 |
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
June 24, 2002
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report for June 17-23, 20002
Capt George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING REPORT FOR 17-23 JUNE, 2002
WEATHER: Well, it finally looks as if we may be returning to the summertime weather we
were expecting so long ago. At the beginning of the week we were still having nighttime lows in
the low 60’s, now they are in the mid 70’s. Daytime temperatures have moved up as well, into
the low 90’s. We have had partly cloudy skies this week and on Saturday we had fog move in
and the entire Pacific coast was socked in all morning. Still no rain though. Winds have finally
laid down and we are just getting late afternoon breezes from the west or northwest. (Tahitian
Skies)
WATER: On the 17th things were still the same as last week. On the 19th the wind stopped
blowing all the time and the Pacific side got beautiful and flat. The warm water that was 40 miles
to the west is moving back into range of most of the boats and is now appearing on top of the San
Jaime Banks again. The water there is 73-74 degrees while the water between the Cape and the
Bank is as cold as 62 degrees and very green. On the Sea of Cortez side the cold water now
extends up the coast all the way to Los Frailles. It extends out as far as 40 miles to the east of
Cabo but narrows to 10 miles out up on the East Cape. (There’ll Be Some Changes Made)
BAIT: Bait has been a mix of Caballito, Mackerel and Mullet, depending on which day of the
week you went out. Bait is still $2 each. (Poor Boy Blues)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: If you wanted Marlin this week you had to travel to the warm water. At the
beginning of the week that meant a long run to and back with little left for fishing. As the week
progressed the warm water moved closer and the Marlin catch rate went up. Pretty much all the
fish this week came from the Pacific side past the Jaime Banks. We were still not looking at a lot
of fish but as the warm water moves even closer things should pick up. Those fish that were
found were mostly caught on live bait with about 20% on lures. (Just One Time)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Football fish between 8 and 20 pounds were found on top of the Jaime
Banks and there were a few larger fish found among the Dolphin in the area. Best baits were 6
inch feathers and cedar plugs. Elsewhere there were few, if any, Yellowfin found. (Sweet
Dreams)
DORADO: Fish of the week as the water got warmer. A few boats got very lucky and loaded up
on nice 20-45 pound fish well to the west of the Jaime Banks mid week and there are more of
them showing up on top of the banks now. There have been small mats of kelp floating through
the area and the first boat to one of them does well. Tuna feathers and Marlin lures, they don’t
really seem to care which they strike. It helped to have live bait because there were some good
size fish caught while dropping a live bait past a hooked up fish and tossing one around the kelp..
(Yakety Axe)
WAHOO: I have heard reports of a few nice fish caught out at the Pacific temperature break but
have seen none of them myself. There have been a few caught around the floating kelp also. Other
than that, nada. (I’ll See You In My Dreams)
INSHORE: Sierra have been the main catch this week inshore as the cold water has driven most
of the Roosterfish away. There have been a few Roosters caught up in the Margarita beach area
on the Pacific but not heavy action. Live baits, either Mullet or small Caballito for the Roosters.
The Sierra have been eating slow trolled (4 knots) 4” rapallas with the best colors being
green/silver and orange/white. Slow trolled Mackerel have been bitten in halve on a regular basis
so a trap hook has worked at times. There have been a few Yellowtail found while working the
coast and a few people have targeted them using iron. These fish are running 12-15 pounds. The
shore waters have been very cold but appear to be warming up a bit. (The Next Time I’m In
Town)
NOTES: No predictions, just finger crossing here, but it looks as if the fishing is finally going to
improve for us as the warm water gets closer. This weeks report written to the wonderful guitar
sounds of the two masters, Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler on the 1990 Columbia CD “Neck and
Neck”. If you like the guitar and haven’t heard this album, do yourself a favor and get it.
Fly Hooker Daily Catch Report
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 17 JUNE, 2002
Our anglers today are Scott and Debbie Green and their 13 year old son Andrew. Scott and
Andrew attended the Anchorage Boat Show earlier this year and filled out a slip for the Grand
Prize drawing. A few days later Scott heard his name on the radio and learned he had won a trip
to Cabo San Lucas, airfare for two paid, accommodations paid and a one day trip with us, paid.
Nice people and this is their first time out of the U.S. Our objective today was to get them onto a
fish, any kind of fish would be good since the bite has been off! Andrew has caught a 76 pound
Halibut and knows his way around a fishing reel so we are in fine shape there. Checking the sea
surface temperatures we decide to head up the Sea of Cortez, past the Gorda Banks, and look for
Marlin or Dorado. If that doesn’t work out then we have a chance to get a Roosterfish inside on
the way back. It was wonderful water on the way to the banks and the boat just rumbled on and
after 2 hours we were ready to set lines. With the lines out we began the search pattern and not
until we were 30 miles from Cabo did we spot our first Marlin. It was just about three inches of
the tail sticking out of the water and it took everyone a little bit of time to realize what they were
looking at. By that time Juan had the boat alongside the fish and the bait was tossed. The Marlin
had no interest and went down. Oh, well, our excitement level was up now and we were all
looking for fish signs. We saw Porpoise everywhere, but they were not stacked up and feeding,
just lazily playing. We also saw three Turtles on the surface, sleeping, one of them was gigantic!
A baby shark was cruising around and we spotted another Marlin free jumping off in the distance.
About an hour after the first Marlin we spotted another fish tailing and the same thing happened,
the bait was tossed and the fish went down and disappeared. We had been enjoying the trip but
we needed to find fish so pulled in the lines and ran in to an area just to the north of La Laguna
and slow trolled Mullet, Caballito and Mackerel for an hour with absolutely no action. I was
starting to get a bit desperate and we decided to pull lines again and head towards Cabo and try
off the Westin. During this hour of slow trolling Andrew had a couple of strikes, on in which his
bait was bitten in half by a Sierra. That was all the action we had today, the only thing left for us
to do was run by the arch for pictures and feed the Pelicans on the way in. Everyone enjoyed the
trip even though we did not catch fish. Good water, good company and the knowledge that the
effort was put forth makes things all right, after all, the fish have to win sometimes!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 18 JUNE, 2002
Sue Reggio and her boyfriend Ron are fishing aboard the “Fly Hooker” today with Sue’s
daughter Kathy and her boyfriend David. They went fishing yesterday aboard a bigger boat and
tossed bait to 21 Marlin and had no strikes so today they just want a bit of fish action. Yesterday
the kids were not with them so the aim is to hook them up to something with fins and let them
have a good time. With that in mind we focused on Roosterfish on the Sea of Cortez. The water
is starting to cool off inshore so we have our fingers crossed. We cruised up the coast to the
Westin after getting Mullet and Caballito for bait. We spent several hours working the coastline
between Cabo del Sol and the Palmilla resort with nothing to show for the effort. That meant a
change in location so off we charged to La Laguna. Well, we had the same results there so with a
lot of fingers crossed we headed back to the Westin hoping that the change in tide would create a
feeding situation. Maybe we crossed enough fingers because finally we had some luck. David
hooked up to s Roosterfish that took him about 20 minutes to bring to the boat. It weighed about
15 pounds and was good for several pictures before we released it. Next it was Kathy’s turn and
she hooked up to one that may have been a bit bigger. her fight lasted about 15 minutes and she
had it to the boat several times before the hook finally pulled out. With several more strikes our
live bait situation was grim. One live (semi) mullet swimming around and several dead Mackerel
meant a change in plans for the last hour and a half. Hey, Mackerel makes fine cut bait so off we
headed to the area off of Punta Ballena to do a bit of bottom fishing. Sue was in charge of letting
all her fish go and she did a wonderful job of it. Several big Triggerfish came to the boat as well
as a couple of small grouper, all released. All in all, a good time was had and there were fish
caught!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 20 JUNE, 2002
Alan Kucinz, his wife Cindy and fishing fanatic son Max are here from New Jersey to fullfill a
chapter in dream fishing quest. Max is 13 years old and is an experienced fisherman. Cabo was a
chance for him to get a Marlin under his belt so they booked three days of fishing. We were
already booked the first two days they wanted and he managed to get his Marlin plus a 42 inch
Roosterfish. He has a long list of fish he would like to catch so our job today was to find
something different. We decided that he hadn’t caught a Sierra, Amberjack or Snapper yet, nor
had he caught a Yellowfin Tuna, so those fish were the ones we would aim for. According to the
plan, we were going to work our way up the Pacific coast to the Los Arcos area searching for the
inshore fish on the list and if nothing happened there, run out to the Jaime Banks and look for
Yellowfin. Everything went according to the plan except for the fish themselves. No strikes at
all! I sure am glad he got the other fish on his previous days of fishing because we just couldn’t
produce today. Max, I hope your next fishing trip produces more new species for you, good luck
and tight lines!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 21 JUNE, 2002
Sue Reggio and her boyfriend Wayne decided to fish with us again today and brought along
three friends, Wayne and Elaine and I can’t remember the other ladies name. They just want to
catch fish and Ron says that even Mackerel would be fine as far as they are concerned. Ok, up
the pacific coast looking for Sierra. Juan cruised the boat up to the Margarita area before starting
to fish, that was an hour and a half before lines in the water. We picked up one stray Sierra
before finding a concentration of fish and when we did we had steady action. Off of the
Migrienos area we found snapper feeding on the surface and managed to catch 7 of them on small
Rapalas. Also we ended up with 7 Sierra for the day. Everyone had a blast and the water was
beautifully flat and calm. Thanks Ron, good suggestion and the 20 baits we bought on the way
out sure made the Pelicans happy, didn’t they?
