Cabo fishing report for Nov 16- 23, 2003 Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO FISH REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 16 TO NOVEMBER 22, 2003 WEATHER: Windy days at the beginning of the week and the end of the week with wonderful weather between! Our night time lows were down into the low 60’s, it actually reached 62 degrees here at the house Monday morning, this was while the wind was blowing and a cold front moved through. At the end of the week the mornings had warmed up to 70 degrees. All week long the highs were in the mid to high 80’s. All in all a great week on the weather side. A few cloudy days at the beginning as that front moved through, clear skies the rest of the time. WATER: As we change into the winter weather pattern the waters are cooling down. On the Pacific side of the Cape our warm waters have been 79-80 degrees while on the Sea of Cortez side the average has been a couple of degrees higher. The Gorda Banks area has been showing temperatures in the 82 degree range and that has been about the highest around. With that cold front that moved through the area early in the week came some good winds, as we also experienced on Saturday. Rough water with swells at 4-8 feet and white caps everywhere. Thank goodness the winds were of short duration and it calmed right down, still some swells but nice rollers, not short, steep stuff. BAIT: With the new moon we were getting Caballito, as the water continues to cool we should start to get more Mackerel as well. The normal price of $2 per bait. There have been Sardinas as well at $20 a bucket. FISHING: BILLFISH: There are still a few Blue and Black Marlin around, but I did not hear of any really large fish caught this week. There was a very good bite on Striped Marlin just off the lighthouse ledge on the Pacific side early in the week. Dropping live bait halfway to the bottom during the tide change resulted in hook ups for a lot of boats, and those that persisted at it often had the luck to catch two or three fish. Live or dead bait seemed to be the way to go on the Striped Marlin and the average size seems to be getting a bit larger. On the other Billfish, there has been no concentration, the fish have been scattered, but the slightly warmer water on the Cortez side seems to be producing a few more of the Blues and Blacks. YELLOWFIN TUNA: A friends boat got a nice Yellowfin this week that was well over the #200 mark, I mean well over! Not us though, almost all of our fish were under #50. They were with the Porpoise and the area that seemed to be the best producer early in the week was a band of water that ran from about 12 miles west of the lighthouse on the Pacific side to about 25 miles to the south. There was a good bite late in the week but it was very far, 37 miles to the southeast, it had a lot of Porpoise and Tuna action. The bite was fair at the end of the week with the Porpoise and Tuna scattering, but on Friday there was a concentration of fish just inside the 95 spot and about 50 boats were working them. Dark colored lures and live bait were the key this week. DORADO: Almost all the Dorado this week were fish caught way up on the Pacific side, close to shore. That was early in the week. At the end of the week these fish had disappeared and boats going back there had a long run for very few bites. Closer to home the water was a bit warmer and the key to getting more than one fish was to watch the Frigate birds. More than one Frigate working meant that there were Dorado in the area, and boats the tossed out live bait under the Frigates seemed to do fairly well on fish ranging from #30 to #15. WAHOO: Very few Wahoo this week, sure wish that bite early last week had lasted a bit longer! INSHORE: No change from last week. Inshore action picked up just a little bit with a very good bite on Skipjack and Bonita to 10 pounds. That bite was early and on Sardinas. There were Sierra reported being caught off the Solmar beach and up north to the lighthouse, but the fish were small, most of them under three pounds. Scattered Dorado and an occasional Jack Crevalle kept things interesting. NOTES: The water and air is starting to cool off, the holidays are coming up, the Whales are starting to show up and the football playoffs are being talked about! My time of year! Treat yourself to a great Christmas present and come on down between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the town will not be too crowded yet and the weather ought to be just beautiful! Until next week, Tight Lines! Fly Hooker Daily fishing report for Nov 16-23, 2003 Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com WEEKLY FISH COUNT Blue Marlin 1 about 240 lbs. died coming in Striped Marlin 3 tagged and released, one tail wrapped 1 Sailfish 110# tagged and released 8 Dorado 19 Yellowfin Tuna 8-50 #’s small ones released “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 16, 2003 Larry Hanson and friend Wayne, Wayne’s son Roger and our friend Paul were the anglers aboard the “Fly Hooker” today. They will be fishing again on Friday, everyone except Paul. He has to return to Seattle on Tuesday. Larry was nice enough to invite me along for the day, just to ride as guest and have a few beers. We had a great time! Juan and Manuel took us to the south almost 12 miles before putting lines in the water and about a half hour later they turned the boat to the west. Manuel had spotted something a long way away. We continued trolling that direction for about 30 minutes before he kicked up the speed a bit. About 10 minutes later he put the binoculars to his face and kicked us up another notch. 