Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report for Sept 29-Oct 6 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 30- OCTOBER 6, 2002 WEATHER: The great weather we had last week lasted throughout the middle of the week and we were having the early morning temperatures in the high 60’s and the daytime highs around the mid 80’s. About Thursday things started to warm up to normal and once again the nighttime lows were in the low 80’s and the daytime highs in the mid 90’s, along with a slight increase in humidity. Occasional scattered clouds gave a bit of relief from the sun but did not deliver any rain. (The Sky Is Crying-Sonny Boy Williamson) WATER: A thumb of warm water has wrapped around the Cape and extends out to the San Jaime Banks. This water is 82-84 degrees and has a sharp, defined boundary where it abuts cooler 81 degree water. Up on the Pacific side the Golden Gate Banks has remained in the 78-79 range as it has been the southern limit of a band of cool water coming down from the north. Up the Sea of Cortez the Gorda Banks has remained warm with the water in the 84-86 range. The surface conditions on the Pacific side were a bit choppy early in the week but quickly calmed down, on the Sea of Cortez side it was often flat. (Give Me My Coat And Shoes-Buddy Guy with Junior Wells) BAIT: The bait situation improved this week and most boats had no problem getting what they needed for the day. Normal price of $2 per bait and most of it was Caballito, few if any Mackerel. (Worried Life Blues-Nappy Brown with Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin) FISHING: BILLFISH: The Marlin action moved closer and got better this week. A lot of fish were being found less than a mile from the Marina and you had no need for an hour run. Many more Blues were showing up this week, most of them in the 200-300 pound range but a few larger ones were hooked every day. Trolling at 7-9 knots with dark lures or slow trolling/drifting with live Skipjack or small Bonito were the ticket for the Blues. The Striped Marlin are here in force as well and they are scattered everywhere. Almost every boat has had multiple shots each day at tailing fish and the flags flying as they come in attest to the fact. Both lures and live bait have been working well for these fish and I have had a lot of luck with bright lures on the Stripes. (I’m A Real Kingfisher-Paul James) YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Tuna were very scarce this week and the few that I know were caught were found at the western edge of the San Jaime Banks. Even the football fish have been few and far between. Hopefully they will arrive again soon. (Bad Girl Blues-Johnny Winter) DORADO: Along with the Marlin bite, Dorado were the bright spot of the week. They seemed to be almost everywhere and as with the Marlin, there was no need for a long run to find them. The area off the lighthouse on the Pacific side and offshore to 5 miles on the Sea of Cortez provided plenty of action for anglers wanting to fight these acrobats. Most of the fish were running 8-12 pounds but a few in the larger 30-40 pound class were caught each day. Small bright colored lures in the 6”-8” range seemed to be working best and once a fish was hooked and brought to the boat it was not uncommon for more to follow it in. That opened up the opportunity for great action on light tackle or fly gear. Some of the boats work fish like this just for the body count and dropping back chunks pinned to live bait hooks added fish quickly. (I’ll Always Be In Love With You-Jimmy Witherspoon) WAHOO: I saw very few Wahoo flags being flown this week and did not talk with anyone who had caught one. I know there were fish caught but I can’t help you there this week. (Blues for Robert Jr.-Ronnie Earl) INSHORE: There have been Roosterfish caught but the focus has been on the Marlin and Dorado, since they are close in and readily available. A few Amberjack and a scattering of bottomfish have been brought in, mostly from the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape. (Oreo Cookie Blues-Lonnie Mack with Stevie Ray Vaughan) NOTES: The government is starting to enforce the “No filleting fish at sea” regulation, so check with your Captain and crew before you leave to make sure there are no surprises in store for you as far as the possibility of having to get your fish cleaned at the main dock instead of on the boat. I personally prefer to have my fish cleaned and filleted on the boat because it is a bit more sanitary and takes less time, but I also don’t want to take the chance of having my fish taken because of it. This weeks music selection was from the compilation “Celebration of Blues-great acoustic blues” a St. Clair Entertainment Group Inc. release, with selections from Stony Plain Records, Rounder Records and Alligator Records. Fly Hooker Daily Catch Report “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 27, 28 SEPTEMBER, 2002 John Gabrisch, John Hinton, John Quebe and Ron (not John) Garrett want to have a good time and catch fish. That is what it is supposed to be about and that is what they are here for! Juan and