San Carlos Fishing Report

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San Carlos Fishing Report with yearly guide, weekly fishing reports and fishing tournament information. San Carlos Mexico has great fishing in the Sea of Cortez. Sports fishing has been popular here for decades with the waters full of big game fish like marlin (3 types: blue, black and striped), sailfish, tuna, and dorado.

What you can hope to catch changes from month to month. Here’s a general break down (see more details in the week-by-week San Carlos fishing reports below):

You can find grouper, cabrilla and sierra all year.
Bonita: May to December.
Dorado: May until mid October
Marlin & Sail fish: June through October.
Skipjack: June
Yellowtail: October through May.

Some of the good local fishing spots: the Island, San Antonio, Seamount (just outside the entrance to Marina San Carlos), Haystack, San Pedro Point, Doble, Deer Island, the Reef, the Horseshoe. Up the coast at Pando, White Rock, Ensenada. Long boat ride out to Tortuga Island. Lake Oviáchic near Obregon is popular for bass fishing. There’s a map on the bottom of this page.

Click for information on 2024 San Carlos Fishing Tournaments and information on San Carlos’ two Marinas. The tournament pages also have results from past tournaments.

Wondering where to buy your Fishing Licence?

Before you head out, check the weather and tide chart. Check out the bottom graphs on Tablasdemareas.com for Guaymas to see when they predict the bite times.

San Carlos Fishing Reports: by Bryan Replogle, Team Margarita Sportfishing, repsilon@aol.com. You can also find the weekly San Carlos fishing report in the newsletter every week. Some photos by PQ Almada.

Fishing in San Carlos Video

November Fishing Report

Water temps drop into 70s. Occasional storm early in the month.

Marlin, Sail (300 pound Blue on the reef). Yellowtail, Skipjack, Sierra, bonita (the 15′ purple Rapala seems to be their favorite), some pargo, Roosterfish and Corvina, Snapper, cabrilla. Some dorado, but most have moved well offshore. Tons of bait in close.

Whales, dolphin and leaping rays spotting.

It seems to be a pretty consistent pattern. Get up early, catch a lot of fish, and then spend hours cleaning them.

San Carlos Fishing Report, Nov 19, 2024

As predicted, an extreme wave of ‘yellowtail fever’ broke out in San Carlos last week. This undiagnosed and extremely debilitating disease can last for many winter months, and often melds into ‘spring fever’. It usually peaks between the quarter and full moon, and is particularly bad when there is a surface bite. It’s victims often go untreated, as they are on the water or ‘cleaning fish’, and mask the real disease with other ailments, illnesses, inebriants, insomnia, wasteful spending, and forgetfulness of priorities and chores. Few understand the disease (even it’s victims) and support groups are usually clandestine, delirious, and not taken seriously. It’s greatest victims, besides the infected and spouses, are the fish.

Last week was mainly highlighted by up to double-digit catches of 12 – 20 pound yellowtail a mile or two out. Bites were mainly on the surface and trolling. Some afternoon bites were reported, and the action lasted throughout the morning some days. Some Sierra were still around, barracuda, small ‘firecracker’ yellowtail, and a mix of skipjack and bonita sizes. A couple small dorado made their way inside, and we might see more. The warm water is pushing back in.

If you fish like me, you carry afflictions year-round. My summertime withdrawals require constant reaffirmation from satellite charts, and necessitate relapse. We headed offshore Friday through the fog, looking to give my scarred hands a break and limit the amount of yellowtail we had to clean. As the temperature gradually climbed, my friend promised a quick head spin and I watched line melt off the reel as something had my purple softhead. The fish came off, but then re-emerged with a big tail chasing the cedar plug as I worked hard to convince it to switch to my bait. After a quick taste of the plug, it eventually gave my ballyhoo a good look and we were on. The marlin gave some spirited jumps and a run down to the end of the spool as we turned to chase it. We released the 150+ pound fish and passed several more that glassy afternoon. We only found one small dorado, but my fever still subsides. They are still out there somewhere on the bait. There still could be a few slow days here, but there will be fever outbreaks by the end of the week, mark my word.

