Cabo San Lucas started out as a sleepy fishing village at the end of the Baja Peninsula. Celebrities and others traveled here to go deep sea fishing and it took a lot to get to Cabo San Lucas in the early 1970s. Fishing is still an important part of the attraction but now it is much more diverse and easier to enjoy.
Most people who think about fishing in Los Cabos immediate think about deep sea fishing. The lure of catching a Marlin, Tuna or Dorado keep people coming. Fishing charters are available daily from the marinas in Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Los Cabos (San Jose del Cabo). The captains not only know what fish are biting at each time of the year but where they are biting and how to help you catch them. As catching a big fish can be quite a fight, having a captain that has the right equipment and who knows when to back up to help you reel in the fish is vital. A fishing calendar is available that shows when different types of fish are most likely to be around and feeding.
Surf casting from the beach has also become more popular over the last decade. On the East Cape, earlier in the morning you are likely to see fishermen casting into the surf in areas where there are some rocks where the fish are likely to hang out. There are tour companies that will guide you to the best beaches for surf casting – often on ATVs. The variety of fish that you can catch from shore is quite extensive including Roosterfish (fun to catch but not for eating); Sierra (great eating species of mackerel); Groupers (mostly leopards); Snappers (including cabrilla and pargo); California Yellowtail; Dorado; Jack Crevalle (fun to catch but not for eating) and Pacific Snoo. Thank you Cabosbest.com for this list.
One of our neighbors in Zacatitos is a women’s world champion spearfisher. We used to watch her walk backwards into the water on our beach. Spearfishers from the beach are looking for headlands with 5 to 25 meters of water to search for the fish. Spearfishers can also enter the water off of boats, which allows them to go to deeper water is search of very specific types of fish. One of the most popular places is Gordo Banks, which is right out from Zacatitos on the East Cape. The most popular fish are Blue Fin Tuna, Dorado, Snapper and Wahoo. Spearfishing is more like hunting than fishing. Spearfishing involves searching out where the bait is that your chosen fish is interested in. You can’t chase the fish, they have to come to you. These enthusiasts use a series of floats as a pulley system to be able to catch fish that may be much bigger than they are – otherwise they would just be pulled out to sea by the fish.
Los Cabos is the home of some of the biggest fishing tournaments in the world – with the biggest prizes. The most famous and biggest of all of these tournaments is the Bisbee Black and Blue Marlin – fishing for black and blue marlin – having a prize of over $4 million. But there are lots of other tournaments throughout the year too – Pelagic Triple Crown of Fishing Summer Slam. Bisbee’s East Cape Offshore, The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament, Bisbee’s Los Cabos Off-Shore and the Western Outdoor News Cabo Tuna Jackpot. Teams travel from all over the world to compete and entry fees can be $60,000 or more. In most cases, the tournaments run several days and have shotgun starts each day with a cutoff time in the afternoon.
You don’t have to be an experienced fisherman to enjoy this sport in Los Cabos. There are lots of charters and guides that will help you understand why it is such a popular sport here.
