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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
December 2, 2002
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report for Nov 25- Dec 1, 2002
CAPT. GEORGE LANDRUM
“FLY HOOKER” SPORTFISHING
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT NOVEMBER 25-DECEMBER 1, 2002
WEATHER: Our week started out very nice with the nighttime lows in the high 60’s and the
daytime highs in the mid to low 90’s. On Wednesday we began to get clouds moving in strong
and checking the weather maps found the Pineapple Express had moved right over us. We have
had cloudy skies and showers everyday since then but it is clearing up now. No really heavy
gullywashing downpours, just enough to mess up the streets and wash trash into the Marina. The
cloud cover has caused the temps to drop and we are now seeing low 60’s to mid-high 70’s. The
desert is going to be beautiful in a week! (Tropical Legs)
WATER: Both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez were calm all week long but there was some
pretty choppy conditions on Wednesday as the front moved over us. The inshore water dirtied up
on Thursday due to the rain but out past a mile it gets blue again. Our water temps have lowered
a bit as well with water outside the Cape reading in the 80-81 degree range. Our warm water is
now on the Pacific side but the temp breaks are far, far away. (Amazon)
BAIT: Most of the bait available this week were small 8-10” Mackerel and the price was the
usual $2 per bait. A few Caballito were in the bait boat tanks as well. I have no knowledge of
Sardina availability. (Magic In Your Eyes)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: What a strange week! I was not expecting much in the way of Marlin but I was
surprised. There were still Blues and a few Blacks being caught this week, and a lot of Striped
Marlin being sighted and caught. Toss in a mix of Sailfish and just about every billfish we have
available here in Cabo was around this week. Naturally the Striped Marlin were the most
common, and most boats were able to get at least a couple of them hooked up. Live bait was the
ticket and most of the fish were spotted tailing. For lures, anything in Dorado colors seemed to
work well on all the Billfish, likely because there are so many of them around right now. Most of
the bite has been on the Pacific side, up in the Los Arcos area from 2 miles to 10 miles offshore,
and including the Golden Gate Banks. (Calypso Getaway)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Tuna bite dropped off a lot this week and almost all of the fish I have
seen or heard about have been footballs to 20 pounds. There have been a few schoolies in the
25-35 pound range as well but no large fish. The fish have not been associated with Porpoise,
most of the strikes have been in the blind while fishing for Dorado. 6” feathers and hard plastic
lures in smaller sizes worked well with no specific color mentioned by anyone. Due to the effort
put in this week Dorado, most of the Yellowfin found were caught within 5 miles of the Pacific
coast. (Dr. Macumba)
DORADO: Last week I said that it looked like the Dorado bite was going to keep getting better
and it has. The average size is up to around 20 pounds and there has been plenty of them around.
Most of the boats were working the Pacific side up to 10 miles offshore. A lot of the action was
within 2 miles of the beach and the boats were pretty concentrated in there. The key was finding
Frigate birds working and getting in a pass on them with the lures. If you hooked up, drop back
some live baits and wait for the action. Most boats were able to meet the 2 Dorado per angler
limit without a problem early in the morning, then went in search of other species. (Angelina)
WAHOO: I saw a few Wahoo flags this week but when I talked to the anglers I found that most
of them had been flown by boats that had found some nice sized Sierra inshore. I am sure there
were some Wahoo caught but don’t know the where’s or what’s this week. (Long Ago And Far
Away)
INSHORE: Up until Wednesday there was some fair fishing for Sierra and a few small
Roosterfish inshore, and there was good action on the smaller Tunas, the Skipjack and Bonita.
Most of the Pangas were concentrating on the Dorado bite and after Wednesday’s weather
change, the water inshore became too murky for anything but the Dorado search. (Heart String)
NOTES: If anyone reading these reports has questions about fishing in Cabo or just Saltwater
fishing in general, feel free to check the “Ask The Captain” section at www.flyhooker.com , my
homepage. I have just gotten the bugs worked out and will be answering questions each morning.
To all those anglers who have fished with us and have tagged and released a Marlin using the
“Billfish Foundation” tags we provide, I am sorry to say that the Foundation has changed their
policy concerning the issuance of free release certificates. Here is a quote from them: “Yes, it is
a new policy. We generate through the Release Certificate Program 10,000 to 12,000 certificates
a year, all for free. It just got too expensive not to do something. The new policy is $25
introductory membership offer where all certificates are then free, along with the rest of the
premiums, or, $20 a certificate. There was really no way to give the heads-up to captains and
fleets, there are just too many.” So, if you want the certificate you are going to have to pay for it,
but hey, it’s not a lot of money and it goes to a very good program! This weeks report was
written to the music of one of my favorite songwriter/guitarists, Earl Klugh on the 1991 “Blue
Note” Capitol release, “The Best Of Earl Klugh”.
