Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
August 25, 2003
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo Bite Reprot for Aug 18-24, 2003
Capt George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR AUGUST 18 TO AUGUST 24, 2003
WEATHER: Ah, this was a wet week in Cabo! We had about 5 hours of steady rain on
Monday, early in the morning, just a forecast of what was to come. A little more rain on
Thursday and then of course we started to get really wet today as Tropical Storm Ignacio
approached. Just in case you are wondering, I am writing this on Saturday the 23rd, the Port
Captain closed the Port this morning and it is not expected to re-open until Monday morning. We
have been told that the storm is supposed to make landfall sometime tomorrow morning at strong
Tropical Storm strength. It is 118 miles to the southeast and moving northwest at 6 mph with
T.S. winds extending 70 miles from the center, so we should start to feel the wind this afternoon.
The rest of the week it has been muggy with little breeze, our daytime highs in the high 90’s and
night time lows in the low 80’s. (Blond Over Blue)
WATER: Great water this week with swells in the 1-3 foot range and little wind ripple on the
water. This was both on the Pacific side and the Sea of Cortez. The water was in the mid to high
80’s almost everywhere with some really warm spots showing up on the East Cape. The Pacific
was cooler than the Sea of Cortez, and that is normal. There was no really defined temperature
break within reach of the Cabo boats this week so almost everyone was working current lines and
upwellings. (A Minor Variation)
BAIT: Early in the week we had Mackerel and some Sardinas available, at the normal $2 per
bait, along with a few Mullet. At the end of the week, bait was scarce and most boats were only
able to pick up five or six pieces, a few Caballito or Mackerel and then whatever the bait boats
could come up with, also at $2 per bait. (Shades Of Grey)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: This turned out to be a good week for Marlin for many of the boats, but a lot of
them came in without ever seeing a Marlin. It seemed that the concentration was on the Pacific
side within 8 miles of the shore, and ranged from outside the Pedregal houses to the area known
as Los Arcos, up to the north. Most of the fish early in the week were Blue Marlin in the 200-250
pound range with larger fish seen, and a lot of Striped Marlin were spotted as well but were
reluctant to bite. Lures in black/green and purple/black worked well on the Blue Marlin as did
slow trolled Bonito or Skipjack. Live Yellowfin Tuna did not work as well as the other species,
but still got some good results. Later in the week the Striped Marlin began to bite and the action
seemed to be mixed with equal results on both lures and live bait. Other areas turned out Marlin
but the bite was more sporadic and spread out. Best time seemed to be between 10 and 2. (All
About Soul)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Not the fish of the week for most of the boats, but a few of them really had
great action. We were lucky and got into the fish on Thursday. The Tuna were mixed in with
Porpoise and most of the fish were between 15 and 30 pounds. There were a few larger fish in
the mix however, and we hooked one estimated at #180 before loosing it at the side of the boat,
and another boat caught one that weighed #180 on Friday in the same area. The fish showed
strong for a few day around 5 miles to the southeast of the 95 spot and bit well on cedar plugs
and dark feathers. Gee, it seems that every week when I write about the fish, they seem to like
the same thing as the week before. Hmm, maybe I should just eliminate what they have been
biting from the report entirely! There were other fish scattered around the area, but almost every
one of them that was caught was Porpoise associated. Our big fish hooked up on a Hi-5 lure in
purple/black run on the short rigger. (Lullabye)
DORADO: Just like the past two weeks, the Dorado have been a bit scarce and the ones that
have been caught have been large fish, averaging 35+ pounds. They have been incidental catch
for the most part, found while working the porpoise for Tuna or while looking for Marlin. (The
River Of Dreams)
WAHOO: See “Dorado”, above. (Two Thousand Years)
INSHORE: With the water as nice as it has been, most of the Pangas have been focusing on Tuna
and Marlin, but a few have been actively searching for Roosterfish. There were some very nice
ones caught up on the Pacific side early in the week, many of them in the 40 pound range. Slow
trolled Mullet were the key, and as far as I am aware, everyone of the fish were released. There
were some nice bottomfish caught as well, but only a few boats were trying for them. Grouper
and Snapper to 12 pounds on both cut bait and Sardinas were found around rocks in 120 feet of
water. (Famous Last Words)
NOTES: There were some of the intermediate size giant Squid caught this week, with a fairly
strong showing of 3 to 4 foot long fish about 1/2 to 1 mile off the lighthouse on the Pacific side.
