Cabo San Lucas Fishing report for Feb 3-9, 2003 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 3-9,2003 WEATHER: It was overcast almost all week, not really clearing up until this weekend. We actually had rain Wednesday night, it sprinkled all night long! Due to the overcast it did not get as cold as it has been and our nighttime lows were only in the mid 60’s while our daytime highs stayed in the high 70’s, at least until Saturday when we warmed/cooled up/down as the cloud cover disappeared. The winds were light while we had the clouds but on Saturday they started blowing from the Northeast again. We had shifting winds earlier, sometimes from the southeast, sometimes the northwest, but never very hard, all while the clouds were over us. WATER: Fair sized swells with very little wind chop early in the week on the Pacific side and no swells to speak of on the Sea of Cortez. On Saturday the wind picked up and there were very choppy conditions on the Cortez side of the Cape and since the wind was northeast, it wrapped around to the Pacific side for about 10 miles. Our water temperatures have been steady all week long, with no movement of the one major temperature break. Almost everywhere within 30-35 miles the water has been a steady 71-72 degrees. The area of the Gordo Banks and on out to the east side of the 1150 spot has been a bit warmer by a degree or two and not until you got 30 miles to the east was there anything like a major temperature break, and there the temperature went from 72 to 75 degrees. BAIT: This week we had a fair mix of both Caballito and Mackerel at the normal $2 per bait, and there were Sardinas available just up the coast towards San Jose at $20 a scoop. FISHING: BILLFISH: There have been Striped Marlin caught by almost every boat that I have seen go out this week, and there have been a few nice fish in the bunch. Most of the fish have been found straight south, out about 10-15 miles, but there are also a large number closer in. The average size has been 100 pounds with a few in the 150-170 range being hooked up. Live bait dropped down both shallow and deep as well as slow trolled have accounted for most of the fish. Lures in the normal colors used here, Green/Black, Black/Purple, Red/Orange and Petrolero have been attracting fish as well, but it seems that the live bait has had the edge. YELLOWFIN TUNA: Not very many large fish were caught this week compared to last week, but the fish that were found were nothing to sneeze at with most of them in the 25-40 pound class with a lot in the 15-25 class as well. All the fish were found with the porpoise, and most of them were either on the edge of the banks or just south 8-10 miles. There are reports of some very nice fish being caught on the Gordo Bank as well by the boats that get there early and use Sardinas as bait. The Pacific banks have been holding fish, but there have not been large concentrations of them found. DORADO: Some nice fish were being caught this week and some of the Dorado were topping 50 pounds. Almost every boat had at least one on board and many of the boats were getting three or four fish in the #30 class. The fish were mixed in with the Yellowfin and also found just off the beach in 100-250 feet of water. Both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape had fish. Best lures were 6-8” bright colored feathers and plugs, Red/Yellow, Yellow/Pink, Pink/White, Blue/Chrome/Yellow were some of the favorites. WAHOO: I saw quite a few Wahoo flags this week and most of the fish seemed to be found at the edge of the Banks. There were lots of cutoffs by the sharp toothed fish among the fishermen deep dropping live baits at all the Banks and many of them turned to putting a short 6” trace of wire leader ahead of the bait to prevent the loss. There were also some nice sized Wahoo found by boats working the Tuna. Not everyone got bit but I would say that 1 of 10 boats found a Wahoo to take home. INSHORE: Almost a repeat of last week with the normal inshore species, Sierra, Roosterfish, Grouper and Snapper being caught, but not in any great numbers except by a few boats. Most of the Pangas were working the closer Pelagic fish, targeting the Dorado and Yellowfin. NOTES: Whales, Turtles, Seals, Sea Lions and Porpoise have been all keeping everyone entertained whenever there has been a short break in the fishing action. As you may be able to tell from the report, the fishing has been really good this week, I am heading out with a friend this morning to try and get into some of the Tuna action. He has a neat 21’ center console that will let us get right into the action, I just hope the water is good! As you may have noticed, I usually play music to write my reports by and put a song title after each section and here in the notes area list the artist, album and production company. I’m 46 years old and love listening to guitar music and finally decided to learn how to play, I’ve decided that I’m not going to be able to learn by osmosis! So this week what I have done is turn you on to the website that has been an inspiration for me. If you want to learn to play, already know how and want to learn more, check out www.guitarnoise.com. Thanks, and until next week, Tight lines!