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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
May 21, 2001
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fly Hooker Daily Catch Report
“FLY HOOKER” DAILY CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR 14 MAY 2001
This is the second of four days fishing for John and John Wood. Father and son are looking for more fishing action today. Yesterday provided a Striped Marlin and two Dorado and John the son really wants a chance to get a Marlin for himself. Since they had found so many fish yesterday out about 27 miles to the northeast Juan and Manuel decided that was the area to return to. Add in the fact that there did not seem to be many fish caught anywhere else and it made a lot of sense. They cruised out about 17 miles before putting lures in the water. We were not able to get a good water temperature chart due to the fog and overcast conditions so just in case the warm water had moved in a bit closer they started early. Because the water temperature break was in the same are as yesterday it was not until about 11 am that the guys started spotting fish. They said later that they must have seen at least 15 Striped Marlin in the area and most of them were in pairs. The first action for the day was a strike on the long rigger, running a Dorado colored High-5 custom lure. Juan and Manuel estimated this fish at about 170 pounds and John Sr. thought it had to have been a lot bigger considering that he fought it for 55 minutes! The fish made three long runs, taking off again each time it approached the boat. On each run the fish got down into the backing on the Tiagra, but a little less on each run. Eventually the fish was brought close to the boat and just a little before Juan was able to tag it the hook pulled loose. The fish swam away to fight another day and now John Jr. had a chance at the next fish. It was not long after that when more Marlin were spotted and John Jr. got his chance. Juan tossed out a live Caballito and A Striped Marlin estimated at 130 pounds ate the bait and gave John a fight for the next 25 minutes. Lots of jumping added to the excitement and helped to wear the fish down. It was brought alongside the boat and a Billfish Foundation tag was placed in the shoulder before the Marlin was released. All right, so far the count is 3 Marlin and two Dorado for 2 days fishing. We can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings! Until then, Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” DAILY CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR 15 MAY 2001
Today is the quarter moon and the third of four days fishing for the wood father and son team. They have both gotten the Marlin that they were looking for and would not mind getting a few Tuna and Dorado now. The problem has been there are not a lot of those fish around right now and those that have been found have not been found in the area that the Marlin have been in. They have decided to go for the Marlin again and hope that something else comes along, but at least they can be pretty sure of finding fish. The fog has been very thick for the last few days but this morning it seems a bit thicker than yesterday. The “Fly Hooker” heads out in the same direction as the last two days and it is almost a repeat of yesterday’s action. This time John Sr. gets his fish tagged! The fight is about 20 minutes and the fish is estimated at around 130 pounds. John Jr. has the tough fish for the day and when his fish is finally tagged the fight has taken 50 minutes! His fish is estimated to be the same as dad’s fish so of course he gets a hard time for taking so long with it! Again they see over 15 Striped Marlin in a fairly small area. More than likely they will come here again tomorrow since the reports of other fish being caught elsewhere are almost non-existent. Until tomorrow, Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” DAILY CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR 16 MAY 2001
Fourth and last day of fishing for the Wood father and son team sees them return to the same are they have been working for the past three days. Once again there are a lot of Marlin in the area and the end up seeing between 15 and 20 fish during the time spend around the temperature break. This time the big fish of the trip is dads, and it’s time to show his son how a real angler works a fish. After all, it is said that technique will overcome strength in almost any situation, right? Well, it takes John Sr. only about 20 minutes to bring in and release a beautiful Striped Marlin that Juan and Manuel conservatively estimate at 180 pounds, the largest Striped that they have seen alongside the boat this season! John Sr. hooked this fish on a live bait and wished that there had been a movie camera on at the time. It seems that this fish spent more time out of the water than in the water! Later on John Jr. gets his shot and this fish hits on a trolled lure. It takes him about 20 minutes to get his fish to the boat where it is discovered that the fish has a hook piercing one eye from the inside of the mouth. Juan goes ahead and gaffs this fish rather than release it to become shark food. Later at the marina the Woods have the fillets vacuum bagged and frozen to take home. It was a really nice fishing adventure for the Woods, and wee loved having them here fishing on the “Fly Hooker”! Juan and Manuel enjoyed putting them on fish and had a great time also. Thanks a lot guys, we hope to get a chance to see you again next time you come to Cabo, and then maybe there will be some other fish for you to wear yourselves out on! Until then, Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” DAILY CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR 18 MAY 2001
Bill and Joe Cole are the sons of a friend of mine and fished with us last year. They have come to Cabo this year with a friend, Joe, who like Joe Cole, is a Sheriff in southern California. Bill works for a mortgage company in Montana. These guys are real fishermen! They have come with a lot of their own gear in order to catch Tuna and Dorado, plus they were kind enough to bring down a few items that I needed. Today is my day off and I was able to accompany them on the trip. I had gotten word that there had been a few Yellowfin Tuna being caught south of the cape in the last couple of days. Since this was the only area any had been found recently, it was the target for this trip. We ran out for a little over an hour before setting out the lines. There was no temperature break out here, just a collision of currents that appeared to be concentrating the bait and fish. We set out all Tuna lures, running a cedar plug from the bridge rod, a black/purple feather from the long rigger, a pink feather from the short rigger, a 36” spreader bar with 9” squids off the long corner and off the short corner I placed a 6” Marauder in purple/black and ran it down on a double snap-swivel to the high speed planer running 18 feet deep off of the port cleat. With a spread covering both the vertical and horizontal areas we were ready to start the search. These fish had been reported to be a bit scattered and not associated with any porpoise so we went into search mode. We did find fish, but they were not particularly concentrated. For the first hour we managed to pick one up every 20 minutes and they were about 15 pounds in size. Nothing big but they were fun on the light gear. One was caught on the spreader bar and Joe Cole had the chore of bringing in that fish. Not much of a fight with the bar working against the fish to wear it down. These fish appeared to be moving and we tried to follow the school as it went towards the south. As time went on the wind began to get stronger and fairly so we were battling some fairly rough conditions. Juan and Manuel spotted a Marlin tailing and we tossed a bait to it and worked it for a while without any luck. A little while later the Marauder on the planer got hit and line started to peel off, then the short rigger got hit then the long rigger went off! All right, a triple strike! Bill, Joe and Joe went to work on the fish, with Bill getting the Marauder fish. These fish were a bit larger than the singles we had been getting earlier! Joe Cole was the first to get his fish close to the boat and just about 30 feet from the transom the hook pulled out! The lure was one of many that they had rigged themselves and the first thing he checked was that the hook was still there. He said that this was the first time they had used swaging to secure the leader material, normally they had crimped the leader and he wanted to make sure that they had done it right and it was not a failure in technique that had lost the fish. Everything was still good so it was just that the hook had pulled. The other Joe soon had his fish to the side of the boat and Juan gaffed it into the fish box. A nice 25 pound Yellowfin on his won gear! Good on you Joe! Bill was still working on his fish and he was not sure if it was a Tuna or not. The fish was staying close to the surface but as it came closer to us we could see from the shape and color that it was indeed a Yellowfin, it had just gotten the back hook into the area below the head and couldn’t get headed down! Another nice 25 pound Yellowfin in the box and now it was looking like they had a chance to go home with some fillets! We worked the area for a while and could not get another strike so we began to head in towards land; the water was definitely getting rough! The next strike we had was on the bridge rod on the cedar plug and the guys told me that this one was mine! I had seen the splash and the fish take off and I was sure that it was a Dorado but everyone was saying it was a Tuna. O.K., if you say it is a Tuna I guess I’ll have to get it to the boat to prove you wrong! Only about 5 minute into the fight the Marauder goes off! Another strike and now everyone except me is sure we have struck Tuna again! Imagine their surprise when my fish proves to be a female Dorado of about 18 pounds! Juan gets the gaff into the fish and now we have a Dorado on the boat to go with the five Yellowfin Tuna! I think it was Bill who got the other rod, but I am not sure. Whoever it was, maybe the Cole’s friend Joe, the fish proved to be another Dorado, this one a Bull of about 20 pounds! The confusing part of the whole thing is that we still had the spreader bar out during the fight with both fish and the planer was still down. Joe Cole had sent a live bait out behind the spreader bar as the second Dorado was being fought and since it was on 15-pound line he was hoping for another Dorado. Guess what appeared alongside the boat? Yep, there was the tail of a very nice sized Striped marlin, just as the second Dorado began to get close to the boat! Joe brought in his live bait very quickly, there was no way he wanted to tangle with a Striped marlin on 15 pound test line in the water conditions we were experiencing! Wanting to get the fish we had on in the boat, we concentrated on him first, leaving the marlin for later, if he was still around. We got the second Dorado in the boat and by that time Manuel had not seen the Marlin for a few minutes and we decided to head in. The winds had really picked up and every wave was white capped. The other boats that had been I the same area had already gone in and now we were faced with the long trip home at trolling speeds. There was no way we were going to be able to run to port in these conditions. About an hour into the trip back we hooked up the fourth fish of the trip to strike the Marauder on the planer. This was another school Yellowfin of about 15 pounds and proved to be the last fish of the trip. Not a bad total for the day, considering how the fishing had been lately, we picked up six Yellowfin Tuna and Two Dorado, tossed bait to one Marlin and saw another. We had been talking about going out on Saturday evening to try the duck bite but decided that unless the weather conditions changed we would say never mind! It was a long trip in but the guys were happy and later that evening we all, including Mary, went out for dinner and had fresh Tuna and Dorado! We really hope to see you guys again and thanks for the invite! Until next time, Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” DAILY CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR 19 MAY 2001
James Barret, Allen, Scott, Scott II, Patrick and Joe were today’s anglers on the “Fly Hooker”. These guys are down here for a bachelor party but they were conservative drinkers last night. Hey, when you know you are going fishing the next day you have to decide the priorities, right? Well, the way things worked out it probably would not have made a difference. The wind did not really die down much last night and the water was pretty choppy this morning. Juan and Manuel did not go as far out as we went yesterday before they found signs of fish. This time it was Bonita instead of Yellowfin. They worked the area for a while trying to discover if there were any Yellowfin around but by the time they decided to try elsewhere 5 of the guys were down hard. With five of six anglers seasick the sixth guy took pity on them and said to head back to the marina. The “Fly Hooker” returned to the slip at 11 am having caught only 3 Bonita, no flags for this trip and no fillets for dinner. I hope you have more fun for the rest of the trip guys, maybe try some golfing! All right folks, until next time, Tight Lines from Mary, George, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” crew!
Cabo Bite Report
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR 14-20 MAY 2001
Capt. George Landrum
“Fly Hooker” Sportfishing
[email protected]
WEATHER: All week long we have been enjoying warm weather in the mid to high 80’s. We have had afternoon and evening winds to contend with but the wind has remained warm. There has been no rain but during the middle of the week we did have fogbanks move in during the morning hours. We had sunny weather for the most part with the middle of the week also supplying some high clouds.
WATER: Water conditions on the Pacific side have been choppy to rough with prevailing cold water, down to the low 60’s in some areas. With the winds shifting from southwest to northwest there has been no way to get any kind of smooth water on the Pacific. On the Sea of Cortez side the conditions have been a bit better on average. When the wind was from the southwest we had choppy conditions there also and it was uncomfortable but those conditions only existed in the afternoon for two days. Further up towards the East Cape water temperatures were up to 80 degrees, a good sign for Blue Marlin, but closer to Cabo the highs were still around 74 close to shore. The further you went out the cooler the water got due to the cold water pushed in from the Pacific by the wind. We did a have a pretty stable and consistent temperature break about 4 miles to the southwest of outer Gordo Bank all week. It had the Striped Marlin concentrated in a fairly small area, as the temperature went from 68 degrees to 73 degrees in a very short distance.
BAIT: The usual here, large baits available at $2 each with a fair mix of Caballito and Mackerel. Some Sardinas were available early in the week but none that I know of later on. Large concentrations of squid were found in some areas offshore and it was possible to get live squid with bait scoops or buckets when the squid were found balled on the surface.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin were the fish of the week but it took a bit of a run to get to them. Those boats that were willing to cruise for an hour and a half or more were able to get to the area off the outer Gordo Bank where the temperature break was. Marlin were spotted free jumping everyday, at times in every direction. The reason was the availability of bait. Lots of bait, lots of Marlin! Of course, that also meant that the majority of the fish spotted were not interested in eating any offering. Hey, that is not a problem because if there are enough fish the odds of finding one that will eat your offering naturally increases. Most oats were seeing at least a dozen fish tailing and tossing bait to them. With a 15% hookup ratio that meant that most boats were getting at least a fish or two, sometimes more. The best bite was on live bait but amazingly enough, quite a few fish were striking lures also.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Sad news, the Purse Seiners that came in and worked the waters last week seem to have either driven off or caught all the nice sized Yellowfin that were congregated on Gordo Banks, plus the porpoise that the open water fish were associated with have been driven off by the same boats. When the Purse Seiners set on Gordo Bank they stripped the area, even the bottom fishermen in the Pangas are not finding any snapper there. Some Yellowfin were found 27 miles south of the cape in the current collision zone, but these fish were not associated with any porpoise and it was difficult to find their exact position. A few of the fish were large but most of them were footballs to 25 pounds. Best results were on feathers and deep running plugs like Rapalas and Marauders. I have had good results pulling spreader bars when the fish have been spread out like they were this week.
DORADO: A few more are being caught every day! This should take off sometime soon with a bit of luck. I have seen the average size increase a bit from 10 pounds to 15 pounds over the last month as the catch increased. Many of these are being found along shore on the Sea of Cortez, this area has had warm water and plenty of bait. Tuna feathers find the fish and chunks keep them in the area. No large schools yet but they should start showing up soon.
WAHOO: It has to be the moon! No Wahoo this week but perhaps on the next full we will get a few more. This time I am ready, I finally got the gear I needed to target them when the time is right!
INSHORE: Bonita, Skipjack, some Roosterfish, a few Dorado, an occasional large Snapper have kept the Pangas occupied. Not to forget the fact that there have been some very nice Sierra being caught by boats in the right place at the right time. 9mm Rapalas for the Sierra, 6” feathers for the Dorado and tunas, lave Caballito for the Snapper and Roosterfish. Never mind the Pacific side, heavy winds and large swells have made it dangerous to fish the beach there.
Until next week, Tight Lines!
Capt. George Landrum
“Fly Hooker” Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
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