Manuel took them out to the Pacific side of the Cape in search of Dorado and Tuna and hopping for a Marlin as well. The strategy worked because they were flying flags for 3 Dorado and 6 Tuna when they returned to the Marina. One of the John’s was not feeling to well (perhaps a touch of cervesa flu) and tried to help by chumming the water! It worked because shortly thereafter they had a Marlin strike and pull line. According to Juan it was a nice sized Blue Marlin, but John Q. was the only one awake! Oh well, maybe they will hook it up tomorrow! Second day out and Juan and Manuel go back to the same area to try again. This time they come in with just one flag. The only fish that they were able to get to the boat was a nice Dorado, about 30 pounds. They had a shot at a big Wahoo though. John Q. fought the estimated 80-100 pound fish for quite a while, getting several runs from the fish every time it approached the boat before the fish was able to cut through the 300 pound mono leader. At least the lure came back! (black/purple) They did get another Marlin shot as they worked one fish that appeared in the pattern. The fish would ignore a live bait dropped back to it and disappear, then reappear to check out the lures again. This continued for 20 minutes before they gave up in frustration. Another Striped Marlin was spotted but showed no interest in staying on the surface and dove before a bait could be presented. Not a lot of fillets to take with them, but plenty of action! Thanks guys, we hope to see you again next year! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 30 SEPTEMBER, 2002 The Al Borlundo party from Virginia consists of Al and his friends Mike, Peter and Fred. They are fishing three days with the “Fly Hooker” and really would like to get each of them hooked up to a Marlin! These guys are experienced too, not novices. They have fished around the world and love the sport. Pete is a Charter Captain in Virginia and while he has hooked a lot of his clients up to Marlin, he has never angled one himself! Since the “Fly Hooker” did not have a charter yesterday I went out on a friends Panga and we released a 200 pound Blue Marlin and hooked up another one, both fish just off the lighthouse ledge on the Pacific side. This is the area the Juan and Manuel too the boat today. It’s so nice to only have to run 10 minutes past the arch before setting lines! They worked the area all day and the results showed as they were flying two Marlin flags when they returned to port. Mike fought a #230 Blue Marlin that ate a Coggins lure run on the Tiagra 50 reels! The fish became tailwrapped at the end of the fight and was dead when brought to the boat, otherwise they would have released it. Pete’s fish was caught on a live Caballito tossed to the tailer, #40 line on the Shimano TLD25. A good fight from a Striped Marlin estimated to be around 100 pounds. Ok, two Marlin down, two more to go! Oh, they also lost one Dorado. Tomorrow’s target is 2 Marlin and Dorado for dinner! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 1, 2002 My goodness, the Borlundo group must be doing something right! The request for today was 2 more Marlin and some Dorado for dinner. Working the same area they worked yesterday it was the turn of Al and Fred to get Marlin. Both of them tagged and released Striped Marlin, plus, they got into a school of Dorado (not big ones, but lots of action). The largest four they were able to get they kept for fillets and Al finally got a chance to use the fly rod he brought along. He hooked up to one of the Dorado but it quickly ran to the front of the boat, jumping along the way, and came off. All right, the Marlin request has been fullfilled, the Dorado has been caught, what are they going to do tomorrow? Have fun! For tonight? Take the wives to the new seafood restaurant “The Fish House” for a dinner of fresh Dorado! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 2, 2002 This is the last day of fishing for Al, Pete, Fred and Mike and anything goes. They don’t want to take any meat home so plan on releasing anything they catch today. Juan and Manuel start in the same area as yesterday and end up 17 miles out. During the morning the manage to catch and release another Striped Marlin, get bit by one more, plus a Sailfish and get hits from three other Dorado. The fish I liked most was the 30-35 pound female Dorado that they released! Not a lot of anglers who come here are willing to do that. They had caught enough fish and had enough action that they did not mind when, at 11:30, Manuel received a request from another boat for a tow back to the Marina. The other boat was a single engine 28’ cruiser and they had snapped the shaft. It was a three hour tow and they had a chance to relax and talk about the action they had for the last three days. This was a great group of guys who really enjoyed themselves and we hope to be seeing them again here in Cabo! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 3, 2002 Ok, first off I have to say that I did not get the names of all the guys fishing aboard the “Fly Hooker” today. I know that Ted Hynes was aboard because he is the guy in charge of the group of 12 that are here in Cabo for the week. Ted and three others fished aboard our boat and 5 guys fished on another boat. I feel really bad because one of the guys should be credited with the one hour, fifteen minute fight with the #260 Blue Marlin. Unfortunately the fish died as Juan was trying to remove the hooks after tagging the fish. Dinner for everyone was provided by the fillets from the #30 bull Dorado that they caught! Lets hope the chef at the private home they are renting knows his business, it looks as if this group could eat about four fish this size! Tomorrow the group is fishing again, but on another boat, we were already booked for the day when this was set up. Have fun guys, and we are happy you had such a great time and like Juan and Manuel so much! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 4, 2002 Dave Gilbertsen is back with us for four days of fishing and he has brought his fishing friend Hugh Levine with him. Hugh is a Criminal Defense Attorney in the Bay Area and is a dyed in the wool fly fisherman. As a matter of fact, so is Dave! If you remember the name, Dave was here back in July, when the fishing was terrible here. He fished one day then cancelled the second day booked and headed up to the East Cape where the water was warmer and fishing was better. Well, there are four days to try and get Marlin on the fly rod and this time there are fish here and the water is in much better shape! I was invited along today mainly to insure that Juan and Manuel understand the methods that Dave and Hugh want to employ for the four days. Neither of the guys have a lot of confidence in fishing Marlin on the fly, thinking that the rod and reels can’t stand up to the demands placed on them by billfish, so getting one on today would do an enormous amount of good. Guess what? We did it! You should have seen the grins and smiles on the faces of both Juan and Manuel when Dave hooked up! We started the trip just outside the Pedregal area and headed southwest, out toward the 1000 foot contour line. The two pink teasers were in the water at 7am and a few minutes later the Bowling Pin Daisy Chain was in the middle of the wake. The cockpit had been cleared, the port rigger removed and a bucket placed in the port corner (both anglers are right handed). Hugh and Dave took turns, 30 minutes each, standing in the port corner, at the ready the instant a fish showed up in the teasers. It was at 8:30 when a Dorado struck the starboard teaser. I had been watching the lures and did not see a bill but did see a blue flash on the strike so I called out “MARLIN” and picked up the rod and began to work the lure. Manuel slowed the boat and in just a few moments we saw the Dorado as it tried to eat the teaser one more time, then swam away. Oh well, a bit of excitement to get us started and it gave us a chance also to get a few of the bugs worked out as far of the needed sequence of events. That was a good thing because about 5 minutes later we had a chance to put it to the test. Manuel spotted a “sleeper” on the surface. We had decided early on that if found, there was little likelihood of a “sleeper” coming in on the teasers so we would toss a hooked live bait at it instead. Hugh was the assigned angler. As Juan pinned on a live bait for Hugh to toss to the Marlin Dave cleared one of the teaser rods. Juan grabbed the other teaser to clear it as Hugh tossed the bait, and I pulled in the daisy chain. The bait toss was good, the noise of the boat woke the fish up and suddenly he was behind the boat! The fish must have been playing Possum! The marlin ignored the live bait and focused on the pink teaser! Hugh franticly reeled to bring in the live bait, Juan tried to keep the Marlin from eating the lure and I told Dave to get his fly rod out and ready to cast. As soon as Dave was ready I yelled to Manuel to “ALTO!”, he put the boat into neutral, Juan tried to jerk the lure out of the water and Dave made his cast. The live bait was still in the water about 15 feet out, the Marlin had bitten on the lure just as Juan had tried to jerk it away and I thought for sure that we had blown the opportunity! Ah, you just never know though! The Marlin let go of the teaser and saw the fly as it swung by. As Hugh pulled the bait into the boat, Juan got the teaser in and the fish was following the fly! He made a lunge for it and turned away, and as he did so Dave set the hook! No jumps? No hard runs? Heck, the fish didn’t know he was hooked yet! The fish just swam around on the surface for about a minute, then Dave set the hook a bunch more times. Now the fish came awake! What followed was video perfect Marlin action! Greyhounding, tailwalking, washing machine action, this fish did it all! Juan and Manuel quickly became believers and were smiling the whole time. Dave worked the fish hard for 35 minutes and by then the fish was extremely tired, barely able to get it’s head and bill out of the water to thrash. Maybe we backed down a bit too fast at that point, trying to get to the fish for a release before it killed itself fighting, but there was a little slack