Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
February 21, 2005
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 FEBRUARY 13-19, 2005
WEATHER: Finally a week with no rain! We did have pretty heavy condensation most mornings but no rain falling from the sky. Most of the week was partly cloudy but we did have two days in the middle of the week where it was sunny all day. Our day time highs were in the high 70’s and our night time lows were in the 60 degree range.
WATER: Great surface conditions this week with almost no swell and very little wind chop with the exception of Friday afternoon when the wind picked up as a small piece of cloud cover blew in. Most of the week the wind was at 5-10 knots so the chop was small. The Pacific side remained cool with a bit of warmer water moving in up to the north of the Golden Gate Banks late in the week. On the Cortez side there was a 20 mile wide band of cooler water in the 71-73 degree range running off the coast from the shore line. Once past the cool water there was water steadily in the 75 degree range and it curved in to the Punta Gorda area.
BAIT: Mackerel and some small Caballito were the choice of the week at the normal $2 per bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The concentration of Striped Marlin that were south of the Cape last week seemed to have moved a bit farther out and to the east. This week we were running almost 24 miles to the east-southeast, where the water turned 74 degrees and out to the 1,000 fathom line. On each trip to the area this week there were feeding fish everywhere, tails popping up, swirls in the water and occasional free-jumping fish. There were a lot of fish but they were being picky. Getting to the area early definitely improved the chance of hooking up, but as it always is, being in the right place at the right time sure helped. The Marlin were feeding on small baits so most of the time you threw a Mackerel at them they ignored it. Trolling very small hootchies or feathers with single hooks started working for a lot of the boats, as well as trolling small Mackerel fillets. High speed trolling small lures at 9-10 knots produced fish for some boats as well. With all the fish in the area you would have thought it would be a snap to get hooked up, but on average half the boats went fishless, but not without trying hard. A few boats with the right techniques and the right timing did well with three to four fish per boat.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Some Tuna were found this week but they were very far off shore. There were reports of football to 30 pound fish being found 35 miles and farther to the west, past the San Jaime banks and also some found to the north of the San Jaime and to the north of the Golden Gate Banks. The fish were mixed in with Porpoise and that was the key. Of course not all Porpoise pods held Tuna and it was not uncommon to have to work four or five groups of Porpoise before finding a pod that held Tuna. On some of the pods you could see fish on the sonar but they would not come up and bite, instead they stayed 100-150 feet deep. Once you found fish that were up, small feathers and cedar plugs worked fine.
DORADO: Just as it was last week, working close in on both sides of the Cape produced Dorado. The fish were not large but they were there consistently. Working water from 60-150 feet in depth with small bright lures or slow trolling live Mackerel enabled several boats to score fish counts as high as 8 fish per boat. The Dorado ranged from 6-20 pounds. A few larger fish were picked up off shore with weights ranging from 15-50 pounds.
WAHOO: A few Wahoo were reported this week but there were no large amounts of them found, nor any large concentration of fish.
INSHORE: No changes from last week as Sierra once again are the inshore fish of the week. Anglers have been able to catch as many as they want. The Pacific side of the coast has been going off from the lighthouse up to Migraino on fish from three to six pounds. Small green hootchies live Sardinas and small Rapallas have all been working well, just don’t forget to use wire leader! There were also some nice Pargo found up in the rocks at the points with the sizes from 5-10 pounds. They were caught on live bait pitched in around the boilers.
NOTES: Whales, Porpoise, Turtles and Marlin, it was almost like Sea World out there this week! The water was great, the fishing decent and almost everyone that went out had fun. As for me, I spent a couple of hours at the driving range (I am getting better!), fished four days, got picked up as contributing editor for the fishing section on “Discover Cabo” bi-monthly magazine as well as the fishing commentator for the weekly Anglo-Mexican information hour on Cabo Mil Radio at 6pm on Sunday evenings. Enough to keep me busy! Thanks for everyone’s support and comments on the report, I would not still be doing it without your encouragement! This weeks report was written to the music of one of my guitar gods, Chet Atkins, on the 1994 Sony release “Read My Licks”. Unfortunately my guitar playing has not been getting a lot of practice lately, at this rate it will be several centuries before anyone other than my wife Mary will hear me play! Until next week, Tight Lines!
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