A few big Blue Marlin in the #500+ class were landed (unfortunate, sure wish they had been
released) and as I said above, there were some bruiser Yellowfin out there. Clients of ours went
on a last minute trip on another boat this week since we were already booked, and even though
they asked that the Marlin they caught be released, the captain and crew ignored them, gaffed and
landed the fish. Please, please, please, if the crew ignores your request to release, don’t tip them!
You are the client, you are paying good money and if they want to go commercial fishing, let
them do it on their own dime! Also, I met another group who booked a boat from one of the
coyotes on the beach, gave him a $50 deposit and them wondered why the guy never showed up
outside the Kentucky Fried Chicken store at 6 in the morning to take them to the boat! Come on
folks, some guy you have never met before, out on the beach, not even at a storefront location,
renting you a 46’ Hattaras for $1,100 the next day and only asking for a $50 deposit? Get real,
sorry, but that’s not very smart. This weeks report written to the music of Billy Joel on his 1993
Sony Music release “River Of Dreams”.
NOTES: Well it’s Monday morning. Lost a weekend of fishing. Not too much damage, mostly
a little wind. All the boats are still floating. What we call a banana storm. Only strong enough to
knock over the banana trees and break a few branches. Not much rain hit us. Cabo is fine!
Back to fishing tomorrow.
Fly Hooker Daily Catch Reports for Aug 18-24, 2003
“FLY HOOKER” WEEKLY FISH COUNT
2 Blue Marlin released (#200, #200)
2 Striped Marlin released (#120, #100)
10 Yellowfin Tuna (#15-#35)
1 Bruiser Y.T. unintentionaly released (#180+ est.)
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR AUGUST 19, 2003
Joe A., Joe B., Don and Rich are fishing again today, will take a day off tomorrow and then
fish again on Thursday and Friday. If you read last weeks dailys, you may remember that Joe A.
caught his Blue Marlin on Sunday. Today Juan and Manuel went to the same area, just a little
further out than we had gone on Sunday, and worked the area hard. They saw several Striped
Marlin in the morning but could not get any of them to bite. Around mid morning they found a
school of Tuna and caught one small Yellowfin and a Skipjack. Juan rigged the Skipjack as a live
bait and it was only out in the water for about 10 minutes before a Blue Marlin, estimated at
#200, came up and inhaled the bait. The fight took around 40 minutes and it was Don (Rico) who
put the pressure on the fish this time. This fish did everything that Joe A.’s fish did not, lots of
jumping all over the place, plenty of video proof on this one! Juan was able to tag the fish and
make a successful release. That was it for the day. Two days gone, two Marlin, two days to go
and two Marlin to go!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR AUGUST 20, 2003
Today we have Devon Boatman and his girlfriend Jennifer fishing on the “Fly Hooker” and
they will be fishing on Saturday as well. Devon would love to catch a Marlin but is perfectly
willing to get anything to fight. Jennifer does not have much experience so she is interested in
seeing what it is about. Well, she ended up thinking that it (Marlin fishing) is pretty boring. Lots
of water was covered today and it was not until the tail end of the trip that the guys were finally
able to get a fish to hook up. Devon was able to put the rod to the fish and had it alongside the
boat for the tag placement within 17 minutes! A good tag and release and Devon had the fish he
had been dreaming about, again a Blue Marlin estimated at #200. Jennifer said it was great
watching the fight, but she wanted more action on Saturday, and now that Devon had his Marlin,
maybe they could try for Tuna on Saturday, and maybe change the full day trip to a half day?
