Cabo San Lucas is known as “The Marlin Capital of the World” and it is home to some of the best sport fishing in general. Anglers come from around the world to catch the striped, black, and blue marlin and many more of the 5,000 different species living in the Sea of Cortez. Whether you are a rookie angler or a seasoned pro, everyone can have a great time reeling in the biggest catch of their life out on the Los Cabos waters. Sport fishing in Cabo San Lucas has brought in some of the best charter boat companies, tournaments, and anglers from all over. You can charter a smaller 4 man boat or celebrate with all your friends on one of the state-of-the-art all inclusive yachts that can host up to 25 guests. If you are planning a trip to Cabo San Lucas, do not pass up the opportunity to go sport fishing, it is an adventure you will remember forever.
Cabo San Lucas Fishing - General Information
Los Cabos Charter Boats: It is highly recommended that you reserve a charter boat far in advance, and at latest up to one week before you arrive in Cabo San Lucas. You can reserve anything from a shared charter to help lower the costs if you only have one or two people all the way up to 8, 12, and 25 person super yachts. View a list of Cabo San Lucas sport fishing charters or read advice on sharing a fishing charter.
Cabo San Lucas Fishing Costs: A smaller vessel that will fit up to four people will generally cost around $500 for an eight hour day, not including taxes, fees, gratuity, cleaning and freezing, etc. If you have a large group, expect to pay upwards of $1,500 for a whole day on a nicer boat or $2,800+ for a yacht. It is expected that you tip your captain anywhere between 10-20% of the total charter price, which he will share with his deckhand. Tipping should be related to their quality of service, not for the amount of fish you caught on the trip. If you plan on keeping any fish, you will have to pay for the cleaning and freezing once you get back to the docks; price depends on size of fish.
Catch and Release: Although the Los Cabos area is well known for its abundance of large sailfish, you are only legally allowed to bring in one sailfish per day. Most anglers will catch and release all of their sailfish and bring in the smaller game fish that are great for eating like tuna, Dorado, Wahoo, and yellowtail. Bring your fresh fish back to your resort’s restaurant and for a small fee they will cook your fish for dinner that evening… nothing better than fresh fish that you caught with your own hands.
What to Bring: After several margaritas the night before and an early meeting time with your captain, people will often forget the bare essentials. Here are several items that you must remember if you want the fishing trip to be fun for your group: sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, warm clothes for the early morning, camera, Dramamine for sea sickness (take one hour prior to setting sail), lunch and beer if you didn’t pay in advance for them to be included, and towel for when you get wet.
Cabo San Lucas Fishing Season: Sport fishing is great year around in Baja, but there are several months where the big prized marlins are biting. If you want to catch a blue or black marlin, your best bet is to head down sometime between June and October. View our entire Cabo San Lucas fishing calendar for a complete breakdown of what fish are biting and when. Read over our insider fishing tips to ensure a successful adventure your next time visiting Baja California.
Complete Cabo San Lucas Fishing Guide
Reviews
Hello Bob, Thanks for inquiring about my recent trip to VillaDel Palmar Flamingos. First off, the trip was everything I had hoped for and more. I wish I was still there! In my younger days I've beached it in California, Cape Cod,Florida, Hawaii, Phillipines, Thailand, China ,Greece, Spain, and Portugal, but Mexican people and culture are so much friendlier! Why I've never gone to Mexico before now, I'll never know. This was a rather spur of the moment vacation so I had done next to no research, just picked Palmar resort on line and luckily found your website, which made the trip feasible financially. Turns out I had beginners luck with Mexico! Now I realize you provide background info. and recommendations to clients. Perhaps in the future I can take advantage of your services.
This was my first ever luxory beach resort vacation. VillaDelPalmar was perfect for our mom-daughter getaway. It was the most beautiful resort of those there on the beach. I'm trained as a landscape architect, so I appreciated the artistry evident in the layout, design, and materials of the grounds, gardens, and pools. Also the expansive Banderas Bay, the verdant jungle landscape, the tropical heat, and the dramatic weather and thunderstorms provided such a different and exotic experience than we get in our home enrironment. It provided exactly the change we needed.
The gym, spa, pools, beach, restaurants, and friendly resort staff all were lovely. My teen daughter, who has not experienced many other cultures or travel, appreciated how safe and family oriented the resort area was. One thing we both liked was that Mexican families were the main resort clientele.......it made the experience feel more authentic and less like we were gringos on holiday.
