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Travel Forum / Destinations / USA and Canada / August 2006Cabo San Lucas - sportfishing charters /where to stay ?
( Yeah I know it says USA and CANADA, but other groups had no mention of it either) Anyone been there / done that and have a recommendation ? ( no spammers please) We always go to Miami/Keys so we're looking for something different. I'm always joking with the skippers there that the only time I see a marlin is on the wall in a bar or on a cap and I think they're like unicorns. So we're gonna head to Cabo for a few days in mid-january to try to get a few. We're thinking that we'd stay in a cheap place near the boat for a few days (while fishing) and then maybe move/stay a few days on the beach - to just sit back and enjoy. Normally in FLA, we'd catch some "eating fish" in the early morning, then sailfish the rest of the day. At night we'd bring the catch to a local bar/restaurant and they'd prepare it for us - do they do that in Mexico ? Maybe I should ask SHOULD we do it in Mexico ? I'm just starting to research so any info on areas to choose/avoid would be appreciated. Also I've been checking prices online. $~300 per day for a 4 passenger boat - seem right ? Bobb >- Bobb - wrote: > ( Yeah I know it says USA and CANADA, but other groups had no mention of > it either) There's a saltwater fishing group somewhere in the rec. hierarchy but I haven't been on it for a while ... plenty of Cabo anglers used to use it ... > Anyone been there / done that and have a recommendation ? Used to visit Cabo 3-4 times a year, couple of years my wife and I made the AFTCO/Billfish Foundation list for being among the top tag/release anglers for striped marlin, most caught in Cabo (few in Panama or East Cape). So we know it well ... I would recommend Pisces Fleet or Reel Easy or Gaviota for mid-range prices and boats ... http://www.piscessportfishing.com/ for Pisces, the manager is a British lady (Tracy) and she and her Mexican husband own this fleet ... a couple of times they had the # 1 striped marlin release boat in the world and are easy to work with. http://www.reeleasysportfishing.com/ ... the owner of this fleet, Mike Hebert, is a Texas engineer and very good to work with as well ... nice boats, nice guy. I don't have the Gaviota site handy but they have comparable boats ... they switch captains a lot though ... > So we're gonna head to Cabo for a few days in mid-january to try to get > a few. January is usually good for striped marlin but water is too cold then for blue marlin. It's pretty exciting fishing because typically you troll lures until you see a marlin finning on the surface or maybe sniffing at the lures, then you (or more likely your deckie) cast a mackerel in front of the marlin and hope he lights up and takes the bait ... so you can use light tackle and get to see the strike on the surface. > We're thinking that we'd stay in a cheap place near the boat for a few > days (while fishing) and then maybe move/stay a few days on the beach - > to just sit back and enjoy. If you decide on Reel Easy there's a nice mid-range hotel right beside the boat, I think it's Marina Fiesta or something like that. This one is on the marina, not the ocean though. Mike could give you some other tips on hotels as well. If you decide on Pisces there's a loud touristy hotel right by the boats, Plaza Las Glorias, I didn't like staying there because of the noise (a lot of people go to Cabo to party hearty so there are many drunks) but it's right there by the dock ... would also recommend Finisterra if you fish with Pisces, it's maybe 400 yards walk but on the ocean ... but a fancy, expensive hotel. If you want something decent but cheap then Mar de Cortez is the right hotel for you, maybe $45 per night or so ... I think there are links to these on the Pisces page, except they probably don't recommend PLG. > Normally in FLA, we'd catch some "eating > fish" in the early morning, then sailfish the rest of the day. At night > we'd bring the catch to a local bar/restaurant and they'd prepare it for > us - do they do that in Mexico ? Maybe I should ask SHOULD we do it in > Mexico ? Not as many food fish around off-shore that time of year (a lot more in the summer) but you might pick up a dorado (your dolphin-fish) or yellow-fin tuna while marlin fishing. The marlin seem to be eating squid and mackerel ... there is a dockside restaurant beside the Pisces office that will cook your fish for you and serve it with side orders for $5 or so (or at least they did the last time I was there). Also you can have it cooked for you at the Mar de Cortez if you stay there ... so no problems doing this. I'm sure Tracy or Mike could recommend half a dozen other restaurants for this as well. > Also I've been checking prices online. $~300 per day for a 4 passenger > boat - seem right ? Sounds a bit low to me for the 28 ft boats, a lot low for the 31 ft and larger boats ... you'll also have to buy 10 live baits (maybe $20) and drinks and meals each day on the boat. You have to watch how they are pricing things, some people give you a low-ball figure and then later tell you you have to buy the license and pay the tax while others include these in the base cost (I think Pisces even includes 24 drinks in the cost, or at least they used to). Also at times in January the marlin are on the reefs well north of Cabo so there's a 20 mile run or so to get there and the low ball boats won't go because of gas costs ... so be careful who you book with. Most of the boats won't shortchange you, but when you are pushing to save the last $20 or so that's when you can run into the groups that cut their costs by saving on gas or whatever and you may not be happy with the trip. I would rather save $$ by staying at the Mar de Cortez with the other fishermen and surfers and spend some of the savings on a better boat ... Bill EXCELLENT, Thanks very much Bill. One more thing I forgot to ask.... everything else being equal: for 3-4 guys should we get a ... 