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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
June 4, 2001
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
"Fly Hooker" Daily Report
“FLY HOOKER” DAILY CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR 28 MAY 2001
Today the “Fly Hooker” had aboard Ryan Pessarra and four of his friends. These were really great guys, Juan and Manuel enjoyed fishing with them and they had a good time on the water. That was the objective from the start, they wanted to catch fish! Never mind the search for a monster, they wanted to have fun and they let us know at the beginning of the trip that action was more important than size! That was a good decision as the wind had been blowing all night and the water offshore was a bit choppy. Inshore on the Sea of Cortez was where the fish were to be found and it was not long before they were into the Roosterfish off of Chileno beach. The fish were between 10 and 15 pounds, down a bit in size from the 25-30 pound fish of a few days ago, but these fish were much more willing to bite. It did not take long for everyone to get a chance to catch a Rooster and with only two baits left they decided to give the offshore fishing a chance. Just as they were getting the gear changed out to go offshore one of the guys saw a Roosterfish right below the boat and decided to try hand feeding him a live bait. There went one of the two baits left and now there was just one to use in case the “Monster” showed up! Guess what? Yep, they went offshore and it was not long before they started to see Marlin tailing on the surface. Juan pinned the last live bait on a hook and tossed it out to one of the tailing fish and the fish ate it! The Marlin began to take a lot of line and as everyone got settled in for the fight another Marlin swam by and crossed overt the line, cutting off the hooked fish! No more live baits left and the decided to try back inshore with lures, maybe they Roosterfish were still there and willing to eat. It was a good guess but one that did not work out as they did not receive another bite for the rest of the trip. That was all right though, they had a great time and we will be happy to see them aboard the “Fly Hooker” again! Until then, Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” DAILY CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR 29 MAY 2001
Lee and Anita booked the “Fly Hooker” for a day of Marlin fishing, “Marlin only please!” was the phrase used! No problem, Juan and Manuel knew where the fish were; it was just a matter of getting one of them to bite. There has been so much bait in the water that most of the fish that have been spotted have not felt hungry and have ignored the offers. After traveling 35 miles out to where the warm water boundary coincided with the clear water they started to spot lots of fish! All n all they saw over 15 Marlin tailing during the trip, but they were only able to get one of them to bite on the live bait. Anita got to hold the rod as the fish made it’s first run and was ready to start reeling n the fish, but the hook was tossed on the second jump the Marlin made. A little disappointment over the catch but they were excited to get the chance to see so many fish on one trip. Hopefully they will get a chance to go out again during this vacation. We sure hope they do and look foreword to seeing them aboard the “Fly Hooker” again soon! Until then, Tight Lines!
OUR CAMPING/FISHING REPORT FOR MAY 31-JUNE 1, 2001
I know this is abnormal for our fishing report, but things were a bit slow this week and I managed to get some time off so Mary, myself and our friend Sandy (manager of Viva Cabo Hotel) decided to spend a night camping on the East Cape! Mary and I have only been up in that area once since we moved here a year and a half ago so we decided to make use of one of our many fishing contacts and inquire from an expert on the best place to go, one area that would combine ease of access with the possibility of catching some fish from shore. Gary Graham and his wife Yvonne operate “Baja on the Fly”, the only Orvis endorsed outfitter on the Baja. They specialize in light tackle and of course salt water fly-fishing and are really nice people. Gary had no hesitation in recommending a place for us to camp and gave us a hint on what to expect once we got there. He was also nice enough to stop by on the 1st to make sure everything was all right. Thanks Gary, would not have found the place without you!
I am getting too old to do the camping bit; at least that is what I decided after our return! Maybe it is just me, but I always thought that camping overnight involved a tent, sleeping bag, one pot, one pan, one coffee pot, a little food, plenty of beer and the dogs. It seems that the girls decided that camping meant that we had to move a household full of equipment! Not bad if you are in a state or federal campground, but when you have to hump all that stuff over 100 yards of hot, soft sand, it gets old real quick. Plus the fact that the beer disappears a lot faster than you thought it would!
