Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
May 4, 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 25-May 1, 2004
WEATHER: As Spring comes in we are getting the great weather we always expect, and one of the reasons we moved here. Sunny skies, clear nights, daytime temperatures around 90 degrees and night time getting a comfortably cool 65-70 degrees. We have had very light breezes all week with the exception of Thursday when front moved through and brought steady 20 knot winds from the west-southwest.
WATER: Water temperatures n the Sea of Cortez ranged from 65 degrees just off the beach here in Cabo to 77 degrees out at the 1150 spot. The cold water was only right at the Cape and it warmed quickly once you headed east. The color close to shore was green early in the week but cleared to blue by the end, whole the color off shore was a slightly green tinged blue to 15 miles out, then the water temps jumped to 73+ degrees and turned a clear blue. On the Pacific side the cool water remained close to shore and it never really warmed up the way we were hoping. Water temperatures the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks stayed in the mid 60’s.
BAIT: The normal $2.00 per bait for Caballito ( most of them were small) with a very few small Mackerel available. I did not hear of any Sardines making it down to Cabo from San Jose.
FISHING
BILLFISH: The beat goes on! This week is a re-run of the action we were having last week with the fish in the same area and striking the same things. The hot action area remained from right in front of town where the water warmed to 70 degrees and continued on up the coast on the Cortez side. Most of the actions was within 8 miles of the beach and the really hot spot locally was outside the Westin/Palmilla and San Jose. Most boats were getting multiple shots every day and often did not have enough flags to fly one for every Striped Marlin released. The best I heard this week was seven fish in one day, but the average was one or two fish to the side of the boat. Once again lures seemed to be the key to finding the fish, but once you were in the area, slow trolled live bait with two on the surface and one down deep gave consistent action. Again, most of the fish were in the 120 # range, with a few quite a bit larger. Surprisingly, small lures in red or Petrelero were a really hot item for a few dyas as the Marlin were feeding on small Squid. Boats working the porpoise for Tuna reported getting lots of strikes on the small feathers from Marlin and savvy anglers rigged the feathers with single hooks, just for a better hookset if a marlin came in on them. There were reports of Blue Marlin being caught, and while I did not see any of them myslef, several of the Captians I talked with confirmed the fact that they are showing up. There wee also a few swordfish being sighted and baited, all in all it has been quite the week for Billfish!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Purse Seiners left, (moving up the coast on the Pacific side, reportedly to fish just outside of mag Bay) and our tuna fishing immediately improved. The fish are still footballs, running from 8-20 pounds with an occasional larger one, but they are biting well when they are found. There are pods of Porpoise out there scattered all over the place and while not all of them are holding fish, there are enough that almost every boat has had the ability to get into them if the anglers wanted. Small feathers in pink, blue/white and green/yellow worked very well, with most of the action coming on the reddish colors (perhaps because of all the squid)
DORADO: Still not red hot, there were fish fond ranging form 10 pounds to 35 pounds and they were scattered. Quite a few were caught while slow trolling live bait for Marlin. While I did not hear of nay kelp paddies being found this week, there were nice sized fish taken off of trash, A live bait dropped back after one fish was hooked on the troll paid off about 20% of the time with a double hook-up. Almost all the action on Dorado took place on the Cortez side of the Cape.
WAHOO: Not as many Wahoo were caught this week as were caught last week. And maybe the coming full moon has an effect on the bite. It has been hard for me to figure these fish out, as some months the full moon is the best bite and in others the new moon phase offers the best chance. The fish this week were mainly open ocean with little floating debris found that held Wahoo.
NOTES: The bite continues to improve every week and our fingers are crossed that it does not stop. My soapbox speech for the week is on releasing Marlin and most of you know this and have heard it before. The only reason to take a Marlin is if it is not going to survive due to a hook through the eye or excessive bleeding form the gills. Our fishery was developed on and is still based on the great numbers of Striped Marlin that are available close to Cabo. Ask almost anyone who has been fishing here for several decades though and they will tell you that “It’s just not the same as the old days!” Thank goodness releasing the fish is becoming more prevalent, with 100 + charter boats a day working the waters, it would not be long before the fish would be gone if every boat killed every fish they caught ( and often sell the fish!) but they are now in the minority. If you want a mount done of your fish, fiberglass replicas are the norm now and they use no part of the actual fish. To get a mount, just have the fish measured along side of the boat and figure it will cost you around $10. An inch. Pulling the fish from the water can break loose the internal organs from the wall of the body cavity, and cause the fish to die later, so if you consider your self a sportsman, and plan to release the fish, please make sure that you are releasing a healthy fish and not one you have inadvertently damaged. Enough for this week! This report was written to the great guitar music of the Gipsy Kings on their 1996 Warner release “Tierra Gitana” Until next week Tight Lines!
