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Fishing in Los Cabos
By : Nick Honachefsky
Ernest Hemingway, whose passion for fishing was legendary, spent time fishing in Cabo San Lucas. That should be enough reason to persuade anyone to fish here. But if you need more, then imagine the sun lighting up El Arco at dawn, the coastline dotted with sleepy villas and a piña colada in hand. Add countless underwater treasures—such as striped marlin, yellowfin tuna, roosterfish and mahi-mahi—and you’ll begin to understand why sportfishing is the soul of Los Cabos.
Seasoned saltwater anglers from around the planet reserve at least one week of their lifetime to experience Los Cabos’ fishing firsthand. My single goal when visiting Los Cabos was to catch the revered roosterfish.
I met Captain Ryan Donovan of RedRum Sportfishing at the marina. We set the engines humming on a 53-foot sportfisher, setting out trolling lines with deep-diving fishing plugs. We then cruised the northern coastline of the Cape where the roosterfish stack up behind jagged rock -structures below the water’s surface.
In Los Cabos, great saltwater fishing is found not very far from shore. Pelagic blue-water species, such as marlin, mahi-mahi and tuna, call Cabo home because the water depth takes a drastic plunge from 50 feet to 6,000 feet within 10 miles. That dramatic difference in underwater topography creates upwelling, which provides a buffet of baitfish for predatory species. Five deep sea canyons and five underwater seamounts act as fish magnets, attracting baitfish such as sardines and Pacific greenback mackerel to feed, which in turn brings in the big fish that feed upon them. The rocky topography beneath the water houses crevices and caves for fish to thrive and feed in. Most fishing excursions take place a mere one to five miles from the beach.
Donovan elaborated on why Cabo is so revered as a fishing destination. “The Los Cabos area is known for warm water and favorable sea conditions. We fish the Sea of Cortés to our east and the Pacific Ocean to our west, depending on the winds. We have the option to change it up when winds seem unfavorable one way or the other. Our fishing never stops like in other places, when [at] certain times of [the] year fishing gets too unpredictable. And to top it off, the greatest facet about fishing in Los Cabos is that any fish you do catch—such as dorado, wahoo, snapper, grouper and tuna—can be brought back to the local restaurants at the dock and they’ll cook ’em up for ya.”
My day fishing with RedRum Sportfishing yielded a bunch of sierra mackerel and a skipjack tuna, but I didn’t catch my roosterfish. The experience was nevertheless amazing—and now I have an excuse to come back.
Need a Boat?
Charter fishing boats in Los Cabos range from 17-foot panga boat skiffs to 70-foot sportfishing cruiser yachts. A walk along the docks of the harbor front at the Marina Cabo San Lucas will put you in contact with outfitters that will generally rent out half- or full-day charters. Half-days run roughly from 7 a.m. to noon and cost from $150–$225 for inshore fishing, while full-day charters (7 a.m.–3 p.m.) will cost between $400–$700 for billfish and offshore tuna. Larger vessels equipped for a 20 to 40-mile run will charter out a full day for a fee of approximately $1,000–$1,400.
redrumcabo.com
piscessportfishing.com
picantesportfishing.com
Fishing Seasons
Monstrous sword-billed black, blue and striped marlin (striped marlin is Cabo’s most common marlin species) run September through mid-March with an average catch of six to 12 marlin a day during peak season. February, March and April is when dorados (also known as mahi-mahi or dolphinfish) are caught. Yellowfin tuna hit hard September through January, while wahoo and sailfish round out the mix of species, with the warm summer months producing best. Bottom-fishing for jacks, grouper, roosterfish and snapper is good year-round, and hammerheads, threshers and makos can be found during winter and spring.
How To Get There: American Airlines provides service to Los Cabos.
Book your trip today! Visit www.aa.com, call American/American Eagle reservations at 1-800-433-7300, or call your travel agent for more information.
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