Anyway, we got set up in the evening and the conditions could not have been nicer for surf fishing, the sun was going down at our backs, the wind had died down to nearly nothing and the bait was breaking just off the shoreline. We had another couple pull up in their rented V.W just before dusk and they set up a quick camp and introduced themselves. Wilson and his girlfriend were from Montana and this was the 5th of 5 days of camping on the East Cape, the next two nights were to be spent recovering in Cabo at a hotel! Wilson had more action from the fish that evening than the rest of us as he attracted the attention of a Barracuda that must have been at least 5 feet long! He was using his light tackle outfit, the one with 10-pound test line, and the Barracuda knocked his popper at least 4 feet in the air as it did a skyrocket attack! He quickly ran down the beach to get the heavy 20-pound outfit from his girlfriend but the fish never did come back. We watched fish crash bait up and down the beach but it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and without ATV’s we were never in time!
As the gloom set in we started fires and the termites came out! O.K., time to hit the sack and get up early!
The watch alarm woke me up at 5 am and I just lay there for an hour waiting for it to get light enough to start the mornings fishing. I believe I was the first to hit the beach and I worked my way down to the south as the sun started to rise. You would not believe the wonderful colors that we saw that morning! Every color in the rainbow shoed and displayed themselves in the sky and reflected themselves in the mirror flat water. Everywhere I looked up and down the beach I saw the tails of mullet breaking the surf and there was the occasional swirl of a larger fish as it chased small baitfish right in the wash. I had worked myself about 300 yards down the beach when right in front of me a Roosterfish chased a mullet into the surf break! That little mullet was skipping out of the water and every time he exited there was a humongous swirl behind him as the Roosterfish attempted to grab him. I think the Mullet managed to escape because I never did see a large boil right in the surf. I was watching so intently that I forgot that I had a rod and reel in my hand! By the time it had quieted down I had recovered my wits and proceeded to spent the next 15 minutes covering every square foot of water near there with the popper I had on! Darn, and I was ready for a big fish! I had one of my new Shimano 6500 Baitrunners loaded with 25-pound test and was just waiting for a chance to break them in on a nice fish! Hey, I wanted to do it before a client on the boat got a chance! A little while later I reached the rocky point where the beach turned to the west. It was there that I caught my only fish of the trip. I had repeatedly cast out to where three rocks forced the waves to break just a bit, about 20 yards out. There was some type of fish swimming around out there, just slowly going in big circles around the rocks and I was trying to get him to bite. Later on in the morning Wilson tried the same area and he said that the fish looked like a tarpon that had been wounded in the back, but at the light levels that I had it was impossible to say what kind of fish it was. After about the 5th cast my plug was nailed just before I was about to lift it from the water. The Barred Pargo weighed about 4-5 pounds and was not able to put up much of a fight against the drag I had set hoping for a 50-pound Roosterfish! That was all right though; at least I had caught a fish! I released it and worked my way back towards the camp.
Mary met me about halfway back with a tale of woe. She had hooked up a fish on the ultra light outfit I had set up and the rod had broken just above the ferrule during the fight. She managed to get the fish to the shore, Sandy was laughing at her the whole time! The fish was a croaker of about a pound and a half; fine fight on the 4-pound line she had used! After identifying the fish we released it and re-rigged her with another outfit.
As our trip drew to an end we opened up a package of smoked fish that we had brought for snacks and I decided to try a bit out on the water to see if anything would eat it. Sure enough it brought in a few small baitfish and we quickly rigged Mary up with two Sabiki hooks and placed a bit of smoked fish on each one. On the first cast she caught a small croaker that I hooked in the tail and tossed out as live bait. Nope, never did get a bite on it but at least we tried! It was a good camping trip and the fact that we did catch fish made it a good fishing trip as well. With a little more time and experience perhaps I will end up as a halfway decent surf fisherman! Until then, Mary, Sandy and I will keep trying! By the way, Sandy’s two Labradors, Dakota and Max were not too happy with the temperature that the sand ended up getting to by midday. We think they may have burned their paws a bit, so if you do go out to the beach, please make sure to treat your dogs right, they can get hurt by the conditions there. They have recovered fine now.
Until next time, Tight Lines!
George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, The "Fly Hooker" Crew
Cabo San Lucas Fish Report
CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING REPORT FOR 28 May - 3 June 2001
Capt. George Landrum
“Fly Hooker” Sportfishing
[email protected]
WEATHER: The week started out on a good note with the winds we had been having lightening up a bit and the daytime conditions being fairly nice. The prevailing winds during the early part of the week were from the west-northwest at 8 to 14 knots during the evening. Later in the middle of the week they died to nearly nothing and at the latter part, Friday and the weekend they picked up quite a bit and started to come from the south. No rain all week although we thought that the tail end of Hurricane Adolph might bring some moisture, instead it veered off to the west and we ended up with clear skies and no rain. Daytime temperatures were in the mid to high 90’s and the evenings were a very comfortable low to mid 80’s.
