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
Very nice place. Staff was able to repair the master bedroom toilet that had a sticky valve. Everything else was fabulous. The unit layout is perfect.
On the extremely positive side, my business partner has a number of investment type properties and has been staying in different type properties around the world, and yours is the best he's ever been in and was quite impressed.
Your Cabo guide is great and you were right on with the restaurant recommendations. We ate lunch at Tobascos everyday, although their prices have gone up a bit...
Thanks again, and we hope to come back some day.
Ray V.
We had a wonderful time in Cabo for our honeymoon and we were very happy booking the all inclusive option. Your suggestion to visit the restaurant at Capella was excellent! We actually went there on the full moon and it was awesome.
We got caught up in the airport with our rental car. It was hard to find the company that I booked with due to the crazy rental car competitors and timeshare salesmen.
At the Del Arco we were promised half off the spa for the week if we went through a timeshare appointment. We went through the appointment and then only got 15% off which was still less than their daily specials so the timeshare appointment was a waste of 3 hours. Just some good lessons learned in case we ever decide to make it back down there!
Thank you for all of your help with our booking.
Trevor J
Trevor J., Fort Collins, CO
Weather was cool for the first part of the week but got very nice by the end of the week. The waves were huge this week reaching the wall on several occasions. The unit was great and in great shape. Sad to see new hotel on the beach but that's progress. This will be a big city soon! Looking forward to coming in September and December!
The resort was absolutely spectacular and one of the best vacation spots for this family of 5. Our teenagers, 16,17,20 had a fantastic time with activates, pool, and the beach. The unit we stayed in along with the facilities are 5 star with every amenity you could possible require. I found the staff extremely knowledgeable and attentive to maintaining customer excellence. I recommend working with Bob since he is very accommodating and helped us coordinate our stay. I highly recommend his services.
Jim, North Andover MA
Great service Bob, great place!
Buckley B., Iowa
Hi Bob,
Just wanted to let you know the tripadvisor review is finally posted. Our internet name is happy traveler. And the review is titled Stunning location, perfect for our needs, Incredible Staff! We were very thorough and complimentary about everything. Thanks again for all your help.
Lela & Joseph
A HUGE thank you for our wonderful visit in villa 1208. Our week couldn't have been better! The weather has been picture perfect and with 6 of us- 4 being Senior girls on Spring Break- The villa's floor plan was just right for us. This is our 4th visit to Cabo and plan to be back in July. So YES, we feel right at home here, so perhaps villa 1208 may be our "home away from home" in July!!! Villa 1208 is beautiful and we could not ask for anymore ! (Excellent taste) We appreciate you Bob for all of your help. the staff also at Estancia has been wonderful. Pamela, Amy, Gracie- Tulsa Alexandra, Katey, Belotah-Dallas Texas
Thanks for everything. I've been to Cabo many times but this was one of our best vacations. Villa Del Arco was great - gorgeous accommodations, friendly staff, and great food. Transportation was easy. I also appreciated you working with me on very late notice to set up our ride. I will be in touch regarding future vacations.
M. Riley, Seattle, WA
We wanted to send a quick note to say that we SO enjoyed our family vacation. It was exactly what we hoped for! We did not do any of the extra excursions or tours because we had 2 little ones with us but we had a wonderful relaxing vacation and we were beyond comfortable in our lovely room. After our first night the hotel was able to accommodate our request and move us to a ground floor room with patio/pool access (room 1105) and it was perfect for our family. We arrived in the evening and declined to tour the resort the next morning, so we didn't buy the timeshare but its very possible that we will return again.
Thank you for all your help!
Also have to say that the transportation was great and felt very safe.
Best,
Austin & Gabriela
Austin & Gabriela Longfish, Davis, CA
Thank you! Kate and I had a great trip to Cabo for our 1 year anniversary. We definitely will be returning and wouldn't hesitate to book through DestinationCabo again! Thank you so much for your help, really everything couldn't have been easier for us from the transportation to check-in to check-out. The room was very nice too! One small snafu was just that for most of our first day, the hot water wasn't running, but the hotel had it fixed by that evening so it wasn't a big deal.
Mike Sprouse, LA