15 more minutes and the rest of us could see the Porpoise jumping and feeding. Gad, Manuel sure had good eyes! We were the first boat to the pod and on our first pass hooked up to a triple on Yellowfin Tuna. They were about 15-20 pounds each and we got all of them to the boat. We worked to porpoise again for a while and had a double strike. These fish were a bit bigger at 30 pounds, both in the boat. Another pass and a big strike. Roger worked this fish for a while and Juan and I saw the fish below the boat. Juan wanted the gaff for this one and I agreed as it looked quite a bit larger than the others. We will never know as the fish pulled the hook free when about 20 feet down, but Juan and I agreed the fish was well over 50 pounds. One more pass resulted in the landing of the largest Yellowfin of the trip, it weighed 35 pounds. Working the fish for a while longer we hooked a quadruple and got three of the fish to the boat, all of them about 20-25 pounds. The other fish was another large one and we lost it. Manuel had been on the radio, letting other boats know what we had found and inviting them to try their luck. We could see the boats charging in, but it was a bit late for them. We hooked up four more fish before they arrived, but these were all small fish, in the 8-10 pound class, and since the box was full with the eight fish already in there, we let them go. Other boats were working the school by then, so we left in the hopes of getting another species. Well, we tossed bait at four different Striped Marlin and could not get any of them to eat! That’s the way it goes sometimes, but we had a great day on the water anyway! Lonnie has invited me to go along on Thursday and if nothing comes up, I just might go! Thanks guys, we hope you have a lot of luck on Thursday! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 17 NOVEMBER, 2003 Dan, Barb and Raz Nieblas, along with friends Bill and Tony, are fishing with us today and tomorrow. This will be the first time with us for Bill and Tony and we are hoping for a great fishing experience. We were lucky with that wish as it turned out! Juan and Manuel took the boat to the west, even though the wind started to really howl last night. I went out today on another boat, a 46’ Hatteras, and we turned around when only five miles out. Juan and Manuel babied the boat out to 12 miles when they got into the fish. I don’t know exactly the order the fish came in so I will just list the catch for you. Raz hooked into a giant Striped Marlin. The fish got hooked at the dorsal fin and never jumped. Juan and Manuel were convinced it was a giant Yellowfin since another boat had landed one well over #200 in the area the day before. The flying gaff was out and at the ready 30 minutes into the fight. When the fish finally came up under the boat, they saw what had happened and unfortunately the tag stick was not ready. Both Juan and Manuel have a lot of experience with Marlin and both of them swear that the fish was not less than #230! There was another Striped Marlin caught and released that weighed about #140. Dan hooked up and landed a Mako shark that might, just maybe, have pushed a scale to #10, the shark was released! Four nice Yellowfin to #35 and a couple of Dorado rounded out a great day of fishing. No one got sick even though the water was so rough, they just all got soaked all day long, but they had a great time. The wind started to die down this afternoon so hopefully the water conditions will be better tomorrow! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 18 NOVEMBER, 2003 This was the second day of fishing for Dan, Barb, Raz, Bill and Tony. Juan and Manuel went to the same area, about 12 miles to the west of the arch, about halfway to San Jaime Bank. It was good to them again as The total catch for the day was one Sailfish released, approximately #110, One Striped Marlin kept, approximately #140 (the fish was hooked in the eye and gill, bleeding badly so it was kept), Four Dorado kept, all around #30 with several smaller fish released, and Four Yellowfin Tuna kept, approximately #30-35. The water had settled down quite a bit as the wind did not blow last night. A lot more comfortable, that’s for sure! Once again I would like to thank you guys for being so great, it’s a good feeling knowing your clients are also your friends! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 19 NOVEMBER, 2003 Our friend Big John, from Canada, along with his friends Ron, Jim and Chris, went fishing on the “Fly Hooker” today. It was a fair day on the water with comfortable conditions but they were not able to get any eating fish in the boat. They did have shots at eight different Marlin though! One of the fish was a Blue Marlin approximately #200 that was kept, the fish became tail wrapped and died during the fight. The other fish that was caught was a Striped Marlin approximately #120 that was tagged and released. They had a good time with Juan and Manuel and want to go again! Thanks big guy, we are working on it for you! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FROM 20 NOVEMBER, 2003 Lonny Hanson and his friend Wayne and Wayne’s son Roger are our anglers again today on the “Fly Hooker” This is the second trip for them this week. Lonny invited me to come along again, but I had to decline as I had a bunch of stuff to de in order to get ready for maintenance day on Saturday. Once again Manuel and Juan went out tot he Pacific side, around 12 miles off the Lighthouse, looking for more Tuna, Dorado and Marlin. It was a slow day though as they only had two strikes all day long, both of them from Striped Marlin. One of the fish escaped pretty quickly, the other one was tagged and released. It is amazing how quickly the fishing conditions can change and the fish can move! We hope that next time Lonny comes to fish, the bite stays on the whole time he is here! Thanks for the invite Lonny, sorry I was not able to go. Like you said, being out on the water sure beats not being there! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 21 NOVEMBER, 2003 John Westerman and his wife Dorothy fished with Juan and Manuel today. They started just 12 miles out to the southeast as the Pacific side had not been producing well for the past several days. There was no action for a while and when they got 25 miles out, Manuel got a radio call from a friend giving him GPS numbers where he had just found a large pod of Porpoise and had started catching fish. In came the lines and off they went. 12 miles later, at a distance of 35 miles out, they arrived. Fishing for about an hour and a half in the Porpoise, they managed to get 4 Yellowfin Tuna, all of them around 45 pounds, and lost one more. It was a lucky thing that Manuel got that call because they did not see anything else the entire day! A cooler of fillets was the result and everyone had a good time! MAINTENANCE DAY NOVEMBER 22, 2003 Both shaft couplings were replaced with brand new ones, the port engine had new engine mounts installed and the engines were re-aligned. No vibrations!!!! A little wood work was done.