Fly Hooker Daily Catch Report for Nov 25- Dec 2
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 25 NOVEMBER 2002
Rick Harris is in town again on a short notice vacation and today he went fishing aboard the
“Fly Hooker” with a friend of the family, Kyle. Juan and Manuel took the boat up the Pacific side
and worked the area about three miles offshore of the Margarita/Los Arcos area and had a lot of
fun with Dorado. Rick only wanted to keep a little bit for dinner so they started releasing fish. A
total of 8 large Dorado gave them a lot of jumps and lots of fight and they were back at the
Marina by 12:30! Thanks Rick, we look forward to seeing you again next year!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 26 NOVEMBER 2002
Walt Ehnat and his grown sons Tom and Marty were our anglers today. This is their third day
of fishing on this vacation and they had a blast! Well, everyone except Marty. He crawled out of
the cabin when the boat got back in at noon and wanted to know when we were leaving! A little
bit of the old “Tequila Flu”! Well Walt pretty much took it easy since it wasn’t too long ago that
he had a triple bypass so it was up to Tom to do most of the fishing. Juan and Manuel were able
to keep him busy by hooking up 9 Dorado, 2 Yellowfin and letting him fight an estimated 310
pound Blue Marlin for over an hour before tagging and releasing it! I sure hope the fishing stays
this good.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 28 NOVEMBER 2002
It clouded up last night and this morning, just after the boat left the Marina with John and Ray
aboard for a half day of fishing, the skies opened up and it poured! This was the first time for
John and Ray to do any kind of fishing and one of them had a very worried wife. About mid day
we were able to calm her down with the report that the guys were catching fish, were not seasick
and would be coming in on time. Manuel and Edgar went back to the Pacific side, up off of Los
Arcos and caught 7 Dorado and 2 Yellowfin Tuna.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 29 NOVEMBER, 2002
Brothers Zach and Brian Eastman are fishing today and tomorrow and they really want to
catch a Marlin. We had our fingers crossed when they left this morning. Juan and Manuel went
back to the Pacific side and were able to get 4 Dorado in the boat but no Marlin. They did have
strikes from 4 Striped Marlin and saw lots of them on the surface and jumping but were not able
to get a hook to stick in any of them. Hopefully tomorrow!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 30 NOVEMBER 2002
The second day of fishing for Zach and Brian was not as eventful as yesterday. Juan and
Manuel returned to the same area as yesterday but the fish had moved on. Today they didn’t even
see a Marlin and they only caught one Dorado.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 1, 2002
Zach Eastman decided to give it one more try and Brian decided that he wanted to do the Sand
Dunes ATV excursion. Zach invited me to go along and I was happy to get the chance. Lines
went in the water outside the lighthouse on the Pacific side and for the next three hours we had a
boat ride as we worked our way up the coast toward the Golden Gate Banks. About three miles
short of the Banks Juan spotted a turtle in the water and as we passed by him we had a very large
Bull Dorado come and grab the long rigger lure. The fish didn’t stick and we worked the area for
a little bit with no luck. We even dragged a live bait by the turtle, hoping that there were more
Dorado under it. When we got to the banks there were 12 boats there and all of them were
trolling, with no luck. At about the same time everyone stopped trolling and dropped down live
bait. We gave it a shot for about a half hour but with no luck. We were told that the bite had
been early using the deep dropped bait. Lots of bait balls, schools of Mackerel on the depth
finder, but no interested Marlin. It was not until we were almost all the way back, just about 4
miles off of Los Arcos, that we finally had a Marlin strike. The fish grabbed the shotgun lure but
did not hook up. I dropped back a live bait and we saw the Marlin come in and grab it. I ended
up farming the fish! He ran with it for a few second, stopped to eat it then ran again. I set the
hook on the second run and I guess I didn’t wait ling enough because I had good solid weight for
a few seconds then could feel the hook pull loose. That was our only shot of the day and I blew
it! Again, I’m sorry Zach! Our fingers are crossed that next time will be better. Until then, Tight
Lines!
Until Next Week, Tight Lines form George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew!
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
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