fishing shut down as a cold wind blew from the Pacific, which was blanketed in fog and water temperatures dropped,” Ehrenberg said. “From a third day catch of 102 marlin, it dropped to just 8 fish on the final day. The Cabo team winners had a whopping 7,400 points for catching 37 marlin, with the second place team from Spain totaling 19 marlin and 3,800 points and third place with 3,600 points went to the Portuguese team with 18 marlin.” “Cabo San Lucas enjoyed a ‘billfish bonanza’ for this year's IGFA Tournament,” Larry Edwards of Cortez Yacht Charters said. “Overall, it was a dead, rigged bait tournament and the bite was phenomenal. The Fish Cabo reported 13 hook-ups for the first day but angler error only allowed for a 4 fish release count. They had a total of 9 releases for three days; the fourth was pretty much a bust for everyone as cold water returned.” “I had reports of some boats landing 12 or 13 billfish for a single day, with anglers that well understood the setting of the strikes,” Edwards said. “According to Fish Cabo owner, Roberto Marquez, the stripers were all over in the Sea of Cortez side of Cabo with concentrations of fish from the 95-fathom spot on to the 1150-fathom spot, as well as, above and outside the Gorda Banks area. The combined fishing report for the Gaviota and Fish Cabo fleets, for a total of 20 charters totaled 34 stripers released, 4 dorado, 6 skipjack tuna and 3 roosterfish.” Capt Landrum of Fly Hooker Sportfishing described conditions this way. “We started the week with water between Cabo and the East Cape at 75-77 degrees and those temperatures held for Tuesday, even though there was a small intrusion of cooler water about 15 miles offshore, just to the outside of the 1150 area,” Landrum said. “On Wednesday the water to the Gorda Banks had cooled to 70 degrees and Wednesday night the winds picked up.” “The current from the Pacific side came on strong so that by Thursday morning the same area between Cabo and San Jose had dropped 10 degrees overnight to 60 degrees,” Landrum said. “On the Pacific side the water became very rough due to the winds and by the end of the week we had water as cold as 55 degrees along the coast and extending past the Cape to the southwest 50 miles. That water was very dirty and green. The surface conditions moderated over the weekend but the water remained cold and dirty.” Landrum said for anglers wanting something besides marlin, inshore was the way to go. “Pompano have shown up in good numbers, averaging 6 to 9 pounds,” he said. “They are great eating fish and fun to fight and all of them were caught on the Cortez side of the Cape. There were some scattered yellowtail and sierra as well, but the numbers of sierra dropped off a bit from the previous week. Mix in some decent snapper and some amberjack and there was action and meals to be had fishing inshore, as well as some small roosterfish.” FRESH OFF THE TOURNEY TRAIL — After helping the Cabo team win the IGFA Offshore this past week, the Valerie was right back to business as usual, helping Michael Carreno from Danville, CA catch his first striper. Weighing approximately 150 pounds, the striped marlin was caught and released on a live caballito at 11.50 spot. PHOTO COURTESY OF PISCES SPORTFISHING In other Baja fishing action: — EAST CAPE: It’s been three weeks of tough catching, even with plenty of game fish out there but there’s also been plenty of bait for them to forage for as well. But when the fish don’t want what everyone is offering, it’s time to switch things up. “The water was 78 to 81 degrees and warmer than normal,” John Ireland at Rancho Leonero said. “And there was a huge temperature break just south of Las Arenas with a nine- to ten-degree difference between the water to the north and south.” “The marlin were taking trolled lures and live bait equally and our anglers were seeing lots of tailers,” Ireland said. “They are a little line shy, but almost all our boats targeting billfish released at least one or two per day and there was an even mix of sails and stripers. Not only that, they were very close inside; 90 percent of the fish released were within sight of the hotel.” “The roosterfish bite is also starting to improve, with bigger fish this past week,” Ireland said. “Russ from Cabala’s fished a half day Saturday and released 7 gallos between 15 and 35 pounds. The fishing for gallos, as in past years, will definitely improve through July. They are taking flies aggressively and really knocking the sardine.” Inside, Ireland said big sierra were taken daily. “It's way late for sierra but that being said, sierra to 10 pounds were being taken daily. This has been a big pompano year and the good fishing continues. Drift fishing using live sardine has been working all this season.” “Fishing continued to be fairly