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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
March 7, 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 28-MARCH 6, 2005
WEATHER: Once again we are in the zone, the weather zone that is! I don’t really know what to think about the weather we have been having since the beginning of the year. Almost every week but one so far we have had some kind of rain. This week it was just a sprinkle on Friday, but we have been overcast almost all week long. This is not a bad thing as it has been very good for the plants, but for everyone visiting it has been somewhat of a bummer. No sun? Why did we come here if there is no sun? I have heard that a few times this week. About the best I can say is that it sure beats snow and 5 degrees! Our night time lows have been in the high 50’s and the day time highs in the high 70’s. As you can tell from above, most of the week it has been either overcast or mostly cloudy. At the end of the week we had some strong winds blow from the NNW, then it switched just a bit and came from the West.
WATER: As strange as it may seem, things actually changed quite a bit this week, at least as far as the water temperatures were concerned. On the Pacific side of the Cape we had cool water close in to shore, and the temperature there was mostly in the 67-68 degree range. Once you got out to 15 miles the surface temperature picked up to 70 degrees, but the change was over a few miles distance and there was no really defined break. The surface conditions were about what we experienced last week with winds from the northwest causing a swell that was mostly in the 3-5 foot range. At the end of the week, during the weekend, the strong wind caused the surface conditions to be pretty choppy and there were quite a few boats that returned early. On the Sea of Cortez we had surface conditions that were much better with some swell from the Pacific reaching around the Cape but no wind really affecting it. From 10 to 25 miles out there was almost mirror conditions, farther than that the wind went into effect and closer in the currents really changed things around. Out to 10 miles for most of the week there was a fairly strong current causing mixed seas, we saw the same thing last week at the tail end, and thankfully it died off during the middle of this last week.
BAIT: Mackerel, Mackerel, Mackerel, and at the normal $2 per bait. Sometime soon I hope there will be some Sardinas showing up!
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There were a few Striped Marlin caught at the beginning of the week and they started biting again at the end of the week, but the three days during the middle of the week were like a holiday for the billfish! I have no idea what was going on, but even if you saw the Marlin on the surface getting them to eat was a case of “mission impossible” for almost everyone. Even the high liner boats were lucky to get a Striped Marlin this week, and of course that made no one happy. As the week came to a close the Marlin were appearing close to shore and tossing a live bait to five fish would result in an average of one getting a mouth around the bait. Most of the action that took place happened within five miles of the beach on the Pacific side and live bait was the key.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There was not a lot of change on the Yellowfin Tuna from last week to this week with the exception that they were getting a little bit closer every day. At the end of the week you still had to travel a while, and for most of the boat getting out 25 miles on the Pacific side with the swell out there made for almost a two hour trip. But hey, if Tuna were what you wanted, that is where you needed to be. The fish were not large, most of the fish were in the 10-15 pound range, but fish in the 30-40 pound class were common enough that if you got into them everyone was happy. Of course the fish were associated with the Dolphin and that was the clue to getting Tuna in the boat, be one of the first five boats to the Dolphin and you had a chance. I did talk with a number of anglers whose boats were flying white flags and found that there are a pretty large number of Captains who are flying white flags for Bonita and Skipjack.
DORADO: There were scattered Dorado fairly close to the beach on both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez. The fish have not been big with the average around 10 pounds, but slow trolling live bait in 100 feet of water ensures a catch. For most of the anglers that is better than coming in skunked.
WAHOO: ?
INSHORE: Sierra action picked back up this week and we are sure happy that it did. If you were fortunate enough to fish with a Captain that knew what was happening there were lots of fish available, and they were decent size with fish ranging from 4 to 10 pounds. Not only Sierra, but the Pargo bite has remained fair and there were decent Grouper and Amberjack being found as well. Most of the bottom fish were being found on the Cortez side of the Cape while the Sierra and Yellowtail (yes, Yellowtail) action was on the Pacific. Yellowtail were not plentiful but there were fish found to 15 pounds by anglers dropping live bait around 60 feet deep off of the rocky points on the Pacific side, or working iron in glow colors in the same areas.
NOTES: I took a lot of heat this week for the report I posted last week, but all I can say if “Bite my %$#!” I report on what happened during the previous week, I don’t try and predict what is going to happen. If the fishing sucked, well, that’s the way it is (or actually, the way it was”. Fishing changes week to week and as a fisherman I have learned to be optimistic. If I offended a few people who say that I am discouraging people from fishing on their vacation. “Mea culpa”. Get over it! I have found that most fishermen appreciate honesty in regards to how things have been, and if you have people contacting you and you are promising them great fishing, I want your crystal ball!! Folks, fishing changes day to day, the Marlin fishing has started to pickup once again, the Tuna are getting closer and if you want to give it a chance don’t let what happened last week make you shy off. That said and done, I have been busy doing work on the “Senor Moment” and have not had a chance to get any driving range practice in. I did get a chance to drive to La Paz on Friday for materials that were not available in Cabo and spent a total of four hours on the road listening to Chet Atkins “The Master and His Music” and Joe Cocker on the CD “Organic”! Great music and I didn’t hit any of the horses, cows or goats along the side and in the middle of the road! My best to all of you and until next week, Tight Lines!
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