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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
December 8, 2003
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report for Nov 30-Dec 6, 2003
Capt. George Landrum
"Fly Hooker" Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO FISH REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 30 TO DECEMBER 6, 2003
WEATHER: We had a good week weather wise with our highs in the high 80’s and
lows in the mid 60’s. It was partly cloudy at the beginning of the week but cleared up at
the end. Light winds in the afternoon but almost no breeze in the mornings made for
very comfortable conditions.
WATER: We had one day this week, I believe it was Tuesday, when the surface
conditions on the Pacific side were rough, but that was due to conflicting currents, not
due to wind. By rough, I mean that there were big swells, some of them 8 foot, with a
lot of little stuff between and small standing whitecaps. This condition extended for
almost 15 miles. The rest of the week there were small swells of the normal 2-4 foot
variety, calm in the mornings with a little chop in the afternoons. The Sea of Cortez
was calm up until past the Vinorama area, then it got rough due to wind. The Sea of
Cortez was showing an almost even 79-80 degrees across the board at the end of the
week while the Pacific side was just a degree cooler. There was a good temperature
break 30 miles to the west where we went from 78 to 76 degree water.
BAIT: Mackerel at the normal $2 each and Sardinas at $20 a bucket were available all
week long.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: This is the third week in a row where the concentration of Marlin has been
on the lighthouse and most of them have been caught while dropping down live bait.
These are Striped Marlin and the average weight has been around 110 pounds. A few
have been caught on the troll while working close to the coast up the Pacific side. Dark
colored lures have been the ticket there.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Long runs and keeping your fingers crossed were the key to
getting Tuna this week. The closest I heard of them coming in was 14 miles to the west
but the concentration of Tuna was found on the temperature break 30 miles west. Of
course, they were associated with the Porpoise. Live bait, small feathers, cedar plugs
and little hootchies were working on them. Most of the Tuna were in the football
category, up to 20 pounds, with a few larger fish mixed in. I know there were fish found
in other places, but that is where most of the effort was centered.
DORADO: Either you found wood floating or you found Frigate birds working, that was
almost the only way anyone caught Dorado this week. Most of the fish found were less
than 25 pounds in size and some boats did very well if they were the first to a piece of
wood. Live bait was the key and if you were lucky, there could be a big school under
the wood and you limited out. Most of the boats never saw a Dorado this week though.
WAHOO: Coming up on the full moon there were Wahoo caught at the end of the
week and they were found on the banks or on the ledge at the lighthouse. Quite a few
boats got bit while soaking bait for Marlin but of course, those teeth made short work of
the mono leaders! Most of the fish were in the 45 pound class with a few going to 80
pounds.
INSHORE: Small Sierra, Jack Crevalle and Pargo were the fish caught inshore this
week, and the action was not very hot. Most boats came in with a couple of Pargo
caught on live bait and a few Sierra, but a few boats actually got into good schools of
the little razormouths and were able to get a dozen or more fish in the 5 pound class.
NOTES: The whales are starting to show up. Mary and I were invited out on a sunset
cruise and we spent almost an hour watching three Humpbacks right off the point. As
the water cools down we should start to see the Gray whales showing up as well. The
fishing was a bit off this week, it seemed you either got Marlin close to home while
soaking bait, or made a long journey offshore for a chance at small Tuna. I know this is
not the kind of information you like to hear, but that’s the way it is. Things should pick
up soon. Until next week, Tight lines!
