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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
December 4, 2000
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo San Lucas Fish Report
CABO SAN LUCAS FIS REPORT FOR NOV. 27-DEC 3, 2000
Captain George Landrum
“Fly Hooker” Sportfishing
[email protected]
WEATHER: It has been a bit cool in the evenings and mornings this past week! I have needed a sweater or light jacket when on the boat in the mornings. Nighttime temperatures have been as low as 63 degrees and daytime highs as high as 85 degrees. Friday and Saturday were partly cloudy and the remainder of the week was nice and sunny. No rain this week!
WATER: It’s starting to cool down out there and the catch is beginning to show the results. Water temperatures on the Pacific side have ranged from 75-79 degrees and on the Sea of Cortez from 82 to 79 degrees. The water is cooling down but it has also stayed very calm all week. Light winds and small swells made for wonderful fishing conditions. Saturday afternoon the wind started to shift and it came from the south all afternoon and into the evening but by Sunday morning it had returned to normal.
BAIT: Caballito has been readily available at $2 per bait but the Mackerel has been difficult to get. Sardines are available here in Cabo at $25 per scoop but you can get a bait tank full in San Jose for the same money if you are headed that way.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The cooling water has resulted in the catch of Blue Marlin dropping off to almost nothing. The Hotel and Restaurant Tournament held on the 30th, 1st and 2nd had no qualifying Marlin weighed in. The fish had to be over 300 pounds. This was three days of fishing with 36 boats entered. The bite has been very good for the Striped Marlin for almost all of the week except on Tuesday. The Striped Marlin have been close to home also, making for very short runs to the fishing grounds, most of the time taking less than 30 minutes to get to the right area. The concentration of Striped Marlin has been shifting on a daily basis with the effort concentrated on the Pacific side from ½ mile offshore to 8 miles out and between the Arch and just north of the lighthouse. Most of the Marlin have been caught while “bottom fishing” live bait. Drifting with 6-8 oz. lead sinkers ahead of 10 feet of 125 lb. leader with a 9/0 live bait hook and a lively Caballito sunk to 120 and 150 feet has been producing on a consistent basis. Slow trolling with the bait off of downriggers has also worked very well. The catch has varied from 1 to 6 fish per day for the boats using these techniques. This is not the only method producing as lures have been working as well, but the ratio has not been quite as high as drifting the live bait.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Early in the week there was a strong showing of fish in the 50-100 pound class out about 30-45 miles. These fish were found with the porpoise but mid week the seiners moved in and disrupted the concentrations. With the fish scattered out it became more difficult to find the large ones but a few boats were lucky enough to get into them. A Yellowfin Tuna won the Marlin Tournament. Many in the 70-80 pound class were brought in, most of them caught in the porpoise while pulling big lures for a Blue Marlin. Large numbers of the football fish were being caught just outside the Arch and at Punta Ballena by the boats using sardines, but there were also a lot of hungry seals and sea lions in the area. I know of one Panga that hooked 10 Tuna but only got one whole fish to the boat, there were nine heads brought in.
DORADO: These fish are getting a bit skimpy as I reported last week. The largest fish of the tournament in the Dorado class was a 51-pound fish, one of five caught by one boat. All of their fish were between 30 and 50 pounds. Sometimes you get lucky and they did! It was reported that they had found some floating debris out 42 miles and the Dorado were the result. The rest of the boats in the marina have been lucky to get a few Dorado every day and most of them have again been in the 8-15 pound range. Feather jigs and small live bait have worked best on the Dorado this week.
WAHOO: Several large Wahoo were weighed in during the tournament with the largest being over 70 pounds. There were a number in the 30-40 pound range but no one had more than two of these speedsters. These fish were caught on Marlin lures while fishing the open water and the edge of the Banks. The rest of the week showed mixed results with only a few of the charter boats finding any Wahoo.
INSHORE: Still the same news as last week! Small 5-10 pound Roosterfish, few Sierras showing yet and an off-green color to the water close to shore on the Pacific side. Most of the near and in shore catch has consisted of football Yellowfin Tuna, Bonito and Skipjack with a few Dorado tossed in for good measure.
Until next week,
Tight Lines!
Captain George Landrum
“Fly Hooker” Sportfishing
[email protected]
Fly Hooker Fish Report for Nov 27-Dec 3
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 28 NOVEMBER 2000
Troy and Carolyn Prigdon are excited to be going fishing today, especially since we have told them about the action Juan and I had the day before. They are really looking forward to catching a Marlin and that is the goal as the boat leaves the dock. Juan and Manuel head out to the Pacific off the lighthouse, where the fish were yesterday. The key word here is yesterday. The fish had disappeared and no one could find them. Everyone worked hard but there were no bites reported from anyone in the area, at least not from Marlin. A few of the boats caught Yellowfin Tuna on the big Caballito and that was also the only action for Troy and Carolyn. They managed to get two football sized Yellowfin, about 15 pounds each, but never had a “for sure” Marlin hook-up. Juan thinks that the first fish they had a bite from may have been a Marlin, but there was no way to tell for sure. Most of the boats, including the “Fly Hooker”, gave up on the live baiting and resorted to trolling in an attempt to find the fish again. No further luck for the Prigdons and they returned to the dock without catching the Marlin they had been hoping for. I am sorry, but perhaps next time you will have better luck. Until then, Tight Lines from Juan, Manuel, George and Mary, the “Fly Hooker” crew!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 30 NOVEMBER 2000
Mike, Heather, Bruce and Norm booked the “Fly Hooker” for the day and want to go out and catch a bunch of fish to take home. They also want to catch a Marlin and if they don’t catch anything else they want to kill it and take the meat home. As everyone knows, I encourage tag and release of all Billfish. The only time I don’t have a hard time with taking one for the table is if the fish has died during the fight or had been so damaged that it’s chances of surviving are extremely slim. Juan and Manuel are the same when it comes to releasing Billfish. We convinced them to try for Dorado and Tuna in the morning in an attempt to get the eating fish to take home and go for a Marlin later, that way they would have the best chance at a cooler of fillets. At 11 am they had three Dorado in the box and had lost two more. Juan asked if they wanted to go and try for Marlin now and they said no, keep going for the Dorado and Tuna. Well, no more of those for the “Fly Hooker”, it appeared that what bite there was happened in the morning. Heather spent much of the trip sleeping in the cabin and had all the bags in there with her. Everyone was a little disappointed when they disembarked at the end of the day, but fishing is fishing and some days are better than others. Better luck next time! Until then, Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 3 DECEMBER 2000
Today Tim and Jo Lawrence from Anchorage are the “Fly Hooker” anglers. They have booked the boat for today, the 6th and the 8th. Tim and Jo are on a belated honeymoon, having married 3 months ago but not being able to get away until now. They have a tackle shop at home and they build custom rods and teach others to do the same. Think they brought some nice gear with them? You’d be right if you thought so! The target is Striped Marlin and the bite yesterday was in the same area it had been early in the week. After a 15-minute run they arrived at the lighthouse and began to drift fish with live bait. In hardly any time at all they were hooked up to a double header of Striped Marlin! Both fish were brought to the boat after about 25-30 minutes and tagged, then released. The action continued throughout the morning as they caught and released two more on live bait before the bite shut down. Later they went trolling and caught and released two more Striped Marlin on lures! Tim caught four of the fish and Jo caught 2 for a total of 6 Striped Marlin released for the day! Outrageous! And they get to try it again! That’s why I love this place and they call it the Marlin Capitol of the world! Fishing like this doesn’t happen every day but when it does it’s something you never forget! Until next time, Tight Lines from Mary, George, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” crew!
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