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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
September 18, 2006
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo Bite Report
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Sept.11-17, 2006
WEATHER: The words I heard most often this week were “We dodged another bullet” when it came to discussing the weather. Less than two weeks after Hurricane John took a turn to the east and hit the East Cape (when we were forecast for a direct hit) Hurricane Lane developed and appeared as if she was going to run over the top of us. Hurricane Lane was a category three, just as John was, but was much more massive in coverage and held a lot more rain. Much to our surprise (and appreciation) she took a turn to the east, a hard turn, and hit the mainland coast of Mexico just to the north of Mazatlan, up in the Los Mochis area and dumped up to 24” of rain. I feel sorry for them but once again we came through all right. Everyone here was surprised as well when we received no rain in Cabo (other then a quick sprinkle on Friday night that dotted windshields). As a result we had very overcast skies starting on Wednesday and lasting through Saturday with only partly cloudy skies on Sunday. Daytime highs were between the low 80’s and high to mid 90’s while the nighttime lows were around the high to mid 70’s. Winds were from the NW during the middle of the week as feeder bands led into the storm and there was just a light breeze on Sunday.
WATER: Southerly swells brought in by Hurricane Lane made things confused on the Pacific side as they interacted with the NW winds feeding into the bands. This condition only lasted for three days but was a big influence on many of the trips. On the Cortez side of the Cape the swells were the only influence as there was almost no wind until you got more than 25 miles off shore. Temperatures on the Cortez side were in the 84-degree range to the north of the Gorda Banks and between 80-82 degrees between Cabo and the Banks. On the Pacific side the San Jaime Banks was at 83 degrees while the Golden Gate was in the high 70’s. These temperatures were from the middle of the week, the last good shot we had. From the boats out since then we have figured out that everything is about one degree less now. Conditions were good with blue water almost everywhere except for very close to the beach.
BAIT: There was not much change in the bait situation from last week. A combination of slightly larger seas and the moon conditions once again caused a significant lack of live bait with almost everyone being limited to 6 or 7 Caballito. There were Sardines available at both Palmilla and La Playita, but you had to be one of the first boats in the area to get the best bait, and it was at the normal $20 per scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: We had a good showing of Sailfish in close to the beach on the Pacific side this week and they were hitting smaller feathers and plugs meant for Dorado. Average size was #80 and a lot of the boats were hooking up or having strikes from four of five fish a day. Just a mile farther out and out tot eh San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks there were a few Striped Marlin. They were hitting lures but not hooking up well, most of the hookups were the result of slow trolling live bait or tossing the bait to fish appearing in the pattern. This is a good time of year as almost all the Billfish species we normally catch are around, as an example we had clients the week who caught Sailfish one day and Striped and Blue Marlin the next, then two days later had clients who hooked and released a Blue Marlin first thing in the morning and then a Black Marlin the last fish of the day, filling the space between with Dorado. Sailfish and Striped Marlin seemed to be more prevalent on the Pacific side while the Blues and Blacks were almost anywhere.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The flats up around Punta Gorda and the Estellidera area have continued to supply plenty of Yellowfin Tuna for boats that have picked up Sardinas for bait and use them for both chum and bait. On some days they have had to weed through a lot of Bonita and Skipjack, but there were days when things were just wide open. These fish have ranged between #15 and #40. Later in the week there were fish found with porpoise out around the 95 Spot and dark colored feathers and cedar plugs worked their magic with limits on fish to 35 pounds for the boats that got into them. There were reports of a few fish over #100 pounds being found but I never was able to get any confirming information on them.
DORADO: I think that Dorado may well be the fish of the month since almost every boat that went out was able to get at least three or four of these good eating fish. Most of the action was on the Pacific side of the Cape and close to shore. Or at least there were more fish close to shore, there were larger fish offshore around the Banks, but the numbers were within a mile of the beach. Most of these fish were in the 8-12 pound range while the offshore fish were in the 20-30 pound range. Strip baits, drifted live bait and slow trolled Ballyhoo accounted for most of the fish, plastic jigs and feather brought in the rest.
WAHOO: There were a few Wahoo reported from up at the Punta Gorda area and a couple from the Pacific banks, but there were no numbers of fish; they were incidental catch for boats working for other species.
INSHORE: Still some nice Roosterfish around but not in great numbers. Most of the Pangas have been fishing for Dorado and having great success.
NOTES: My buddy Chris Golden came back from a trip for Tuna up at the flats off of Punta Gorda and still had some Sardinas in the bait tank. While cleaning the boat after the trip they were fly-lining the leftover bait in the Marina and were having fun catching and releasing some 4-5 pound jacks. One of the Jacks became lunch for a small Hammerhead that they were able to release! This weeks report was written to the music of Bobby McFerrin on the 1988 EMI release “Simple Pleasures”, a step back in time with a song that brings a lot of memories “Don’t worry, be happy”. Until next week, tight lines!
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