Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
March 24, 2003
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo Fishing Report for Mar 17-23, 2003
Capt George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR MARCH 17-23, 2003
WEATHER: Clear skies most of the week gave us good sea surface shots for both the Pacific
and the Sea of Cortez. While the skies stayed mostly clear, the wind gave us problems at the
beginning of the week. Monday and Tuesday were pretty much blown out for any offshore
fishing, and so bad that on Monday evening I was really hoping that we would not have an
offshore charter for Tuesday. Thank goodness that as predicted, the wind began to calm down on
Tuesday evening and by Wednesday afternoon things were back to being comfortable. Our lows
in the early morning have been in the low 60’s, with our daytime highs in the mid to high 80’s.
(No Man’s Land)
WATER: Very choppy surface conditions this week on the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape and
on the Pacific side things were Victory at Sea. At least for the first three days of the week. Then
the wind died down and we had much more comfortable fishing conditions. The Pacific side has
seen cool water all week long , showing us temperatures in the 62-67 degree range with the
cooler water during the first part of the week. It appears that the current down the Pacific coast at
the beginning of the week had forced cooler water into the area. As the week wore on the current
out of the Sea of Cortez took over and forced warmer (comparatively) water around the Cape
and up the coast. Running from the Cape over to the Gordo Banks the water has been around 68
degrees pretty much anywhere you went and the warm water was not to be found until you got to
the Punta Gorda area. (The Great Wall Of China)
BAIT: Surprisingly enough, the most available bait this week was Caballito and they were mostly
the large size. I say surprisingly because of the full moon conditions. The baits available have
been the normal $2 per bait and I have not heard on the availability or cost of Sardines. (Blond
Over Blue)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Ouch! With the approach of the cold water from the California current the Marlin
bite dropped off drastically. I did see a few flags flying and talked to a few anglers on the boats
that caught fish and they all said that they had to go quite a way up the coast towards the Punta
Gorda area before they found any fish. That is a long run but it paid off for a few boats. Striped
Marlin were spotted free jumping and live baits slow trolled in the same area paid off as did
trolling dark colored lures over the area. I would venture to guess that the success rate on Marlin
this week was less then 15% and perhaps lower. As soon as the water warms up the bite should
get much better, and don’t forget, the new moon is coming as well! (A Minor Variation)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: WOW! The cold wind blown down from California, brought ALBACORE
with the Yellowfin Tuna. Wednesday was the last day the wind blew really hard. There was
numerous reports of the Albacore being caught both off the lighthouse and due east of the Cape,
in the Sea of Cortez.. The Albacore were caught on dark colored feathers and a few boats were
able to get as many as 15 fish. Most of the bite was on Wednesday and a few more fish were
caught on Thursday but then the current from the Cortez pushed the cold waters further north up
the Pacific coast. In the Sea of Cortez, there were also quite a few boats reporting catches of
60-80 LB Yellowfin, these fish were blind strikes with no Porpoise in the area. When bait was
metered in a depth of about 50 feet it was time to watch out! A few of these fish went over 100
pounds and some of them fell victim to live bait and chunks. Later on in the week the fish shifted
around and started to appear south of the Jaime Banks, apparently following the bait as it
followed the temperature breaks. (Shades of Grey)
DORADO: Not the fish of the week, the bite was off and the fish were scattered. On the Sea of
Cortez side, they were catching the big 40-50 LB fish up past San Jose working out to 6 miles
offshore, while on the Pacific side they were hooking up smaller 4-10 pound fish underneath a few
of the small kelp fronds that worked their way down here through the cold water. (All About
Soul)
WAHOO: Not as a productive full moon as the last couple months. Probably because of the
rougher waters, and boats not getting out as far. But I did see a few nice ones in the 40-50 LB
range and a couple of them larger than that strike lures this week. They were scattered fish and
an incidental catch. (The River Of Dreams)
INSHORE: This was a nice week for boats working from the surf line to a mile offshore as
there was quite a mix available. On the Pacific side, the Sierra continue to slowly work their way
north and at the end of the week were being found in the Migrainios area. The problem here was
that the water conditions were so nasty at the beginning of the week. Many of these fish were
large ones, in the 8 pound range, and when they were found they bit aggressively. Off the Arches,
there were a few days at the beginning of the week when Amberjack, Pargo, Red Snapper and a
few Yellowtail supplied action. The rough water conditions early in the week forced almost all of
the Pangas to work the inshore areas on the Sea of Cortez and at times it was a rough go with
few fish biting. (Two Thousand Years)
NOTES: Guess I pissed off someone again when I commented a while back that there were still
stupidly large numbers of Striped Marlin coming in dead, tied off to the transoms of boats. I call
it as I see it and tough if you don’t like it. You don’t need to kill the fish to get a mount and the
meat ain’t all that great anyway. Some people are just ignorant and there is not a lot we can do to
correct them that we are not doing already. What really jerks my chain is that the people who
depend on the supply of Marlin for a living (sport caught fish in the Marlin Capitol of the World)
don’t care if there are fish around so that their children can follow in their footsteps and guide
anglers to the thrill of their life. And yes, it happens all the time, unlike some people, I live here
and check out the fishing situation every day, I don’t just hop on a soapbox and yell about
something I only get a look at once every two months or so, when I need to check on my charter
business. You want to fool yourself, go write your own report, maybe you can fool some folks
some of the time, I won’t try. (Famous Last Words)
Enough.
