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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
July 1, 2002
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo San Lucas Fish Report for June 24-30, 2002
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JUNE 24-30, 2002
WEATHER: Daytime highs have been up to 92 degrees and nighttime have been as low as 68
degrees. We had pretty gusty winds out of the west early in the week but now things have
mellowed out quite a lot. Scattered high clouds have kept the temperature down a bit in the
mornings. (Rocky Mountain Way)
WATER: The first part of the week saw very choppy water on the Pacific side of the Cape but
as warm water approached the winds laid down and it got quite nice. There was a shift in the
water this week. We started off with the Pacific side very cold out to 35 miles, that is where it
warmed up to 71-71 degrees. The Sea of Cortez was nice, the temps there were around 72
degrees just up the coast 10 miles. As of today the water on the Pacific side is cool only out three
miles, then it warms up to 70. Out 10 miles it warms to 72-73 degrees and starts getting nice and
blue. The Cortez side of the Cape now has a band of cold water in the 67-69 range all the way up
the coast to the East Cape. Here in Cabo it is 25 miles to the warm water, up the coast it is 5
miles out of Los Frailles. The Pacific lived up to its name the last three days of the week with low
swells and very little wind. (Turn To Stone)
BAIT: The normal mix of Caballito and Mackerel at the normal price of $2 per bait. (County
Fair)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: This week if you wanted a Marlin you had quite a run to get to the area. 95% of the
Marlin caught were found on the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape and you did not find them until
you were 6 miles or more to the east of Gorda Banks. This meant a run of 30 miles. There were
a few caught on the Pacific side but again, they were a long distance away, 30+ miles. When you
did find them, there were a lot of them. This week most of the action for marlin came from live
bait. There were a few Blue Marlin hooked up this week so our fingers are crossed that things
will begin to pick up! (Meadows)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The only places I heard reports of Yellowfin caught were in Dolphin pods.
There were a few found on both the Pacific and the Cortez but what action there was happened
mainly on the Cortez, and it was sparse. The fish were footballs, most less than 20 pounds and
were fooled with small 4” and 6” feathers in dark colors. (I’ll Tell The World About You)
DORADO: A few scattered Dorado up to 60 pounds in size were found on the Cortez side from
the same areas where the Marlin were caught. Most of the Dorado action came in the Pacific
waters out around the San Jaime Banks. Patches of Kelp, some of them 50’ in diameter, drifted
around and held a large number of fish. The first boats to find them this week had outstanding
action with fish averaging 30 pounds. A few days later the average was down to 15 pounds and
they were getting bite shy. Live bait appeared to be the ticket for the toads and the chickens
would hit almost anything tossed or trolled past them. Other than the Kelp patches there were
only a few fish caught. (Days Gone By)
WAHOO: A few were found under the Kelp on the Pacific side at the Jaime Banks. A live bait
rigged with a stinger hook on wire leader and a two ounce egg sinker on the main line worked for
a couple of fish. The bait was placed down 50 feet while still100 yards away from the Kelp, then
drifted to the patch. The Kelp fish were the only ones I heard of this week. (Wolf)
INSHORE: The Sea of Cortez side was slow all week for inshore action. Not much of a bite
going on for anything, but there were reports of a few Roosterfish and Sierra. The Pacific side
managed to get a good bite going on Red Snapper as the congregated close to the rocks in
spawning aggregations. Small live baits or 4” Rapalas got some of them to bite but many more
were lost in the rocks than were landed. A few small Dorado (lost fish?) were caught and there
was a little bit of a Sierra bite early in the week. (Welcome To The Club)
NOTES: We were seeing lots of Purse Seiners transiting the area this week and a few of them
made circles around us as we fished the Kelp patches at the San Jaime. Just checking them out as
I was marking no Tuna under them. The Kelp did have lots of Turtles resting in them. It looks
like things will pick up this week as the warm water on the Pacific moves in. Our fingers are
crossed (again!) that the Blue Marlin and the Dorado will come on strong. Oh, don’t forget the
Tuna! Till next week, Tight Lines! Written to the sounds of Joe Walsh on his 1985 cassette “The
Best of Joe Walsh”, MCA Records.
Fly Hooker Daily Fishing Report for June 24-30, 2002
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 25 JUNE, 2002
Jack Oda and his mom Lois are our anglers today and tomorrow. Jack’s wife Marcia and their
two daughters went fishing yesterday and the girls got sick so that is it for them. Jack is from
Seattle via Hawaii and Lois still lives in Hawaii so they are very familiar with our type of fishing.
They were here two years ago and fished the “Fly Hooker” then. Today we went where we have
been going the last two days, out to the San Jaime Banks. Eating fish was the name of the game,
Dorado, Yellowfin, Wahoo. A Marlin would be nice but mainly the smaller game. It was a two
hour run to get to the Jaime and the wind was a bit stronger than yesterday so the water had
chopped up a bit. After trolling for a while we saw three boats stopped in one spot so went to
check it out. The fish out here have been holding under patches of kelp, some of them as small as
a single strand. These boats were fishing one about 10 feet in diameter but we saw no one
hooked up. We made a pass on the patch with our lures and nothing happened so Juan took us
around one more time. This time a little Dorado came in on an outrigger lure and hooked up.
Small, but the first fish of the day and it went in the box just in case we found nothing else. We
continued working our way west across the Banks and spotted a Striped Marlin swimming on the
surface. We tossed a bait at it but the fish went down. A short distance away there was another
one we had a chance at but it also went down. Later we found several other patches of kelp that
were empty of life, as well as several pieces of 4x4 that were brand new, nothing under them.
Past the western peak of the Banks we finally got another Dorado, this one a bit bigger and then
hooked up a small Yellowfin. Lois reeled in the Yellowfin! It was time to turn around and cross
the Bank again on the way back and about midway we had a hard strike on the short rigger. I
saw a silver flash under the water when the fish struck and knew it was a Wahoo! No one else
saw the flash so they were unsure what we had hooked up. Jack got in the chair and it took a
while but the fish finished it’s first run. Jack gained about 50 yards of line and then the fish made
it’s second run, that one ended up with the rod tip bouncing up and down. Jack and I looked at
each other and we both said “Ono” at the same time. He has caught Wahoo (Ono in Hawaii)
before and that headshaking is a sure indicator. Now we had to be careful because they have
teeth like razors and this lure was rigged on monofiliment leader! Jack is an excellent angler and
as the fish got closer to the boat he maintained a steady tension and kept the rod tip down so the
angle of the line remained the same. When Juan got the leader Jack stood up and backed to the
center of the cockpit and backed the drag off a bit, just in case the fish made another run. Juan
grabbed the leader and maintained the steady retrieve with his hands at the level the rod tip had
been and as the Wahoo came to the transom I placed the gaff in it’s shoulder. Ono on board! We
took some pictures (you should be able to see them on our web site soon) and then it was time to
cruise home. Two Dorado flags, one Tuna flag and a Wahoo flag for the 60 pound fish! Jack has
never caught a Wahoo that large before and he is looking forward to having some “Ono” meals!
Lets keep our fingers crossed that the fishing tomorrow is as good as today’s!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 26 JUNE, 2002
Jack Oda and his mom Lois are on board early this morning and off we go the San Jaime banks.
The wind kept blowing all night and the water is rougher than it was yesterday plus it seems the
warm water has gotten farther away. Looks like a strong current coming down the Sea of Cortez
is sending warm water closer to us on that side but pushing it away as it wraps around the Cape.
It is a very choppy 2 hour run before we put lines in the water and the first half of the day is
boring. I am starting to think in terms of a no fish day! We had seen a couple of boats working
small patches of kelp but no one was hooked up at them. We did see a Marlin jump about three
hundred yards away and figured that was a sign of good things to come. And sure enough, come
they did. About twenty minutes after spotting the Marlin jumping we found a patch of kelp that
no one else had worked and on our first pass got a double strike, one small Dorado and one nice
Bull! After the fish were in the boat we made another pass and this time it was a triple strike, one
more Dorado and two small Yellowfin! Somehow in the excitement Juan lost sight of the kelp
and we did a search of the area without finding it again. It was time to start back anyway so off
we headed, to the east and across the banks again. We had found the fish 32 miles from the slip
so we had a ways to go. We continued trolling for a while then just like yesterday, we had a
strike in the middle of nowhere, again on the short rigger. This time it was a nice Bull Dorado
and after Jack had it in the boat it was time to cruise home. We entered the Harbor with four
Dorado flags flying, one Tuna flag and a white cocktail flag (only had one good tuna flag!).
Another excellent day on the water and now Jack can spend a bit of time with Marcie and the
girls, he has had his fishing fix! Thanks guys, we love you a lot and look forward to seeing you a
few more times before you return home!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 27 JUNE, 2002
Tom Berry has reserved the “Fly Hooker” for the next three days for his sister Gina and her
husband Paul, as well as their friend Pete. Paul has caught Marlin before so has no real interest in
getting into one himself but it would be all right for Gina and Pete to have the experience. Paul
would really prefer some fish for the table and all of them are good fishermen. With that in mind
last evening we met and looked over the temperature charts and discussed (over a few cervesas)
what the plan would be for the next three days. According to the plan, today is a check out day,
in other words we would do a bit of exploring. The warm water at the San Jaime Banks on the
Pacific side of the Cape continue to recede, yesterday out a distance of 35 miles, and they
considered that to be a bit on the far side for a run. I have not heard much on the inshore
conditions on the Sea of Cortez side but it looked promising on the temperature charts. Today’s
plan, work the shore from south of the Westin up to Palmilla point for a Roosterfish or Sierra, if
no action, head out to the Gorda Banks to check it out, then if there was still no action we would
go back toward Cabo and try a bit of bottom fishing. That was the plan. A slight problem with
the port starter got us going about 10 minutes later than anticipated and the bait we ended up
getting (Mackerel) was not the best I have seen. There were no Lisa or Caballito available, at
least according to our bait boat guys. On the way out Cabo bay we blew the impeller on the port
saltwater pump and that took another 30 minutes to replace. Sigh. We finally made it to the south
side of the Westin and received no action at all on the troll to the Palmilla. In came the lines and
out we ran to the Gorda Banks. At the Inner Gorda the only other boat we saw was a Panga dive
boat, no one fishing at all. It may have had something to do with the green water? On the radio
we got a report of good action happening 6 miles to the east of the Outer Gorda so we trolled out
in that direction, hoping for a Dorado or Wahoo as we passed over the Banks. Right before we
got to the area where the action had been reported Juan decided to change the lures. Three of the
lines were in when he spotted three Striped Marlin on the surface. I pinned on a live Mackerel to
the outfit standing by and made the toss. You could see the Marlin light up as they spotted the
bait and one of them made a rush at it. Another one of them made a pass at one of the two lures
still in the water but just swatted it. The Marlin that ate the bait munched it good and took off! I
put the lever to strike, waited for the line to come tight then attempted to strike. The word
attempted is used because it is hard to set the hook when the line breaks at about four pounds of
pressure! I am not sure it there was a weak spot or if another fish in the group swam across the
line, but I farmed the fish. Sigh. A short while later we spotted another one on the surface and
this time Paul was ready to toss the bait. He managed to get it out there but the fish had sunk
down and did not come back. We trolled for a while longer without any more action, though we
did spot several Marlin jumping and saw lots of Manta Rays and Black Porpoise. Time was
getting short and we decided to start the two hour run back toward the Marina so that we would
still have time to try a bit of bottom fishing. As Paul and Gina ate lunch and Pete slept (he had
partied a bit much last night!) I rigged a couple of bottom rigs then ate my own lunch. We
arrived off of Punta Ballena and Juan set us up for a drift from shallow to deep water. There was
no action other than small fish nibbles for the first drift so we started the second round in a
different spot. This time Pete had a couple of heavy strikes, one on a deep dropped live Mackerel
and one on a chunk bait, neither one of them came in. Paul got the only fish of the day when he
tipped a jig with a small strip bait and brought up a little grouper that may have weighed all of 20
ounces (and that may be an exaggeration!). It was now late and we decided that tomorrow would
be devoted entirely to bottom fishing. I went out and purchased another impeller to replace our
backup and also a bunch of lead sinkers in assorted sizes as well as barrel swivels and hooks.
Sure hope the action is better tomorrow!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 28 JUNE, 2002
Got 15 miles up the Pacific side in rough water going for Sierra and Snapper and had the port
water pump eat two impellers. Pete caught a Triggerfish as the boat drifted while repairs were
done. The Baitwell pump was hooked up to the raw water intake on the port engine and the boat
was back at the slip by noon. Mechanic rebuilt both port and starboard waterpumps, installed and
tested them. Port side bearing had gone bad and had caused the problems. Everything is fine
now!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 29 JUNE, 2002
Right now Paul, Gina and Pete just want to catch a fish, the kind is not really important so Juan
decides that outside Gorda Bank about 6 miles is the place to go. Boats caught lots of Marlin
there in the past two days along with some good size Dorado. We cruised for two hours before
putting lines in the water then trolled for three hours with no action. A lot of boats were in the
area but only one Marlin and one Dorado were caught while we were there. Juan decided that
with nothing happening on the outside that perhaps we might have better luck for Roosterfish so
we pulled lines and ran to La Laguna. We trolled three miles of coastline with no action so pulled
lines again and ran to the Westin. One more hour of slow trolling produced no fish. I talked with
Paul and Pete and we decided to go out tonight and bottomfish! I felt really bad about the trip
yesterday and the slow fishing they have had, plus tomorrow is my birthday and I would love to
have some fresh Snapper or Grouper for dinner!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 30 JUNE, 2002
After talking to a couple of other anglers last night Paul, Pete and I decided to change our
plans. We left the Marina at 3:30 this morning and tried to make bait out at the Cape. We
marked bait but couldn’t get any to bite so at 4:30 we started out to San Jaime. We were in no
rush and just put-putted along at 7 knots, taking it easy. The water was a little choppy for the
first 7 miles then smoothed right out. At 6:30 we put the lines out and at 6:45 had a triple strike
on small Dorado. We worked the area for a few more passes, hooked a few more fish then
continued on. We were looking for Kelp patches and about an hour later found one. The first
pass with the lures and everything got hit so after bringing the fish in we started working the
paddy with jigs and cut bait. Eventually the bite turned off and we continued on our way, hunting
for a fresh one. Through the course of the day we found a total of 6 paddies but only two of them
held any fish, perhaps the others had already been worked. All of the paddies had a turtle either
sleeping in the kelp or swimming around it. We ended the day catching 15 Dorado, releasing the
little ones, losing a lot at the boat or after a short fight and having a lot of strikes that did not
hook up. All in all it was a wonderful day on the water and a special way to spend my birthday.
Oh, except for almost cutting off a finger while filleting fish. Good thing there was a bone in the
way or it would be a lot shorter! Makes typing these reports a special event. Until next week,
Tight Lines!
Until next week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan, Juan2 and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker”
Crew
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