in the line and only 50 feet away, the hook came out! It was a great fight though, and now the guys know it can be done. That makes all the difference in the world! Dave was happy, as was Hugh, and we set the teasers and daisy chain back out, ready for another shot. We trolled the next 2 1/2 hours before again seeing fish. Manuel spotted two Striped Marlin tailing downswell. He gunned the boat so we could cross in front of them and hopefully get them interested in the teasers. Three times we made passes on them and three times they showed no interest in the lures. Juan pinned on a live bait and it was again Hughs turn to toss to the fish. He made perfect tosses twice and the fish failed to show any interest in the live bait as well. On the third try the marlin we were working checked out the lures for just a moment but had no real interest in either them or the live bait. After about 20 minutes of this going on, Juan and Manuel decided that perhaps they could “chum” the Marlin into eating a live bait. With Hugh standing by to cast a live one, Juan took another bait from the tank and slammed it down onto the deck several times, stunning the fish so that it just quivered. Spotting the Marlin again, Juan threw the stunned fish ahead of the cruising billfish. The Stripy had passed the stunned bait already when it suddenly turned, lit up, and rushed the bait, engulfing it in a huge swirl of water. Immediately Juan had Hugh pitch the live bait ahead of the Marlin. The “chum” must have done the trick, because before you could say “Here he comes!”, there he was, mouth open, then closed, then hooked! Hugh let the fish turn away, then applied pressure to get the circle hook to slide to the corner of the Marlins mouth. Jumps, leaps, thrashes, the whole range of topside activities didn’t take place until the Marlin had been hooked for several minutes, because it’s first response was to head deep. Being the experienced angler that he is, Hugh proceeded to play the fish, and I mean that almost literally! With the rod heavily loaded and the line guitar string tight, he plucked on the line, irritating the Marlin until he came to the surface at last. Now the airborne show! Awesome! Spectacular! Beautiful! Amazing! Toss in a few more adjectives for good measure! Sometime during all that activity the hook came loose. The leader was wrapped around the bill a few times, the hook slid up until it hooked on the leader and the fish was hitched, not hooked! With consummate skill Hugh had the Striped Marlin to the side of the boat in 15 minutes, where the tag was placed in the shoulder and Juan removed the hitch. We watched as the slightly tired fish swam strongly off into the depths! Wow, what a day! Out went the teasers and Daisy Chain again and while we tried, that was the end of the action for the day! Hugh and Dave had a great time, Juan and Manuel are now very enthused and tomorrow I am staying home to try and get a bunch of little stuff taken care of. I’ll let you know how it goes then in the next installment, but I promise to not be as wordy! When I am aboard the boat I tend to write a lot more, sorry about that! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 5, 2002 Today Dave and Hugh were at it again. Juan and Manuel took the “Fly Hooker” out to the same area as yesterday and attempted to hook a Striped Marlin on the fly. There don’t seem to be a lot of Striped Marlin tailing, but they did find two to try. The first fish came in to the teasers, not showing a lot of interest and eventually went away. The second fish ate a fly but broke off right away. There was one Dorado that came into the teasers. That was pretty much it for the day. See, I was not aboard, so the report is very short! “FLY HOOKER’ FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 6, 2002 Dave and Hugh decided that the numbers of Striped Marlin they were seeing did not warrant concentrating all their time, there just were not enough fish being found. There have been a lot of Blue Marlin being hooked up however, and today they decided to go with conventional gear. It is Manuels day off (Sunday) and we have Edgar on board the boat as crew. The area just outside the lighthouse was where they worked today and things were a bit slow. One thing that Hugh did talk a lot about when they came in was the enormous Blue Marlin that tried to eat one of the lures he had out. Hugh estimated the fish to be well over #300, and it came up on one of the outrigger lures, took a swipe at the lure, then slowly drifted back down into the depths. Juan says that they had another fish come up but no one else saw it and it did not hit a lure. They did manage to get into some action when they found a floating wood ladder, there were plenty of Dorado under it. They did have their fly gear with them and after hooking up 3 dorado on conventional gear on the first pass they brought the long rods out and had some fun. Five flys were lost due to breakoffs and the largest fish landed and released was estimated to be 15 pounds. Now, what are they going to do tomorrow? Until Next week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew