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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
April 16, 2001
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
"Fly Hooker" Daily Fish Report
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 11 APRIL 2001
This is Easter week and here in Cabo San Lucas we are inundated with Mexican nationals from the Mainland who come on vacation. Our group on the “Fly Hooker” today is one such family, here from the state of Sinaloa. They really want to catch Marlin and Yellowfin Tuna and take home fillets for the house. Juan and Manuel do pretty good today in getting them what they want. The warm water moved in a bit closer yesterday and they started trolling only 5 miles out, looking for Marlin. Sure enough, there they were, right on the temperature break! The first group was a spread of five fish, all swimming together. Two live baits were tossed out and both baits were bitten. One fish was fought from the bow of the boat as the other was fought from the stern. After about 45 minutes of this, both fish managed to break off. While this fight was going on, Manuel received a call on the radio that the Tuna were on a wide open bite while mixed in with porpoise in an area only 3 miles from where they were. As soon as the fish had broken off the lures went back in the water and the “Fly Hooker” headed towards the Tuna bite. In a span of less than 10 minutes another Marlin was hooked up on a lure and again after about 20 minutes the line was broken. Juan later told me that the line being broken in each instance was due to the inexperience of the anglers and their excitement. Lines back in the water again and the Tuna were about 2 miles away from the boat when Manuel spotted another tailing Striped Marlin. Juan tossed the bait to this one and this time after a 50-minute fight a fish of about 100 pounds was boated. Lines in the water again and in another 5 minutes another bait was tossed to another Marlin. Again this was a hungry fish and after 20 minutes Juan had leader in hand. The swivel was at the rod tip and Juan was working the fish to the boat when the leader parted due to the amount of chafing this fish had put on it. Several more Marlin were seen but no takers were found and by the time this last fish was brought to the boat the Tuna school had gotten too far away. The “Fly Hooker” returned to port having tossed bait or hooked 7 Striped Marlin, releasing one and boating one. Not a bad trip considering how lousy the fishing had been just last week! Until next time, Tight Lines from the “Fly Hooker” crew!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 12 APRIL 2001
Randy Schettinger and his friends Zack, Todd and Paul had booked the “Fly Hooker” for today and said that if they caught fish, liked the boat and crew, they were interested in a couple more days. Today was a meat-hunting trip, and after hearing of the Tuna excitement yesterday they decided that Tuna fillets were the order of the day. Juan and Manuel were happy to oblige and within two hours of fishing they had managed to boat 24 Yellowfin between 15 an 30 pounds and release several more. With the fish box full they started a search closer to shore for Marlin. Instead they managed to pick up a small Dorado of about 10 pounds. No Marlin were sighted by them today but they decided that the action was good enough and that Juan and Manuel knew their stuff well enough that another two days fishing were on order. Unfortunately the boat was already booked for Saturday, they waited too long for that day, but tomorrow they are going again, this time in search of Marlin. As the rest of us got into the van for the return to the hotel, Todd decided that he needed to relieve himself against the tin fence bordering the dirt parking lot. I saw this going on and told the other guys that it was not a good idea to do this here because sometimes the police would take you to jail for it. Guess what? Yep, just as Todd got into the van, a policeman grabbed his arm and there were four others headed our way! I knew that this was a shakedown attempt so advised Todd to stay cool. Telling the police that we were tourists with limited amount of Spanish we apologized for what had been done and asked how much the ticket was going to be and where was the police station so we could go pay the fine. Of course there was no ticket, the cop informed us that the fine was $40 U.S. and that if we did not pay the fine Todd would be taken to the police station and placed in jail for the weekend! Yeah, sure! We waited for the van to arrive and after about ten minutes the cop made a real phone call. 5 minutes later the police van showed up and Todd was taken over to it and we prepared to follow him to the station. Before going in the van Todd Took out a big wad of cash and handed it to one of the other guys and said he did not want to lose all his money on the way to the station! The sergeant in the police van almost laughed at the parking lot cops calling him for someone peeing on a fence and told the cops to let Todd get back on his vacation! After a stern warning about peeing in public (when there are no public restrooms) Todd was released, having not paid a peso in mordida to the cops. Todd thought it was pretty funny, being given a warning about peeing in public by a cop who had tried to shake him down! Bet none of the guys ever tries that down here again! Well, lets see what the fishing tomorrow brings. I’ll write tomorrow and let you know the results. Until then, tight Lines, and keep it in your pants in public!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 13 APRIL 2001
