 |
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
August 18, 2003
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo Bite Report for Aug 8-17, 2003
Capt George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR AUGUST 8 TO AUGUST 17, 2003
WEATHER: We are in that time of the year when things don’t change very much as far as how
warm it gets, and the only excitement we get on the weather scene is if we happen to get a
hurricane approaching. Thank goodness there is not one on the horizon! Our nights have been
warm with the temperatures around 80 degrees and during the day the thermometer has been
recording temperatures as high as 101 degrees. Warm and humid, the words for the week. We
did have a bit of a breeze from the northwest and a few hours from the east, so it was not all bad,
but if you went up the coast towards San Jose you got cooked. (Heat Wave)
WATER: Pretty much smooth water everywhere, perhaps only a light chop on any one day.
The temperature on the Sea of Cortez side have been showing as hot as 90 degrees, far too warm
for me, but the area to the south and the Pacific coast have been just about perfect. We did have
a band of cooler, 78 degree, greenish water along the Pacific coast on Thursday. This band
extended out for about 10 miles and the water outside was about 81 degrees. On Friday it
switched and became the warm band about 4 miles wide, with temperatures as high as 85 degrees
and the water outside was around 81 degrees. Real strange. (Blue Bayou)
BAIT: Mackerel and Mullet at the normal $2 per bait. (It’s So Easy)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Marlin bite remains a bit on the slow side but there have been some big ones
taken. Several fish over 600 and 700 pounds have been weighed (I hope that they died during the
fight and were not killed just to show off) and several others were tagged and released. These
fish were all reported as Blue Marlin but there were reports of Black Marlin being hooked. Most
of these big fish were found along the canyon edges on the Pacific side, but several large fish were
also reported from the area of the 95 spot. Blue/Pink/Silver and Black/Green seemed to get
regular mention by the Captains and crews that found Marlin that would bite. There were still a
few Sailfish being found as well as Striped Marlin, but there were not any strong concentrations
of them around. (Just One Look)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I never did get confirmation on the big Yellowfin Tuna reported last week,
so it may have been just talk. The bite did die off this week as the Tuna either moved farther
offshore or out of the area completely. A few boats have been flying Tuna Flags and they seem to
have been the ones first to a pod of Porpoise, when the Tuna have been found the bite has been
very short before the fish have gone down. Small feathers in dark colors worked well as did live
bait. No concentrations of fish, as I said, but reports are that the fish that have been found have
been to the south of the Cape, around 35 or more miles out. (Poor Poor Pitiful Me)
DORADO: I think the Dorado have become the fish of the week this time. Not because they
have been found in any large numbers, but because most of the boats have been able to get at least
one of them during a trip. The fish have been averaging 15-20 pounds with a few beasts in the 60
pound and over bracket. All I can say about where they have been is they are where you find
them. A scattered bite without any large concentrations was the norm for the week. The usual
worked, as fish were found under Turtles and diving Frigates, but most of the fish were blind
strikes. (Somewhere Out There)
WAHOO: Very few Wahoo caught this week. (Hurt So Bad)
NEARSHORE: Some Roosterfish and scattered bottomfish were found up and down the Pacific
and Sea of Cortez by the boats working the shore. I saw a very large Grouper, in the 100 pound
range, brought in by one boat. Most of the fish were much smaller than that and the special bait
seemed to be small, live Mackerel, dropped to rocky areas in 40 to 120 feet of water. A mixed
catch of Grouper and Pargo was the norm, with most of the fish under 10 pounds. Many of the
Pangas went offshore in search of Marlin because the water was so smooth this week. (Adios)
NOTES: Maybe the reason the Tuna bite dropped as much as it did is that they were worked so
hard by all the Tuna Seiners that were here last week. Now the Seiners have moved on. They
must be following the fish, or else they fished out our area for the time being. If you are coming
down for a shot at a big Marlin, they are here. It just takes time on the water. Don’t expect to
get a chance to tangle with one of the brutes on your first day out. I always recommend that
people book at least 5 days of fishing in order to get a decent chance at a Blue Marlin, and even
then sometimes nothing appears. But when it does, watch out! Make sure the boat you book has
gear that will handle a big fish like that, it can be a once in a lifetime chance! Until next week,
Tight lines! This weeks report was written to the wonderful sound of Linda Ronstadt on the 2002
Elektra release “The Very Best Of Linda Ronstadt”. Finally, song titles that match the notes!
Enjoy!
