Cabo San Lucas fishing Report for May 19-25, 2003 Capt George Landrum Flyhooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT MAY 19 - MAY 25, 2003 WEATHER: Clear skies all week long and our highs were in the mid 90’s with our nighttime lows ranging from the high 60’s to 80 degrees. Great weather conditions until Tuesday evening when the wind started to jack it up in volume and speed, and it was coming from the west! That gave us almost nowhere to hide on the way in and it did not die down overnight as it had been doing. This gave us very rough conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape for the rest for the week but the wind slowly shifted to a bit more north and the Cortez side actually shaped up very well. (Lush) WATER: The cold water from the Pacific continued it’s incursion in the area through mid-week but by Friday afternoon it had weakened and the warm water was beginning to come out of the Cortez once again. On the Pacific side it remained cold with temperatures in the high 60’s and low 70’s through the end of this reporting period, but we were once again seeing 80-82 degree water on the Cortez side. By Saturday afternoon the 95 Spot, 1150 and the outer Gorda were once again showing readings of 80+ degrees and the water was back to a lavender color. Inshore the water remained warm but was still off-color, out to a distance of about a mile. The temperature and color have been shifting on a daily basis, ebbing back and forth, but steadily working warmer and bluer water westward. (Soma) BAIT: Mackerel were once again the bait of the week at the usual $2 per bait. (Dream) FISHING: BILLFISH: Hot spot for the week was the 95 Spot and areas to the east of there from Wednesday afternoon to the weekend, then the fish shifted inshore and started to show in large numbers within 3 miles of the Cortez coast with the largest concentrations from Chileno to San Jose. The down side of having the fish closer was that they were not in as good a mood to bite as the ones offshore had been. A lot of multiple hook-ups were reported mid-week but by Friday the bite had fallen off and a lot of boats came in flying no flags at all. On Sunday the action shifted offshore again and the bite improved. Live bait was the ticket for getting fish to the boat. (Duende Del Amor) YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Yellowfin remained off the bite and pretty much out of the area for most boats this week, and that may have been due to the rough conditions out on the Pacific side of the Cape. On Saturday there were reports of Large Tuna, the size of “Volkswagens”, appearing with Porpoise off of the Seamount and outside the outer Gorda, but they were being extremely picky about eating, and very line shy as well. Cedar plugs were the ticket to getting any Yellowfin this week. (Black Stone Buleria) DORADO: Dorado bite was down as the Pacific side roughened up but there were still some nice fish coming in, just not in the numbers we had been having the last few weeks. Most of the fish were falling to bright colored lures (what a surprise, huh?) and live bait. Most of the fish were found as blind strikes with following fish being taken of live bait dropped back. (Santa Fe) WAHOO: I guess three weeks was pushing it a bit far, but it was a great run while it lasted! Very few fish were caught as the week neared it’s end, and those that did bite were blind strikes. (Snake Charmer) INSHORE: The Pacific side north of the lighthouse was blown out but there was good action this side of the Cape on Pargo for those using bait in the rocks. Some Roosterfish were found up in the Sea of Cortez in the San Jose area but the cooler off-green water closer to Cabo put them off the bite. I did see some very nice Cabrilla come in from a few commercial Pangas working outside of Cabo, in the Grey Rock area. (Buddha’s Flower) NOTES: The turn in the winds really did a number on the fishing this week but it appears that it is just temporary as the warm water is returning. The fish of the week was definitely Marlin, and as you can tell from the report, the action in the first half of the week was outstanding! I received a note from one of my music idols and since this was the first (and only) response from any artist I have ever listed, I would like to express my appreciation by letting all of you know that Ottmar Liebert is not only an awesome guitarist, he is also an all around nice guy! Thanks OL, you made my day, and my next purchase of music will be your “Lava” album. Meanwhile, for those of you who have not had the pleasure of his music, check it out at www.lunanegra.com. This report was written while listening to his 1995 Sony release “Viva”. Fly Hooker Sportfishing Daily Fishing Reports for May 19-25, 2003 “FLY HOOKER” FISH TOTALS FOR THE WEEK: Striped Marlin: 9 fish tagged and released (#140) Wahoo: 2 fish caught (#70) Dorado: 2 fish caught (#20) Tuna: 37 fish caught (#80) “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR