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
Hi bob. We had a wonderful time. I was a bit skeptical at first when I found you website that somehow I was going to get scammed. Obviously we did not. I would absolutely 100% recommend destination vacations based on my experience
We did take the tour but were not prepared to invest. I did conclude that I would like to take advantage of their introductory package but am unable to find the person to whom I spoke. Perhaps with some more digging I can find that person.
I believe the gals name was Donna to whom I last spoke and gave me the intro package offer. They only allowed me to take a picture of it. I would have some more questions before I could invest for sure or not
Thanks
Thomas K, [email protected]
Hi Bob,
We had a wonderful stay at the La Estancia and it was beautiful, relaxing, and very quiet. We did enjoy that. The direct transportation made our travel to and from the airport so quick and easy. The weather was just right and I'm sure you ordered that for us also. The only part of our stay that was uncomfortable were the hard beds. I suppose we are too spoiled with our pillow top beds. Hope you don't mind that I have given your name out to several people around Pendleton. Thanks again for a great place for our vacation.
Doris
We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed Villa del Arco. We were thrilled upon check-in at 1:00pm that our room was already cleaned and ready and had a beautiful view of the full ocean. The restaurant was open until 11pm and that was a pleasant surprise in that it allowed for greater flexibility. The rooms were spacious and the 3 bathrooms were wonderful for a family of 5, especially when the 3 children are teenagers. The washer/dryer amenity was a plus as we used it several times over the five days. The service was excellent and although the dinner menu was a little fancy for the kids, they made it work. After we went deep sea fishing and caught a mahi-mahi, the restaurant prepared and cooked or fish for us which was a nice treat. It made for a special dinner. The boys loved the taco bar and the quesadillas from the restaurant and actually ate lunch twice a day a few times. We went to the market and filled the fridge with Gatorade and snacks; that was a great suggestion! The boys used the kayaks provided by the resort and "surfed" for hours in the ocean. We met a nice couple at the pool who had only a master suite and shared with us that they paid the same amount for the all-inclusive option as we did for 5 "adults" in a master suite with an adjoining 1 bdroom suite, because they booked through a traditional method. I'm not sure we will ever want to stay in a regular hotel room ever again, or book with anyone besides you guys. Thank you for your help and we look forward to booking our yearly Cabo trip(s) with you again. Thanks again, Rebecca
Rebecca H., Cypruss, tX
Our first time in Cabo, and your accommodations certainly spoiled us! We really enjoyed the activities here as well as Vill del Palmar which was great for the kids. We thank you!
Tom and Jodie
Everything went very well. We did end up upgrading which made a big difference. Thanks for all your help and I would lean on you the next time we go as well !!
Thanks again,
Mike
Mike Biskupski, Minnesota
Thank you so much for your recommendation of Villa Del Arco for our vacation destination. My family and I had a fabulous time! The accommodations were first class and it was truly a vacation of a lifetime. We particularly enjoyed the all-inclusive package and thank you for nudging me in that direction. It was worth every penny of the added cost. Thanks again for everything and we can't wait to come back.
Kyle P., Chicago
Hey Bob -- Just wanted to let you know that everything worked out great with our trip to Cabo. Accommodations with Villa del Arco went smoothly, shuttle to/from the airport right on time. Thanks for setting it up and making it easy for us.
Carlyn, Bothel, WA
Bob,
We had a wonderful vacation in Cabo. The condo was very nice, we all loved it! Everyone at the resort was very helpful and lovely! We certainly will come back and go through Destination Cabo!
We travel quit a bit and my only 3 topics of improvement which I'm not sure you can do much about:
wi-fi. Typically at high end resorts, paying for wi-fi no longer exists, felt nickel and dimmed having to pay $10/day/per device. The pool attendants are very kind and helpful, would be nice to not let people come down at sunrise and lay towels on chairs only to sit empty most of the day. If the pool attendants helped guests find chairs as they arrived, I think everyone would have a chair when and where they wanted. Perhaps even adding more cabanas: we would have rented a cabana, they only had 2 seats per cabana and would only let us reserve 2 of them, with 6 of us, did not work. I would also suggest the facility buy new towels for the condo, we had plenty. however, they are looking rather worn.
What we loved: The catered dinner on Christmas Day was amazing!
Your tips on everything including Costco and Walgreens saved big $$
Not buying the inclusive package was fantastic advice
Restaurants: our 20 something kids enjoyed Tabascos for lunch, Panchos for dinner was very good as was LaDolce.
Your transportation recommendation was terrific, service awesome
We all had a great time, everything you presented on your website was accurate.
Thank you for your help in making our Christmas memorable and Happy New Year!
Wendy
Wendy, Seattle
Been running since our return. Had a great time, did not buy a time share. Avoided that scene. Wonderful service from beginning to end. Would definitely use your services again.
Thank you, Tracee
Tracee, Portland, OR
We had a great trip. Yes, we did the timeshare analysis. We were told it would be 90 minutes. It lasted over 3 hours. Way too strong a sell that really turned us off. They introduced us to 6 separate individuals. Each one with a stronger sell. The last woman basically insulted us by telling us that we must just want to overpay for all future vacations. Once we got out of the timeshare meeting nightmare we had a great time. The resort was beautiful and airport transfers worked out great!
John B., New Jersey