28', 32' etc ? Might we get 2 at once and be in each other's way on a smaller boat ? In January, assuming we take turns bringing 'em in - would we catch a few each ? would we be lucky to hook into 1 or 2 per day total ? Or more like 1 per hour ? As for striped/blue marlin: I wanted to go earlier for the blue marlin, but was outvoted. We're in Boston and the consensus was that striped marlin and a warm climate in JANUARY is better than anything in OCTOBER (when the weather's not bad here) . Also we can see how we do with the "small ones" before tackling the big ones. Normally 6 of us go to Florida for sailfish twice per winter and after 14 years of Key Biscayne/Key West/ Islamorada we needed a change. Only 3 others could go this January, but I'm hoping after hearing "how well we did" that the others might then opt for next October. Thanks again - I'm off to check out these sites. Bobb > >- Bobb - wrote: >> ( Yeah I know it says USA and CANADA, but other groups had no mention [quoted text clipped - 112 lines] > > Bill > EXCELLENT, Thanks very much Bill. No problem ... email me if you wish, since this thread is technically off-topic on this particular newsgroup ... > One more thing I forgot to ask.... everything else being equal: for 3-4 > guys should we get a ... 28', 32' etc ? We always tried to fish just two per boat, but of course it's more expensive ... you can get four anglers on the 28 ft and larger boats though but someone will likely not have a shot at a marlin that day. > Might we get 2 at once and be in > each other's way on a smaller boat ? You can usually handle doubles OK, the striped marlin aren't so big that they take a lot of line ... we had four sailfish on at once in Cabo and landed all four with just my wife and I fishing, for example. > In January, assuming we take turns > bringing 'em in - would we catch a few each ? would we be lucky to hook > into 1 or 2 per day total ? Or more like 1 per hour ? Often you will see a lot of marlin on the surface and pitch live baits to them but sometimes they won't eat (usually when they are plugged with squid and the mackerel doesn't look appetizing I guess). When you do hook one it often takes 20 - 40 minutes or more to land it too. 1-2 marlin per day is a pretty good average in January on the better boats ... I think our best day was 5 stripes, several days we released 3 stripes, plenty of 1-2 striped marlin days ... it's not unusual to hear of a boat catching more ... we fished lighter tackle (down to 12 # test by the end) but the boats you'll be on will use 40 # for the live bait so you can control the fish better. Here are some numbers for a three year period from a few years back showing the average # of striped marlin caught in January by Pisces boats ... note that some of these boats weren't actually after marlin but instead after tuna or going inshore for roosterfish or wahoo or whatever ... first year ... 1.3 marlin/day, 2nd best month of the year (Dec was best with 1.6) 2nd year ... 2.0 marlin/day, 2nd best month (Feb was best with 2.6 per day) 3rd year ... 1.2 marlin/day, 4th best month (Dec, March, June were better) Overall for these 3 years January averaged 1.5 marlin/day, tied for first with Feb. So you picked a good month. > As for striped/blue marlin: I wanted to go earlier for the blue marlin, > but was outvoted. We're in Boston and the consensus was that striped > marlin and a warm climate in JANUARY is better than anything in OCTOBER > (when the weather's not bad here) . Odds on blues in Cabo are more like one every three days and only in the summer and fall ... the stripes typically weigh 120 - 150 lbs each, the blues 200 - 350 lbs each, with a few monster blues over 700 lbs caught each year. Good to break in on stripes ... Here's one other piece of data, the catch records for each month for a seven boat fleet from a few years back (it probably won't format right here but you can copy/paste it and clean it up) ... you can see how the fishing changes in the summer and fall when the water is much warmer ... note the increase in "food fish" (tuna, dorado) in summer and fall too ... Striped Marlin Blue Marlin Black Marlin Tuna Dorado Wahoo Roosters Jan 217 0 0 101 46 12 7 Feb 308 1 0 137 83 2 37 Mar 275 0 0 139 21 0 62 Apr 148 0 0 337 39 1 39 May 263 0 0 535 78 0 117 Jun 324 0 0 88 86 5 59 Jul 121 13 4 58 195 2 22 Aug 69 31 19 463 521 3 27 Sep 27 27 4 181 583 6 28 Oct 32 21 7 226 809 4 9 Nov 161 15 1 390 1236 4 10 Dec 173 1 0 163 817 9 10 I saw on the other site that you are getting recommendations for other places like San Jose, East Cape, Mazatlan, Zihua/Ixtapa and Vallarta ... we've been to all those places too and none are very good in January for marlin and none have the numbers of striped marlin that Cabo does, but all offer good fishing for something some of the time. For striped marlin Cabo is far and away the best bet in the winter. Bill Great, I did find that other site since here (as you saw) - thanks again. I'll follow up over there. >> EXCELLENT, Thanks very much Bill. > [quoted text clipped - 96 lines] > > Bill |
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