Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report July 21-27, 2003 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JULY 21 TO JULY 27, 2003 WEATHER: A little break from the heat this week as we started to get a breeze from the southwest that cooled us off a bit. Along with a partial overcast, it was around five degrees cooler all week than it was last week. We could actually sleep without the air-conditioner on! Our daytime highs were in the mid 90’s and nighttime lows in the mid 70’s. (Black Mountain Rag) WATER: The water continues to warm as the summer moves along and we are now seeing water temperatures at least 79 degrees almost everywhere, with most areas reading 82 to 85 degrees. The Pacific side was choppy the first half of the week and as the wind swung around to the southwest, the Sea of Cortez started to chop up a bit as well. The water out to about 9 miles was not a good blue, it was a bit on the greenish side, but warm. (A Taste Of Honey) BAIT: Mostly Mackerel and Mullet this week at the normal $2 per bait. (Country Gentleman) FISHING: BILLFISH: Slow on the Striped Marlin this week but picking up on the Blue and Black bite. We were getting a good Sailfish bite as well with quite a few fish in the 80+ class, up to around 120#. Good areas were any of the normal areas like the banks and the 95 and 1150 spots as well as where the color break was. Lots of flying fish and ribbon fish are showing as well as small Dorado so there is plenty of bait in the water. Our favorite Sailfish lure this week was a blue/white Islander run wayyyy back off the bridge rod. Striped Marlin were almost solely on live bait and the Blue and Black Marlin were happy striking lures in Blue/purple and Blue/silver/yellow. (Main Street Breakdown) YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were nice Yellowfin available most off the week, except for Tuesday when the just seemed to vanish! There was quite a run to get to the area, most of the fish were showing with Porpoise at 22 to 30 miles out. There were smaller football fish in the 8-12 pound class closer to home but the porpoise were holding fish in the 60-80# range. First boats to the fish did best but as the wind kicked and more boats appeared the bite dropped off. Another thing we noticed later in the week was the appearance just offshore of the Purse Seiners. We had one that just drifted around in the daytime for the past three days less than three miles out, and the porpoise we found close to Cabo were showing signs of having had nets set on them. (Cascade) DORADO: Some bigger fish offshore and a lot of real little ones inside three miles in the green water. If you found anything floating in the water, from a turtle to a small stick, there was likely to be Dorado around. Live bait under the frigate birds was working as well, and of course dropping back a live bait after hooking one up on the troll worked. (Boo Boo Stick Beat) WAHOO: With the new moon there were very few Wahoo found, let alone caught. A few boats reported strikes, but most of them lost the fish. (The Streets Of Laredo) NEARSHORE: The inshore green water had the Panga bite drop off quite a bit on Roosterfish and Snapper as well as the Jack Crevalle. A lot of the Panga action consisted of the small Dorado as well as Skipjack Tuna and Bonita. (Jerry’s Breakdown) NOTES: Tuna were fish of the week again and maybe if the Purse Seiners go away it will last. Last week a Purse Seiner was reported to be setting net up in the Sea of Cortez and three days after getting the report action was finally taken. When boarded there was a hold full of Striped Marlin and Dorado, both classified as sportfish. There were several long fights with Billfish this past week, one in particular is supposed to have involved a fish ranging from 1,000+ to 2,000 pounds, depending on who was telling the story. The fish fought for 13 hours and pulled one flying gaff free. At 9:30 PM the line broke as the fish was close to the boat. There were a lot of 3-4 hour fights as well, and this early in the season most of the fish got away due to either faulty gear or inexperience. More of the big girls will be hooked and hopefully tagged as the summer wears on. This weeks report was written to the cool sound of that master guitarist, the Country Gentleman, Chet Atkins on a compilation titled “The Master and His Music”, released in 2001 by BMG records. Until next week, Tight Lines! "Fly Hooker" Daily Catch Reports July 21-27, 2003 “FLY HOOKER” WEEKLY FISH COUNT Striped Marlin: One tagged and released (#120) Sailfish: One tagged and released (95#) Dorado: Two taken (#60-15) Yellowfin Tuna: One released (3#) “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JULY 24, 2003 John White booked the “Fly Hooker” for today and tomorrow and really wants his boys, Mike and Shawn, to hook up to some nice fish and have a good time. John’s dad Dave is along as well today. He would really like to get into some Tuna ! Juan and Manuel headed out toward the south and at a distance of 22 miles out came across a couple of long-line floats with a beacon attached. Someone had already cut them loose from the longline and had worked them but the guys were still able to pull fish off the floats. On the first pass with the lures they hooked up and released a three pound Tuna. There were a lot of Dorado around the floats but the fish scattered when they came close. Even with that, they were able to hook up three fish, two of them that they got to the boat. One of them was a nice bull of around 60 pounds, the other one around 15 pounds. Unfortunately that was all the action for the day. Hope there is a bit more activity tomorrow! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JULY 25, 2003 The second day of fishing for John, Dave, Mike and Shawn, and on this trip John’s daughter is along as well. John wants Marlin for the boys so Juan and Manuel stay fairly close to Cabo on this trip. Early in the day there is a lure strike on the bridge rod and it is handed down to Shawn. Unfortunately the fish did not stick and was only on for about 10 seconds. A little later a live bait was tossed to a tailing fish and Mike got to fight a Striped Marlin. That fish was eventually brought to the boat, tagged and released. Since John’s daughter was not feeling well and they had caught a Marlin, John decided that it made since to come in a little early. Thanks guys, we are glad it worked out, but Dave, sorry there were not any big Tuna for you maybe next time! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 26 JULY, 2003 Today I had Dr. Greg B., from San Diego fishing aboard the “Fly Hooker”. He went on another boat on Tuesday and didn’t catch anything so decided to change boats and see if that worked. Also, he decided to change the fishing times! We left the Marina at noon and were back at 7:15. I tried to call Juan all morning but his phone was turned off (no charge on the battery) so I managed to find a deckhand (good kid named Augustine) and we took off. Greg had brought several rods of his own as well as a few lures and we decided to run a blue/white Islander way back off of the bridge rod. We cruised out for about 5 miles, past a drifting Purse Seiner, then spotted a group of Porpoise traveling in a very tight pod. We worked them a few times but it soon was apparent that they held no fish and were very boat shy. Guess that they had been set on by Purse Seiners recently. A short while later I spotted a Striped Marlin sleeping and pointed it out to Agustine, who went down and dropped back a live bait. The fish woke and went down. The Islander lure was about 180 yards back, I had let out all the mono top-shot, and about 30 minutes after passing the Marlin we had a BIG fish explode on the Islander. It took a little line but did not hook up and when we brought in the lure to check it out, there were three good sized tooth marks on the top of the lure. Augustine said that was a REALLY big fish, and based on the size of the hole in the water and the splash it made, I think we had a strike from a big Tuna, too bad it did not hook up! We continued on our way and it was quite a bit later, maybe an hour and a half, that we finally hooked up. It was on the Islander again, in the way back position, and at first I thought it was a big Dorado. After 10 minutes the fish jumped again and this time I thought it was a Striped Marlin. Only when the fish was close to the boat were we able to tell that we had hooked a Sailfish. This was a first for Greg, and we got some good pictures with the fish held in the water alongside the boat. We estimated the Sailfish at 95 pounds, then tagged and released the beautiful creature. That was almost the last of the action for the trip. We returned to Cabo trolling just offshore, hoping to hook into some Dorado. We did have one hit, but the fish was so small it did not even get a click off the reel, and it looked smaller than the lure! As our last gasp, we tried slow trolling a couple of Mullet just off the Hacienda Del Mar beach, and We had one mullet chewed, but not by a Rooster, probably by a Snapper. Oh well, at least we got a new fish for the Doctor! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 27 JULY, 2003 Aaron Sanders, his wife and young son are fishing with us today and next Wednesday. Aaron would really like to get a Marlin, so that is what we have our fingers crossed for. He would also like to be the one to toss the bait and set the hook. Juan and Juan (it is Sunday, Manuel’s day off) headed out to the 95 spot to start the day and worked their way toward the 1150 area. Nada, zilch, nothing. A little later they heard over the radio that someone had found a large wooden cable spool and that there were a lot of Dorado around it, so in came the lines and off they went. Of course by the time they got there the bite was over and there were twenty boats around. Apparently the first two boats did well, then it was over. They left the area and when they came back an hour later there was just one boat left. Juan put a live bait out and they were able to catch one small Dorado. That was it, all the action for the day, but Aaron has another day to get into the zone and get a Marlin. We will keep our fingers crossed for him!