Day One 2011 IGFA Offshore World Championship:

09 May 2011. Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Fishing Report Courtesy of Picante Sportfishing http://www.picantesportfishing.com

Last night was a beautiful colorful sunset and today was a beautiful sunrise for the start of the 2011 IGFA Offshore World Championship. The morning temperatures started out in the upper 60’s Fahrenheit, but quickly were warming up to our daytime high in the 90’s. Winds were out of the East blowing 11 mph and seas were SSW 3 feet at 14 second intervals. What a great day for the beginning of the most prestigious invitational tournament in the world. At 7:00AM the boats were off and running.

This year all teams are required to provide their own video equipment and verify their catches using strict criteria. Continuous footage must show the catch and full release of the fish to score points. So it will be an interesting tournament.

In first place is the “N’Gor Marlin Cup 2010” team from Dakar, Senegal, on board the Picante Express, Picante Sportfishing’s 32 foot Cabo Express. They started out the tournament with 5 Striped Marlin netting them 1000 points.

In second place with 800 points was team “IGFA Offshore World Championship 2008” fishing the Mexican flag, but from Florida, with 4 Striped Marlin.

And in third place is team “Campeonato de pesca OPEN” from Rio de Janeiro with 700 points which consisted of a Striped Marlin and a Swordfish.

Only 2 game fish were weighed, a Yellowfin Tuna of 26 pounds and a Dorado of 30 pounds. Everyone is concentrating on the big points and that means billfish. The waters are still warming. On the Pacific side of the peninsula the water is now in the upper 70’s and on the Sea of Cortez side the water is up to the low 80’s. Hang on for some hot billfish action during the rest of the week.

Tune in tomorrow for more results and see how the current leaders hold out as the water warms up and so does the competition.

 

2011 IGFA Offshore World Championship

Water Warms Up in Cabo Just in Time for the

2011 IGFA Offshore World Championship 

8-13 May 2011

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico, 8 May 2011. Report from Picante Sportfishing http://www.picantesportfishing.com

Hello from Picante Sportfishing in sunny Cabo San Lucas, the marlin capital of the world. The weather here has been great. The air temperatures are in the 90’s Fahrenheit. But the real news here is the water temperatures. At the beginning of the month the water temperatures to the east of Cabo San Lucas were in the low 70’s and to the west they were in the low 60’s. Then in less than a week the water warmed up big time. The water to the east warmed up into the high 70’s and the water in the west went to the upper 70’s. The currents and winds are blessing the waters here at land’s end. Just that has caused some excitement in the area, since the warmer temperatures bring in the warm loving species, like the Dorado, Wahoo and the Blue and Black Marlin. With the change in water temperature all the local marlin species should be available.

This is just in time for the largest and most prestigious invitational fishing tournament of the year. We’re not talking about the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament, or the Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot or even the Bisbee’s tournaments. This is the IGFA Offshore World Championship http://www.igfaoffshorechampionship.com/, often considered the “Olympics” of big-game fishing.

What sets this tournament apart is that it is not a tournament that anyone can enter. It is an invitation-only tournament. In order to get an invitation you have to have won one of the 130 IGFA sponsored tournaments during the year. This year there are going to be over 60 boats with over 300 anglers, representing 32 countries. This one is about bragging rights. It is a catch and release billfish and big game tournament. Videos are going to be used to verify the catches this year. Four 8-hour days of fishing will pit the best of the best on a collision course to the history books.

Picante Sportfishing http://www.picantesportfishing.com , as a corporate sponsor of IGFA,is proud to be one of the charter fleets chosen to supply the anglers with fishing platforms. With our record of numerous wins and excellent crews, anglers hope to be able to fish on one of our Cabo Yachts, and get a chance to be named “best anglers in the world.”

And with the last couple of weeks of some great Striped Marlin fishing and the waters warming and the big Blue Marlin already showing up, the recipe, here in Cabo San Lucas, is for world class fishing and fun.

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. 25 April-1 May 2011, Fishing Report

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. 25 April-1 May 2011, Fishing Report Courtesy of Picante Sportfishing
It’s still the Striped Marlin Fishing that is holding together the Cabo fishing experience. There are still Yellowtail around. And Roosterfish, Yellowfin Tuna, Grouper, Wahoo and Sierra are still available.
But the real action is the Striped Marlin. This week’s report is mostly a visual. Here are a few of the action shots we got on our boats.

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Fishing report

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Fishing report for the week 18-24 April 2011 provided by Picante Sportfishing http://www.picantesportfishing.com

For the third week in a row Picante’s boats have caught in one week almost the total March count of Striped Marlin. So we can say that the Striped Marlin fishing is on its way up. Catches have ranged up to 4 fish per boat. And the marlin have been active fish. Lots of jumping and long runs.