Well, we will try and see if the Tuna move in range of a half day trip. Keep you fingers crossed!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 21 AUGUST, 2003
Joe A., Joe B., Don and Rich are aboard for the third day booked with us. Yesterday was
supposed to be a day off for them, but as they were sitting out on their patio watching the boats
leaving in the morning, Joe B. said “Hey, you know, we should be out there fishing” and off they
went to book a boat. I won’t mention the fleet name or boat name, but it was a different trip than
the ones they have had with us. Neither the Captain or Mate spoke English, and while Joe B. got
to fight a #200 Blue, the mate and Captain would not release the fish and instead, gaffed and
clubbed it and brought it into the boat. The bilge switch was not working so they had to get the
deck hatch open every 30 minutes and pump out the water, and on the way in the transmission
started to slip and the Captain had to lower the speed they were cruising at. They guys let us
know that they much preferred fishing on the “Fly Hooker”! Anyway, they were off to an early
start this morning and instead of going out to the Pacific side as they had been doing, Manuel
pointed the bow of the boat to the East and they cruised for almost an hour, getting to an area 5
miles past the 95 spot. When Manuel saw porpoise the slowed down and out went the lures.
They were the first boat to the fish and quickly proceeded to get 9 Yellowfin Tuna, all between 15
and 30 pounds. Then a big one hit! Joe A. fought this fish, which struck a Hi-5 lure in
Black/Green, for 30 minutes before they got color. Now the next part of this is on video
(actually, all of it is). Juan has two stick gaffs set up (he said Manuel told him not to use the
flying gaff) and as the fish came to the side of the boat he grabbed the leader, pulled it closer and
took the first shot he could at the fish. The gaff went into the fish in the belly area and the fish
took off. Juan lost his grip on the gaff and lunged over for it and ended up in the water, holding
on to the swim platform. The fish went down and back bringing the tight line (Joe forgot to back
off the drag when Juan grabbed the leader) across the bait bag frame and then, “pop” went the
line. Based on what Juan said, the guys said and the video, that Tuna would have been close to
the #200 mark, we placed it at a conservative #185+. Joe said the fight was great and he was just
glad that Juan did not get hurt! That was it for the Tuna and they went in search of a Marlin for
Rich, but did not even see one for the rest of the day. Ok, tomorrow is another day, and it is Rich
who will get to fight the big one!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR AUGUST 22, 2003
This is the last day of fishing for Joe A., Joe B., Don and Rich, and Rich has to get his Marlin
today, I mean he has to! Juan and Manuel go back to the Pacific side of the Cape and continued
to work the are off the Lighthouse. I was worried when Juan called at almost 10AM and said that
they had only seen one Striped Marlin so far. Thank goodness their luck held out. As has been
the case every day except yesterday, they hooked into fish between 10AM and the end of the trip.
Rich got his fish when a tailing Striped Marlin was spotted and Juan tossed a bait. This fish was
hungry and ate the bait right away! What a change from the attitude of the Striped Marlin they
had seen so far this week! It was a battle but Rich was able to get his fish to the boat eventually
and Don was able to get some great video of the jumping Marlin and the sweating Rich! While
this fish was being fought they spotted two other Striped Marlin swimming around. I am not sure
exactly when the second Marlin of the day was caught, it may have been right afterward, but Don
go the rod and fought the fish. Another good battle and they guys ended up with four Marlin for
four days on our boat, all tagged and released, plus one fish killed on another boat. Oh yeah, lets
not forget the great Tuna action yesterday. A good trip all the way around! Thanks guys, we
look forward to a chance to have you fish the “Fly Hooker” again.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR AUGUST 23, 2003
We were supposed to have Devon Boatman fishing the “Fly Hooker” for his second day today
and his girlfriend Jennifer was going to stay in town and shop because he met Lange, from the
Venice, LA area at the hotel and they decided to share the boat. Well, that was the idea anyway.
Mother nature and the new Port Captain had other things to say about it. The Captain shut down
the port at 6 AM due to the close approach of what has turned out to be Tropical Storm Ignacio,
but last night was just Tropical Depression #9E. It looks like we are going to be shut down
through at least Sunday, hopefully no longer, as the center of the storm is supposed to have
landfall sometime tomorrow morning. Right now the winds 70 miles from the center are
supposed to be at 45 MPH but it is 118 miles away to the southeast, moving northwest at 6 knots
and increasing in strength slowly. It is expected to increase to strong Tropical Storm strength
before landfall and we are expecting 6-12 inches of rain. Shades of Hurricane Juliet! At least our
winds wont be very strong, but that sure is a lot of rain for the desert. The storm is small enough
that we should be back in business by Monday (and our fingers are crossed)! Check in next week
to see how things turned out, as we are booked every day for the next two weeks (bad timing for
a storm).
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