Cabo Bite Report Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 1-7, 2003-04 WEATHER: The week began with partly cloudy skies and was either partly or mostly cloudy all week long, at least until it started to clear up on Saturday. The winds were blowing beginning at around 10 am every day but it appeared that as the skies cleared, the wind died. On the weekend the wind was there but not as strong. We did have a little sprinkle of rain on Tuesday. Our low temperature for the week was 55 degrees and the high was 84 degrees. WATER: Choppy water most of the week on the Pacific side and just around the corner while further up the coast on the Sea of Cortez the water was very nice, just some swells, until you reached Punta Gorda. Of course, just because the water was nicer did not mean that there were more fish there! The water was cool out to 30+ miles on the Cortez side, not getting mush above 69 degrees until out that far, then it raised to 73 degrees. On the Pacific side we had a band of cold water running along the coast out to a distance of 15 miles, with a very cold band in the middle where the water dropped to a low of 66 degrees. Out past that area, in the vicinity of the San Jaime Banks, the water warmed up to 71-72 degrees. Straight south of the Cape it was a 30 mile run to get to the warmer water. BAIT: The usual $2 per bait for Pacific Mackerel, very few Caballito and very few Mullet. No reports to me of any Sardinas, but there may be some available. FISHING BILLFISH: Very few Marlin were found this week and it may have been due to the full moon. Well, that’s just a guess, it may have been something else, but we are all thinking that the moon is the reason. A few Striped Marlin were caught but there were not very many of them. Once again, Marlin were not the fish of the week. The fish that were caught were found out in the warm water and the boats using live bait had a fair chance of hooking a fish that was tossed to. YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again Yellowfin became the fish of the week. Most of the fish were found in porpoise. The action took place around 22-25 miles to the southwest and most of the fish were footballs, up to a high weight of around 25 pounds. Pink hootchies and dark feathers worked, but you had to be persistent in order to get more than a couple of fish on board. Now, I say that they were the fish of the week and that is because there were Yellowfin caught every day, not by every boat. DORADO: The cold water has pretty much put a stop to the good Dorado catches that had been made, but every now and then something happens that just turns everything around. In this weeks example, a dead whale was found floating 30 miles out and the boats that found it were very quiet on the radio, allowing them to limit out on Dorado to 35 pounds. There were Wahoo and Yellowfin found with the whale also. When the boats went back out the next day, most of them returned skunked because the currents had taken the whale much further out. WAHOO: Only a few Wahoo were reported this week and they were found out in the warmer water around the dead whale IN SHORE: This weeks report inshore is identical to last weeks, so here it is: The Sierra bite that happened the last week is still going on, but the concentration of fish has moved up the coast and is no longer supplying hot action just off the arch. The choppy water has kept a lot of the boats from working in real close to the shore up the coast, but there have been reports of pretty good Roosterfish action at the lighthouse. That is surprising to me since the water is so cold, but hey, if there is bait around (finger mullet) then I guess there will be the predators also! Bottom fishing was very poor due to the wind this week. NOTES: I hope the Marlin bite gets better as we get away from the full moon. Also the weather better settle down, we don’t like getting wet and cold on a fishing trip! There are still whales around, as well as porpoise. I have been spending a lot of time working on another boat, getting electronics and electrical stuff fixed so have not spent a lot of time on the water myself. This weeks report was written to the great music of Miles Davis on “Ballads and Blues”, a CD given to me by a friend. "Fly Hooker" Daily Catch Reports Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com WEEKLY FISH COUNT STRIPED MARLIN: ONE FISH TAGGED AND RELEASED (110 POUNDS) YELLOWFIN TUNA: 11 FISH KEPT (#10-#25) “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 5 FEBRUARY, 2004 Harold and his wife Mary are here for two months this time and Harold has some friends coming in next week as well. He would like to get more time on the water this vacation so today is the first day out. Well, it has been windy and choppy, today was no exception. It was not bad early in the day but around 10 the wind started to pick up and it really blew. Harold managed to get 10 Yellowfin Tuna, most of them footballs in the 10-12 pound class, but there were three that were between 20 and 25 pounds, and Juan said that they hooked up several others that were larger. The also go a few Bonito as well. They were in about an hour early and Harold said that he was not going out again until the wind and water settled down! I sure hope it does that soon! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 6 FEBRUARY, 2004 John, Joe, Pete and Skip went fishing on the “Fly Hooker” today after fishing a few smaller boats earlier in the week. The fishing was not red hot for them by any means with the only fish of the day looking like it was going to be the 15 pound Yellowfin caught early in the trip. Shortly after catching that fish (in the blind) they received a report over the radio of a good bite going on about three miles away. In came the lines and off they roared. When they got there four boats were already working the fish, with a couple of them hooked up. As sometimes happens, the first boats get the fish, the late comers get to watch. No fish for the “Fly Hooker” but on the way back they did get a Striped Marlin to come into the lures and strike at one of them. Juan dropped back a live bait and Pete got the honors of fighting the fish. About 30 minutes later he was successful in tagging and releasing his first Marlin! Way to go! Getting back to the dock they found that there had only been a couple of other Marlin caught that day. A few boats on our dock were loaded down with Dorado and Yellowfin flags however, and we found that there had been a dead whale found, but everyone there had maintained radio silence so they would not get too crowded. Manuel said he will never call any of them on to a good bite anymore! Any way, not a bad day, and the wind seems to be laying down, they guys said there were big swells but no chop today! Until next week, tight lines!