San Carl

os Fishing Report, Nov 6, 2024

The yellowtail have finally arrived out front. Sounds like they are nice medium-sized fish receptible to poppers and deep divers. They are boiling with bird activity. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen action on the surface.

The warm water stayed far away, with few boats venturing out. Billfish were found and mostly smaller 10 – 12 pound dorado. There could very well be fish inside the 22+ miles needed to reach the 80 degree warm water, but that requires gas and time. The bonita were still biting and the shorelines are thick with bait. Get on the water and you will see some action this week!

October Fishing Report

Water temps in the high 80’s at the beginning of the month, then dropping to low 80s. Weather cool to hot throughout the days, with some showers possible. Winds from the Northwest pickup by the end of the month.

Fishing for Bonita, grouper, snapper, cabrilla, sierra, corvina, Skipjack. Yellowtail season starting inshore. Last month for good Marlin, Sail fish & Dorado.

Wildlife spotting: dolphins. Maybe Orcas, mantas, turtle

San Carlos Fishing Report, Oct 29, 2024

The seasons are changing rapidly as they usually do. I am not sure how the fish are reacting though, as we spent the week in N.C. They don’t like change that much either, being why they move. We got to about Santa Ana when I started to question why I only brought one pair of pants. Some cool water was popping up along the coast, and along with the wind, the blue water pushed to 25 miles out. With much of the water in the 80’s, I think that the pelagics will still be here for another month. I didn’t hear of any yellowtail, but they should be showing soon. There were a lot of bonita caught. A few small dorado were in the mix, and I bet they are showing farther out. Find the bait and you will find the fish. The sailfish and big marlin are probably heading to the clearer warmer water, but the Striped Marlin will surely be around.

The Bisbee in Cabo almost paid off for one friend. Whereas one team brought in a marlin five minutes before closing in the previous tournament for $1.5M, my friend arrived five minutes late. They fought the fish for eight hours and were only twenty minutes away, but close doesn’t always count. The next day the winning boat fought a fish even longer, and weighed the winning fish in at 634 pounds. A lot of big fish were caught, spreading out over $6M in prizes. I just hope that someone can come up with the fuel money to run me out to the blue water one more time. The season isn’t over yet!

HammerDown Tournament, every October

2024: 1st Place: Cowboy. 2nd Place: Rebel. 3rd Place: Telamon
2023: 1st Place – Cowboy. 2nd Place – Predator. 3rd Place – Telamon
2022: 1st place – Scorpio; 2nd place – Baby Girl; 3rd place – Telamon
2021: October 8 – 10. 11 boats competed. 1st place boat: Rebel. Top angler, Gerardo Fausto Grajeda. 2nd place boat: Scorpio. Top angler, Ken Diaz. 3rd place boat: Baby Girl. Top angler, Jeff Golden
2020: cancelled
2019: Relax took first place with five releases. Only one Dorado made weight, by four ounces, at 12.4 pounds.
2018: Seven billfish were caught by 54 anglers on 16 boats. Baby Girl won with 5 billfish and 4 dorado
2017: 54 anglers on 20 boats caught 38 billfish. Reel Mistress won
2016: 20 fish were caught. There were no weigh-able dorado and no tuna or wahoo caught. On day 1, 6 Sail and 5 marlin were caught, and on day 2, 3 sail, 5 marlin and 2 blue marlin. Telamon came in first and qualified for the World Offshore Invitational Tournament in Costa Rica.

Bisbee’s Black & Blue Tournament, every October in Cabo on the Baja. Boats from San Carlos / Guaymas often compete. In 2019 San Carlos’ team Predator caught a 377 pound Blue to win the daily and most of the jackpots for $450K. Tranquillo landed a 577 pound marlin to win $2.5M in the Black and Blue.

September Fishing Report

Water temps in the mid to high 80s and up to 90 degrees on the surface. Summer SE trade-winds.

