Former late-night talk show host Johnny Carson used to explain the unusual with the phrase, “That’s weird, wild stuff!” If Carson were still alive today, he could use that same comment to describe the current bite off Cabo San Lucas. It hasn’t been typical, to say the least.
Cabo has long been revered as a big game hot spot due to nearby underwater structure, the convergence of currents from the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez and an abundance of bait. The usual Black & Blue catch log would be several pages long with dozens of marlin recorded. But this is not a normal year, weather-wise. The Eastern Pacific has churned out several late tropical systems and hurricanes (with another percolating down the Mexican coast) this fall and it’s also an El Niño year. The El Niño weather phenomenon creates a shift in water temperature and that might explain the slower action for the 174-boat Black & Blue fleet.
“The fishing is definitely off right now,” says Dave Garcia, president of catchstat.com and the official scorer of the Bisbee’s tournaments. “Warm water has pushed further north and it’s cooler here. It seems the fish have followed. Boats are catching dorado and marlin up in California. Cabo is experiencing a weird pattern. We had 13 marlin caught today, with all but one released. (One fish was weighed but didn’t meet the 300-pound minimum). That one DQ marlin was close, though. It’s hard to tell 20 pounds or so.”
Pending video confirmation of their releases, Never Say Never was the top boat on Thursday, with two blue marlin scored. Never Say Never is in both the $2,000 and $3,000 daily release jackpots. The 74 Viking, based in Charleston, South Carolina, is run by Capt. Scott Flores. SMIG was second in the $2,000 release daily with 300 points, while Diggin Bills held the same placement and score in the $3,000 division. Magic Touch, A Blueish Hue, True Grit and Rocky Mountain Hookers all got on the Thursday scoreboard with 300 points each.
Things get really interesting with the final day of competition pending on Friday.
“With no qualifier today, the daily jackpots roll over to tomorrow,” Garcia explains. “If it’s slow again tomorrow and there are no qualifiers again, all the jackpot money would roll back to the biggest fish, which would be Cantango Spartan’s Revenge (491 blue on Day 1). If that somehow happens, Cantango is looking at a payout of $5 million-plus for their fish.”
So will the bite turn on as the moon gets one night closer to full? Or is there a cold-blooded 492-pound blue or black marlin lingering near the Gordo or Golden Gate Banks, waiting to munch a smokin’ lure or fat skipjack bait? Those answers will be known in the next 24 hours. Buckle up for a weird, wild ride to the finish line.
Photos courtesy of Sebastian Harris