The second day for Randy, Zack, Paul and Todd the Hoser! A Marlin search is in order since they caught plenty of Tuna yesterday. To make a long day short, they saw four Striped Marlin that they were able to toss bait to and none of the fish were interested. Juan said there was one other Marlin spotted but it went down before they got to toss any bait in its direction. This was in the area of the temperature break but luck was not on their side today. The have booked another boat for tomorrow so I hope for their sakes they get a chance to catch at least one before they fly back on Easter Sunday! Good Luck guys, and Tight Lines tomorrow!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 14 APRIL, 2001
Brian and Pamela Niedkaup were the anglers aboard the “Fly Hooker” today. Brian has fished with Juan and Manuel before but this is the first time for Pamela. She doesn’t like to see the bloody part of fishing so is not real sure if she is going to enjoy this trip or not. Brian was supposed to be fishing with a buddy but his friend forgot to bring a copy of his birth certificate to the airport when they were leaving home so he won’t get here until later today. Brian just wants to have fun and catch fish, last time they caught a lot of Tuna. Juan and Manuel decide to head out a bit further than they went yesterday, this time they are after Yellowfin as opposed to Marlin. They finally found a school of Tuna 32 miles out and Brian had fun catching 9 nice fish in the 15-25 pound range. Juan filleted them and everybody got to take home several gallon Ziploc’s of beautiful fillets, almost 90 pounds worth total! On the way back in Brian spotted a Marlin under the surface and pointed it out to Juan. At first Juan said it was a shark because there were no fins above the surface, but after several seconds decided that Brian was right and he ran down the ladder from the bridge to toss live bait at the Marlin. This first bait swung back into the lure pattern as the fish ignored it and Juan retrieved and recast. This time the Marlin spotted the bait and took off with it. After about 25 minutes of fighting Juan was able to grab the leader. The action really started then, and as Juan worked the fish close enough to grab the bill there was water being tossed everywhere! Just as the grab for the bill was made the Marlin succeeded in wearing through the leader! A successful catch and release and the total catch for the day went up by one! It was a nice ride back to the Marina and the “Fly Hooker” was proud to be showing the blue Marlin flag with the red triangle for the release below it. And let’s not forget the Tuna flags! Brian and Pamela thanked Juan ands Manuel for a good trip and went up to Margaritaville to wait for their friends to show up so they could tell them all about the trip! Thank you Brian and Pamela, Juan and Manuel enjoyed fishing with you and look forward to the chance to serve you again as Captain and crew aboard the “Fly Hooker” Until then, Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 15 APRIL, 2001
Todd Lynch and his friends Rick and Vance were referred to us by a good friend as the people to go with when they came to Cabo. Todd’s dad just passed away and Todd needed a chance to get away and relax after having cared for him the past 5 months. These guys have never done any fishing like this before and they are really looking forward to the chance to tie into something big. Juan and Manuel decide that south seems to be where the action has been so they head that way one more time. About 18 miles out they slow down and start to put out the lures, Juan has decided that the signs are good here. It was the right place as he had just placed the third lure in position and getting ready to run it up the outrigger when it was popped out of his had by a Yellowfin Tuna! At almost the same time the other two lines went off and there were three anglers fighting three fish! What a way to start the day! After getting the 20-25 pound Tuna in the boat they made another pass over the same spot, this time four lines went off at once! Other boats began to make a beeline for the area since these were blind strikes with no fish or porpoise showing. Everyone thought that one of these fish was going to be a beast. It was a fish that Rick was fighting and it took him a very long time to get it up to the boat. It was actually the smallest of the bunch; it had just been hooked in the side instead of the mouth! Oh well, it could have been a big one! One more pass over the area resulted in one more fish and by the time that one was in the boat there were so many other boats there that the fish had gone down and refused to bite any more. The remainder of the day was uneventful with no other signs of action in the area the “Fly Hooker” went. No Marlin were sighted and the wind started to pick up just a bit about noon. After the return to the dock the guys took a large bag of fillets and headed back to the hotel for a nap, with the decision made to check out the Cabo Party scene after recovering! Thanks guys and we look forward to seeing you again on the “Fly Hooker!” Until then, Tight Lines!
Cabo San Lucas Fish Report
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR APRIL 9-14, 2001
Capt. George Landrum
“Fly Hooker” Sportfishing
[email protected]
WEATHER: We finally got an extremely nice week! It was sunny all week long; just a very light overcast for the last half of the week. The wind blew very strongly starting Monday afternoon but had died off by mid afternoon Tuesday. Gusts were recorded to 64 knots on the Pacific side and 48 knots at Chileno! A lot of the boats cancelled their trips for Tuesday morning but the boats that did go out found good fishing on the Sea of Cortez side near shore. The rest of the week the conditions were near perfect. Temperatures were between 65 and 82 degrees all week and once again we had no rain.
