The Baja Pirates Fishing fleet had an epic Marlin bite during the last week of March. The weather was in the mid eighties with light southerly winds in the mornings and afternoon. These conditions allowed the fleet to make mackerel bait each morning, utilizing sabikis, in addition to purchasing sardines.

We fished the El Bajo Seamount in search of Yellowtail only to be charged by aggressive hungry striped Marlin! It was a true Sea of Cortez dream. Many groups of 5 to 15 Marlin were spotted on the surface every day and every Baja Pirate boat had multiple hook and release landings as well as lots of over 200 pound Marlin battles ending in broken leaders. All this was being done with Yellowtail gear, which for the Pirate Fleet means Avet LX reels equipped with 50 test line and Yozuri 60lb test fluorocarbon leader.

The water conditions were almost perfect, with a warm current running around Espiritu Santo Island and a new moon. We believe this combination is what made the Marlin appear in abundance and we estimate these conditions will hold for another few weeks.

The Yellowtail fishing was also good. Most boats caught 2 to 3 Yellowtail per fisherman. These fish were mostly in the 30 pound class with a few in the 40's. The Yellowtail bite has been on for about 3 weeks now, and was good but the Marlin bite is the best we have seen in the past few years.

As a Sea of Cortez veteran fisherman with over 40 years in I have never experienced such a Marlin run. I have fished the Quepos area of Costa Rica many times and seen something similar with sailfish but this was a first for me and Marlin as well! I have attached a photo of one of the Marlin which unfortunately died during the battle. As you can see these are BIG striped Marlin as well as nice Yellowtails.

That's the way it was on the docks in Pinchelinque. Come on down you won't be disappointed! Tight lines and happy dreams!