Fishing for Dorado, Bonita, Marlin & Sail fish, skipjack, grouper, cabrilla and sierra. Maybe some yellowtail down deep by the end of the month.

Wildlife spotting: bottlenose dolphin, Orcas, rays

September 4, 2024 Fishing Report

You sometimes never know what to expect. A friend was out on Friday and trolled up a couple small yellowtail that were boiling on the surface. They had some decent catches of bottomfish.

I got back on the water after over a month and found large bonita still off San Antonio. I picked up my first decent corvina of the year from shore. There are no reports of tuna yet, but they could be on their way.

It’s an unprecedented year for small Blue Marlin, and I’ve heard of some bigger ones lost. We headed out for a couple hours and released two nice Striped Marlin. It is quite the change for billfish compared to last year. I heard of a couple 30 pound dorado caught a little farther out than the end of the Reef. Decent numbers of smaller dorado and sailfish are out there still. We saw a few whales and turtles too.

Water temps are high, along with air temps and humidity, but things are staying pretty nice for the start of September

August Fishing Report

Dorado. Small ones are within a mile, right up to the harbor entrance, and up and down the coast. Small lures work best. Bigger dorado are further out.

150 pound marlin come in on a 3″ lure inside the Bay.

Skipjack and Sierra. Some bonita and yellowtail. Red snapper down deep.

Weather: hot and humid, possible rain or storm

July Fishing Report

It’s hot out! There are some pleasant days on the water though. Water temps in the 80s. The fish are biting, but you need to be in the right areas.

Beginning of July: Lots of small dorado within the first mile weighing up to 12 pounds. Starting to see Sailfish scattered in close and around the Reef – a couple caught a mile out. Occasional Wahoo.

Mid July: 20 – 30 pounds Dorados. 70 pound wahoo. Yellowtail. Big grouper. Occasional Roosterfish. Marlin in close and around the Reef. A few skipjack and Sierra are around. Corvina. Good action beyond the Reef. Water temps to mid 80s.

Wildlife spotting: Hundreds of Risso Dolphin and Bottlenose Dolphin, a few whale sightings, Turtles, Manta Rays.

July 17, 2024 Fishing Report

They are still getting some good fish in San Carlos. A lot are being lost to the sharks though. Whether they are making a rebound, or most likely it’s just an anomaly, this may be the year of the shark.

Sounds like a few marlin and sails are out there, along with good numbers of medium-sized Dorado. Besides a few corvina getting caught, I escaped the heat and am up north, so my reports are limited.

Maybe it will be a freshwater report next week.

Put in full days for the best success!

International Billfish Tournament, every July:

International Billfish Tournament Results: Click for detailed results and photos from the annual International Billfish Tournaments.

2023: July 15. 11 boats and 28 anglers competed this year. Tyler Williamson: Biggest Dorado. Edgar Amador: Best Captain. First Place Overall: Fantasma; 2nd Place Overall: Mist & Smoke; and 3rd Place Overall: Catch 22.
2022: August 5 – 7
2020 & 2021: cancelled
2019: 32 boats and 101 anglers. A boat had released 14 marlin a little farther out on Friday. Several of them were Blue Marlin, and they saw one big enough for us to win the grand prize of a new truck. We picked up a few marlin that day, but the hot bite was found mid-afternoon farther out. We passed a few on the surface Sunday, catching the first fish of the day, but we only released two more that day. We were getting closer to a hot area the previous day at 35 miles, but the bite exploded 5 miles inside of us. We did hook one there that upon the initial jump looked big enough for the truck, but it was probably only 175 pounds.
2018: 26 boats competed in the 71st International Billfish Tournament. The grand prize was for a truck with a 200+ pound marlin. We had the big gear and 16 – 20″ lures out. We ran a lot of skirted ballyhoo too, which got the bites. Telamon won with about four marlin and a sail release.
2017: 70th Anniversary of Ernesto Zaragoza International Billfish Tournament. back & white photo below is from the 3rd International Billfish Tournament in 1950
2016: The 69th International Billfish Tournament saw 9 boats releasing 24 billfish. No dorado were weighed. Kryptonite took the tournament, but Eleanor on Predator won top angler with six releases for the first woman ever to be top angler!
2015: Thirteen boats and 38 anglers came out for the 68th International Billfish Tournament. 21.4 Dorado. 72 pound sailfish. 33 sails and 6 marlin were released.