There were some real hard fights and some great photo opportunities.

The water continues to warm up. With daytime temperatures in the high 80’s Farenheit and the winds from the south the water is warming up nicely. The Gordo banks are getting lots of action now. There have been reports of upwards of 28 Striped Marlin being seen. Not as many biters as we would like, but getting better.
With Yellowtail, Roosterfish, some Dorado, a Wahoo and a grouper being hooked Cabo fishing is stepping up to its reputation of good all around fishing.

And in a couple of weeks the IGFA Offshore World Championship is taking place right here in Cabo San Lucas. You know the fishing is good when the tournaments choose your location for one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year.

Cabo San Lucas Sport Fishing Report for the week of 11-17 April 2011

Here it is spring in the desert tropical paradise, we call Cabo San Lucas. And it is acting like spring. The weather is warming up and so is the fishing. After a slow month of marlin fishing, the bite is back on. The water is warming up nicely and the fishing is picking up, especially, on the Cortez side of the peninsula. The daytime temperatures are up in the high 80’s Fahrenheit and the water temps are hitting the mid 70’s. The winds are mostly from the South and that is bringing up more warm water.  So the fishing is only going to get better.

But the words to describe this last week’s fishing is Striped Marlin. Most boats are catching at least one Striped Marlin, with some as many as 4.

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It’s been great Striped Marlin fishing for the big kids, with some great aerial displays and up close views.

And some smaller kids, too.

Here is the other end of the Striped Marlin.

On the 14^th the crew performed well and the Striped Marlin did, too. They all helped to make the day a Picante fishing memory.

More Striped Marlin were caught this week than all the month of March. So things are really heating up. There were other fish around like a couple of Sailfish, some Snapper, Grouper, Sharks and Roosterfish. And we are all looking forward to the fishing getting better as the water continues to warm up.

2011 Tournament Schedule for Cabo San Lucas

IGFA Offshore World Championship

May 8-13, 2011                           Fishing days: 9-12 May

Bisbee’s East Cape:

July 26-30, 2011                          Fishing days: 27-30 July

Los Cabos Billfish Tournament

October 11-15, 2011                          Fishing days: 12-14 October

Bisbee’s Los Cabos:

October 14-16, 2011                          Fishing days: 15-16 October

Bisbee’s Black & Blue:

October 18-22, 2011                          Fishing days: 19-21 October

Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot,

November 2-5, 2011                           Fishing days: 3-4 November

Fishing Report for the week of 1 to 6 March from Picante Sportfishing

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Fishing Report for the week of  1 to 6 March from Picante Sportfishing <http://www.picantesportfishing.com>

 

It’s a mixed bag type of week again. It started out with the Yellowfin Tuna bite. The first day of the week was a yellow day. The Yellowfin tuna were biting, the Sierra were biting and the Yellowtail were biting. Five boats and 47 fish. There was even a Mako shark caught. There were lots of happy fishermen that day

 

Then on the second the Cabo fishing heated up with a great Yellow Fin Tuna bite. Eleven boats landed a total of 49 Yellowfin Tuna. And throw in 4 Striped Marlin and it turned into another Cabo charter bonanza. That’s almost 5 fish per boat and that is with the water cooling off a bit.

On the third with the water cooling off more the fishing again shifted,  this time to Dorado. With those cold temperatures Dorado weren’t the expected fish, but they were out there and feeding. And throw in another Striped Marlin and it again was a decent Cabo fishing day. The captains have been seeing lots of Striped Marlin, but they haven’t always been willing to bite. The cold water is slowing down the bite. In other parts of the world they are lucky if a third of the boats get into the fish, but here in Cabo if all the boats aren’t into double digits we get a little disappointed. So even thru the slower times,  most of the boats are catching fish.

 

The fourth was again part of the yo yoing going on.  A few of the boats didn’t land fish, but overall it was good. Eleven boats landed 9 Striped Marlin, 12 Yellowfin Tuna and a Shark.

Few boats went out on the fifth, but still 5 Yellowfin Tuna and a couple of Striped Marlin were caught. The cold water was again close to shore and slowed down the bite. A lot of Striped Marlin were seen, but not too many biters.

 

The sixth brought the warmer water in closer to shore, but the winds kicked up. Five Striped Marlin and eight Yellowfin Tuna were brought to the boats. With the winds changing again this week, we are hoping the warmer water comes closer to shore and brings with it a good Striped Marlin bite.