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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
August 26, 2002
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hot Cabo Bite Report
Capt George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR AUGUST 19-25, 2002
WEATHER: We had an interesting week weather wise here as the evening temperature dropped
into the high 60’s and low 70’s in the middle of the week. Nice and cool, great for sitting around
on the patio and relaxing! The daytime highs stayed in the mid 90’s and we had very little cloud
cover and no rain. Hurricane Fausto passed 900 miles to the south of us and had no effect on the
weather here. Night time temperatures returned to the low 80’s at the end of the week.(Shoot
Out The Lights)
WATER: Our water on the Pacific side of the Cape has remained in the 76-82 degree range and
the Cortez side has remained in the 82-89 range. The dividing line was the Cape with the Pacific
water staying cool in a line to the west and north of the Cape. Hurricane Fausto brought large,
long storm swells to our area and there was a bit of windy weather early in the week that had died
away by Friday. This resulted in pretty rough conditions late in the day from Wednesday through
the rest of the wek on the Pacific side. (Two Left Feet)
BAIT: Caballito and Mullet were easy to get at the normal $2 per bait but this week I saw no
Mackerel in the bait wells. Again, no word on the Sardinas. (I Ain’t Going To Drag My Feet
No More)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: It must be the full moon affecting the bite because suddenly the Marlin developed
closed mouths. When you toss baits to a dozen of them and not one shows an interest there has
to be something going on. There were still Striped Marlin being caught this week, just not in the
numbers we were seeing the past two weeks until this weekend, when the bite picked up again on
the Pacific side. Blue Marlin were still around and biting this week, but again, not in the numbers
of the past two weeks. The Marlin that were caught were almost all on bait and were found on
both sides of the Cape, with concentrations at the 95 spot, 1150 spot and at the Pacific banks.
(Tear Stained Letter)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were some nice sized Tuna reported this week early on from the
outside of the Gordo Banks. These fish were in the 80-150 pound class and were found with
Dolphin. The bite was good for one day then the fish and Dolphin moved on. On Wednesday
there was a good bite on school fish (35-45 pound) associated with Dolphin in front of the Grey
Rock area. In other areas there were football Tuna found on occasion but not in any thick
schools or great numbers. (From Galway to Graceland)
DORADO: Dorado seemed to be the fish of the week and even with them the bite dropped off a
bit. Most boats were getting between two and six Dorado per trip with the sizes ranging between
15 and 25 pounds with an occasional larger fish, to 70 pounds, tossed into the mix. Best action
was with live bait and many of the boats drifted or slow trolled live bait in areas where they had
either raised or caught a fish on the troll. Sometimes boring, it did produce fish for some of the
boats. (Borrowed Time)
WAHOO: Other than Wahoo found under a dead whale 38 miles out, there were very few taken
this week. Those that were found were caught in the blind while looking for other fish. (Back
Street Slide)
INSHORE: The focus for most of the Pangas this week was Dorado, and most of the boats did
well using live bait slow trolled just off the coast. The best action was on the Pacific side but the
Roosterfish bit well on the Sea of Cortez side off of the Westin and up around La Laguna past
San Jose. The Snapper and Grouper bite was sporadic, perhaps due to the full moon. (Walking
on a Wire)
NOTES: The action we were having the past two weeks dropped off a bit early in the week but I
think it has a lot to do with the giant full moon on Wednesday night. At 6:45 on Thursday
morning it was about 10 degrees above the horizon and looked like a giant tangerine! The bite
picked up again by mid-week so things are looking better. We have last quarter moon on the 31st
and new moon on Sept. 7th so those are dates to look forward to, the time between and just after
them should be great. I’ll let you know either way, and until then, Tight Lines! This weeks
report written to the music of Richard Thompson on the three CD set “The History of Richard
Thompson”, 1993, RYKODISC. If you like Van Morrison or Neil Young and haven’t listened to
anything by Richard Thompson, you owe it to yourself to check him out.