Fly Hooker Daily fishing Reports for Nov 30-Dec 6, 2003
Capt. George Landrum
"Fly Hooker" Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
WEEKLY FISH COUNT
1 Striped Marlin 120 pounds tagged and released
1 Striped Marlin 160 pounds tagged and released
1 Striped Marlin 110 pounds kept
9 Dorado to 30 pounds kept
14 Yellowfin to 22 pounds kept
Lots of Bonita released
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 30, 2003
Today was the last day of fishing for our friend Bob Deeter and I got a chance to
spend it with him. During his days here Bob had caught BIG Wahoo, BIG Yellowfin, too
many “Stinkin’ Marlin” but had not gotten any Dorado yet. With our fingers crossed,
and expecting only Yellowfin, Manuel and I went south. We cruised for a half hour then
put lines in the water. About 45 minutes later Manuel got a call on the radio that a
friend had found Porpoise and there were birds working as well so we pulled in the
lines and ran to the spot. We were the fourth boat there but no one had hooked up yet.
A few minutes after we arrived one of the boats hooked up to a Striped Marlin, a pretty
small one, but that was all the action. We left after working the Porpoise for about 45
minutes, looking for something that would produce fish for us. An hour later Manuel
saw a boat doing slow circles, way off in the distance. I was driving so I picked up the
speed and we headed that way. A few miles later I saw something off to the right, it
looked like a jug in the water, so we detoured to check it out. It turned out to be a tree
root with a couple of birds sitting on it. Eureka! There were Dorado around the wood
and in the next hour we fought and landed 8 Dorado, all on live bait. The first fish were
the largest and we caught four that were between 20 and 30 pounds, the others were in
the 10-20 pound class. With all the bait gone, Bob and I decided to try jigging and
Manuel pulled the boat right up to the log. Manuel yelled “Dorado” and pointed right to
the log. Both Bob and I kept looking into the water but could not see anything
swimming around. Finally I realized that the Dorado he was talking about was what I
had mistook for a root off of the log. Bob and I thought that the fish was either one that
had come off when we first arrived or one another boat had caught and it had come
entangled on the wood and broken off. I mean, this fish was nose up to the log,
hanging vertically. Manuel backed the boat up to the fish and I gaffed it, fully expecting
a rotten fish to come up. To our surprise the fish was in rigor, had bright red gill,
beautiful color and bled when cut! The only thing I can think of is that either it was the
first fish we lost and it banged against the log or it had been chasing bait and killed
itself running into the log. Anyway, we caught eight Dorado and ended up with nine!
There was more than enough fish fillets for Bob and we decided to go in early to give
Manuel a chance to get to his baseball game. Thanks Bob, once again I had a great
time with you! See you again next year!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 1, 2003
Howard Grodenski called us from Virginia on Saturday and wanted to know if the
boat was available for today and tomorrow. It just happened to be open and he flew in
yesterday. This morning Juan and Manuel took him to the same spot where Manuel
and I had found the log yesterday and started to search. They came across another
piece of wood that held a lot of bait and had birds sitting on it, but no Dorado. They
also came across two separate pods of Porpoise but had no Tuna strikes. Tossed bait
to three of the four Marlin they saw and had no takers. One of those kind of days. The
water was beautiful though, and I got some projects taken care of so I am going along
tomorrow. I sure hope we find fish!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 2, 2003
Howard invited me so I was on the boat today. We had decided yesterday afternoon
that today we would either go up the Sea of Cortez to the Gorda Banks area or up the
Pacific coast, depending on the weather and on what other boats had been doing.
Three days in a row to the south had produced only one good day of fishing and that
was a lot of luck. Manuel said that the fishing up towards San Jose had been slow so
this morning we decided to try the Pacific side. Lines in the water at 7 AM after a 15
minute cruise and the boat kept pointing it’s bow south. After a while I started to get
worried that Juan and Manuel had changed the game plan on us. Nope, Manuel had
spotted three boats about 12 miles out that looked as if they were staying in one spot,
maybe working Tuna or a piece of Debris with Dorado. Eventually we got close to the
area and could see that they just happened to be in the same spot, there was no
concentrated activity. The bow turned towards the coast in the area of Margarite and
when we got about 6 miles off the beach we spotted several Frigate Birds working.
Excitement was in the air and fish on our minds as we got closer and prepared
ourselves for some action. Shoot, it was a big school of baby Dorado chasing little bitty
baitfish. One of the Frigates got hold of a little Dorado and took off with it. Gives you
an idea of their size, huh? We kept going and about 5 miles off the beach we finally
had a hit. The strike was on the rigged Ballyhoo on the stinger rod. It was a hard strike
and took a bit of line but did not stick. Juan ran down and pinned on a Mackerel, which
he then dropped back. I cleared the short line then ran to the bridge and started to
bring in the stinger line, hoping the fish was still back there and would follow the lure in
and see the bait. That’s exactly what happened, but the Marlin took the bait off the
hook. Juan quickly reeled in and rebaited and I brought the stinger lure in. The Marlin
had just had it’s appetite teased and came right back on the second bait. Hooked up!
Howard got into the chair and reeled like crazy. The line came in so easily that he
thought it must be a little Dorado or some other small fish, but after the fish approached
the boat it changed direction and took off! Back and forth, back and forth it went for 30
minutes. Finally Howard was able to get the fish close enough to the boat for Juan to
touch leader and make it a legal catch. I had the camera ready and for the next 15
minutes was able to get some great shots of the fish in the air, and of Howard sweating
as he worked the fish. After 45 minutes Juan was able to get the leader and grab the
bill. I placed the tag in the fish and we released it. Way to go Howard, a nice fight and
release on a #120 Striped Marlin. Just a few minutes later we saw another fish on the
surface and tossed it a bait, but the fish went down. That was all the action we had. As
we approached the lighthouse there were almost 30 boats working the ledge, both
trolling, slow trolling live bait and dropping live bait deep. We slow trolled live mackerel
across the area, two up on top and one deep, as well as having a rigged ballyhoo out
but we had no interest from the fish. Back in the Marina flying a blue Marlin flag and a
red release flag, we were one of very few boats flying any flags today. I don’t know
what happened to all the fish we had around last week, but every day is different and
maybe tomorrow the bite will turn back on. Until then, Tight lines!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 3, 2003
Michael Parker and his friend Eric are here from Seattle with their families and have
arranged today for a fishing expedition. Michael is a fishing junkie so he made all the
arrangements! The girls get tomorrow at the spa while the guys watch the kids, a good
trade off. Juan and Manuel went about 17 miles out to find the fish today but they did
well. Eric got the first Marlin of the day, one that struck a lure. The Striped Marlin was
estimated at 160 pounds according to Juan, and after a very long 30 minute fight it was
tagged and released. The fish did not do a lot of jumping and that increased the
amount of time it took to bring in. They also got into some Yellowfin Tuna, in among
Porpoise, and ended up catching seven of them, most of the fish about 7-10 pounds,
footballs. There were enough fillets that they ended up with about 23 pounds of meat,
which they had smoked to take home. That was all the action out in the deep water
but Michael still wanted to get a Marlin. With several hours left, Juan and Manuel
decided to join the crowd at the lighthouse and drop down live bait and wait for a bite.
It was just about 10 minutes before time to quit when the Marlin finally took a bait.
Once again the fish did not jump, and it only took about 30 minutes for Michael to get
the fish in. This one was bleeding from the gills so Juan and Manuel took it. All right,
the boat was flying two Marlin flags, one release flag and four Tuna flags (that’s all the
tuna flags we have) when they came in the Marina, and that was a lot better than most
of the boats did today! Good going guys, we were glad you had a good time!
“FLY HOOKER” FISHING REPORT FOR DECEMBER 5, 2003
I got to go fishing again with our friend Jeff deBrown of “Baja On The Fly” as he
brought three anglers down from the East Cape. Jeff had taken Ken, Lazlo and Ken’s
son Cody out fishing for two days up there, but their luck had been bad, blanked for
both days. The wind was blowing just a little as we left the Marina this morning, but I
thought that it would die off by 9 am. We had loaded up on Sardinas, a necessity when
fly fishing as you generally need a lot of chum to draw fish to the boat. I told Manuel
(Juan was sick today) to keep going until we found Porpoise or something floating. It’s
tough enough having the handicap of being a fly fisherman, you have to be where the
fish are in order to catch them. No sense in blind casting, that’s a waste of time.
