HOT, HOT, HOT! That’s the only way to describe the fishing in Los Cabos.  Any direction you go at this moment is sure to produce great fishing!  The Minerva’s Sportfishing Fleet has been fishing consistently in the Pacific Ocean around the Golden Gate, Los Arcos and the Jaime Bank producing double and triple catches on striped marlin releases along with some sporadic dorado catches.  Jim Pearce from “Leadmasters” fished with us on November 17th and caught and released 6 striped marlin and caught 4 dorados onboard the “Minerva V”!  Steven Johnson fishing onboard the “Minerva III” on the 15th, 16th and 18th  caught and released a total of 9 striped marlin, 4 dorados and 6 small yellowfin tuna!  This gentleman is a return customer and has already booked three days for next year. 

The Mar de Cortez is just as hot without the striped marlin bite.  Minerva’s Baja Tackle sponsors a “WAHOO” tournament which is held in “Playita”.  The Pueblo de Playita is located within Puerto Los Cabos Marina which is 20 miles from the Cabo San Lucas Marina.  This is a beautiful spot and famous for the Gordo Banks which produce great catches throughout the year.  You will find fish runs such as yellowfin tuna, dorado, blue and black marlin and wahoo.  Well this year was no exception, the “2ndo Gran Torneo Internacional del Wahoo” which means “2nd International Grand Wahoo Tournament” was scheduled for November 21st, 2010. 

I mentioned to my husband Bob that it would be a great idea for Minerva’s Baja Tackle to enter a team.  His response was hysterical, “think that one over twice, those boys in Playita can really fish!” I laughed and said, “you can’t possibly be afraid of a little competition, can you?”  Well after a couple of days he informed me that he and his life long friend Chuck Oltman from San Bernardino, California wanted to participate. 

I got an excellent tip and a phone number from a friend in Playita named Eben Browne who is a great fisherman and contacted the young man called “CUATE” who makes his living catching and selling bait there in Playita.  I asked him if he and his boat were available for charter in the Wahoo tournament and he said, “yes, I had a client but he never called me back.”  I quickly responded, then reserve the boat for my team and they will meet you and pay you at the registration. 

Everything went smoothly, Bob and Chuck hit it off right away with Cuate who is just like the two of them, easy going.  They informed Cuate that they had entered all the jackpots, the $50, $100, $200 dollar and the car jackpot for $100 dollars (This was a little 2011 red Volkswagen pickup).  Well yours truly (that’s me) got up at 4:00 a.m. on the morning of the tournament and made roastbeef and turkey sandwiches for everybody!  

The tournament had a whopping 73 team entry and a 7:00 a.m. radio start.  Cuate had been practicing for this tournament for several days and informed the boys (Bob and Chuck) that he would like to go to a secret area that had been producing really well for him.  When they arrived at the secret area there were 20 boats already working it.  They began to troll with the YOZURI hydro series lure and immediately caught their first fish which they estimated to be 35 pounds.  They knew this area was holding fish so they decided to use live bait. 

After successfully landing two more wahoo, which they estimated to be about 50 pounds each, on live bait, they broke for lunch and saw Eben and his team close by.  They motioned to them to get close and then they tossed some sandwiches wrapped in a plastic bag onto their boat.  Cuate made a very sweet comment after this action, he said, “now we will have good luck since we fed the local pastor”, 20 minutes later they hooked up and landed a monster wahoo, this would be the winning wahoo. They knew it would definitely be a contender and decided to head in.  

One of the rules in the tournament was that all fish had to be weighed before 3:00 p.m.  They arrived at the scale at 1:30 p.m. Well it weighed 81 pounds and took first place, one of their other wahoos weighed 52.6 pounds and placed second and third place was a team with a 52.2 wahoo!  They were ecstatic!  TEAM MINERVA’S took 1st and 2nd Place.