tough,” Eddie Dalmau from Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts said. “This was the third straight week that fishing has not been up to par. It hasn’t been for a lack of fish, rather there is just too much food for the fish to eat. Bait fishermen have been seeing mass amounts of small squid in the water while they were out catching bait. This would explain why guests are seeing 12 to 15 marlin, but can’t seem to get them to bite. Some boats were fortunate enough to land up to 4 billfish in a day and the bite seems to be only 5 to 8 miles out from Hotel Palmas De Cortez.” “We are starting to see some nice schools of dorado though,” Dalmau said. “Most of them have been to the north at the shark buoys and further up by the ocho-ocho (88-fathom spot). Those who have gone to the north for dorado have either landed several small ones or one big 35- to 50-pound one. Thursday and Friday seemed to be the best days with a nice 50-pound bull caught on the Whiskey and lots more smaller ones came in Saturday.” “We also saw some nice roosterfish this past week,” Dalmau said. “Those who come inshore in the afternoons were rewarded with roosters ranging from 10- to 55 pounds. One guest had an 11 rooster day on the cruiser Rosa early in the week. And another guest was lucky enough to land a beautiful 55-pound rooster while fishing onboard the cruiser Pez Vela. The rooster bite seems to be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and close to shore from Buena Vista down to La Ribera.” Buena Vista Beach Resort reported the same. “Our counts were down this past week,” Felipe Valdez said for the property. “Considering the number of launches, their returns were a little poor. And the fish that did come in were full of small squid, they were stuffed. Considering everything; there were a lot of fish to observe and many were baited. Even the boats that got skunked came back with happy guests. There is an amazing variety of fish and other sea life out there, but with so much bait, now’s the time to switch things up.” “We had both striped marlin and sailfish released this past week but a few that had been tail wrapped or lost the battle and brought in had squid in them,” Valdez said. “We also had a few roosters, some right off our beach since there has been a bait ball hanging out here. Also on the list were pompano, jack crevalle, sierra, snapper and a few nice-sized dorado. The problem has not been finding fish; it’s been getting them to bite with so much bait out there.” “The striped marlin are thick from Rancho Leonero to Punta Perico,” Mark Rayor from Jen Wren Sportfishing said. “There were also a few nice dorado and some sailfish in the mix. All day fish are putting on an incredible and exciting show; jumping, tailing and feeding. But the fish are plugged with squid, making it hard for anglers to get the bite. Seeing all the life has not allowed many dull moments though. It has been action packed; baiting fish after fish hunting for one that would go.” “Live bait has been hard to come by,” Rayor said. “The bait pangeros have not been able to make bait at night so frozen ballyhoo has been the only option for purchase in the morning. It is a bit of a weird phenomenon because a mix of Spanish mackerel and sardineta are coming to the surface about a mile offshore as soon as the sun rises. We have been able to catch the bait that won't bite in the dark for the pangeros. Sardines have completely evaporated and cannot be found anywhere. I was talking with some of the pangeros at Muertos Bay and they believe the bait has just gone deep.” “But the fishing has been difficult and I have had to give it 100 percent to get the job done,” Rayor said. “Today (Sunday) was dead flat, calm and the morning was very slow. I'm always trying to change things up when it is not happening and decided to pull a Witch Doctor; that is a big mirror flasher to attract fish. It was not out there 10 minutes when we got a double on quality dorado. It also attracted a couple marlin in the afternoon. Trying a squid chain was another idea a few days ago. I'm always trying to take it to the fish. When the bite is tough the tough get going.” For more Mexico fishing reports visit: www.bajafisherman.com Readers: To have your reports included in the Baja report, send photos and e-mails to baja@wonews.com. NICE WAY TO END THE DAY — The rooster bite seems to be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. close to shore from Buena Vista down to La Ribera so many are ending their trip by spending a little time right off the beaches. Jim Goerg was lucky enough to land this beautiful 55-pound rooster while fishing onboard the cruiser Pez Vela out of Palmas De Cortez. PHOTO COURTESY OF HOTEL PALMAS DE CORTEZ |
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