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Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Capt. George Landrum
November 20, 2006
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Cabo Bite Report
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
[email protected]
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Nov. 13-19, 2006
WEATHER: With our daytime highs in the mid 80’s and the lows in the mid to low 60’s just about all I can say is that it is the perfect time of year! We have had only slight breezes this week and only two days with partly cloudy skies. We ended the week with no wind on Sunday, the morning temperature at 64 degrees and no clouds in the sky.
WATER: Tropical Storm Sergio brought some southern storm swells our way but they were not big ones, mostly 3-6 foot stuff. With a slight swell from the northwest and no wind on the water to speak of things were very nice on the surface regardless of where you went. On Sunday morning the water was like a mirror since there was no wind at all. Surface temperatures were an almost uniform 83-84 degrees within 40 miles of Cabo at the beginning of the week but they dropped by a degree or two at the end of the week. The water was a great blue color everywhere with very little green showing, where it did occur was close to the beach on the Pacific side.
BAIT: There was a pretty even mix of Caballito and Mackerel available this week at the usual $2 per bait. The Sardinas made themselves scarce and here in Cabo were very difficult to find. Up in San Jose they could be had for $20 a scoop instead of $20 a bucket, but there were a lot of boats that were happy just to get a handful.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There are still some Blue Marlin around, but as the water starts cooling down they are becoming a bit scarcer. I had reports of fish to #450 being caught and released (congratulations Lin!) as well as a number of fish in the #200 pound class, but no really large fish this week. Instead, there has been a resurgence of Striped Marlin. One of the best bets early in the week was the area of the Golden Gate Banks where boats were releasing one to five fish a day while drifting with live bait, some deep and some on the surface. There were also a few fish taken with this technique off of the ledge at the lighthouse. The Finger Bank area is beginning to take off, I reported last week that there was a decent bite in that area and it has improved a bit. The bite is still mainly in the afternoon and the fish are a bit scattered since there are not a lot of bait balls in the area, but slow trolling with either live or dead Mackerel has been a great technique. A lot of boats were stopping at the Golden Gate Bank on the way to the Finger Bank in order to make bait.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Inner and the Outer Gorda Banks continued to produce large Yellowfin Tuna to #150 this week, but the average size was #80. It was basically an early bite and either dropping a live Sardine, slow trolling a bridled Skipjack or catching and slow trolling a Chilwilie worked. A few boats were able to get two fish but most of the boats were good for either one big bite or one fish in the boat. The key was to downsize the leader and go with flouro-carbon. There was a fair bite on fish averaging #40 at 35 miles to the south of Cabo at the beginning of the week and these fish were found under Porpoise. I got into some fish in the 30-40 pound range south of the San Jaime on Friday and Saturday after being invited to the party by a friend of mine. He had spotted a couple of the long-range boats out of San Diego in the area; the Shogun was one of them. I did have one pass on a group of fish that resulted in one reel getting spooled and all the other lines going off but loosing all the fish. Must have been some decent fish out there but we were not able to get any of them to the boat. I heard of some good fish being found up at the Finger Banks while slow trolling live Skipjack, but apparently there was a problem keeping the Dorado away form the baits so few of them were caught.
DORADO: The focus for great Dorado action continued to be up the Pacific side at least 20 miles. There were decent fish found closer to home but the numbers and size of fish to the north were worth the run for most anglers. For those willing to pay the fuel premium to get to the Finger Bank area, the results from slow trolling live or dead bait was worth the expense. Of course there were a few boats that were not in the right place at the right time, but most of them were able to get between 6 to 20 fish a trip. What was nice was these fish were averaging between 30-40 pounds! Close to the beach at the 20-mile mark the action continued to be good with fish in the 15-30 pound class providing consistent action. Trolling lures at fairly high speeds got the first fish to hook up, and then dropping back a live bait fooled a few more into biting.
WAHOO: I only saw a few Wahoo flags this week and heard of a few fish caught over the radio. There was no concentration of fish and those that were caught were incidental fish.
INSHORE: There was a good Red Snapper bit inshore for a couple of days early in the week but then the fish moved on. Most of the Pangas have been moving a bit more offshore since we have had very good sea conditions this week. Their concentration has been on Dorado. For those that have been working just off of the beach there has been steady, but not fast, action on Skipjack, Bonita and a few scattered Sierra and small Roosterfish. The best action has been on live Sardinas when they could be found; otherwise hootchies in red were the way to go.
NOTES: The bite continues to improve as well as the weather. If everything keeps up at this pace then we will all be very happy in a few weeks! Happy Thanksgiving wherever you may be and have a safe and enjoyable time with your friend and family! Until next week, Tight Lines!
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