"Fly Hooker" Daily Reports
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 22 AUGUST, 2002
Our angler on the “Fly Hooker” today was Ray Leftwich. We put the boat back in the water
yesterday afternoon after three days of yard work and Ray and his wife Liz showed up as we were
heading out to check the work. They came along for the short checkout ride and we had a chance
to discus what Ray wanted to catch today. Guess what, Marlin was the key word. With this in
mind we headed out to the south of the Cape, intending to work a temperature break that ran
about 12 miles to the south. We had a giant, orange full moon setting at 6:45 on the way out,
beautiful to see but not the greatest time for Marlin fishing. But hey, sometimes it’s just being in
the right place at the right time. We got to the temperature break but didn’t find any fish there at
all, just a large Hammerhead Shark right off the boat and then a smaller one a few miles away.
We worked the edge of the break all the way back to the area of the 95 spot then turned towards
the spot to work it. We finally saw a Marlin on the surface there, a small one of about 60-70
pounds. Juan tossed a bait but the fish went down almost as soon as he started the toss and we
could not bring him up again. We continued across the area and about a half hour later, at 10:30,
we spotted a pair of Striped Marlin on the surface and again tossed bait. One fish went down as
we approached and the other followed it. We pulled the live bait for about 10 minutes, hoping
one of the fish would be tracking it and change it’s mind, but no dice. We saw one boat hooked
up in the area but the other boats we talked to on the radio said they were having the same kind of
luck we were. Juan and Manuel decided to troll up to the 1150 spot and we found another
Marlin tailing there. Or at least, Juan and Manuel saw it, Ray and I didn’t see the tail. They
tossed a bait and again we had the same result. By now Ray and I were getting a bit depressed,
we were finding some fish but they were not hungry. I had my fingers crossed that we would find
a Blue Marlin out in the area, the water conditions were perfect and I seem to have pretty good
luck with the Blues when the moon is big. No such luck though. We turned in toward the coast
to try in closer on the way back and about 7 miles out we spotted another Marlin on the surface.
This time when Juan swung the bait to toss it, he got hung up on the short flat line and muffed the
chance. We watched the Marlin swim down and disappear as the bait was unwound from the flat
line. That was all the action for us today. The area held some fish, but we saw only three boats
hook up all day. Reports from the area of the San Jaime Banks were good for Dorado and some
Tuna, but the Marlin bite was way off there as well. Sorry Ray, I guess that it will take another
try in order for you to get that Marlin. I hope you have better luck next time, but thanks for
trying today.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 23 AUGUST, 2002
John and Shirley Fortunata and their 22 month old son Nickolas were our anglers on the “Fly
Hooker” today and they want to take home fillets for the freezer. They are all fishing today and
then John is fishing on Sunday and Tuesday, spreading out the days to give him the best possible
chance. John normally fishes out of Lareto but this year decided to give Cabo a try. Juan and
Manuel were a bit worried about how Nick would handle the swells but the kid did just fine. It
ended up being Shirley who had a bit of trouble and she was glad to get to solid ground after the
trip! Juan and Manuel went out to the south of the San Jaime Banks looking for Dorado and
Tuna. During the course of the day they managed to pick up four Dorado. Juan said the largest
was about 25 pounds. I am going with them on Sunday and we will see if we get a little better
action then. We will keep our fingers crossed!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 25 AUGUST, 2002
Today just John Fortunato came on the boat as angler. Shirley was ready to go and she and
Nick were at the marina, but Nick got sick and they decided to stay in. Hopefully he will be
feeling better by Tuesday! Juan and I took the “Fly Hooker” out the Pacific side, west about 13
miles. There was a current break there and lots of black Porpoise. The ride out was rough but
worth it. The first fish of the day was a Striped Marlin of about 80 pounds, hooked up on a lure
off the bridge rod. It only took John about 15 minutes to get the fish in! That was at 7:30 and
the action just continued from there. The next fish was a Dorado of about 25 pounds. We hooked
up a small Yellowfin Tuna of about three pounds next and released it. That was Johns first
Yellowfin! Three strikes, three different kinds of fish! Next we had a double strike on Skipjack,
then a single. Then we got into the Dorado action. We ended up picking up 11 fish, the small
ones we released. While drifting a live bait back behind one hooked Dorado, the bait was eaten
by a Striped Marlin. We fought that Marlin for a while then a pod of Porpoise came by the
transom and one of them brushed the line. Oh well! We trolled back to the Marina and John left
the dock with a cooler of fillets. We will see him again Tuesday morning and I hope he has as
good luck then!
Until Next Week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, The “Fly Hooker” Crew
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