Los Cabos Billfish TournamentMarine Weather — Cabo San Lucas
The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament 2026 (Oct 7–11, 2026) is fishing out of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Here are the live inshore, midshore, and canyon conditions for the run — refreshed every morning.
Tournament Location
Three fishing days, three very different pieces of water — the harbour mouth at Land's End, the inshore-of-the-banks run, and the seamounts themselves. This page reads all three separately rather than giving one number for "Cabo". The live day-by-day GO / CAUTION / NO-GO cards are up top; here is the map, the context, and the latest one-line outlook for each zone.
San Jaime Bank
OffshoreSan Jaime Bank — the outer seamount off the Pacific side of the cape, roughly 20 nautical miles west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas and the furthest run of the tournament. Pan and zoom the chart, and switch layers to read the water.
Cabo San Lucas
22.870, -109.900
The harbour mouth at Land's End, where every boat starts and finishes and where the weigh-in scale waits at IGY Marina. The Pacific and the Sea of Cortez meet right here, so it can be glassy on one side of the point and lumpy on the other.
Thursday best; Friday needs timing, Saturday no-go
It depends on the day. Thursday is the clear good day with light winds and well-spaced SSW swell, while Friday is borderline because of a larger swell and Saturday is not an option for a 12-hour trip. Winds stay light all three days, so the sea state is what drives the verdicts, with swell building from about 4.5 feet to 7 feet by Saturday night.
Cabo San Lucas — Thursday, Oct 8 · GO
Good conditions all day Thursday. Winds stay light at 1-5 knots, swinging from the northwest overnight through the east around midday to the south-southwest by late afternoon, with gusts topping out near 13 knots from the south-southwest at 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Seas run about 4.5 feet at 12-13 second periods from the SW to SSW, well-spaced and comfortable, building only slightly to 4.7 feet by evening. Rain chance is minimal at 2%. Any start time works for the 12-hour trip, though model agreement on wind speed is limited, so expect small shifts in the light winds.
Cabo San Lucas — Friday, Oct 9 · CAUTION
A caution day that depends on timing and your comfort with a bigger swell. Winds remain light at 2-6 knots, starting from the north-northwest in the morning, turning southeast near midday with gusts to 12 knots, and easing back to the west and northwest by evening. The main factor is the sea state: 4.8-5.4 feet of SSW swell at 13-14 second periods, a notch up from Thursday. The long periods keep it organized, but the size makes for a more tiring trip over 12 hours. Morning is the gentlest part, before southeast breeze and gusts to 12 knots arrive around midday, and there is a 19% chance of rain near 3:00 PM, which is low.
Cabo San Lucas — Saturday, Oct 10 · NO-GO
Not a day to go for a 12-hour trip. Winds are light at 1-6 knots, but the sea state is the problem: a confused cross-sea lasts about 9 hours, with SE swell crossing a W wind-wave. Two wave trains arrive from different directions, making for awkward, uncomfortable motion with no single good heading. The swell builds from 5.4 feet to 7.0 feet at 12 then 11-second periods from the SSW and south, and from about 3:00 PM onward conditions turn bad as west winds of 5-6 knots work against the building swell. There is no settled stretch long enough for the trip, so the whole day is a no-go. There is a 33% chance of showers near 2:00 PM.
Golden Gate Bank
22.980, -110.180
The nearer seamount, roughly 17 nautical miles west-northwest up the Pacific side. Upwelling over the structure stacks bait and holds striped marlin and tuna — often the call when the outside forecast is marginal.
Caution Thursday; NO-GO Fri-Sat on crossing seas
Winds stay light (under 10 knots) from the NW through the period, but a long-period SW swell of 6-7.5 feet is crossing a WNW/NW wind-wave, creating confused seas. Thursday is the best of the three but still needs careful timing, while Friday and Saturday are NO-GO with no settled stretch long enough for a 12 hour trip. Model confidence is good Thursday and Friday (84-87%) and lower Saturday (71%), with high uncertainty in wave period and gusts.
Golden Gate Bank — Thursday, Oct 8 · CAUTION
Caution day, so timing and a tolerance for lumpy seas matter. Winds are light all day, 3-8 knots from the NNW, W and NW with gusts to about 15 knots, but a SW swell crossing a WNW wind-wave sets up a confused cross-sea: two wave trains arriving from different directions, with awkward, uncomfortable motion and no single good heading. Seas run 5.7-6.0 feet at 11-12 second periods from the southwest, and there is some steep wind-wave chop for about 7 hours. The calmest winds are 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at around 3 knots, with a gust bump near 2:00 PM. There is an 84% chance of rain peaking around 2:00 PM, so bring rain gear. Forecast confidence is good at 84%.
Golden Gate Bank — Friday, Oct 9 · NO-GO
NO-GO. There is no settled stretch long enough for a 12 hour trip, and the sea state is the problem, not the wind. Winds are light at 4-8 knots from the NNW to WNW with gusts to 16 knots, but 6.0-6.7 feet of SW swell at 12 seconds crosses a WNW wind-wave, creating a confused cross-sea for about 24 hours with awkward motion and no good heading. Wave conditions turn bad from around 3:00 AM and stay that way all day, so no time that day works for the full trip. A 92% chance of rain peaks near 2:00 PM. Forecast confidence is 87%, though wave period is uncertain.
Golden Gate Bank — Saturday, Oct 10 · NO-GO
NO-GO. Seas build to 6.8-7.5 feet at 11 seconds from the SW, turning SSW in the evening, and cross a W to NW wind-wave, giving a confused cross-sea with uncomfortable motion and no good heading. Wave conditions are rated bad all day, so there is no window for a 12 hour trip. Winds are calm early, then build from the W and WNW to 8-9 knots from the NW by 4:00 PM with gusts to 20 knots. Model agreement is lower at 71%, with wave period and gust forecasts diverging. A 65% chance of rain peaks near 2:00 PM.
San Jaime Bank
22.720, -110.220
The outer bank, roughly 20 nautical miles west-southwest and the furthest committed run of the tournament. Fully exposed Pacific water, so weight swell period as heavily as height before committing a fishing day to it.
Steep, confused seas make all three days NO-GO
Winds are mostly modest (about 8-16 knots from the northwest), but a persistent 6-8 foot southwest swell at 10-12 seconds crosses the northwest wind-wave and builds through the period, so no day offers a settled 12-hour stretch. Confidence is high for Thursday and Friday and moderate (74%) for Saturday, where wave period models disagree strongly.
San Jaime Bank — Thursday, Oct 8 · NO-GO
NO-GO. Seas run about 6 feet at 10-12 second periods from the west-southwest, then the southwest, while 10-15 knot northwest to north-northwest winds gust to 21 knots. The result is a confused cross-sea: the southwest swell crosses the northwest wind-wave, so two wave trains arrive from different directions and make for awkward, uncomfortable motion with no single good heading. Between 4:00 AM and 1:00 PM the wind-wave also builds into steep chop. The easing winds from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM and the evening lull are only short breaks, and there is no settled stretch long enough for a 12-hour trip, so the rest of the day is not an option either. Forecast confidence is high at 94%.
San Jaime Bank — Friday, Oct 9 · NO-GO
NO-GO all day. Seas of 6-7 feet at 11-12 second periods from the southwest-to-west-southwest cross 10-16 knot northwest winds, gusting to 21 knots early. The southwest swell crossing the northwest wind-wave produces a confused cross-sea for the entire day, with two wave trains from different directions and awkward motion with no good heading. Winds ease to about 10-11 knots by afternoon, but the swell keeps building toward 7 feet, so no window exists for a 12-hour trip. Forecast confidence is high at 93%.
San Jaime Bank — Saturday, Oct 10 · NO-GO
NO-GO. The southwest swell builds from 7 to 8 feet at about 11 seconds, turning south-southwest by evening, while winds of 8-14 knots shift from northwest to west-northwest and gust up to 19 knots in the afternoon. A south swell crossing the west-northwest wind-wave gives a confused cross-sea, with two wave trains from different directions making for awkward, uncomfortable motion and no single good heading. Confidence is lower at 74%, with wave period models in strong disagreement, so conditions could vary further. A 37% chance of showers around 5:00 AM is a minor extra for rain gear. No time of day is suitable for a 12-hour trip.
The AI fishing report for the Cabo banks
Weather tells you whether you can go. DeepCast reads the SST breaks, chlorophyll edges, and bottom structure for the exact waters the fleet fishes — inshore, midshore, and offshore — and turns them into a plain-English fishing report, the same AI reports built into the SeaLegs AI app.
Get the AI-powered fishing reportAbout the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament
- DatesOct 7–11, 2026
- Host portCabo San Lucas, Mexico — IGY Marina Cabo San Lucas (weigh-ins) and Playa Grande Resort (registration and awards)
- The runOut of Cabo San Lucas to the Pacific banks — Golden Gate (~17 nm WNW) and San Jaime (~20 nm WSW)
- Target speciesblue, black and striped marlin, plus yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo
The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament is the event that opens the Cabo big-game season — now in its 28th year, fished out of Cabo San Lucas with weigh-ins at IGY Marina and registration and awards at the Playa Grande Resort. It runs the week before Bisbee's Los Cabos Offshore and two weeks before the Black & Blue, so it is the first read on how the season's water is setting up.
Boats fish blue, black and striped marlin alongside a gamefish jackpot for yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo, working out from Land's End to the Pacific seamounts — the Golden Gate and San Jaime banks. Because those grounds sit at very different distances and exposures, this page reads conditions across three zones at once, each with a plain GO, CAUTION, or NO-GO call, updated every morning from the latest marine model data — the same AI rating used in the SeaLegs AI app.
Reading the run from Land's End to the banks
Cabo sits at a meeting point, and that is the whole reason a single "Cabo forecast" misleads. Round Land's End and you cross from the sheltered Sea of Cortez side into open Pacific water — a morning that is flat in the bay can be a stiff, lumpy ride once you turn up the Pacific side toward the banks. Golden Gate at roughly 17 nautical miles is the shorter, more forgiving run; San Jaime at roughly 20 nautical miles west-southwest is fully exposed and is where a marginal day actually bites.
October is peak season but it is also the tail of the hurricane and tropical-storm season in the eastern Pacific, and a distant system can put a long southerly swell on the banks under a clear sky and a light breeze. That is why swell period matters as much as height here — a long-period groundswell rides very differently from short wind chop at the same reading, and it is the one that turns a 20-nautical-mile run home into a long afternoon. With only three fishing days, picking which day to commit to the outer bank is the real decision this board is built to support. It is a planning aid, not a substitute for the official marine forecast and warnings — always check those before you leave the dock.
Los Cabos Billfish Tournament forecast FAQ
What are the marine conditions at the Los Cabos offshore grounds today?
As of Oct 8, 2026: Cabo San Lucas / Land's End — GO; Golden Gate Bank — CAUTION; San Jaime Bank — NO-GO. Every rating is rebuilt each morning from the latest marine model data.
When and where is the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament?
The 2026 Los Cabos Billfish Tournament fishes October 8, 9 and 10 out of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Registration, the kickoff party and the captains meeting are the evening of October 7 at the Playa Grande Resort, weigh-ins are held daily at IGY Marina, and the awards banquet is October 11.
What species does the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament target?
Billfish are the headline — blue, black and striped marlin — with separate categories for most billfish releases and for the largest fish. There is also a gamefish jackpot covering yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo, so a boat that does not find a marlin can still weigh in.
Where does the fleet fish out of Cabo San Lucas?
Primarily the Pacific seamounts off the cape — Golden Gate Bank roughly 17 nautical miles west-northwest and San Jaime Bank roughly 20 nautical miles west-southwest. Both are upwelling structures that concentrate bait, which is why this page reads them separately from the harbour mouth at Land's End.
How does this tournament fit the rest of the Cabo season?
It opens it. The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament runs first, followed by Bisbee's Los Cabos Offshore in mid-October and Bisbee's Black & Blue from October 19 to 24, with the Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot in early November. Conditions in early October are the first real read on how the season's water is setting up.
How often is this forecast updated?
The three-zone board is rebuilt every morning from the latest marine model data, and each SpotCast card refreshes live in your browser. The date stamp above the outlook shows exactly when it was last generated.
What do GO, CAUTION, and NO-GO mean?
GO means conditions are favorable for most recreational offshore boats. CAUTION means marginal — manageable for experienced crews in capable vessels, but check the wind, swell period, and timing closely. NO-GO means conditions are hazardous for small craft and the trip is best postponed.
Can I get a forecast and fishing report for my own numbers off Cabo?
Yes. In the free SeaLegs AI app you can drop a pin on any spot on Earth — your own bank numbers, the inshore drop, or the harbour mouth — and get the same AI-rated marine forecast, trip planning, and DeepCast AI fishing reports with SST breaks, chlorophyll edges, and structure.
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Drop a pin on any spot on planet Earth in the free SeaLegs AI app — AI marine forecasts, fishing reports, and trip planning, rated GO / CAUTION / NO-GO.
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