And what a surprise bonus to find out that there were incredible snorkling destinations and wildlife havens as well as more disneyland type dolphin swims, all with tours we could conveniently book right at the hotel. We loved the boat trips to Las Caletas, and the Islas Mariettas. The fun and sassy tour guides made these trips all the more memorable. Between these trips and enjoying the resort amenities, we didn't even get into town! Guess we'll just have to plan another trip for that.
About the timeshare end of things, I did take a timeshare tour, mainly to get 20% discount on tours and restaurants, and also out of curiosity. It was my first timeshare tour ever and I am not in a position to buy into something like this, although if I was, I might. We don't take regular vacations. But I can see why one would return here.
We were upgraded upon arrival to a one bedroom suite, which was a greatly appreciated surprise......is that a normal part of timeshare strategy?
Thanks again for helping make our dream trip come true!
Sincerely,
Leslie Riley
Leslie Riley, Seattle, WA
Thanks so much for the wonderful vacation. No complaints at all, everything was absolutely fabulous. The room was great and staff was so friendly. Overall everything was amazing and we could not have asked for a better trip!
Melissa Rosen
Bob
I just wanted to thank you for all the help you provided us to make our vacation to Cabo a great one. We went to Peacocks, Ediths, La Dolce, Sancho panza and loved them all. All your recommendations were right on. We loved our accomodations and the great location to the beach and pool. My husband took a course there which he is allowed to write off. Could you send me a receipt for the hotel as well as a receipt from the transportation? Once again,thanks
Carla
Thank you Bob for taking care of us. Our condo was beautiful and the service was over the top. We love the location and walked to town one to three times a day. We felt very safe in Cabo and Estancia. It was a great vacation and you really helped make that happen. Hope to do business again in the future
-Ann
Ann P., Cabo
Bob,
The family had a great time. We had an unbelievable whale sighting, jumping in the air and all, from our Jet Skis! What a trip. Even got some pictures. The place is really very nice. Unbelievably clean, and employees were very kind a gracious, and spoke pretty good English too! We declined the food plan, and found some pretty good places in town, via the concierge and owners. The vendors were a little annoying, but I guess I wasn't expecting it. Thank you for hooking us up and working with us on the room. We did enjoy room service on our last evening with Grandma and Grandpa and watched the Academy Awards. It was really comfortable.
Thank you -
Regards,
Gail
Our vacation was outstanding. Villa La Estancia is a beautiful place and room 1605 exceeded our expectations. The airport shuttle was awesome too. As we have been there several times we knew just to head outside and ignore the salesman. The door slid open the sun and heat hit our face, and there was our driver holding our name and the vacation officially started.
Brent Lutz, Snoqualmie Washington
If anyone ever wants to visit paradise at Cabo with the guidance of someone who knows the how, what and where of Cabo, we would direct them to you, Bob. Many thanks for guiding us through the planning, the enjoyment and the beauty of our Cabo Vacation. This was our first time in Mexico, and we felt very at home, and welcomed. Pre-planning with you about how our family would like to live, and play during the precious vacation time made it possible to create wonder each day meeting everyone's preferences. Being within walking distance of downtown yet a bit away from the mellow Cabo hubbub was perfect.
Thank you for using your contacts to assure breath taking accommodations, and fun safe activities. The people in Cabo were gracious, fun and ever dependable. Knowing you were an e-mail away with a prompt response if ever needed showed us how flawlessly you deliver top quality in your vacation services. Lucas, Jose, Julio all kindly shared the Cabo humor and excellent care taking in our transportation, whale watching, and snorkeling. Thank you to them as well. Ready to return asap. Gracias!
Sandra & Ernest & Family
Sandra D., Vancouver BC
Sue & Bob,
Sorry to take so long to respond. Our Destination Vacations Cabo trip was incredible! We absolutely loved every minute...from relaxing by the pool to swimming with the dolphins. We did several tourist things, but also did a large amount of sitting in a lounge chair and watching the ocean - my idea of a perfect vacation. Thanks again for all your assistance. We will be calling again - hopefully, soon!
Sincerely,
Iris
Hi Bob,
Thank you for arranging our stay at Villa La Estancia, the place was absolutely beautiful, clean and organized. We enjoyed our stay very much and we already passed the word around to family and friends. I am sure you will hear from us pretty soon.
Thanks Mike
Sorry for the delay in expressing my thanks to you for a truly enjoyable stay at the penthouse suite at Villa La Estancia. It was everything you said it would be and much, much more!!! The whole venue was great, but that unit is truly awesome!!! My entire family had a fantastic time. We look forward to the next time, and shall certainly call you to make the arrangements and accommodations for us. As always you made the whole experience outstanding.
Darryl Tschirn, La Jolla California