June Fishing Report

Weather and water temps heating up. By late June, water temps are in mid 80s. Seaweed / sargasum starts to clear out.

Fishing for Marlin, Sailfish, dorado, bonita, skipjack, cabrilla and sierra. Bottomfishing for red snapper and grouper.

Wildlife spotting: Turtles coming in, with a few of their favorite jelly fish to eat. Bottlenose Dolphin, Spinner Dolphin, Thresher Sharks, Fin Whales, mantas. If you’re luck, a Humpback whale, sperm whale or Hammerhead shark.

The Rescate Yacht Club Fishing Tournament every June:

2024: 17 boats and 57 anglers competed in the 2024 Yacht Club / Rescate Fishing Tournament.
2023: 42 anglers competed on 17 boats from June 2 to 4. First place was the crew of the “Baby Girl”, second place was the “Relax” crew and rounding out the top three was the crew of the “Telemon”.
2022: June 3 – 6. Tournament info. 66 anglers (4 of them juniors) on 19 boats competed in this year’s Yacht Club / Rescate Fishing Tournament. 12 billfish were reported and 15 dorado brought to the weighing station.
2020 & 2021: cancelled
2019
2018: 20 boats found a consistent bite of a billfish and a few dorado. Maybe a third of the boats released a billfish, with a handful of dorado topping the weigh-able 12 pounds mark. The winning fish was 24.8 ounds. A couple boats released two billfish. Baby Girl managed to find the hot spots and clearly won with five releases for their first major win.
2017: 73 anglers on 21 boats competed in the 2017 San Carlos Yacht Club Rescate Fishing Tournament. 178 billfish were released. Reel Mistress won with 25 releases, and Kryptonite and El Patron came in 2nd with 23 releases.

MarinaTerra Dorado Derby Fishing Tournament, every June

2024: June 14 & 15. Sign up now.
2023: 175 participants on 63 boats competed. Eduardo González Gaxiola, on “One and Only”, brought in an 18.8 kilos dorado and took home first place. Daniel Grajeda, in “Bay Girl”, brought in a 16.6 kg dorado and took second place. Third place went to Luis Miguel Padilla, on “Motrixxx”, whose fish was 16.1 kilos.
2022: results for this year’s Dorado Derby: 1st place – Luis Ross; 2nd place – Jesús Roberto Ochoa; 3rd place – Jose Rafael González; 4th place – Armando Pesqueira
2020 & 2021: cancelled
2019: El Zancudo took first and forth with a 24 pound bull leading the pack.
2018: Over 40 boats entered into the Dorado Derby this last weekend. The winds were up and by twelve miles we were watching peaks and walls of water all over. Rodrigo
Luviano Silva brought in an 11.6 pound dorado to win the tournament. Check out this video of the Dorado Derby by Rada SC.
2017: over thirty boats. 1st place. Heriberto Velazquez, on El Fantasma: 11.4 kg. 2nd place. Fernando Escalante, on La Revancha: 10.7 kg. 3rd place. Jose C. Ojeda, on Mirage: 10.3 kg. 4th place. Mario Puebla, on El Fantasma: 9.3 kg. 5th place. Arvidson Joshoa, on Chasen Tail: 7.6 kg.
2015: 13 boats compete in good weather conditions. Grey Goose released two the first day for the win and the invitation to the World Offshore Championships. Second place went to Predator with a sail release and one 12.2 pound tuna.

Wounded Warrior’s fishing event, every June

May Fishing Report

Cool, dry weather. Water temps in mid 70s, getting to high 70s by the end of the month. Early May green water starts to turn blue and clear by the end of the month. The sargasso can be a nuisance at times.

