Cabo Bite Report for Oct 4-11, 2003 Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 5 TO OCTOBER 11, 2003 WEATHER: Once again we are blessed with great weather. Now that fall is approaching (the only way we can tell is the weather!) the nighttime temperatures are dropping into the low 70’s and the daytime highs are staying in the low 90’s, plus the humidity is dropping so it is nice to be out and about. We had light breezes from the northwest and west this week, not a lot in town due to the ridge blocking it, but very nice on the water. WATER: A bit of green water was found out about 3 miles on the Pacific side of the Cape this week and it came on a bit strong at the tail end of the week. Everywhere else we have had very blue, warm water. The temperatures within 20 miles of the Cape on the Pacific side have been in the low 80’s while the same distance out on the Sea of Cortez side has had temperatures in the mid 80’s. This is looking great for the tournaments coming up this month. The swells have been small and the wind chop very light for the most part, we did have a few days when the chop picked up quite a bit in the afternoon. There has been a temperature break on the Pacific side out at 25 miles to the west, just past the San Jaime Banks, and trailing down to the southwest from there where the break has been two degrees over a very short distance, and at times the area really produced well. BAIT: At the beginning of the week it was hit or miss on live bait while at the end of the week there was no problem getting Mackerel. The normal $2 per bait when you could find it. FISHING: BILLFISH: Thank goodness there are some Blue Marlin beginning to show themselves. We were afraid that after the hurricanes something had changed and forced them away from the area. There were quite a few of them hooked up this week, and there was a good showing on the Striped Marlin as well. These fish were not everywhere though, you had to be in the right areas. One of the biggest concentrations of Striped Marlin was in the 1150 area, and they were there in packs. One of the best lures at the time was a small Dorado colored lure, there must be a lot of the small fish swimming around there. For the Blue Marlin, the Gordo Banks area and off the Punta Gordo were good spots, but the action there occurred for boats dropping live Skipjack. There were fish hooked up on lures while trolling the area, but the results were better on the live bait. YELLOWFIN TUNA: There was not a lot of change in the Tuna this week from last week. The fish were with the porpoise and it was pretty much hit or miss on finding them, then getting them to bite. We had times where there were Tuna jumping out of the water and nothing we tried would work. Most of the fish were running 15-30 pounds with a few larger fish to 50 pounds being hooked up. I think that if we had small Sardinas that the results may have been a bit better, but the best most of us could do was to run a hootchie directly off 30 pound test with no leader and hope that we did not get broken off if we were lucky enough to get bit. The fish were 20 miles out at least, regardless of the direction you decided to go, and at times they could only be found 40 miles out. Of course, as usual, the first couple of boats to the fish got the action, and the last ones just got to see the fish jumping. DORADO: The Dorado bite was better this week than last with fish scattered all over the area on the Pacific side of the Cape. The Sea of Cortez side was not providing the same quality of action as the Pacific but there were still a few fish being found. On the Pacific, ranging from just outside the shore break out tot he Banks, action was scattered in the open and good when you could find the right floating objects. The concentration of debris we had last week and the week before has thinned out and now when you are able to find something floating the chances are good that there are fish under it. Bright colored lures and live bait accounted for most of the fish, and when the action died off at the floating debris, often starting a little chunk line brought the action back to life. Most of the fish were between 15 and 25 pounds around the debris, but the fish in the open were a bit larger on average, between 25 and 40 pounds. WAHOO: Very surprisingly there was little Wahoo action this week. I thought that the full moon would bring us a lot of fish, but they decided to hold back. I did see a few red flags, so there were fish found, but not in any numbers or any seeming concentration. INSHORE: This weeks inshore action was a repeat of last weeks. Jack Crevalle, Roosterfish and a few Sierra were reported by Captains and anglers fishing the shore breaks, live bait was the key as lures were mostly ignored. The best action seemed to come from the Pacific side around the lighthouse. NOTES: With the cooler temperatures and fall approaching, the Cruise Ships are back. This means that on almost any given day there will be at least one ship out in the bay, some days we have had three of them anchored. All the rain we received over the last 60 days has the hills bright green, it doesn’t look like a desert until you get close! The town has pretty much cleaned up most of the streets after all the sand washed into them from Hurricane Marty and you would have a hard time being able to tell we had anything happen here. The Marina is filling back up as all the war wagons arrive for the tournaments, and all the talk in town is about fishing, where they are, what they are biting, what kind of new gear folks have and what their plan of attack will be this year! Good sounds to my ears and I always learn something new from the pros on the docks. Thanks for checking out this weeks report, I hope it has helped you somewhat, or at least been informative. It was written to the sound of Roy Buchanan on his CD “Roy Buchanan” , a 1972 release. Thanks for the