Cabo Fishing Report for Dec 16-22, 2002 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 16-22, 2002 WEATHER: Sunny skies at the beginning of the week turned into overcast starting Friday afternoon but with no rain here in Cabo. You could see it coming down in the mountains though. We have maintained the same temperatures as last week with the morning lows in the 60 area and daytime highs up to 90 at times. We did have some pretty windy days, Tuesday and Wednesday, but the winds tapered off when the clouds started to move in. (Silver Bells) WATER: The water on the Pacific side was choppy almost all week and on Tuesday and Wednesday it was downright rough. More than a few boats came in early because of that. The water on the Sea of Cortez side has been much better but the fishing there has not been as good for some reason. Our surface temperatures have been in the 75-76 region this week, warming up just a bit from what we saw last week This temperature has extended out to 40+ miles in all directions except south, and there it warms up a degree at a distance of around 20 miles. (Joy To The World) BAIT: Mostly Mackerel this week with reports of some Sardinas. Larger baits at the normal $2 each and Sardinas reported at $25 a scoop. (O Little Town Of Bethlehem) FISHING: BILLFISH: The full moon and Striped Marlin fishing do not go together well here in Cabo so the catch rate was down this week. A few boats were finding one or two Striped Marlin that were hungry but most of the fleets were lucky to see a Marlin. The Blues are gone (but there will always be one that doesn’t realize the water is too cold!) but there have been a few Sailfish still around. The Marlin and Sailfish that have been caught have mostly been fooled with slow trolled live bait and very few have been caught on lures or found tailing. (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing) YELLOWFIN TUNA: Scattered football 5-15 pound fish in the blind on the Pacific side through Thursday then that dropped off. No reports this week of anything much larger than 25 pounds nor were there any reported found with porpoise. The Pacific football size fish bit on cedar plugs and dark colored feathers and a few anglers told me they had luck on them by dropping iron after hooking up on the troll. (Winter Wonderland) DORADO: Most of the Dorado found this week were fish in the 12-25 pound class. A few were caught up to 50 pounds and most of the fish were found either under floating debris (the larger fish) or in the blind close to shore. Live bait worked wonders on the larger fish and most of the smaller ones were hooked on lures pulled for Striped Marlin or Tuna. Most boats were finding two to five fish to put in the box. (Jingle Bells) WAHOO: The Wahoo flags I saw this week were flown for inshore Sierra. That’s it folks! (Silent Night) INSHORE: Some nice Roosterfish and reports of a scattered Yellowtail or two. There had been steady action on the smaller Dorado as well as the Bonita and Skipjack but all that pretty much disappeared as of Wednesday and the appearance of the green water caused by the winds. The rest of the week the Pangas worked a bit further offshore looking for Dorado, but not with a lot of luck, at least from the anglers reports I received. (Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas) NOTES: This has not been an outstanding week for fishing , but at least the weather has been warmer than up north! people are always asking me when is the best time to come to Cabo to fish for certain species. All I can do is tell them generalities based on past catch records, there is no way to predict how the fishing is going to be. What it comes down to is this; “You will NOT catch a fish if you are sitting on the beach sipping a cervesa!”. No guarantees of fish, enjoy being on the water and keep your fingers crossed, remember that the worst day of fishing is better than the best day in an office!. This weeks report was written to the Christmas music from the CD “Merry Christmas From Alaska”, a CD produced in 1999 to help raise funds to benefit the Children’s Hospital in Providence, Alaska. Produced by Nightworks Records and in our hands thanks to our good friends and clients Tim and Jill Lawrence! “Felize Navidad” from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel! Fly Hooker Daily fishing Report for Dec 16-22 “FLY HOOKER FISH REPORT FOR 16 DECEMBER, 2002 Larry and Trey Quinn are out again today, this time by themselves. Still looking for a Marlin for Trey’s birthday present! Juan and Manuel take the “Fly Hooker” out 12 miles towards the San Jaime Banks. The water was a little choppy at first then laid down and finally they got into some fish. Larry was the coach and cheerleader for Trey when he hooked up at 9:30 to a Sailfish estimated at 100 pounds. Live bait that was slow trolled fooled the fish and it took Trey about 15-20 minutes on #40 test line to get the fish to the boat where it was photographed, tagged and released. Finally a Billfish, even if it was not a Marlin! About an hour later he hooked into two Dorado, one between 15 and 20 pounds and the other between 25 and 30 pounds. Again on #40 test line and live bait, he made pretty short work of the smaller fish and was a bit surprised how well the larger fish fought. All in all a good day with a Billfish for Trey and fillets for dinner and to take home! Thanks guys, and Trey, we hope you have a fine birthday! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 17 DECEMBER, 2002 Today was a last minute trip and we only had one client aboard the boat. Lou, from New York, had decided to try to get something on the end of his line today. He has fished the mainland of Mexico quite a few times and also offshore back home but this was his first time in Cabo. Unfortunately the water had started to get rough as the wind picked up last night and it was not a comfortable trip. Not only that but the fishing was not too good for him today either. Juan and Manuel were able to find two Striped Marlin on the surface but were not able to get either one of them interested in eating a live bait. They did have a strike on a lure that did not hook up, and while nobody saw the fish, Manuel said that he thought it was a Marlin. Thanks for trying Lou, and I hope you have better luck when you come back next year! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 18 DECEMBER, 2002 Returning client Gene McElvaney has booked the “Fly Hooker” for today and the 21st in the hope of getting his wife Janet, daughter Amy and son Kyle hooked up to some fish. The water was very rough on the Pacific side but that is where the fish have been so Juan and Manuel tried to get out to the area. With the water that rough everyone ended up getting sick and Gene asked to return to the Marina. On the way back, after making the turn, they hooked up to a couple of Dorado and lost another one. They ended up with a few fillets to start filling the cooler with and we all have our fingers crossed that the wind lies down in the next day or two! “FLY HOOKER” MAINTENANCE REPORT FOR 20 DECEMBER, 2002 During the trip on the 18th the rough water had lifted the hull of the boat out of the water where the port engine saltwater pickup was at and caused a 30 second airlock. This was long enough to damage the saltwater pump. It was still working but with severely reduced flow. The lack of lubrication provided by the saltwater caused the impeller to stick to the large washer and damaged the seal and the housing of the pump. Today the housing was replaced and the pump rebuilt, installed and checked. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 21 DECEMBER, 2002 Unfortunately we had more problems this morning and had to get another boat for Gene, Janet, Amy and Kyle McElvaney. Our fuel pump on the starboard engine took a dump on us and we were not able to get it fixed until late in the afternoon. I know that Gene was hoping for calmer water today and more fish. Unfortunately we missed meeting them when they returned but I did not see any flags flying from the outriggers of the boat they went on. I tried calling them at the hotel but as always here in Cabo, it was impossible to reach them through the front desk. I can only hope that they had a good time and no one got sick today. Gene, we will be sending you an e-mail to see how you did. Thanks for being understanding about the mechanical problems! Felize Navidad from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the crew of the “Fly Hooker”