Fishing for Bonita, Dorado, grouper, cabrilla, sierra, Barracuda and some yellowtail. Bottomfishing for snapper. Near the end of the month, skipjack, some billfish offshore and smaller dorado are further out with bigger ones on the way. By the end of May, the yellowtail fishing is usually done.

Good amount of all the bait – anchovies, ballyhoo, flying fish, crabs, and squid.

Wildlife spotting: Thresher Sharks jumping. Fin whales, mantas and maybe Orcas.

Ladies International Fishing Tournament, every May

2024: May 24 – 26. 17 boats competed. Here are the results: 1st place: Ragin Cajun; 2nd place: Marlin Monroe; 3rd place: Baby Girl.
2023: May 26, 27 and 28. 1st Place Boat: The Buffalo. 2nd Place Boat: Rebel. 3rd Place Boat: Baby Girl. 1st Place Angler: Holly Moran. 2nd Place Angler: Susan Sarnoski. 3rd Place Angler: Heather.
2022: May 27, 28, and 29. 57 anglers competed on 20 boats. Relax won and Tawni King brought in the biggest dorado at 42 pounds.
2021 & 2021: cancelled
2019: Eleven boats entered and only Kryptonite was able to release two marlin. They went the distance to find them! Another boat nearby did find some better Dorado. The wind was up the second day, and only a few boats went out.
2018: Unfortunately, the official LIFT tournament was cancelled due to bad weather. But that didn’t stop the women from fishing the following week in an impromptu tournament in calmer waters
2017: 18 boats and 35 anglers. There were 5 billfish released. Vi West with Captain Mike on Catch-a-Lotta took first with the first release. A 7.4 pound dorado was the largest weighed.
2016: 18 boats with 35 anglers caught 25 billfish (marlin & sailfish). Congrats Judy on Kryptonite with eight releases for the win.

April Fishing Report

Water temps in high 60s to low 70s at begging of month and get into the mid 70s by the end of the month. North winds can blow.

Fishing for yellowtail, grouper, cabrilla, sierra, corvina. The Island is the consistent producer for big yellowtail in the Spring. Bottomfishing for Sea Bass, snapper, calicos. Could start to see the marlin. Inshore action picks up.

Bait: ballyhoo

Wildlife spotting: Dolphin, Fin Whale, humpback, hammerheads, turtles, maybe whale shark and Orcas.

Offshore World Championship, Every April

2025: to qualify for the 2025 Offshore World Championship, in Quepos Costa Rica, your team needs to win the San Carlos Hammerdown Fishing Tournament in October 2024.
2024: Team Cowboy won 1 st place at the San Carlos Hammerdown Fishing Tournament in October 2023, qualifying them to compete in the 2024 Offshore World Championship, in Quepos Costa Rica. Judy, Wade & Ryan Earl and Luis Fimbres competed in Costa Rica. Judy Earl caught the tournament’s third heaviest Yellowfin Tuna.
2023: Team Scorpio won 1 st place at the San Carlos Hammerdown Fishing Tournament in October 2022, qualifying them to compete in the 2023 Offshore World Championship.
2021: Congratulations to the San Carlos Hammerdown team who fished in the Offshore World Championship in Costa Rica last week and came in 3rd. This is the largest and most prestigious sportfishing tournament series in the world. They qualified for the tournament by winning the 2019 San Carlos Hammer Down Tournament. The team included Pete Finocchiaro, Alex Hammer and Frank Kastl with Captain Gilberto Lachica. For Top Angler, Lachica came in second and Kastl fourth place.
2016: The crew from Grey Goose, the winners of the 2015 Labor Day Tournament, represented San Carlos in the 2016 World Offshore Championship in Costa Rica. They released 22 sails — good for 22nd place of 66 teams.

March Fishing Report

By mid March the water is getting into the mid-60’s.

Fishing for Yellowtail, Red snapper, grouper, cabrilla, sierra, barracuda. Some marlin could come through. Best fishing is often at the Island.

Lots of bait. Seaweed can make trolling difficult.