sounds Charlie! "Fly Hooker" Daily Catch Reports for Oct 4-11 Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] WEEKLY FISH COUNT BLUE MARLIN: ONE TAGGED AND RELEASED (#300) STRIPED MARLIN: ONE TAGGED AND RELEASED (#120) PACIFIC SAILFISH: ONE TAGGED AND RELEASED (#90) WAHOO: ONE KEPT (#70) DORADO: FIVE KEPT (#15-#35) YELLOWFIN TUNA: SIX KEPT (#15-#25) “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 5, 2003 Greg, Vance and Patty were aboard the “Fly Hooker” today and were glad to see Juan again. I got to go along as it was Manuels day off and we were not sure of being able to pick up a deck hand this morning. We finally did, on the way out of the Marina and we did all right as Rigo is a pretty good guy and is normally right on top of things. Juan decided that our best chance was south of the Arch so off we went. We cruised for about 45 minutes before Juan started spotting debris in the water, then the dorsal fin of a Striped Marlin. I pinned on a live Caballito and dropped it back as we drifted to a stop. After a very long wait with no pick-up I started to reel the bait in and got it half way to the boat when it got bit. I must not have given the Marlin long enough because when I set the hook I could feel it pull out of the bait, but not into the Marlin! The leader was chafed up so we were sure what had taken the bait. We worked the debris line, lots of small stuff and a few occasional logs, and finally went further south, looking for action. At a distance of 21 miles we came across another debris line, this one with a lot of big stuff in it. A few seconds after having the port rigger clip release because of a branch that was snagged, we had the center, long line go off. This one was no snag! Vance fought the fish stand-up and after a little while Rigo was able to sink the gaff into a very nice Bull Dorado of around 35 pounds. We drifted a live bait back as the fish was being fought but could not get another pick-up. Back to trolling and then we spotted Porpoise, actually Spinner Dolphin. We could see Tuna breaking water and tried everything we had and could not get looked at. Really frustrating! We worked them for quite a while and then started the trip home. At least we had not gotten skunked, a lot of boats had. Let us hope that the fishing picks up on Tuesday and Thursday! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 6, 2003 Ed and Jennifer Buccigross are fishing with us today and Wednesday. They are experienced anglers and have fished Cabo before. Unfortunately there was no good live bait available this morning so the entire days effort was done on lures. Juan said that Manuel decided to try the San Jaime Banks today and that is where they found the fish. One nice Dorado and six Yellowfin Tuna were the catch for the day, but Ed said that there were Porpoise by the thousands and Tuna jumping everywhere, they were just hard to catch. Not having any live bait also made it hard to get a good shot at the two Striped Marlin that they spotted on the surface. Hopefully there will be live bait the rest of the week! Ed and Jennifer had a great time and were nice to say that Juan and Manuel were without a doubt the best crew they had ever fished with. Lets hope it stays that way! Thanks guys, and we shall keep our fingers crossed for Wednesdays fishing! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 07 OCTOBER, 2003 Today we had Don Cartner and his girlfriend June, Vance and Patty on the “Fly Hooker” with Juan and Manuel. There was a late start due to having a problem with the transmission coupling for the starboard engine, but they were on their way by 8 AM. No live bait again and it’s too bad because there was a chance to toss bait to at least two Striped Marlin during the trip. One of them showed an interest in the lures but would not bite and the other went down right away. Don did hook up to a very nice Wahoo late into the trip, the fish was around 70 pounds. Sure did make a nice load of fillets! They were also able to get two of three Dorado that bit into the boat. That was it for the day, but at least there were fish. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 10 OCTOBER, 2003 Nick and Carol Fedorka were our anglers on the “Fly Hooker” today and Nick just celebrated his 50th birthday. His birthday present was supposed to be a Marlin so Juan and Manuel did their best to make it a good trip. Guess what, sometimes good things happen to good people! Carol was along for the boat ride and the sun, plus she was forced into the role of official photographer, getting proof of the fish. Only two Marlin gave Nick a workout, one of them was an hour and a half fight with a Blue estimated at #300, tagged and released. The other fish was a Striped Marlin estimated at #120, also tagged and released. To top it off he caught and kept a nice 25 pound Dorado, perfect for dinner! It just doesn’t get any better than this folks! Thanks Nick, we are glad it worked out! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 11 OCTOBER, 2003 Kurt Kennery, Richard Shannon and Mike Sherer were the anglers on the “Fly Hooker” today, and they really wanted to get something to eat, but more importantly they wanted some action. Juan and Manual went to the same area they had taken Nick and Carol yesterday but the action was not as great. The started off the morning with a Striped Marlin hot on one of the lures, but the fish would not eat it, and when Manual dropped back a live bait the fish showed no interest in it, who can figure them out? A little later on they were lucky and hooked up a Pacific Sailfish that they were able to tag and release after a short fight. Much later on they had another shot at a Striped Marlin, but this fish was a bit lazy, not hungry, and no action resulted. No strikes from Dorado, Wahoo or Tuna were to be found on this trip. Sorry about that guys, we hope that next time the food fish action is red hot!