Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Jan 6-12, 2003 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 6-12, 2002 WEATHER: This weeks weather was a little different than last weeks. Most of the week we had cloudy skies that kept our nighttime temperatures up in the low 70’s and high 60’s while our daytime highs were in the high 80’s with high humidity. Not quite the winter weather we had become used to. On Tuesday it even rained (sprinkled actually) for a few hours. Forecasts had called for thunderstorms and high winds but the never appeared, than goodness. On Sunday it appeared that the skies had cleared a bit and we got some sun, the band of heavy weather is now passing to the south! (Tropical Lady) WATER: Due to the cloud cover we had a difficult time getting an accurate surface temperature map, but we made do with reports from all the different boats out there. A cold water finger was reported (and actually showed up on the map on our one clear day!) approaching the San Jaime Banks from the west and supposedly there was a 4 degree temperature break with a defined current where the warm 76 degree water was met by the cool 72 degree water. On the Sea of Cortez side there was a 20 mile wide band of warm water that ran from the main mass to the south of us up across the 95, 1150 and Gordo banks. Other than these two defined areas, the general temperature was in the 74 degree range. (E Piko) BAIT: A good mix this week of both Mackerel and Caballito. The normal price of $2 each. No reports on the Sardine situation. (Baby Blues) FISHING: BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin action started off the week with a bang and then slowly the numbers decreased. There were still fish sighted and hooked every day by all the boats but not in the numbers we had seen at the beginning of the week when it was not uncommon for each boat to be flying three or four Marlin flags. The Sea of Cortes around the high spots seemed to be the main focus of the action although an occasional good bite was reported from the Pacific banks as well. Action seemed to be pretty evenly spread between lures and live bait with live bait having a slight edge. The Striped Marlin were averaging 110 pounds. (Red, Red Wine) YELLOWFIN TUNA: Lots of football and school Yellowfin Tuna this week mixed in with the Porpoise and there were a few of the larger fish found as well. Most of the Tuna in the Porpoise were in the 10-25 pound class and were caught on feathers and cedar plugs while the larger fish were found by boats dropping live bait on the edge of the Pacific banks. Very good action early in the week when we had all the cloud cover and it tapered off a bit later on as the skies cleared. DORADO: Dorado action dropped off a bit from the steady bite we had last week but almost every boat was able to put a few in the box. The fish were spread out with no concentration except for when floating debris was found. Both he Pacific and the Cortez side of the Cape produced fish with a few more being found on the Cortez side. (Nobody’s Child) WAHOO: There was a good Wahoo bite reported on Friday around 15 miles to the east of the Marina but it lasted only one day and appeared to be the result of a school moving through. There were also fish reported on the San Jaime and the Golden gate but not in large numbers. Best action came on 9” Striped Marlin lures since that was the focus for most of the boats in those areas. (Crazy) INSHORE: The Sierra bite is still on in the early morning but not a lot else has changed since last week. A few Dorado are being found just off the green water but not a lot else in happening inshore. (Reggae Train) NOTES: We are still keeping our fingers crossed that the Striped Marlin that were packed on the Golden gate move closer to us. Still a lot of Whale action and we are seeing a pickup in the Tuna. Fingers are crossed everywhere I look that it will bust wide open soon! I’ll let you know how we did this coming week next Monday! Until then, Tight Lines! This weeks report was written to the Hawaiian reggae music of “Kapena” on their 1992 KDE Records release “The Kapena Collection”. "Fly Hooker" Daily Fishing Report Jan 6-12, 2003 “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 6 JANUARY, 2003 Mark Walker, Ron Carfy and Jim Brawthen were our three anglers today on the “Fly Hooker”. They are in Cabo with three other buddies who fished another boat today. There were a few bets going about the largest, first and most fish so Juan and Manuel had their work cut out for them. The main focus was supposed to be for Dorado, but they were not going to turn down a shot at a Marlin nor any other eating fish. Juan and Manuel headed out on a 150 degree heading and it was not long at all before the found a Striped Marlin tailing on the surface. The fish was hungry and attacked the bait. Tagged and released around 20 minutes later it was the first fish of the day and may have been the biggest also, I am not sure. A little bit later they had another Marlin on and this one was a blind strike on a lure. Jim had fought the first fish so this one was Ron’s. It did not take him long on the heavier gear to get the fish to the boat and now they had two Marlin tagged and released! By 10 am there were three Marlin tagged and released when Marl fought one that ate a live bait. Really great Marlin fishing but that was not what the guys had come out to do, they wanted eating fish! Several hours went by with no action and they guys were settled back and enjoying the day when Manuel’s eagle eyes spotted Porpoise jumping in the distance. The lures were quickly reeled in and they began the short run to the spot. First boat there!! Football Yellowfin Tuna were the order of the day, nothing over 20 pounds but lots of action with multiple hookups all the time. They ended up with 22 Yellowfin before deciding that was enough action and they needed a few Dorado to take home. A little while later they managed to get the interest of one Dorado and he had friends with him as he came to the boat. One large fish, in the 45 pound range, was lost and several smaller ones shook loose of the hooks but the first fish that was hooked up ended up in the fish box. One more strike for the day was another Marlin, this one on a lure and the second Marlin of the day for Jim! Upon returning to the dock we had a long wait for the other boat to come in and when they did we found that they had not gotten their first fish until 2 pm and then they were all Yellowfin Tuna. They did get four of them in the 30-40 pound class but we still had the honors of the first, largest and most fish! An excellent day all around and everyone caught fish! Thanks guys, we hope you get a chance to fish with us again! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 7 JANUARY, 2003 Doug Firebaugh, his son Brad, daughter Lindsey and her boyfriend Dan were our anglers on the “Fly Hooker” today. This is their first time to try catching anything larger than a 1/2 pound bass so Juan and Manuel were told that any fish would be good ones and that they would need a bit of help on how to fight them. No problemo, Juan is used to coaching first time fishermen! They left the dock and headed out to the 95 spot to start the day, then worked their way out to where they found the Tuna yesterday. The bite was not quite as good but there were fish out there. Dan got the largest fish but Brad helped him out a little bit at the end, and they were able to release a nice Striped Marlin estimated at 120 pounds. Another one was fought up to the boat but managed to escape just before Juan could touch the leader to make it a confirmed catch. During the day they were also able to come up with 5 Dorado while looking for the Tuna. They finally found the Tuna a little late in the trip and were able to get 4 of them to bite. All in all a very nice day on the water with enough action to keep everyone busy and happy! Thanks guys, and congratulations on upping the mark for your largest fish! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 8, 2003 Lonny Hanson and his friend Dr. Wayne were our anglers today and they have fished quite a bit. Enough so that they don’t have much interest in catching anything other than Marlin so today was a “Marlin Only” trip. Juan and Manuel decided to work the area from the 95 spot to just outside the lighthouse and they were able to get an early start. That was a good thing because the first fish they found was before the sun had come up! Manuel spotted the dorsal fin breaking the surface of the water as they cruised out and Juan ran down, pinned on a bait and tossed it in front of the fish. The fish was hungry and grabbed the bait and after a few seconds Juan set the hook. The fish ran for about 10 seconds before coming off! Oh well, it was a nice start to the day. Unfortunately that was the only action they had all day. They did spot a total of six more Marlin during the trip and were able to get in position to toss bait to four of them, but they all had lock-jaw and would not bite. The water conditions were great and there were fish around but that’s the way it goes sometimes. With that many fish out there Lonny and Wayne decided to give it one more day and booked the boat for this Friday, the 10th. We will keep our fingers crossed and let you know how things go then! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 9, 2003 Mark, Ron and Jim, who fished the 6th, decided that they had enough time today to do a half day trip. Their flight leaves the airport at 4 pm so they have to be back by noon. Two of the guys who went on the other boat on the 6th are going along with them today. They went fishing on the 7th and caught Dorado and fished yesterday and got skunked so they are hoping that the luck they had with us on the sixth will be repeated. A short trip, but they did catch fish with one Striped Marlin and one Dorado. The Marlin was dead when it came to the boat so the guys cut up the fish to take home. Manuel returned to the dock at 12:30 and the guys had just enough time to get to their Hotel and check out before catching a taxi to the airport! They had a great time this vacation and they all asked for business cards and said they would refer friends to us! Thanks guys, we hope you have a safe trip home! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 10, 2003 Lonny Hanson and Dr. Wayne decided to try it one more day and see if their luck on the Marlin would improve. Juan and Manuel headed out to the Golden Gate, San Jaime Banks area on the Pacific side. They cruised out for an hour and then began trolling as the water became a bit to rough for cruising. Arriving in the area around 10 am they caught 2 Dorado and had one Marlin strike in an hour and a half. Juan heard on the radio that there was better action closer in and they trolled back towards the shore but did not see any other fish. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 11, 2003 Today we had four guys (part of a bachelor party) on our boat and the other 8 guys spread amongst two others. We did not set up the trip so I am not sure of the names but they managed to get two Dorado and lost one Marlin (almost a repeat of yesterday’s trip). Juan and Manuel fished towards the San Jaime in the morning and found the Marlin later in the trip outside the Chileno Beach area on the Sea of Cortez. Smooth water kept any of the hangover guys from getting sick, plus drinking two cases of beer helped them out as well. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 12, 2003 Today was Sunday, Manuels day off and I had a chance to go along on todays trip with our client Russ Colby. Russ is here for a week and would really like to catch a Marlin. He fished yesterday and got two Dorado so today we wanted to at least get him something different and have fun, with our fingers crossed for a Marlin. Juan and I took the boat 17 miles out at 150 degrees before we saw any action. There were Porpoise working hard and a couple of birds so we know there were Yellowfin Tuna in the area. On our first pass we got slammed on the short rigger by a bull Dorado that would have weighed at least 30 pounds. Russ fought the fish close to the boat and then the hook pulled loose! Oh well, we made another try. This time we had a hit on the one small feather I had put out and got a Yellowfin that weighed about 8 pounds. Not much of a fight on the big gear but at least we had a fish in the box! I changed three of the lures to feathers and we made another pass, perhaps there were some bigger fish mixed in there! All three lines got hit and as Russ worked the fish in I brought out the spinning rod and cast out a slab, hoping for a larger fish deep in the water. No luck for me and when Russ had the fish in the boat I handed him the spinning rod with the slab. The next pass resulted in a single hookup on one of the feathers and as Russ reeled it in I changed the slab for a cedar plug. Next pass the cedar plug gets slammed and Russ fights an estimated 10 pound Tuna to the boat. One more time and again the cedar plug gets slammed. This is a bigger fish and it takes Russ almost 15 minutes to get the fish to the boat! Nice Tuna, around 12-15 pounds and a mean fighting machine! Russ loved fighting these fish on the light gear but it was time to continue the Marlin search. The rest of the trip was a nice boat ride, no other fish were seen by us. A good day on the water with a couple of hours of action sure beats sitting at the beach! Thanks Russ, we look forward to seeing you here this fall with your son! Until next week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew