Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
April 19, 2004
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo Bite Report
Capt George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT APRIL 11-17, 2004
WEATHER: The weather changed somewhat this week. It started beautiful at the beginning
of the week, hardly a cloud in the sky. Thursday it started clouding up, making it a little muggy.
The wind from the north-northwest would pick up about noon making for a rough ride back from
the fishing grounds, but worth it! Wind would die down in again in the morning for smooth
sailing out to where the tuna are biting. On Saturday it started to blow really hard at noon and a
lot of the boats struggled to get back, but that wind died down in the evening and Sunday was
fine. Our overnight lows were in the 65-70 degree range while the daytime highs were around the
85-90 area.
WATER: We have been seeing a range of water temperatures from 62 to 72 degrees this week
with the colder water running along the Pacific coast from outside the Golden Gate and inside the
San Jaime Banks, continuing down the line and going to the south of the Cape as far out as 40
miles. This cool green water to the south is from 15 to 20 miles wide and is from a low of 62
degrees to a high of 67 degrees. To the west it quickly warms to 72 degrees and to the east it
warms to just as much, but takes more distance to happen. Temperatures at San Jaime and Gorda
Banks are in the 72 range while Golden Gate remains around 65 degrees..
BAIT: The normal $2 per bait for Caballito with very few small Mackerel available. I did not
hear of any Sardines making it down to Cabo from San Jose.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There were very few blue flags flying this week and it is probably due to the water
temperature close to home. The Striped Marlin that have been caught all either came from at
least 30 miles to the west or up around and past the Gorda Banks, where the water was warmer.
While the bite on Striped Marlin was slow and that on the Blue Marlin not there at all here at the
Cape, we did have some Swordfish action continue. A few private boats did night trips and
managed to hook fish ranging from 60 to 250 pounds and a couple more were caught by the
charter fleet baiting fish found on the surface.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Almost a repeat of last weeks report on the Tuna. They are getting a little
bigger. At least bigger than footballs. Some nice 25-40 LB fish were being caught out at the
Jaime, catching them with the porpoise. The ride hasn’t been bad getting out to San Jaime, but if
that wind picks up in the afternoon, it’s a rough ride back. Again, small feathers in dark colors
worked well as did larger lures in Petrelero (sure must be a lot of squid out there now). The Sea
of Cortez side, out to 15 miles while the wind blew, and out a bit farther after it stopped on the
weekend had the majority of the fish, perhaps due to the small temperature break there.
Unfortunately there have been a few Tuna Seiners sighted both at the San Jaime and at the 95
spot. On the weekend it appeared that they had set on the San Jaime as all of a sudden the fish
that been there disappeared as did the Seiners, and the Porpoise that were around were acting
very scared of boats.
DORADO: Very few Dorado this week. Still getting some nice size fish. Also I have heard of a
few small ones being caught this week and that usually means the schools are coming! 5 miles out
off the coast on the Cortez side was a good area for a fish or two if you were lucky, and
otherwise you needed to find something floating in the water. Live bait was the key as usual.
WAHOO: Some nice Wahoo showing up this week. Seeing a lot of 40-80 LB fish. I love the
end of April. My favorite fish for Sashimi! And the mangoes are starting to come in for fresh
mango salsa on the grilled Wahoo. Just off the coast on the Cortez side and on top of the San
Jaime seemed to be where the fish were at and they were striking dark colored lures.
INSHORE: Slow fishing in rough water on the Pacific side, but those that could handle it found
fair fishing up around the lighthouse on the Pacific and just off the Arches for Yellowtail to 25
pounds on live bait dropped deep and irons in white. There were also Sierra in the 4 to 8 pound
range in the same area as well as right in the Cabo San Lucas Bay and up around El Tule. The
favorite for good catches of Sierra seemed to be dark colored hootchies run deep with the use of
a planer or down-rigger. Elsewhere the inshore action was slow with only a few fish found.
NOTES: Swordfish continue to be the talk of the week around the docks , at least from the
private boats. The Charter fleets are happy with the number of Yellowfin Tuna that are showing
up, but only a few of the Captains seem to be concerned about the flagrant Purse Seining going
on right in front of Cabo. Some of them have talked about it but say that it happens every year.
Even though it is supposed to against the federal law for them to set nets inside the 50 mile limit,
there is no enforcement available so it continues to happen. Sigh. There are fewer Whales being
seen and that is normal, as around Easter every year they head back to the north. This weeks
report was written to the music of Jimmy Buffett on the MCA 1990 release “Feeding Frenzy”.
Fly Hooker Daily Catch Reports
Capt. George Landrum
"Fly Hooker" Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
WEEKLY FISH COUNT
YELLOWFIN TUNA: 34 CAUGHT, 15 RELEASED (#4-#30)
BONITA: 15 CAUGHT, 11 RELEASED (#15-#20)
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 15 APRIL, 2004
Professional Fly Fishing guide Jeff deBrown and his client Russell Mehl fished the
“Fly Hooker” today. Russell and his wife made the arrangements for this trip before
they left Las Angles on the cruise, and Jeff drove down from the East Cape to meet
with them. Russell’s wife was not feeling well so it was just Jeff, Russell, Juan and
Manual on the trip. They managed to get out of the harbor by 8 AM (a surprise
considering the cruise ship event) and were back dropping Russell at the dock at 1 PM.
They had a good time and were able to get into the Yellowfin Tuna, but were not able
to get any Sardinas for bait. Without small baitfish to bring the Tuna behind the boat
and boiling, they had to resort to trolling flies. Not a bad thing to do, and they had good
luck doing it. The biggest fish Russell got was a Yellowfin that was around 25 pounds,
and it put up quite the fight on the long rod. They ended the trip catching 6 fish, three
of them in the 25 pound class, and released three smaller ones. Not bad for a half day!
Good going guys!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 16 APRIL, 2004
Today was supposed to be a free trip with just me and my Webmaster but he ended
up canceling yesterday morning, claiming that he was up to his eyebrows in work
(construction) and would not be able to go. Hey, sometimes things work out all right!
Instead of Phil, we were able to get Steve, Ken and Carl out on the boat. Steve has
fished with us before and since they all just got in to town and were looking for a fishing
trip we were able to accommodate them It was just a half day, but they were able to get
into the Yellowfin Tuna. The bite was not wide open but 5 nice fish in the box was all
right! Enough for a few dinners at least! Thanks Steve, and it was good to meet Ken
and Carl. Ken is a livestock broker and Carl an auctioneer, a real blast to be around
both of them!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 17 APRIL, 2004
Bob Gaede, his wife Judy and Grandma (88 years young), are here again and fished
with Juan and Manuel today. What a day they had! There were big swell south of the
north-west in the morning but not too much wind and they went out 16 miles before
putting lines in the water. After trolling for around an hour they heard over the radio
that there was some action going on 4 miles away. Off they went and were they ever
glad. Doubles, triples, lots of singles and they only kept the largest fish or small ones
with broken gills. They ended up with the box full and released at least 15 Yellowfin
between 4 and 12 pounds and a half dozen Bonita of 12-20 pounds. At just around
noon the wind started to blow, and blow hard! It took a while to get home and everyone
was thankful when they rounded the Arches top the calm waters of the bay. Juan
figured that they had caught at least 31 Yellowfin and 6 Bonita this trip, and everyone
went home with lots of fish, even after releasing more than half the catch> A great day
on the water, and Grandma caught the largest one!
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