CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 23-29, 2002 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com WEATHER: We started the week a bit worried over Tropical Depression Julio as it developed to the south, worried that we might be having a repeat of last years Hurricane Juliet, and on the anniversary as well! Luckily for us it dissipated by mid-week and the only effects we received were cloudy skies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as well as a bit of wind on Friday. As a whole, the week was great! The temperature averaged 87 degrees during the day, with highs around 97 and the nights were in the mid to high 70’s. No rain here in the lowlands but it looked as if the Sierras received a bit. (Ragtop Day) WATER: Our water temperatures ranged from the low 80’s on the Pacific side to almost 90 degrees up to the north of San Jose on the Sea of Cortez. The offshore waters were deep blue and there were flying fish almost everywhere. Northwest winds in the later part of the week caused the conditions on the Pacific side to be a bit rough and choppy but the Sea of Cortez remained very comfortable, at least until you got out about 25 miles, then it picked up. (When The Coast Is Clear) BAIT: The bait this week, if you could get any, was Caballito or Mullet. There was not a lot of them available and some of them were very small. The price remained the same though, at the normal $2 per bait. (Coconut Telegraph) FISHING: BILLFISH: The Sailfish are beginning to show up in numbers as the water warms up. They have been found in the same areas as the Dorado and are striking the same type of baits and lures. Blue Marlin have been scattered but most of them are being found on the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape. With the moon on the wane, more boats are starting to rig live Skipjack as baits for both the Blue Marlin and the Black Marlin. Striped Marlin have been found everywhere but the concentrations seem to be directly to the south of the cape and along the Pacific side out to about 10 miles. A mix of both live bait and lures worked for the fish that were caught, but as with the Blues Marlin, the full moon on the 21st kept the bite from going off really strong. Later in the week it started to pick up. (Frank and Lola) YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were not nearly as many Tuna caught this week as last week but there were still some nice ones found. For the bigger fish, finding the Porpoise was the key, as usual. Fish to 120 pounds were found south of Chileano and there were small footballs scattered around as well. Just because you found the Porpoise did not mean you caught fish though, many of the pods did not produce. Feathers in green, black and blue as well as cedar plugs (don’t Tuna fish without a few of these on board!) were top producing colors and the size range the fish were striking on ran from 6-10 inches. (Money Back Guarantee) DORADO: This weeks bright point! Almost any boat that wanted to focus solely on Dorado was able to limit out. Most of the fish were on the Pacific side inside 10 miles and we are getting the schooling fish now. There are a lot of schools of very small fish, under 10 pounds. Most boats are releasing all of these and keeping only the larger fish. A mix of small feathers and small baits worked well and if you found a school of the mid-range fish, in the 12-18 pound class, chunking worked very well. (Stars On The Water) WAHOO: A few nice fish were caught this week and a few others were hooked and lost. The action was spread out with reports of fish from all the banks as well as the contour lines along the coast, but there were no large concentrations found. (I Have Found Me A Home) INSHORE: Most Pangas are fishing for Dorado, as they have been easy to find and close to shore. An occasional Sailfish and Blue Marlin has kept fishermen on their toes, as they never know what to expect! (Brown Eyed Girl) NOTES: Written to Jimmy Buffet music again! The “Beaches” album from the four CD set “Beaches, Bars, Boats and Ballads”, MCA 1992. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 25 SEPTEMBER, 2002 “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 25 SEPTEMBER, 2002 North Carolinians Paul Dwyer, Tony Byrd and Brian Whitley are fishing with us today and tomorrow. Brian would really like to catch a Marlin and everyone else would like to catch large fish, regardless of the species. Juan and Manuel decided to work a current line and a “sort of” temperature break 10 miles to the south of the cape, then swing to the south east. They found a lot of porpoise out there and caught 6 football size Yellowfin Tuna and also hooked up three Dorado. One of the Dorado was a small female about 8 pounds is size so they released her. All this action took place before 9:30, then the went in search of Marlin. Everyone was asleep except Tony, and he was nodding off when they had a good strong Marlin strike. The fish did not hook up though, but he did wake up everyone! That was all the action for today and they are going to try again tomorrow. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 26 SEPTEMBER, 2002 This is the second day for Paul, Tony and Brian, and they did manage to get larger fish today! Juan and Manuel took the “Fly Hooker” further up the Pacific side. The fish were a bit larger and the water was just a tiny bit rougher but that was all right. They only caught one Tuna today but this one put up a fight as it weighed about 65 pounds! The Dorado were biting as well and they caught one that went 40 pounds and several in the 20 pound class. Juan said that he lost 4 others as well. Brian finally got to tie into a big fish as he fought a Striped Marlin, hooked on live bait, for about 15 minutes, getting it up behind the boat before loosing the fish. Sounds like they saw some action today and once again, most of the excitement happened early in the day! Thanks guys, have fun the rest of the week! Until Next Week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, The “Fly Hooker” Crew!