This last November 4-6 I decided to scratch another item off of my Bucket List and I joined the Salt Patrol Marlin Tournament in Mexico. The event was held at one of the Van Wormer resorts the hotel “Palmas de Cortez” 50 miles North of Cabo San Lucas on the West side of the Baja Peninsula and it is a very nice resort. This year we had 20 teams competing for over $15,000 (approx.) in prizes.
The tournament shattered all local records for a three day tournament. The 20 teams caught and released: 221 Sailfish; 112 Striped Marlin; 3 Blue Marlin; and 1 Black Marlin (very rare). The biggest Tuna was 59.2 lbs and the biggest Dorado was 44.3 lbs. Last year the tournament caught about 80 bill fish for the entire tournament this year we caught 112 the first day and 337 for the 3 days.

Point totals determined the winner and each fish caught had a point value. Since this was a catch and release tournament for the billfish (keep all the Tuna and Dorado you want) when the deck hand touched the leader it was a “caught fish” it did not matter if you actually brought the fish aboard. But of course several are brought aboard to take pictures before being released. The scoring system was: Tuna and Dorado 25 pts up to a daily limit of 200 pts; Sailfish 100 pts, Marlin 300 pts, Blue and Black Marlin 500 pts.

The fishing was exceptional the weather was perfect and the hospitality was unsurpassed. The resort did everything need to make the process flow seamlessly. Lunches and a cooler filled with ice met us at the dock every morning as we boarded the boats as the sun came up. At night fresh caught Dorado was BBQ (just tip the chef) and brought to your table at the restaurant where you could order side dishes, it was delicious and a very reasonably priced meal. We also made a side trip to the local Shrimp Shack and it was superb.

The resort is wonderful swim up bar, lounge chairs and umbrellas around the pool. The posts supporting the Palm frons roof in most areas are Palm tree trunks encased in a Fig Vine very unusual and beautiful. The rooms are very clean and comfortable.

We had a “Snake River Hunting Club Team” the “Bill Collectors” after a slow start 18th out of 20 on the first day (we caught Dorado for most of the day) we climbed to 8th overall by the end of the tournament.
I personally caught 1 Marlin 4 Sailfish and 4 Dorado. It was a wonderful trip and I recommend it to anyone. Check out the results and pictures on “Saltpatrol.com” .