ALBACORE!!!! Who would’a thunk! Talked to a lot of people about this and seems it was
almost a once in a lifetime thing. Just goes to show that every day on the ocean holds a surprise.
Still some Whales out there, and we are seeing Seals, Porpoise and Turtles as well. Just have to
hope the fishing turns back on as the water warms up.
This weeks report was written to the music of Billy Joel on his 1993 Sony Music release “River
Of Dreams”, and powered by Easter Egg Malted Milk Balls supplied by our good friends David
and Peggy Reese! Muchos Gracias!
Until next week, best wishes and tight lines!
"Fly Hooker" Daily Catch Report for Mar 17-23, 2003
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 17 MARCH, 2003
Our good friend Dave Reese was the instigator of a kids outing for today. 5 kids between the
ages of 5 and 14 out for a half day of fishing. The wind was supposed to lay down last night and
instead it blew, and blew, and blew a little while longer. I called Dave at 5:30 and he said that he
was thinking about the wind as he drank a cup of coffee on the balcony of his room and we
agreed to postpone the trip to the 19th in the hope the wind would die down. Well, at 7 am the
wind had dropped to nothing and the water inshore on the Sea of Cortez looked great so we
made the call and the trip was back on. Juan and Manuel took the group out for Sierra and
decided that the very best place at teh time was outside the beach on the Pacific between the arch
and the lighthouse. It did not take long for three of the kids to start getting sick but when they
were done, they were fine. Of course, Manuel was not so happy when he was the accidental
receiver of someone’s breakfast, but hey, that’s all part of the job, and it washes off anyway,
right? You know that green stuff that come out at the end? That is the glue that hold your
toenails on to your toes! Sorry bout that, the kids loved hearing that though! The water was
choppy and the total catch was 1 Sierra and four Pelicans. Avery (the only girl in the group) did
not get sick and she caught the Sierra and two of the Pelicans! Way to go Avery! Davey also did
not get sick, but that’s all right, he has experience! Dave decided that one more half day trip
involving Avery and Davey was a good idea and it will happen on the 19th, hopefully the water
will be better then!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 19 MARCH, 2003
Today is the half day trip with fisherwoman Avery, her dad Hayden and Dave Reese. Davey
decided that he was going to stay on shore today. It was Avery’s day as she ended catching
everything! 1 nice Sierra, one trigger fish and two Pelicans! All the fishing was in the same area
and the water had calmed down a lot, but still it was a bit choppy. No one got sick and everyone
had a good time, that’s what it’s all about! Sure hope we see you guys again soon, perhaps
before the end of the year?!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 23 MARCH. 2003
John Trapp is a friend of a friend, Tim and Jill Lawrence, and lives in Anchorage, Alaska. He
fished today with his friend Carl, from Chicago. They were supposed to be joined by one other
guy, but he did not make it out of Denver (BRRRR!!!, thats why I live where it’s warm!). The
target was Tuna, Dorado and Marlin. The result was four Skipjack (all released) and one Wahoo
lost after the strike. We started off about 13 miles off the coast on the way to the San Jaime
Banks. Some nice Yellowfin Tuna had been caught there yesterday and a few Marlin as well (in
that cold, cold water) so that was the game plan. About 15 minutes after the lures had been set
and after I had done a short briefing and explanation of the day’s fishing plan, we had a triple
strike. The Skipjack were around 8-12 pounds and were a good warm up to what we thought
was going to be an outstanding day. Well, things didn’t really take off, as a matter of fact, they
did not take off at all. We spotted some small bait working on the surface and could not get
anything out of them, spotted seals and turtles and there was nothing under or around them either.
When we got 10 miles to the south of the Jaime Banks we saw a boat hooked up to a big
Yellowfin Tuna, but the school was long gone. On the way back towards the Marina we had a
Wahoo hit the Mean Joe Green lure on the bridge rod and at first I thought it was a Marlin. I
mean, it was BIG! And it took LINE! Well, maybe I had just been hoping for a fish for so long it
seemed to be a beast! The fish took about 50 yards of line, thrashed on the surface once and then
came unbuttoned. We checked out the line and I still thought it had been a Marlin, then Juan
pointed out the tooth marks on the leader and the cut skirt. Yep, no doubt, it was a Wahoo. Oh
well, Juan said it was a large one and was probably over 80 pounds. Take that with a grain of
salt, he is a fisherman, after all! We caught one more Skipjack, just outside the lighthouse and
this one hit a dark feather on the light gear. 10 minutes, released and home we went. I sure wish
we had hooked into one of those big Tunas, or at least kept the Wahoo hooked up, but we did
our best and had a good time anyway! Thanks John and Carl!
Until next week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” crew.
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