MAY 19, 2003 Greg Wlazlowski is our angler for today and he has returned to Cabo with his wife Chris and will be fishing for three days this week, sort of a busman’s holiday if you will, as he works part-time as deckhand on a Sportfishing boat back home in New Jersey. Today Juan and Manuel took Greg 12 miles to the south of the Lighthouse (Pacific) before putting lines in the water. Most of their time was spent working 18-20 miles south and boy, was Greg happy with the results! The water was a bit choppy but he fought every one of the fish standing up. Total for the day was one Striped Marlin, tagged and released, two Dorado in the 20 pound range, two Wahoo, one of them over 60 pounds on a Marauder and one over 70 pounds on a High-5 Green/Black lure (nice fish!) and around a dozen Tuna, all of them 20 pound fish. Right after the trip he was fine but when we saw him and Chris in the evening, he was starting to feel the pain in his arms! Greg is fishing again on Thursday and Friday, lets hope the fishing and the weather holds! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR MAY 20, 2003 Richard, his wife and friend went fishing for a 1/2 day the day before yesterday with another boat and caught nothing. No bueno, so they saw Greg come in yesterday with all the flags flying and they are friends of friends, so....next thing you know, we get contacted and here they are! Richard would really like fish to take home but the most important thing, according to him, is that they don’t leave Cabo “skunked”. Juan and Manuel tried their best. On the way out to the same area they worked yesterday they got a hit from what Juan said was a very big Wahoo, but it did not stay on. Once they got to the area, 20 miles out, they started to see lots of porpoise but could not get hit. Finally they tossed bait to a Striped Marlin and they fought that to the boat, then tagged it with a “Billfish Foundation” tag and released the fish. A short while later they did the same thing again (with a different Marlin, of course). A little later on they hooked one more, but lost if after a very short time. No bites from any Tuna, no meat to take home, but two release certificates coming at them in a few weeks, and good memories! Thanks folks, every day is different, perhaps next time there will be “meat” fish for you to catch and return home with! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 21 MAY, 2003 Anyone familiar with Cabo knows Brad Pollack, the owner of our favorite hang-out, “Tanga-Tanga” and the “Fish House Restaurant”. He and our friend Rod L’Anglais, the owner of “Emil-Lene’s Sirloin House” in Aurora, Colorado were our anglers on the “Fly Hooker” today. Both of them are very good friends of ours and their request for the day was for Yellowfin Tuna. Juan and Manuel did their best but were not able to get into the fish until late in the morning and the fish were 24-26 miles to the south. Once they found them, the action was good with multiple strikes. Most of the fish were 20 pounders but Rod hooked into one that may have gone 60-70 pounds. Having just finished bringing in two Tuna, we was pretty maxed out after around 15 minutes and handed the rod off to Brad, and he was able to finish the fish off. The fog moved into the area while they were out there and it got cold! After that action they turned to head in and picked up a couple more fish, then cruised on back. Juan slipped and twisted his back on the return trip while washing down the deck so he is out of action for tomorrow. The 160 quart cooler was full of great fillets at the end of the trip and both Road and Brad were very happy with the action. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 22 MAY, 2003 Today is Greg’s second day of fishing and since he had enough meat to take home from Monday’s outing, and he can catch all the Yellowfin he wants back in New Jersey, today is a Marlin outing. Again, the action did not happen until late in the day and I was told that while they tossed bait to several fish prior to the first hook-up, that was not until 10am. Manuel and Edgar worked the area of the “95 Spot” and there was plenty of action. The water was off-colored and cold, down to 71 degrees, but for some reason the fish were concentrated there. From 10am until 1pm Greg wore his arms out fighting, tagging and releasing three Striped Marlin! Other fish were seen and worked, and no fish that bit got away. The wind started blowing last night around midnight and did not let up all day so there was quite a bit of wind chop out there along with some nice sized swells. Greg wants to do a repeat of today’s trip for tomorrow and has requested that I go along. I have my fingers crossed that the action remains good! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 23 MAY, 2003 This is Greg Wlazlowski’s third and final day of fishing on this vacation and he has invited me to go along. After the great action he had yesterday I figured that the black cloud that sometimes seems to follow me when I go on the boat and the target is Marlin might just vanish. Hahaha....around noon we were both starting to wonder if maybe that little thing was still hanging around my head and affecting the luck of others around me. Juan and Manuel took us out to the same area where all the fish had been yesterday and we did spot a fish on the surface, but looking back at it later on we decided that the fish had been sleeping, just barely moving at all. As soon as Greg tossed the bait near it, the fish went down. That was at 8:15 in the morning and since the fish had bit late yesterday, we were not too worried about it at the time. Along about 10:30 I started to get a little concerned but did not say anything to Greg. At 11 Manuel spotted another fish on the surface and it was moving, not sleeping. Juan tossed the bait this time, and the fish acted like it wanted to eat, lighting up a bit and scaring the heck out of the Mackerel. I pinned on another bait as Juan reeled in to change and the Marlin started to chase mine around also, but it just wouldn’t eat! Juan got another bait out and we now had two live Mackerel swimming around that the Marlin would not touch. Juan reeled in his one more time and slammed it on the deck, stunning the bait in the hope that the fish would eat one if it was easier to catch. No dice, this fish just disappeared on us. At 12:30 Manuel sighted another tail and Juan tossed out the bait one more time. Just goes to show you, never give up! This fish ate the bait like it was hungry, just came right in and grabbed it! Greg started to work the fish as we cleared the lines and the first few minutes the fish was coming right to the boat. I started to think maybe someone else had just released the Marlin and Greg was saying that the fish did not have a lot of fight to it when all of a sudden it took off on a good run. Lots of runs later and after quite a few jumps in the 25 minutes it took to get the fish boatside I was able to place the tag as Juan held the leader. As the fish felt the tag go in it made a surge and the #100 leader parted. No black cloud now and Greg and I high fived it with Juan and Manuel and we trolled back home with no further action, but not skunked either! Thanks for the invite Greg, I hope the lures you are taking home with you work out well. Until we get a chance to see you and Chris again, tight lines! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 25 MAY, 2003 Sol and Brenda Watson are from New York and are here for just two days, they flew in last night and leave tomorrow for the East Cape. Sol is a fly fisherman and would love to get a Marlin on the fly, Brenda loves to fish but would prefer conventional tackle. They were directed to us through “Baja On The Fly”, owned by Gary and Yvonne Graham. As the trip was to focus on fly fishing, I went along. We began at 8 miles out, in the 95 spot area but did not see any fish until the 12 mile mark, almost due east of the marina. On the way, Sol and I ran through what would happen (assuming things went the way we wanted) when a fish came in. The first fish we spotted I tried to toss out the bridled live bait and the dacron line ripped through the attachment area and the bait flew off. ****, I quickly pinned on another live bait on a rig with a hook and tossed it out there. The fish came in to the bait and I tried to reel it in and keep it away from the Marlin, then too late realized that the drag had not been set and there was nothing to work with. The Marlin grabbed the Mackerel and swam off with it as I got the drag set up and handed the rod to Sol. With the hook set, it took him 25 minutes to catch, tag and release his first Marlin ever, and the first one he has ever seen close up in person! His previous big fish were a Sailfish and a Tarpon of about #140. Knowing there were fish in the area we continued to work it. We baited two more Marlin with only one showing interest, but it would not take the fly. A little later we found another fish that we were able to tease right up to the transom, but again, the fish showed no interest in the fly and we eventually allowed it to eat the bait and we got Brenda on the fish! At about 30 minutes into the fight we broke the starboard throttle cable so I had to work the throttle from the engine as we spun the boat back and forth chasing the fish. Brenda had plenty of coaching from Sol, and a little help from Hector (Manual’s day off) and after 65 minutes and lots of action, she got to see her fish up close and personal as we placed a tag in it and released the #140 Marlin. Great job Brenda! We saw several other fish on the way back in but most of them went down by the time we got to them. All in all, a great day with two released Striped Marlin and two happy anglers. Don’t worry Sol, you will probably get one on the fly at the East Cape! Thanks for fishing with us and have a great vacation! Until next week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” crew!