Fly Hooker daily Reports for Aug 10-17, 2003
“FLY HOOKER” WEEKLY FISH COUNT
1 Blue Marlin Released (#250 est.)
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR AUGUST 11-16, 2003
Instead of a fish report for this time frame, I am giving a little update on the work done to the
boat. New bottom paint, replaced the old bronze shaft logs with fiberglass ones because the last
time the port engine and transmission were removed they were not re-aligned when replaced and
we wore a hole in the side of the old bronze one, that caused us to take on a lot of water and also
warped the shaft a bit so we got a lot of vibration. Both shafts were cut down by 2 3/4” and new
packing sleeves installed. Shaft couplings turned and trued. New props. The rudders were
removed and taken to a shop where they had bronze added to the shafts and were turned so the
shafts were equal in diameter all the way through, no rudder rattle and smoother turning. New
hardware for the rudders. Hull and topsides compounded and waxed and the binini tops re-sewn
(next time we will have new tops), just have to save the money! A pretty busy week all in all.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR AUGUST 17, 2003
Joe Antenucci, Joe Baron, Don Ridolfi and Rich Walters are our anglers for today and they will
be fishing on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday as well. The idea is for them to get Marlin, at least
for Joe Antenucci. That is the game plan for the day and that is what we set out to do. It was
Juan and myself on the boat today. Manuel asked for Wednesday through Sunday off so he could
travel with his baseball team for competition up and down the peninsula (got out of a lot of the
dry dock work as well). Yesterday one of the boats had gotten a #600+ Blue Marlin 6 miles from
the arch so we headed out toward the lighthouse on the Pacific side first. Oops, maybe not the
first thing. The first thing was to take care of a problem at the fuel dock. As I went into the store
to get our ice, the shaft on the port engine backed out of the coupling and all of a sudden we had
no port propulsion. We determined the problem quickly and 30 minutes later Juan had everything
re-attached and tightened and we were on our way. One of the little things that we did not pick
up on during the sea trials yesterday when the boat returned to the water. Oh well, no harm done
and just a little bit late. When we reached the area about four miles off of the lighthouse we put
lines in the water. It was perfect Marlin water, 2-3 foot swells with lots of wind chop. At a
distance of six miles offshore and eight miles for the arch, we had a look at our first fish. A
Striped Marlin came up on the lure in the long position and followed it. Juan gunned the engines
as I ran down and dropped a bait back. The fish disappeared and did not come back. That was at
8:45. I told the guys when we started this morning that the best time for the Blue Marlin was
going to be between 10 AM and 2 PM and that dead on noon would be the best shot of the day,
the tide would be about an hour and 15 minutes before high. Well, I was wrong because at 11:20
we had a Blue Marlin show up on the lure in the long position, off of the bridge rod. I was
scanning the water when out of the side of my vision I caught the bridge rod beginning to bend.
Then the reel gave a short scream. Juan was on it in a flash as I went down to drop back a live
bait. I had the bait halfway back in the pattern when Juan yelled that it was a big Blue, not a
Striped, so I reeled in the bait. The Blue struck at the lure four times, and each time missed. On
the last shot, Juan had the rod tip raised and as the Blue came in behind the lure, he dropped the
rod tip and let the lure right back into the Marlin’s mouth! Hook Up! We managed to get the rod
passed down to Joe and he settled into the fight. Don had the video cameras going, needing to
document the fish for friends and family back home. The only jump the Marlin did was just after
Juan had set the hook, and the fish lunged from the water going from left to right across the
pattern. Nice fish. Joe had steady pressure on the fish the whole time, not backing the drag off a
bit. After ten minutes his fingers were getting tired of holding the rod with all the pressure on it
and after 20 minutes had said he had enough, he was not able to hold onto the rod any longer.
That was when I remembered that we had a belt harness on board. My fault entirely, I should
have had it out from the beginning. We got Joe strapped into the harness and he was able to
continue the fight. This fish never got more than 200 yards of line out, we never got into the
backing on the reel. The last twenty minutes of the fight was all at a distance where we could
occasionally see color. Joe went to low speed on the reel and I coached him on the short strokes
and we finally got the fish close enough for me to get leader in hand . As soon as I had wraps
with both hands I told Joe to back off on the drag and he did it. The fish held along the port side
of the boat for 5 seconds, long enough to have tagged him had I three hands, then turned away
from the boat, I was able to get him turned back and we had a great jump on leader at the back of
the boat. The fish turned to the starboard side and as I followed it around the leader got hung up
on the bait bag frame for a second. That was long enough to halt the fish short of clearing the
boat and pulled him under. That is when the prop touched the leader and all of a sudden we had
released the Marlin. Estimated at 250 pounds, it was a great 45 minute job by Joe! That was it
for the day and we were lucky, as a lot of boats did not catch anything today. After watching Joe
fight the Marlin, I am not sure if the other guys really want to catch their own Marlin or not, but
we have three more day to do it in! Keep your fingers crossed for us!
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