Accordingly, Manuel headed out to the west and we kept cruising for two hours before
finally finding Porpoise. The pod was enormous and there were Frigate birds working it
as well. They were moving along at a fairly good clip so we started off by trolling flies.
The first pass resulted in a triple strike! Lazlo, Ken and Jeff fought the Yellowfin to the
boat and they were perfect size, around 10 pounds each. As they were fighting the fish
I was tossing out Sardinas, hoping to keep the fish by the boat and get the guys a
chance to cast to them. Well, a 10 pound Yellowfin on 11 weight rods are not a quick
catch, and even though I could get the fish to boil for a little while, the main school
moved away by the time the guys got their fish to the boat. This happened every time
we hooked up, but since we did not get triple strikes every time, the guys did get a
chance to cast once in a while. It ended up that every fish we hooked up came on the
troll, and there were Bonita mixed in there as well. I got a chance to fight one of the
fish but crossed lines with one Ken had hooked up and got cut off. Oh well, that’s the
way it goes sometimes! I think that Jeff ended up loosing a couple of shooting heads,
once when one line caught in the prop (Jeff was on the rod), and then that one I got cut
off on. Cody got to fight three fish and started to feel bad (a little seasick). Ken gave
him some Dramamine and he knocked out on the engine cover for the rest of the trip.
Ken got the largest fish of the trip when he hooked up to a 22 pound Yellowfin! It took
him a long time to bring the fish to the boat, a lot of runs in a fish that size on fly gear!
Eventually the bite died off and we used up just about all the chum. That is when Jeff
had a big boil behind the fly he was trolling. We both saw it at the same time, and then
it swirled again! A short run of about ten yards then a Dorado that was at least 30
pounds jumped in the air! All right, everyone saw the fish and we were excited! The
Dorado started to make a long run, constantly jumping and putting up huge splashes.
Another boat was in the area and not until it got close to us did we realize the Captain
had never looked our way or noticed that we were hooked up! We yelled and whistled
and finally his deck hand heard us and saw us wave them away, but it was to late. By
the time the Captain turned his head, saw us waving and turned his wheel, he had run
over the line and cut it off about 25 feet from the backing. Ouch, a nice fish and $60
worth of fly line gone! Jeff had handed off the fish to Lazlo but there was nothing any
of us could have done. Well, that was the end of the day for us and we were facing a
30 mile run back to the Marina. It was a really good day on the water and it was nice to
have a successful fly fishing trip! Thanks Jeff, next time I am going to have to charge
more if we are going to be cruising for 5 1/2 hours, it really burns up the fuel! It was
loads of fun and lets do it again! Thanks again, and I am really glad that both Ken and
Lazlo and Cody had a great time. Yes Ken, I agree that if you tied a Steelhead and a
Tuna tail-to-tail that the Tuna would win!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 6 DECEMBER, 2003
Jay, John, Ron and Wes were our anglers today. This trip was arranged once they
had come down and they had inquired about it first, but were undecided on fishing or
golfing for the day. Fishing won out but they may have caught more on the golf course!
Juan and Manuel started the day off the lighthouse on the Pacific side and it was
shortly thereafter that a Marlin was sighted on the surface. A live bait was tossed but
there was no interest shown by the fish. They continued trolling out to where we had
found the porpoise yesterday, almost 30 miles out, and they did find the Porpoise. So
did a few other boats. But no one had any action from fish there, and no fish were seen
busting the surface. On the way back they found two Frigate birds working and
checked it out. There were a few Dorado seen feeding under the birds, but once again,
there was no interest in either the lures or in live bait. Some days you get fish, other
days you get stinky, and today was one of the stinky ones. Sorry about that guys, we
hope you were not too disappointed, and we hope you have better luck next time!
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