Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
November 15, 2004
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo Bite Report
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT NOVEMBER8-14, 2004
WEATHER: The first part of the week had us experiencing mostly sunny skies and cool (for Cabo) fall temperatures. We did not have any evenings where we dropped to 60 degrees (like last week) but our night time lows stayed down around the low 70’s and high 60’s. Day time highs were in the high 80’s on land with a cooling effect when you were on the water. Toward the end of the week clouds moved in and while we still had plenty of sun, the sunsets became even more spectacular.
WATER: Our off shore water continues to cool and while we still have a warm water band wrapping around the Cape we have had the average temperature drop by three degrees. Within 15 miles of the shore on both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez the water has remained 79-80 degrees. Immediately to the south out about 10+ miles there is a pocket of warmer water at 82 degrees and on the Cortez side up past the Gorda Banks it starts to cool off to the 78 degree level. Surface conditions on the Pacific have been great all week for morning fishing but the wind has been starting to kick up a bit in the early afternoon giving us a bit of wind chop on top of the 2-4 foot swells. The Sea of Cortez has remained fairly calm as far as surface conditions go.
BAIT: Caballito are still the most available bait this week but I did see a few Mackerel showing up in a few bait tanks. The normal $2 per bait remains except for Sardinas, and if they are available they have been going for the usual $20 per scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: While the Blue and Black Marlin bite has dropped off the Striped Marlin have started to return and take up their rightful place as our most common Billfish. There are still some Sailfish being caught, but not in the same numbers as they were being found the last two weeks. The Striped Marlin are being found in small groups, with three areas holding fish for a few days this week. Early in the week there was a group just off the lighthouse on the Pacific side of the Cape, about 5 miles off shore. At the end of the week there was another group about 12 miles out at 160 degrees. Smaller groups of fish were found just offshore, about three miles, on the Cortez side both during the middle and the end of the week. Luck always takes a part in fishing for Billfish and those anglers that had it this week were able to catch and release as many as three Striped Marlin per trip. Live bait worked the best, both tossed at tailing fish and slow trolled through the areas that had the concentrations.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Well, the Yellowfin Tuna finally showed up close to home! There were not any giants caught this week but there were nice fish in the 40-80 pound class brought in the boats, and plenty of fish in the 10-20 pound range as well. The fish were found from the Golden Gate Banks to just off of the Arches as the end of the week and they were associated with the Porpoise. Cedar plugs were the ticket for the football fish and live bait dropped deep appeared to account for most of the larger ones. A number of fish were caught on hootchies in dark colors as well, but the cedar plugs seemed to out catch them. Spotting Frigate birds working was the key to finding the Porpoise, and they were the key to finding the Tuna.
DORADO: There were scattered fish found close to shore on both the Cortez and Pacific side of the Cape, but there seemed to be more fish on the Pacific side. There was no need to go offshore as most of the fish were found within two miles of the beach, and a lot of them considerably less. The fish averaged 12 pounds with a few of them in the 20 pound range. Farther off shore there were scattered Dorado and if you were able to find something floating in the water there were nice fish in the 25-40 pound class around it. A friend was the first to a small piece of wood that he was able to get limits of Dorado in the 30 pound range from, and then a Striped Marlin as well. Later boats had no luck, but there were other floating objects found during the week by other boats as well.
WAHOO: There was no real Wahoo bite this wee, sad to say, but it appears that as the week progressed things started to pick up a bit, so perhaps this coming week will start producing more of these sought after fish. The Wahoo that did hit the decks this week were found fairly near shore, mostly in water around 50 fathoms deep. The sizes ranged from 20 to 40 pounds.
INSHORE: Dorado and Tuna were the target of the Panga fishermen this week. Most of the action was concentrated just off of the beach down past Gray Rock, out in about 30 fathoms of water. Chumming with Sardinas brought in football Yellowfin, Skipjack and Bonita as well as lots of needlefish. Small Dorado shoed up after a while and there was an occasional Wahoo appearing and cutting off hooks. Late in the week as the Porpoise came closer to the Cape there were Panga fishermen out working the Yellowfin and doing well. The traditional inshore fish such as Sierra, Roosterfish, Jacks and Snapper have bee shy this week.
NOTES: I know that the Tuna are appearing in numbers because on Saturday a Super Seiner appeared in front of Cabo and just drifted around for the day. When you have a mile of net stacked on the deck and a helicopter for spotting fish on the bow, you are not here for fun and partying. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that they leave the fish alone close to us and that no more of them show up for a while. The weather is getting nice, football season is progressing well, I have television at home now, my golf game is improving and my starboard engine is being re-built and should be back in the boat on Wednesday. Life is good and just keeps getting better! For those of you going fishing this week, tight lines! Try playing a little bit of Jimmy Buffet from his 1990 MCA release “Feeding Frenzy” and get in the mood, it works for me!
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