WATER: The Pacific side has continued to be a bit choppy, except for Tuesday, and then it was unfishable! The Sea of Cortez side of the Cape and the area just to the south of the Cape in the current line have continued to have decent water conditions for fishing. The most important consideration this past week was the water temperature. At first we were afraid that the winds on Monday were going to continue and blow more cold water our way. Thank goodness they died down! That gave the warm water a chance to creep back to us. At the beginning of the week we started to see temperatures in the 70’s again, at least on the Sea of Cortez. Temperatures on the Pacific side have remained cool, but as the wind stayed down the warm water moved in from the east. The temperature break has moved as far west as the west side of San Jaime Bank and there appears to be a 5-degree difference between the warm side at about 70-71 degrees and the cool side at 65-66 degrees. The difference is covered in a width as small as two miles.
BAIT: The usual here, larger baits at $2 each with many more Caballito available than Mackerel. Sardinas are once again available now that the water warmed up a bit and the heavy surf conditions died down. Prices on these have been at $20 for a couple of scoops in San Jose and a bit higher here in Cabo San Lucas.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Good news! With the water temperature warming up and the moon fading towards new we saw an upsurge in the number of Striped Marlin sighted and the number of hookups being reported. Most of these fish were found beginning on Wednesday and the concentration seemed to be 5-10 miles offshore on the Sea of Cortez side. This area had a small temperature break where the warm 70-degree water abutted cooler 65-degree water that held inshore. Many boats reported seeing as many as a dozen Striped Marlin in a trip and quite a few of these fish were traveling in packs of three or more. They were hungry also, and that made it all the more exciting. Hook ups were about evenly split between live bait tossed to tailing fish and fish that came in on lures. At the tail end of the week the fish appeared to have spread out a bit more as the temperature break disappeared. The average size was down; most of the ones I heard about and saw were in the 100-pound range.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Good news in this department also! The Porpoise showed up and the Tuna were with them on Monday, but they were out 40-50 miles. The boats that found them had a hard ride back when the wind started to pick up that afternoon. On Tuesday the boats that went out found the porpoise and fish much closer to home, within that 5-10 mile range of the shore. The bite went wide open on Wednesday and continued throughout the week until Saturday, then they moved a lot further offshore again.. Most of the fish were in the 15-30 pound range but a few were caught that were in the 60 pound to 80 pound range also. Although kept as a secret for the first few days of the week, it didn’t take long for word to get out that Gordo Banks was holding Tuna again, and that the average size was up considerably. Most of the fish that were found early in the week were in the 60-100 pound class but a few up to 200 pounds were reported hooked up also. The fish in the porpoise schools were falling for cedar plugs and feathers in green/black and pink. The fish at Gordo Banks, while larger, were being much more picky and would only bite well on Sardinas, large baits were just not working on them this past week. A few of the boats have started working spreader bars again and are having luck with larger fish outside the edges of the banks and ahead of the Porpoise pods.
DORADO: I wish I could say that the Dorado bite has picked up, but that is not the case. Hopefully it will happen soon but for the time being they have been an incidental catch and most of the fish have been on the small side, averaging just 10-12 pounds. A lot of the ones caught this week were found mixed in with the tuna so they were caught on small feathers. An occasional patch of seaweed showed up. Probably knocked loose up north by the strong swells last week and when these were found the first few boats there had good action on larger Dorado. The bite dropped off a lot as the traffic at the patches increased and if you were the fifth or later boat there you may as well have stayed away! The action was had on both live bait tossed to the patches and later on by chunking the patches after the fish got a bit shy.
WAHOO: What Hoo? Boats wanting to brag about catching something flew the red Wahoo flags I saw a lot of this past week. It turned out that in every instance I came across, the Captain or mate chuckled when I asked them and then admitted that they were flying them for the “Mexican Wahoo”, Sierra! I am sure some boats actually caught Wahoo this past week but I did not come across any personally nor did I hear any second-hand stories of them being found.
INSHORE: Inshore action really fell apart this past week. I don’t know for sure what the problem was, perhaps water temperature, clarity or bait availability, but the action was very slow for the normal inshore species. A fair bite was on for the Sierra, but not red-hot action, to be sure. Roosterfish as well were slow and those that were found were on the small size. Skipjack and Bonito were the exception to the slow inshore bite; there was good action on these fish on the Sea of Cortez side. Yellowtail are not biting as well as they were for the past two weeks and the Snapper action has dropped considerably as well.
NOTES: There is still a lot of Red Crab in the area and at some spots they are so thick that the water is solid red with them. They are in the harbor as well and the Caballito are having a field day feeding on them, almost looks like feeding time at the trout hatchery some evenings! This is Easter week and there are a lot of Mexican families taking holiday at the beach so beach conditions are crowded. The crowds should thin out after the 16th. There have been reports of several Yellowfin in excess of 300 pounds taken by the use of spreader bars. The Whales are almost gone from the area.
Capt George Landrum
“Fly Hooker “ Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
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