Wildlife spotting: Large pod of Bottlenose. Maybe Mako shark, turtle, Fin Whale, Orcas, rays

February Fishing Report

Water in the low 60s.

Fishing for Yellowtail, calico, grouper, cabrilla and sierra. Bonita earlier in the month.

Wildlife spotting: dolphin. Maybe Whale Shark, Humpback, Fin Whales, Grey Whales, turtle

Yellowtail Tournament, every February or March

2020 & 2021: cancelled
2019: 13th Annual Yellowtail Fishing Tournament. Many braved the high seas and went over to the Island. Most boats caught 2 to 4 yellowtail, although Team Catch-a-lotta weighed 9 yellowtail weighing 150 pounds, and the big fish of the day at 21.5 pounds. Their luck wore off for Sunday, losing the one fish that they needed to win. Team Fins Up weighed six good fish, and the big fish of 22 pounds for a second consecutive win. A few teams caught a number of smaller fish up the coast, and jigging off Lalo’s.
2018: Thirteen boats fished the worst tournament ever. The weather was at least good on Saturday, where Fins Up won the tournament with six fish, and the biggest at 26.2 pounds. Only four other fish were caught that day, and seven on Sunday. Fins Up caught two other fish for a total of 151 pounds. The next biggest fish were 22.2 and 20 pounds. I think everyone still managed to have fun though.
2017: 11th Annual Yellowtail Tournament. We had 14 boats and 49 anglers. Catch-a-Lotta took Day One with ten of their largest fish weighing 158 pounds, and the biggest of the day at 19.77 pounds. Day Two saw Zancudo weigh in at 132 pounds to take third being Telamon. Catch-a-Lotta held on to win with 220 pounds. Play Time weighed in the big fish of the tournament at 22.86 pounds. Day One saw rough conditions, but Day Two saw most every boat at San Pedro for some decent catching.
2016: 12 boats and 47 anglers. Day One saw very slow fishing after great reports the previous day. All the good reports had been coming from up the coast. That day though the fish came up at San Antonio where a few fish were caught. Many boats tried the Island where there was tons of bait and hopefully the big one for the jackpot. The Saturday jackpot though was won up the coast with a 14.1 pound fish. The total for the day was also taken late up the coast by Warpath. The bite was found up there again, with the best action 25 miles away at White Rock. The fish were chasing bait on the surface and several boats loaded up with limits of nice fish on poppers and jigs. In the end, Warpath took the day again, and the tournament with 185 pounds for their 15 fish. One other nice check though went to Rod Tuggers for their 19.1 pound yellowtail. I think everyone had fun in the nice weather.

January Fishing Report

Water in the mid to low 60s.

Fishing for Yellowtail, bonita, calico, grouper, barracuda, cabrilla and sierra. Yellowtail season is in full swing. You might find some marlin.

Wildlife spotting: Bottlenose Dolphin, Mobula Rays. Maybe Orcas, Fin Whales, Humpbacks.

December Fishing Report

By late December, the water starts to dip below 70 degrees.

Yellowtail season with some big yellowtail starting to show. Tuna (a 100 pound tuna). Skipjack.

Some Sierra, Bonita, snapper, cabrilla and Marlin (a 220 pound Blue Marlin) at the beginning of the month, but the season is pretty much over for them.

Dolphin spotting and maybe the orcas.

December 19, 2023 Fishing Report:

It’s going to be a good week of fishing! Lots of bait out front with a waxing moon. We caught eleven in two hours Tuesday morning. They were running to 20 pounds right out front. The bonita ran strong at times also, though only 4 – 6 pounds.

I finally heard a dorado report from outside the Reef, and it sounded like they were numerous and to 30 pounds chasing ballyhoo. I’d been watching Terrafin for two months saying that the pelagics were out there. The full moon may push that warmer water here with all of this great weather.

Lots of flat weather in the forecast. We saw a few small Humpbacks out there Tuesday. The Common Dolphin were all over out front Sunday. A few corvina are still being caught and I saw one decent bottom fishing catch. The Island has been producing decent catches, but the fishing in close is excellent at the moment. Get on out there!