Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Sept 1-6, 2003 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR AUGUST 31 TO SEPTEMBER 6, 2003 WEATHER: We were surprised this week by a quick storm that struck on Wednesday. With Hurricane Ignacio having passed, we were thinking that the bad weather was over, but on Wednesday morning the Port Captain closed the port from 6 to 6:30 AM, then re-opened. Most of the boats went out, but were back by noon. The swell built all morning as a storm moved through our area from the east. Captains wee reporting swells to 12 feet with winds gusting to 35-40 MPH. The port was closed again at 1PM. By that night everything had passed but the port was not re-opened until 10 AM on Thursday. Most of the boats did not go out until Friday. Naturally, we had overcast skies all week long except for Tuesday, and our nighttime lows were in the mid 70’s while our daytime highs reached the low 90’s, with high humidity. WATER: Great conditions early in the week with the passing of Ignacio, terrible during the middle of the week and things got a bit better at the end of the week as far as the surface conditions went. By Saturday the water on the Pacific side was back down to 4-6 foot swells with a little wind chop and slightly smaller swells were reported from the Sea of Cortez side. At the end of the week the water inshore on the Pacific side was green and did not blue up until approximately three miles out. From there out to just past the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks, the water was blue and 80-81 degrees. Really warm water was not found until well past the Banks at distances of up to 35 miles. Due south of the Cape the blue, warm water was 15 miles out. The Sea of Cortez side of the Cape had warm water closer to shore, but it was a bit stirred up and off colored. BAIT: Mackerel was the bait this week at the normal $2 each. FISHING: BILLFISH: It was an on-off thing for the Marlin this week as the bite just went off on Friday if you were in the right place at the right time. The rest of the week was not as good, but the saying still held true. It looked like almost every boat out there came in with a Marlin flag on Friday, just after the storm passed through, but on Saturday the fish went somewhere else. Early in the week the Billfish action was consistent and most of the fish were found on the Pacific side out around 5 miles. That is also where the fish were later on in the week, at least until Saturday. Lots of Stripers were spotted on the surface, but few of them were interested in eating, just like last week it was a numbers game. Some boats got lucky and hit two in a row that were hungry, but most guys had to toss bait at a lot of fish to get action. Lures were not working very well this week except for the Blue Marlin, and they were being finicky. A few were found prior to the storm but they were not on the feed, and after the storm they were far offshore in the warmer water. In summary, Marlin action was a bit off this week except for Friday, and there were far more Stripers found than Blues. YELLOWFIN TUNA: Just about the only area that held Tuna at the end of the week was the warm water 15 miles and more to the south. The fish were mixed in with the Porpoise and most of them were football fish striking on small dark feathers and cedar plugs. Great action on Friday, that seemed to be true of all the species, that Friday was great! DORADO: The debris washed into the water by Hurricane Ignacio is holding Dorado now, and there were some great catches made. Most of the action has been on debris found in the current lines to the south of the Cape and the fish are running from 10 to 60 pounds, with an average of 20 pounds. Live bait dropped into the water around the debris gave up fish and there were quite a few caught on the troll as well. Of course, for some reason Friday was the banner day, with a few boats limiting out on Dorado. WAHOO: A good number of Wahoo flags were flown this week and as last week, most of the action seemed to come from the Pacific side and of course, off the debris in the current lines to the south. Lots of Marlin lures had to be repaired or replaced this week due to the razor-toothed fish, but it was worth it to most anglers. Quite a few fish were found on the troll for Marlin but a lot were caught on live bait around the debris as well. INSHORE: Just like last week, with the water inshore being cold and green, there was very little action. We saw a Pangas as far as 5 miles out on the Pacific side at the end of the week, looking for clear water. NOTES: This weeks report was written to the sound of the late Roy Buchanan, off his album “Second Album”. Great music and a new favorite of mine! Thanks Charlie! Until next week, tight lines! Fly Hooker Daily Catch Reports for Aug 31-Sept 6 “FLY HOOKER” WEEKLY FISH COUNT Striped Marlin: 1 released (120#) Wahoo: 2 kept (60#) Dorado: 1 kept (20#) “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 31 AUGUST, 2003 This is Paul and Pam Langham’s second day of fishing and Pam was queen for the day as she was able to catch, tag and release another Striped Marlin. The Jester for the day was our fill-in deckhand Edgar, as he managed to release several fish at the side of the boat just before being able to gaff them, including Dorado and Wahoo. Sigh, oh well... Paul was a bit disappointed in that but they had lots of action and plenty of fish yesterday. Thanks guys, we are looking forward to seeing you again next year! “ FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 1, 2003 Charlie, Skip and our friend Andy Cline were aboard the “Fly Hooker” today, and while the action was not great, they did return with a nice Wahoo and a Dorado. Both of these fish were caught on an “Islander” lure in blue and white with a ballyhoo under it, fished way, way back! Marlin were sighted but none hooked up. Next time! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 2 SEPTEMBER, 2003 The Al Waidie group of guys fished with us today, and they are fishing tomorrow as well. These are a bunch of guys working for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. and while only two of them admit to being real fisherman, all of them want to try it out. The water was in pretty good condition today but Juan and Manual were not able to get the guys into any fish. They tried all the spots that had been producing, but had no luck. The group was disappointed, but are going to try again tomorrow. Our fingers are crossed. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 3, 2003 The Port Captain opened the port at 6:30, but perhaps he should have kept it closed. Almost all the boats had returned by 11:30 and he closed it at around 1PM. The Waidie group had strikes from a Striped Marlin and a Dorado, two of them were sick and Manual said that the swells were at least three meters, and occasionally four! Disneyland! Hope it settles down soon! This is the result of a quick, passing storm. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 4, 2003 A day of fishing for Skip and Charlie cancelled due to weather conditions. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 5, 2003 Manual is off for four days in order to play in another baseball tournament so we have Juan as Captain on the boat and Edgar as fill-in deckhand. Skip and Charlie have enough meet now so they want to focus on catching Marlin for the next three days. Juan was able to put them on fish, but none of them were Marlin, at least none of them that struck. Edgar was able to get another Wahoo gaffed and in the boat. Charlie estimated it at 60 pounds. Edgar did another boatside release on a Dorado. Juan said they spotted six Striped Marlin, but were not able to get bait tossed to any of the fish before they went down. They worked the area off the Lighthouse on the Pacific side all day. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 30 AUGUST, 2003 Today I went with Juan and his brother Juan on the boat with Skip and Charlie. Perhaps the owner should not go fishing, maybe it is bad luck to be aboard your own boat with clients. Or maybe it was because Charlie brought Bananas aboard? Whatever the reason, it was a long day and good water conditions, but no hook-ups. We worked the Pacific side and today went up to the area inside the Golden Gate Banks, then back down to off the lighthouse. The fish we saw were Stripers on the surface in the area of the lighthouse. We did have a knock down on the short rigger but the fish never hooked and we never saw what it was. We were able to toss bait to two Striped Marlin but neither of them showed any interest in the bait. I am going again tomorrow, so I hope it is not me that is the jinx! We will have all our fingers crossed for Billfish manana! Until next weeks report, tight lines!