Monster blue marlin caught in Cabo
Capt. Tracy Ehrenberg
September 10, 2009
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Overall Catch Success Rate 89%
BILLFISH: A full moon this week made the marlin a bit shy, plus the amount of tuna available made this species a tempting target so boats tended to concentrate more on smaller game. There was however one magnificent catch; a 525 lb blue marlin. This is the largest fish caught in awhile and a good sign for the tournaments set to start next month. This fish was taken by Chris Fuller, an American that lives here in Baja, at Los Cerritos. They planned on going for a big fish, so geared up to 100 lb test and headed the opposite direction of most boats. They went up to Punta Gorda which is a favorite haunt of big blues, on September 7th, and trolled a live skipjack, caught earlier in the day, which proved to be the meal of choice for the marlin, taking 25 minutes to boat, aboard "Spartacus". They also caught two tuna up to 60 lbs and three dorado in the 20 lb class. Anglers were thin on the ground this past week, as many cancelled due to hurricane jitters, so less boats out, means less fish caught. Other notable catches were for "Valerie" on September 6th with one striped marlin released, 21 tuna and 1 dorado outside the Golden Gate for James Aitchison from Danville, Ca fishing with Rick Donley & Dan Hendricks from Dublin, Ca. "Andrea" had an identical catch on the 9th, one striped marlin released 21 tuna and a dorado at Golden Gate, this time for Dan McGee from Urbandale, Iowa. We had two sailfish one aboard "Adriana" the other on "Spartacus, very large at 120 lbs. One marlin was caught close to shore from a panga by Jesse Padilla from Phoenix, who was pretty surprised as he thought he would be catching roosterfish. Thirty nine percent of our boats caught billfish, breaking down into 5 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin and 2 sailfish. Average weight on the marlin was 120 lbs.
OTHER SPECIES: Yellowfin tuna were out in force this week with boats catching from two to twenty one in day with weights ranging from 15 to 60 lbs. Almost all catches were in the Golden Gate or San Jaime areas, on the Pacific. No really outstanding weights on the tuna this week, though they took a wider selection of lures, petroleros, guacamaya and cedar plugs. Seventy eight percent of boats caught tuna. Dorado catches were a quite a bit slower at twenty eight percent with catches of between one and three fish per boat, with weights not surpassing 40 lbs. The only other fish were a few skipjacks here and there.
LOCATION: Golden Gate, San Jaime, Punta Gorda, though as we close this report, captains are saying that fish are moving closer to Cabo.
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, blue skies, with the exception of a brief downpour on Saturday over a small part of Cabo; seas calm.
AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 85 F
BEST LURES: Cedar plugs, green/yellow, red/white, live bait.
Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg
Chris Fuller (blue sunglasses) was able to pull in this 525 lb blue marlin in just 25 minutes on 100 lb test line aboard.
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