WATER: Early in the week the water on the Pacific side was a bit uncomfortable due to the choppy conditions caused by the wind but the middle of the week that condition disappeared. Even during the latter part of the week when the wind shifted from the south the water remained in fairly good shape. The big disappointment was the water temperature! We had seen the temperatures slowly climb into the high 70’s and low 80’s early in the week and the water clarity coincided with the temperature break. That got everyone excited and sure enough, the bit took off for at least one day of the week. Thursday was the day, and almost everyone experienced some outstanding action on Marlin and Dorado. It seems that as soon as things get a bit better something happens to put a damper on the action. We have hashed it over a bit and have reached the conclusion, after looking at the temperature maps and the weather maps, that the Hurricane’s passage to the southwest of us brought in some cooler waters from the Pacific side on the tail wind. Overnight the water temperature dropped by 10 degrees as far up the coast as the East Cape. Once that happened it seemed that the fish went into shock and the bite has been almost nothing and the water has turned green again. This is fishing and if it rains, it is going to pour! Now we have to hope that the winds stay down long enough for the water to warm back up and the color to clear.
BAIT: There has been no problem obtaining Caballito and Mackerel for live bait and the prices have remained at $2 per bait. I have no idea on the availability or price on Sardinas for the past week.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin fishing was fair to good during the early part of the week and most of the fish were caught on live bait. One of the reasons for this was the superabundance of forage out on the water. Every Marlin that we saw was stuffed with squid and we were surprised that the fish that were caught were able to fit anything else into them. This condition continued until Thursday when the wind and the cold water came in. The early part of the week was good enough for the boats to be seeing 12 -20 Striped Marlin a day, and a few boats saw more, but these fish were difficult to entice. After Thursday the fish had disappeared and it was rare to see a fish, at least in range of the Cabo charter boats.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Tuna are starting to recover a bit from the ravages caused by the purse seiner of two weeks ago, but they are still not a sure bet by any means. Gordo banks is pumping out a few for the boats that are willing to put in the time and work the area thoroughly and that is just about the extent of the action. A few fish are being found among the porpoise, but these mammals are still under extreme shock after being worked so hard by the seiners. The fish that have been caught have been school or football fish for the most part and boats using live bait on light line have taken them.
DORADO: Dorado have been one of the few bright spots for the week, at least until the water cooled off overnight. Most boats were able to find at least one or two of these great fish during the early part of the week, but as with the Marlin, they seemed to disappear with the cooler water moving into the area. The fish that were found bit on smaller Marlin lures or feathers, most of the fish were less than 20 pounds but a few did reach the 50-pound class.
WAHOO: What Who? (Again, sorry bout that). Full moon on the 6th, we’ll see if that helps.
INSHORE: The action was very good for the first part of the week for the boats working the shoreline for Roosterfish on both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez side. Some very nice Yellowtail are being caught as I am typing this just out in front off the arch and up the Pacific side off of the rocky points. There has been a fair bit on Skipjack Tuna, Bonito and Amberjack, plus the bite or larger sized Sierra has been from good to fair.
NOTES: The full moon is approaching and that is not good for the Marlin bite, but by the time the moon starts waning the temperature should be starting to warm up. The good point of this is that the Tuna should start to show themselves again real soon. June 1st was Mariners day here in Mexico and most of the boats, including us, gave the captains and crew the day off to celebrate. Naturally a few of the celebrants took advantage of the situation and there were quite a few boats going out on the second that either left very late or left shorthanded! As part of the celebration a few of the fleets had their boats fly every flag they had on board, just to give a bit of color to the marina. Sure, I’ll buy some of that swampland! This is the 3rd and almost everyone I came into contact with on the marina today asked why such and such fleet caught so many fish and the boat they went out on couldn’t seem to find any! When I explained what was going on there sure were a lot of people who felt they had been taken advantage of by the coyotes they had booked through! Guess the coyotes had been telling them that those flags actually represented the catch on Friday! Renters beware!
Until next week (and better news), Tight Lines!
Capt. George Landrum
“Fly Hooker” Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
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