Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report for April 21-27, 2003 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT APRIL 21-27, 2003 WEATHER: Partly overcast most of the week with an occasional clear day (at least for a few hours!). Daytime highs in the high 80’s and nighttime lows in the high 60’s. Calm mornings with the wind from the northwest starting around noon every day and blowing at 10-15 knots until 3-4 AM. (Blue Yodel) WATER: The Northwest winds this week changed the conditions on the Pacific side. While still very fishable, the water is a bit rougher than last week and could be uncomfortable at times. The Sea of Cortez remained very comfortable with very small swells and light chop in the morning but when the winds picked up so did the chop, making for an uncomfortable ride back for some boats. Water temperatures have been 69-71 on the Pacific side and 73-75 on the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape. There have been no really defined temperature breaks this week. (Mississippi Delta Blues) BAIT: Caballito was available this week at $2 per bait. (Train Whistle Blues) FISHING: BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin are still close to us and the bite has picked up on them, as well as on the Sailfish. They seem to be moving in our direction from the north on the Sea of Cortez and are beginning to show up on the Pacific side now. The bite to fish seen ratio is still low, perhaps 20%, but it is improving daily as we go into the new moon phase. The bite has been an even mix of live bait and lures (dark colors or bleeding mackerel). No further word on Swordfish sightings but there have been several nice Blue Marlin appear in some boats lure spreads. (Blue Yodel #9) YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin Tuna continue their reign as fish of the week and if this continues they may end up fish of the year! The bite has been close to home, both in the blind and with Porpoise. most of the fish have been found less than 12 miles out and sizes have ranged from 12 to 45 pounds with an occasional fish to 70 pounds. Feathers, cedar plugs and Marauders have been working well. many of the larger fish have been caught on live bait tossed back after getting a double or triple hookup on the troll. Both side of the Cape have produced this week but the fish seem to be shifting a bit towards the Pacific side. (Blue Yodel #8) DORADO: The Dorado bit picked up this week and it was not uncommon for boats to be getting three or four nice fish on a trip. The average size has been around 20-25 pounds but there have been plenty of fish in the 40-45 pound class as well. With an initial hookup on lures, a live bait dropped back has worked well for an additional fish. Slow trolling live bait off of the points or around the Porpoise schools has also been a good way to get hooked up. (My Good Gal’s Gone Blues) WAHOO: We had a few really good days this week and pretty close to home as well! Just off of Gray Rock and around the 95 Spot boats were betting bit off on lures with mono leaders but still getting 25% of the strikes. Some boats were getting two or three Wahoo a trip and they were good sized fish, most of them 40-60 pounds. Sure wish it was a predictable bite! (Travellin’ Blues) INSHORE: I saw some nice catches of Sierra this week and heard that there were some smaller Roosterfish caught on the Pacific side as well. A good sign for the Roosterfish is the appearance of Mullet in the Marina. Other inshore species have been scattered this week. An occasional bottom fishing expedition has brought in the usual Triggerfish, small Snapper and Grouper and there were reports of a good bite on small Yellowtail at the arch on the early morning tide change for anglers using small Caballito as bait. (Jimmie’s Mean Mama Blues) NOTES: The fishing has been great this week for most of the boats, but as always, it involves being in the right place at the right time. Very few boats returned from a trip without getting fish and for those in the right place at the right time, it was wonderful! The town is starting to get busy again and bookings for all the charter boats are starting to pick up as well. This weeks report was written to the music of the master of country blues, Jimmy Rodgers on the 2002 RCA compilation “Country Legends, Jimmy Rodgers”. Until next week, Tight Lines! Yodel on! "Fly Hooker" Daily Catch Reports for April 21-27, 2003 “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR APRIL 21, 2003 The Kevin Kilbourne party fished with Juan and Manuel today and while the fishing was not great, they did have a good time and caught two nice Dorado while working the area of the “95 Spot”. The water was nice in the morning and a bit on the choppy side on the way back due to the afternoon winds we have been experiencing. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR APRIL 23,24th, 2003 These two days and the 26th were booked over the phone last year on November 8th by a repeat client, John Hasko. We did not a deposit and of course, we got burned. Sigh. No show, no contact, no fishing, no money, no more. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR APRIL 26, 2003 This was one of the days booked by John Hasko but I was lucky enough to find some guys looking for boats and we fit the bill. There were 8 guys and two wives looking for a couple of 31 foot boats for today and the chose us and a friends 31 for the adventure. We carried a party of 6 who wished to fish just a half day as some of them had to catch an early flight home, the other four fished all day. Our group caught three nice Yellowfin, the largest about 45 pounds. They were working the area around the “95 Spot” with Porpoise all around and had a quadruple strike on Yellowfin Tuna. Two of these fish made it into the boat and two dropped off the hook. A live bait was dropped back on the strike and the larger Tuna ate that bait. The smaller fish were around 20 pounds. They also tossed bait to a Marlin and saw another free jumping, saw lots of Porpoise, a couple of whales, seals and turtles. They had a great time and will be back again. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR APRIL 27, 2003 Walter and his wife Sue brought along a friend they had met whose name is Herman and they all fished on the “Fly Hooker” today. It was Manuels day off so Juan drove the boat and Willow filled in as deck hand. Again, the 95 spot seemed to be the place to be and Herman got hooked up to a nice Yellowfin Tuna that everyone estimated at 60 pounds. I saw the collar so I think that was the right size! It sure provided some nice fillets. Walter caught the other fish of the trip, a smaller football size Yellowfin of about 15 pounds. Juan told me that they had a bite off by a Wahoo and somehow managed to farm two Dorado as well. Fish for dinner and no one was sick, what a great day!