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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
April 23, 2001
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
"Fly Hooker" Daily Fish Report
“FLY HOOKER” FISHING REPORT FOR 16 APRIL 2001
Mike and Cathy Pitarski along with their young son and daughter were the anglers on the “Fly Hooker” today. Everyone had taken their Dramamine the night before to get their bodies used to the side effects except their daughter; she had gone to sleep before everyone else. Guess what she did during the fishing trip? She slept the whole time; one of the side effects is being sleepy! I don’t think their son was really into the fishing either, since Mike and Cathy said all he sis on the trip was play game boy, he did not even want to help reel in any of the 20 Tuna that were hooked up during the trip! Dad had to do it all himself, Catch said she was just along for the ride! They found the fish about 12 miles south of the Cape, and they were mixed in with porpoise. Cathy loved watching the porpoise and Mike loved catching the fish. Mike had really hoped for a Marlin also but Juan and Manuel were unable to find one. Mike had a real workout with the Tuna, most of them were in the 15-25 pound class, but he did get one that was 45 pounds! Congratulations Mike! Until next time, Tight Lines from the crew of the “Fly Hooker”.
“FLY HOOKER” FISHING REPORT FOR 18 APRIL 2001
Tom and Kara Sutton took their granddaughter Carin fishing with them today. Carin is 6 years old and she lost her two front teeth not too long ago when she fell down while running at a “McDonalds” restaurant. Kara’s job on this trip was to supply support for Carin and Tom while they caught fish! Juan and Manuel headed out to the same area as yesterday to find the Tuna, but this time they had to go 24 miles south to get to the porpoise and the fish. Think Carin liked seeing the porpoise? Not as much as she enjoyed reeling in 4 Yellowfin Tuna! Tom did his part by reeling in 5 Yellowfin and 1 Bonito. We asked Carin what she liked most about fishing and she told us “Eating them!” All right, I know we have a budding angler in this girl! Thanks folks, and Juan and Manuel really look forward to a chance to take you fishing next time you are here in Cabo San Lucas! Until then, Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” FISHING REPORT FOR 19 APRIL 2001
Brad Colby booked the trip for today a long time ago. He works for Lexus and is here on a company trip. A few days ago the company paid for a fishing trip for everyone who wanted to go and he got his fill of Tuna fishing then. Today he wanted to go out for Marlin only. He was real interested in getting a live Yellowfin Tuna and using it for bait around the school, hoping for a big Blue Marlin to eat it. Juan and I discussed reality with him (the water temperature is only 73 degrees, about 9 degrees cooler than it needs to be) and he decided that going after Striped Marlin was all right instead. Juan and Manuel headed out towards Gordo Banks, an area where there had been a lot of Marlin reported for the last few days, mostly an area just on the south side of the banks. They only found on fish tailing, but it was a hungry one and ate the bait they tossed out to it. I am not sure how long the fight was but Juan said that the fish later came down on the line after a jump and broke the line. That was the only Marlin action for the trip and Juan and Manuel dropped Brad off at the Palmilla hotel on their way back to Cabo. I hope we get a chance to take Brad out this fall for the big fish! Until then, Tight Lines, from the “Fly Hooker” crew!
“FLY HOOKER” FISHING REPORT FOR 20 APRIL 2001
We had the Blake family on the “Fly Hooker” today, and they were very apprehensive about going out, since the wind had been blowing all night. When they booked this trip several days ago there had been no wind and the water conditions had been beautiful. They decided to go out and check the water; if it was too uncomfortable they wanted reassurance that Juan and Manuel would agree to bring them back in early. No problem on our part, so off they went! They had gotten 18 miles out and a couple of the kids started to get sick, specially their daughter, and since it was her 18th birthday they decided it was time to go back in. Juan turned the boat and at the same time got a report on the radio that the porpoise had been found about six miles away, luckily in the same direction they were heading, back towards the marina! The “Fly Hooker” was only about 100 yards from the porpoise and Tuna when Dad asked Juan if they could go in fast. Juan asked him if they were willing to put up with the conditions for another 15 minutes since they were just about in the fish and he knew they wanted at least one for dinner. O.K. was the answer and soon enough everyone forgot about being sick and were too busy catching Tuna to care anymore! They ended up getting 9 Yellowfin and headed back to the marina, arriving at the slip at noon with over 60 pounds of fillets. Most of the fish were 15 pounds but there was one that weighed about 35 and of course dad caught it! Thanks folks, and we are glad you ended up having a good time aboard the “Fly Hooker”, with Juan and Manuel! Until next time, Tight Lines!
Cabo San Lucas Fish Report
CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING REPORT FOR 16-22 APRIL 2001
Capt. George Landrum
“Fly Hooker” Sportfishing
[email protected]
WEATHER: Another wonderful week weather wise here in Cabo. Sunny all week and the temperatures are starting to remind me a bit of summertime. Our daytime average was 78 and the evening average was 69, which is just about right for me! We did have a bit of a northerly wind for most of the week, coming from the northwest earlier and about Friday starting to come more from the northeast. This wind has caused the water to get a bit of a chop later in the day and the swell is about 2-4 feet. No rain all week so things are fairly dry.
WATER: The water temperature continues to climb and the fishing continues to improve. From the Sea of Cortez out to the west side of San Jaime banks we are reading temperatures around the mid 70’s with most of it about 73 degrees. Slightly cooler water is still around near shore on the Pacific side but it is starting to warm up there too. The water close to shore on the Sea of Cortez has been fairly green for the past few days but that has been due to the northeasterly winds. Reports from the East Cape say that conditions are very good for windsurfing up there!
BAIT: Mostly Caballito has been available, and they have been selling for the usual $2 each. A few Mackerel have been mixed in but not in any concentration and I have had no reports on the availability of Sardinas this past week.
FISHING: (the important stuff!)
BILLFISH: The fishing is improving for Striped Marlin this past week with a lot more of them being seen than the previous week. Part of that might be due to the increase in the water temperature. Whatever the reason, we are seeing a lot more of them. That doesn’t mean that they are biting much better though, just a little better. The bite is still a bit off and we can only guess as to the reason. Perhaps it is the amount of bait available in the water now, or it might be the moon phase, or just maybe it is because you didn’t take a bath last night, who knows? The fact that they are there is a plus; we know that they will start to eat sometime! On another positive note, I heard that there was another Blue Marlin caught this week, this one was supposed to have weighed about 350 pounds and was caught on a Panga! I didn’t see the fish; this was just a story I was told by several people (who have good reputations). I still feel the water is too cold for the Blues to be here, but there is always an exception to every rule.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Thank goodness for the Tuna! I don’t think I talked to any anglers this week that went on an all day trip that did not get at least a few Yellowfin Tuna. They were pretty much all over the place, both with the porpoise and out in the open. The majority of the fish were 10-25 pounds, perhaps 15% of them were 30-50 pounds and there were a few caught that pushed the scales (real scales, not the public hanging one!) to the 150 pound point. Those large ones were definitely the exception but even the average size fish were biting well. They were found at a distance of 8-30 miles offshore, depending on the direction you went. They were scattered and if you kept going in a straight line you were bound to come across some. Most of the bite was on the usual Tuna lures, cedar plugs and feathers. A few boats were running ahead of the traveling schools and dropping live bait down deep before the fish arrived. Those were the guys that were getting some of the larger fish. Best luck was had on Mackerel, but most of those boats had to catch the bait themselves. When the Tuna were checked, they were stuffed with squid about 3 to 5 inches long. I had a couple of clients have a blast in the schools using squid flies and fighting the 15-25 pound fish on light tackle and fly rods. Thank goodness we didn’t hook up to one of the large Tuna!
DORADO: These beautiful acrobats have been scarce for the past month but as the water warms up they should start to show up again. Looking over my records for last year this is about the time the catch on them started to pick up. This past week the few that were caught were found in with the Tuna schools and they were small, averaging 10 pounds. A few small paddies of floating kelp were found and those produced well for the first few boats to the spot with fish up to 30 pounds, but they really became line shy after a few had been caught. Best luck was had by the boats using live bait, both with the Tuna and the Paddies, and as they started to become line shy those who resorted to chunking managed to put a few more in the box before the bite shut down.
WAHOO: No steady concentrations of Wahoo were found this week but quite a few more were caught than were caught the previous week. The fish that were found were scattered and there was no key to focus on. A few were found at the Banks, a few were found out in the open and a few were found around the kelp paddies. Some of these Wahoo weighed up to 80 pounds but most of them were about 30 pounds. Since the fish caught were an incidental catch most of them were caught on either Marlin lures or on cedar plugs and feathers. Many more were lost than were caught and the chances of hooking one appeared to be about 5%, judging by the flags flying at the end of the day.
INSHORE: The average size of the Sierra is going up, now most of them are in the 5-8 pound range as opposed to the 3-5 pound size we saw several weeks ago. The yellowtail bite is non-existent close to the Cape but I have had people tell me that the fishing for them has been good much farther up the Sea of Cortez, way out of my reporting range. The rest of the inshore bite has consisted of the usual Amberjack, Jack Crevalle, some Snapper and Grouper and only a few Roosterfish. Head out about a mile or two and there has been some luck with Skipjack Tuna and Bonito, plus a few of the Striped Marlin that are beginning to show up again.
NOTES: I am going to say this again, even though it is probably preaching to the converted. Make sure when you book a Charter boat that you are booking with some one who is licensed, has an office, can give you a receipt and references! This is mostly about the “coyotes” working the marina here. Three times this past week I have had couples or families come up to me at 7:30 in the morning asking where to find “Carlos” or “Juan” or “Jorge”, etc. These people had given a deposit of up to $150 to some guy at the marina who had pointed out a boat to them and said to meet him in the morning to go fishing. Guess what? Yep. Sometimes it is the timeshare “coyotes” and sometimes it is just one of the regular “coyotes”, either way, the money is gone. Protect yourself by asking to go to their office to do the transaction and be sure to ask to see a copy of their license to rent Charter Boats!
Thanks again, and until next week,
Tight Lines!
Capt. George Landrum
“Fly Hooker” Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
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