THE CORRIDOR: CABO SAN LUCAS, SAN JOSE DEL CABO, AND THE LOS CABOS
More than any other part of Baja California, the Los Cabos Corridor from San Jose del Cabo to Cabo San Lucas itself has experienced a breathtaking growth rate that has all but obliterated the “old Baja.” Here, multi-story hotels and golf courses pop up between visits, and unless you have a very good sense of direction, you may not even be able to find the street you’re looking for because it’s buried inside a large, new neighborhood.
But, the fishing remains, and very good it is. Off San Jose del Cabo is Baja’s most reliable, year-round offshore fishing hole, the world famous double Gordo Banks. Within easy panga range at about six miles off shore, these high spots are simply plugged with resident bottom fish and are attractive to hordes of migratory tuna, dorado, wahoo, and marlin ranging into the 1,000-pound range. The Gordo Banks is an especially good area for the winter months because it lies in the wind shadow of the Sierra de la Laguna mountain range that forms the tip of Baja. In fact, that’s how the first Los Cabos hotel came to be built.
At the very tip of Baja California, the former cannery town of Cabo San Lucas has a good-sized marina; a fantastic concentration of night life, hotels and restaurants; cruise ships arriving daily; an enormous fleet of independent cruisers and pangas; and fishing good enough to send out an incredible 50,000+ charter boats per year. For sport fishing, there is simply no other place in the world that even approaches Cabo, or “San Lucas,” as the natives call it.
The reason for all this fishing activity is that Cabo San Lucas sits right on the meeting place of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean, and there is almost always good fishing on one side or the other, often both, for tuna, wahoo, dorado, and several kinds of billfish. While these are all worthy quarries, and the inshore fishery here isn’t bad either, the engine that makes Cabo’s sport fishing industry go is without a doubt the striped marlin. This fish’s home ground is the famous “Striped Marlin Core Zone” that lies just off the southern tip of Baja California, and there are so many striped marlin caught-and-released here that at times it approaches a rather comical assembly-line situation.
EAST CAPE
During the warmer months, East Cape offers a blast of fishing action on so many species it’s not worth listing them all here. Suffice it to say that just about any significant resident or offshore fish you’ve ever heard of can usually be caught at one time or another between April and November.
This area is centered on Bahia de Palmas, about 70 miles up the Cortez coast from Cabo San Lucas, and its headquarters is the twin-village of Los Barriles-Buena Vista. Even though it’s right on Mex 1, most people fly into Los Cabos International Airport and get a ride to East Cape in a taxi or hotel van.
Unlike any other area of Baja, all the major East Cape resort hotels operate their own fleets of cruisers and pangas. East Cape has remained faithful to the sport fishing business that was the original foundation of Baja tourism half a century ago. With no golf courses or night clubs, East Cape is a comfortable, up-to-date fishing town that still lives very close to the sea.