"Fly Hooker" Daily Reports
Capt George Landrum
“Fly Hooker” Sportfishing
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
WEEKLY FISH COUNT
STRIPED MARLIN: TWO FISH TAGGED AND RELEASED (120#, 175#)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: 26 FISH KEPT (#8-#25) LOTS OF SMALL ONES RELEASED
DORADO: THREE FISH KEPT (#8-#30) ONE RELEASED (#8)
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 25 APRIL 2004
Warren Leisi, his wife, son and two daughters fished with us on the 21st and caught nothing, so we hoped that today would be better for them. Their son was a no show this morning, but everybody else was there and Juan and his nephew took the family out for their second trip. The water was a lot better this time and they were able to get some nice fish as well! Juan said the larger of the two Dorado they caught was about 25-30 pounds and the smaller one was about 20 pounds, One on live bait and one on lures they did plenty of jumping and were going to look great on the plate at dinner tonight!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 26 APRIL, 2004
Today we had part of a large group, four boats total, and three couples were fishing on the “Fly Hooker”. Juan worked the area just off of the Grey Rock and was able to get one Striped Marlin to the boat for a successful tag and release. Eight fish came into the lures and they were able to get three of them hooked up. One broke line not too far from the boat and the other one jumped off shortly after being hooked up, about five minutes into the fight. Every one was happy and had a great time. As far as the other boats, one of them caught and released two Striped marlin, one of them caught four small Yellowfin tuna and the other got skunked. It looks like the bite will continue to improve this week, we just hope that the weather stays good!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 28 APRIL, 2004
This was a fun day with just me, our web master and friend Phill Orr along with his buddy T.J. We left the marina early, way before sunrise, and slowly motored out to the east at 6 knots. As the sky started to lighten we put out lures and when it was light enough to see them, we got them arranged in the right spots! Just outside of Punta Ballena at a distance of four miles, we spotted Porpoise and made a few turns around them. No luck so we continues off shore until we reached 72 degree water, about 8 miles out. By then the fleet was out and we all worked out way up the coast towards San Jose. Every now and then one of the boats would speed up and toss a bait at a tailing Marlin, or would stop and fight one that had struck a lure. WE did not get any action until we were off the Westin, and then a Striped Marlin came up on the Starboard outrigger lure and took some line. A couple of other boats hooked p in the same small area and we decided to try live baits. Two went out on the surface and one went down deep. Less than 5 minutes later Phil had his bait picked up (surface bait) and fought a 10 pound Dorado to the boat and into the box for dinner. The hook got a new Caballito and a few minutes later something scared the bait on the deep line. At least I though it was just scared. Stupid us, we should have checked the bait on the deep line. Not until much later did we find that the bait had been taken and we spent almost an hour with an empty hook deep in the water! That was enough, and back we went to lures. Phil wanted to be in early so we trolled our way back, staying about 7 miles off shore. Two different marlin made passes on our lures as we went, but neither of them hooked up. When we were 5 miles out of the Marina, right in front of Cabo Bay, the Porpoise appeared. A couple of boats were working them and after making one pass with the Marlin lures out we changed the outriggers to two feathers and put out the Penn 12T with 20# line in the middle short position with a feather as well. First pass, triple bite! The tuna were not large, around 12 pounds, but it was a lot of fun! We ended up with 5 Yellowfin in the box. Phil got to fight one on the 12 T for a few minutes before the hook came loose. With enough meat in the box we put the big stuff back out and headed for the marina. One more Marlin strike occurred on the way in and we were back at the slip around 2PM. We had a great day on the water and will be doing it again soon.!
“FLYHOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR APRIL 29, 2004
Ed Brown and his friend Jeff are sharing the boat with Norm King today and they had a great time on the water, even if they did get a bit wet! The wind started to blow early this morning and did not let up all day long as a front moved through the area. The fish didn’t seem to mind though! Juan and Manuel headed toward the area off of Punta Ballnea and for the first hour only had one small Yellowfin hook up. At 14 miles to the south of the Westin, they got into Porpoise and pretty soon everyone was busy! The action happened in bursts, with singles, doubles and triples and even all five lines going off at one time! The water started getting pretty rough and they had filled the cooler with 21 Yellowfin, so they headed closer to sore to find a marlin. Jeff was the lucky angler on that fish as both Ed and Norm had caught Marlin before. They were nice enough to allow Jeff the fight and it took him about 45 minutes on the #40 live bait gear to bring in the fish, estimated at #175, along side the boat to be tagged and released. Actually Ed and norm allowed Jeff to fight the fish because they wanted to stay dry! They
were tucked up in the overhang under the bridge as Manuel backed down in the rough water, drenching Jeff every few minutes! After that fish was released
they hooked up a very small Dorado that was also released. It was a great fishing day and the guys had a great time! Let’s hope the weather calm down and the wind stops.
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