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 22 JUNE, 2002
Friends Jeff and Jeff were our anglers today and they also just wanted to catch fish. Jeff 1
really wanted a Marlin but when we explained that the chances right now were slim and involved
a run of three hours just to get to the water, he decided that the Marlin could wait till the next
visit in September. Juan decided that our best chance would be where the action was yesterday so
we had a long run up the Pacific side. Just outside the Pedregal we hit the fog and it was cold and
damp the entire trip. Once we reached the area all we had to show for it was one Sierra. There
was bait all over the place and the water temperature had dropped to 61 degrees. Both of those
factored into it I am sure. We did see a large Sunfish on the surface. An hour of that made a
decision necessary, stay there and hope for a change or go offshore looking for something else.
Jeff and Jeff were getting bored with the lack of inshore action so offshore it was. Our first
choice was to go out to Golden Gate banks, a short 8 mile run. We started in that direction and
while heading out managed to contact a couple of boats already there. They reported that the
water was very cold and they had no action so far that morning. All right, change the direction
and we were running to the San Jaime! 18 miles, ouch! The good news is that almost as soon as
we arrived there we put out the lures and had a double strike on football Yellowfin, one about 8
pounds and the other about 12 pounds. Our pulse was up, knowing full well that now we were in
some fish and there was likely to be some big ones in the area. Nope, nothing doing, that was all
the action we ended up with. Slightly disappointed in the lack of action but knowing we had
tried, we ran the hour and a half back to port. Thanks Jeffs, better luck next Saturday!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 23 JUNE, 2002
Larry and his wife Debbie and Paul and his wife Pat were our anglers today. They are from
Houston and have visited here in Cabo before, having fished three years ago. They had gone for a
boat ride on a different boat yesterday, never leaving sight of land, staying in the cold water the
entire time, the crew never coming down from the bridge or changing lures the entire trip. The
warm water on the Pacific has been moving closer every day and since we found some Tuna out
there yesterday, Juan decided that was our destination. Off we went with 10 nice fat Mackerel in
the bait tank. It was a bit cool on the run out and we got out of the cold green water about three
miles before the Bank. As we trolled over the bank, continuing west, we had no strikes at all, nor
did we mark any bait. It was not until we were five miles to the west of the San Jaime that we
finally saw some signs of life. That is when we started to see small patches of Kelp floating along.
We checked out several very small patches and found no fish then saw another boat hook up a
short distance away. We went there to check it out and saw them fighting a Dorado, plus the tail
of a Wahoo was sticking out of the fish box. All right, this patch is holding fish! We put out two
live baits and after a couple of passes, one of them was picked up and the fish made a long run.
The attempt was made to set the hook and all we got back was half a Mackerel. Wahoo strike, so
out went the Marauders and we trolled many time past and around the kelp, but had no other
strikes. The search continued and later a Marlin was spotted on the surface. A bait was tossed to
it but the Marlin just went down, no interest whatsoever. Eventually we turned around to troll
back to the Banks. 5 miles before we got there we had a strike on the bridge rod and it was
Debbie’s chance to fight a fish! Not a big fish, but it was enough to supply dinner as she brought
in a small Yellowfin Tuna. A short time later it was time to pull in lines and run in. Just because
we are headed back does not mean that the fishing is over though. We are always looking for fish
and about the same area where we started this morning we spotted another Marlin. The boat was
slowed and two baits were rigged up. The first one was tossed a little short of the fish and then
the other one landed right in front of him. The Marlin came in to it and ate with no hesitation.
Larry was on it in a flash and the fish made a long, strong first run. Sometime during that run the
fish must have gotten tailwrapped or tangled in the leader because it was a very strange fight. No
large leaps, just a couple of instances of head thrashing and he appeared on the surface, looking as
if he was not even hooked most of the time. About 60 feet from the boat the wraps came off of
him but he was still docile right up to the boat. At least he was until Juan took the leader! As
soon as Juan had half the leader in the boat the fish must have been startled and made a sudden
lunge. Juan had to drop the leader he had taken and the fish made a beautiful full body lunge right
at the transom, from right to left, side towards us! Awesome! Then the leader broke. Right
where the wraps had been. A legal catch since the leader had been taken by Juan but we had no
chance to place a tag. Oh well, we did get a Striped Marlin of about 150 pounds! Way to go
Larry, you did a masterful job on that fish. We saw no other fish on the cruise back and ended up
entering the Marina flying a Marlin and a Tuna flag. Thanks guys, we enjoyed having you on the
boat.
Until Next week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan, Juan2 and Manuel, The “Fly Hooker”
Crew!
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
