Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 11-17, 2003-04 WEATHER: The big new on the weather front for Cabo this week was rain. Yep, we got some, and it was not the little sprinkles that dot the dust on the windshields! The rain started at 2 am on Tuesday and finally stopped Wednesday night. During that time the wind blew and we ended up getting between 2 1/2 and 3 inches, the streets in town flooded and some of the dirt streets washed out. On Friday morning the back half of the front passed us and it rained hard, with thunder and lightning, for another 6 hours. We just had half of the yearly rainfall out of season! This means that in a week or two there will be flowers blooming everywhere in the desert! Now, at the end of the week, it is sunny but still cool. Our lows have been in the high 50’s and highs in the high 70’s. WATER: The Pacific side close to shore up past the lighthouse has been cool and green, offshore on the Pacific it has been a little warmer, in the 72 degree range, but for the most part it was choppy or just downright rough, due to the weather that blew through. On the Sea of Cortez we have had cold water running from the Cape out to the 95 spot and then up to the 1150 and the Gorda Bank area. This water has been from 69 to 71 degrees, slowly warming to 74 degrees the farther offshore you went. The warmest water was due south about 15 miles and there it warmed up to 74-75 degrees. BAIT: We thought that bait was hard to get last week! All the rain we had dirtied up the water and for several days there was no bait to be found . At the end of the week the bait boats were having a little better luck and some Caballito (small) were being caught. The normal $2 per bait. FISHING BILLFISH: As the week started the Marlin fishing took off and almost everyone was flying one, two or three flags when they came in. The fish were close, to! Only 8 miles offshore and closer, there were fish to be found almost everywhere. As the wind and rain came in on Tuesday the water got rough, but the boats that went out had a great time, the fish were still there. At the end of the week it seemed that the fish had been blown out, or the bait had moved. The Marlin were difficult to find and hard to hook up. The beginning of the week it was a pretty even mix on lures and live bait and at the end of the week if you found a fish, you needed live bait, which was difficult to get. YELLOWFIN TUNA: Last week I said that the Banks were holding fish and boats working chunks and live bait were scratching out a nice fish or two. I was right and the reports from the Long-range boats out of San Diego show it. There were two of the big boys anchored on the San Jaime this week and one of them unloaded in San Diego Saturday. The biggest Yellowfin was reported in the 340# range and they said that their holds were plugged and most of the fish were over 100#. The action was steady, but not red hot for anglers working chunks and live bait on the kites. Heck, with boats that size I guess the weather we had did not affect them too much, but for the local charters, we got beat up! Plus we did not have a chance to get any of those fish, it takes a while to get a chunk line like that going and on our smaller boats even though we worked near the, the fish were concentrated. At the end of the week there were a lot of small football fish and a few schools of 25-40 pound fish being caught in the Porpoise. The Porpoise were mostly in the slightly warmer water 15 miles out. Small feathers and cedar plugs were working on them. DORADO: Scattered fish with the smaller 5-15 pound fish being found near shore and the slightly larger fish to 40 pounds being found offshore, often with the Tuna and Porpoise. One of the keys for Dorado was watching the Frigates working, then slow trolling live bait through the area. Also being able to find floating debris worked well for a few boats, letting them limit out on fish averaging 15 pounds. WAHOO: Last week there was a Wahoo bite on the Sea of Cortez side of the cape and this week it moved to the Pacific side. It was not red hot, but a few boats were reported to have caught as many as eight fish, and I know for a fact that one of my friends got two fish at #80 each.. IN SHORE: Sierra were the fish of the week for inshore fishing, but I have knowledge of two Roosterfish that were caught as well, and they were nice ones! One of the fish was 58 pounds and the other was right in there as well. That was at the beginning of the week and I don’t know why they were around with the cold inshore water we have had. They sure were a surprise for the anglers! Other than that, there have been Jack Crevalle and a few nice Snapper. NOTES: Even more whales are coming in this week. One report I got concerned a whale that was found caught up in a monofiliment gill net set for Sierra outside of the Santa Maria-Chileno area. It was a female Humpback and she was caught around her pectorals and tail. The guys from Cabo Expeditions and one of the dive shops went out and finally managed to cut her free, doing so at risk to their own life. Of course the Yellowfin caught by the long range boats were the big buzz at the end of the week. If the water calms down maybe there will still be fish there and we can give it a shot. This weeks report was written to the music of Dire Straits on the 1985 Warner Bros. release “Brothers In Arms”. Thats it folks, until next week, Tight Lines! Fly Hooker Daily Catch Reports Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com WEEKLY FISH COUNT STRIPED MARLIN: 5 FISH RELEASED, THREE TAGGED DORADO: THREE FISH KEPT “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 11, 2004 Today was the third of three days for Larry, Ed, John and Chris. If you remember from last weeks report, yesterday they saw 11 marlin, had three take the bait and only hooked one fish, and that one got away fairly quickly. Today was a little different. They did not see quite so many Marlin, but that may have been because they spent so much time fighting them! Making a long story short, it looks like John is going to have to come back to Cabo, as he was the only angler to not get a Marlin today. There was also a nice Dorado caught also and when they came into he Marine that one yellow flag set the Blue and Red flags off nicely! Thanks guys, we sure are glad that the fish finally bit for you! Looking forward to seeing you guys again and meanwhile, keep your lines tight! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 12, 2004 Eric Fyksen and David Goetz had been walking around the Marina the day before yesterday and had gotten to talking with Larry, Ed, John and Chris when they had gotten in. Eric and David decided to book the “Fly Hooker” for today based upon the reports from the guys. Now, Eric and David have never been fishing on the ocean like this before, they are from Montana and are used to stream and lake fishing. What an experience! When they returned to the dock they were pretty tired but that was because it was a first time experience. Both of them were able to fight a Striped Marlin to the boat for a successful tag and release, and both of them were able to get a Dorado into the fishbox, giving them meat to take home. Juan said that there were a few more Dorado lost as well. Now the guys are spoiled and they are going to think that every trip offshore should be as successful as todays! Thanks guys, we know you will have good memories of this trip! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 16 JANUARY, 2004 Dave and three buddies are here for a wedding and they were supposed to fish yesterday. Well, all the rain we had on Tuesday and Wednesday had the wedding postponed until yesterday so we were able to push the fishing trip back to today. Well, it was a wedding, and at wedding here in Cabo you drink, and when they showed up at the boat Dave said he was pretty sure they were still drunk because otherwise they would have had hangovers! Hmm, I don’t think the drinking and the fishing mixed to well for the guys because according to Juan and Manuel, two of them got almost violently ill, trying very hard to chum some fish to the boat. They were able to hook up two Dorado when they were about 17 miles to the south of the lighthouse, but they decided to come in after that. Back at the Marina at 11:15 all they wanted to do was get back to their resort. I sure wish they had been able to go back with some fish, but hey, that’s the way it goes sometimes! Better luck next time, and keep away from the tequila the night before!