Cabo Bite Report Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT APRIL 4-10, 2004 WEATHER: I swear to you that I am not making this up, but once again we have an almost identical repeat of last weeks weather. Maybe I am starting to sound like a broken record, but hear me out. The week started with wonderful calm weather, sunny and warm with not a cloud in the sky. On Tuesday the wind started to blow as cloud cover moved in. It started to blow hard on Wednesday and on Friday a lot of boats cancelled their trips. On Saturday the wind started to die back down and the clouds moved away. Sigh. Night time lows were in the area of 60 degrees while the daytime highs ranged from 82 to 98 degrees, depending on where you were and the day of the week! WATER: Down to a low of 59 degrees right at the Cape at the end of the week, the water close to home has been very, very cold! Thank goodness the water warms up as you get offshore, or we might just be looking at another Albacore bite (not that would be a bad thing). One you got around 15 miles out the water started to warm up and on the Sea of Cortez side that meant that you were looking at temperatures that may have hit the low 70’s. Directly to the south the water continued to stay cold as the currents carried that chilly stuff almost thirty miles out before it began to dissipate. Out on the Pacific side the normal temperature break area, between the Golden Gate and the San Jaime Banks continued to run true to form. Once you reached the rise the water started to warm up, but for most of the week it was just so rough out there that no one was going. Up the Cortez the water inshore began to warm up as well and it was a good thing, as that was almost the only area the smaller boats could concentrate on without getting slammed around. BAIT: The normal $2 per bait for Caballito with very few small Mackerel available. I did not hear of any Sardines making it down to Cabo from San Jose. FISHING: BILLFISH: Heck, I have no idea what to say about the Bill fish this week except that some boats were lucky and caught some. I would have to venture a guess that for most of the week one in twenty boats were lucky to get hooked up, and of them, maybe half got the fish to the boat. A lot of it had to do with the full moon, but the water temperature and surface conditions contributed as well. Some of the boats that did catch fish were catching them on lures, bait was not working real well. After banging heads around after a few beers, we have come up with a pretty good reason (at least it sounds like it after a couple!), too much squid around for the Marlin to be interested in Mackerel or Caballito. Why should they work hard at chasing small fish when they can eat squid candy. That also migh explain why most of the fish caught on lures were caught on ones that were in squid colors! Most of the fish found were at the temperature breaks and that was almost the only place. YELLOWFIN TUNA: A repeat of last weeks report on the Tuna. Almost all the Yellowfin I saw or heard about this week were football fish and many of them were not found with Porpoise, but instead found in free swimming schools. Small feathers in dark colors worked well as did larger lures in Petrelero (sure must be a lot of squid out there now). The Sea of Cortez side, out to 15 miles while the wind blew, and out a bit farther after it stopped on the weekend had the majority of the fish, perhaps due to the small temperature break there. There were a few larger fish found and caught, but they were around the San Jaime and for most of the week the water was too rough to get to them. DORADO: Same as last week! Scattered fish, and good sized ones, were the order for the week. Many of the Dorado found and caught were in the 25-50 pound class. Marlin lures in Petrelero go the first ones and live bait on the drop back usually hooked up another. Warmer water, out past the temperature break was where most of the fish were found, though there were a few found close to shore on the Cortez side up around the Palmilla Hotel. WAHOO: Even with the full moon there were not many Wahoo found this week. Cold water may have been the reason because I did hear that there was a bit of a bite happening up around the north end of Punta Gorda, and the water was warmer up there. INSHORE: Slow fishing in rough water, but those that could handle it found fair fishing up around the lighthouse on the Pacific side for Yellowtail to 25 pounds on live bait dropped deep. There were also Sierra in the 4 to 8 pound range in the same area as well as right in the Cabo San Lucas Bay. Elsewhere the inshore action was slow with only a few fish found. NOTES: Not a red banner week on the fishing front, nor on the weather front! (that was a repeat of the first line from last weeks report!) We need warm water, no wind and then things will take off! Around the town, things are busy as it is Semana Santa, or Holy Week, and everyone is on Holiday! Lots of people out and about but the fun police are out as well. Sigh, a couple of live music sets at the beach and the fun police shut down Brian Flynn’s indoor/outdoor gig at the beach. Heck, if I wanted this I would have moved to southern California (the state, that is!)! No music this week as it is late at my house, Mary is asleep and I have to get up early and fish on Easter Sunday! Until next week, tight lines! Fly Hooker Daily Reports Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com WEEKLY FISH COUNT STRIPED MARLIN: ONE TAGGED AND RELEASED (#130) YELLOWFIN TUNA: 25 CAUGHT, 10 RELEASED (#4-#45) DORADO: ONE CAUGHT (#10) BONITA: 3 CAUGHT (#15-#20) “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 5 APRIL, 2004 Jeff Zielinski, his sister and her husband were referred to us by a client of ours and were looking forward to a chance to get into some big fish on this trip. Well, the best laid plans and all that stuff. The water was just beautiful yesterday and today it was nice as well, but the fish have not yet moved in closer. Juan and Manuel took the boat 26 miles to the southwest, just off the San Jaime Banks, and they were able to get into the porpoise. Into the porpoise, but not into the Yellowfin. Instead they hooked into some bomber sized Bonita and were able to get three of the 20 pound fish into the boat. Not bad, but not exactly what they were looking for. I just wish the water had been a little warmer, maybe they would have had better luck. At least there was fish for dinner! Thanks guys, and Joe, thank you as well for the referral! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 6 APRIL, 2004 Our buddies Nick and Carol Fedorka were here for the Easter weekend with their kids Nick and Carleigh and their friend Mijoy Milby. The wind had started to pickup a bit yesterday but was not bad for today, at least no one got sick! The boat went the same area as yesterday and were able to find the Porpoise again. Again they were able to get into fish but today it was the right kind! Three nice Yellowfin were brought into the boat, the largest of which Juan told me may have gone around 35 pounds, the other two at around 20 pounds. Nice fish, and nice fillets! The kids all had a chance to reel in fish and a few more were lost as well, but a good time was had by everyone on board! Thanks Nick! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 7 APRIL, 2004 Jon Whimpney, his brother Stacy and their friend Derek Keen are down here for Easter break and this is their first time to Cabo. They are students and work in the summer as fishing guides in Canada while in the winter they study for degrees in biology. They really want a chance to get a Marlin, or at least a really big fish, but Marlin are the main target. These guys don’t have a lot of money but they have booked the “Fly Hooker” for three days, today, tomorrow and Saturday. Today Juan and Manuel went to the south of the 95 spot looking for the Marlin that the guys want to focus on. Well, there were three Marlin sighted and bait was tossed to one of them, but as sometimes happens the fish was not interested. They did not get skunked however, as the guys were able to get into a school of Tuna that were biting. With all the action happening it was difficult to keep accurate track, but Juan said that they had let at least 8 Yellowfin go and he and Manuel had filleted an even dozen. The largest of the Tuna that they filleted would have gone an easy 45 pounds and the guys told me that the big fish of the day had been lost below the boat. I asked Juan about it and he said that the fish would have gone an easy 80 pounds, but the hook pulled loose. Maybe that was because the length of the fight allowed the fish to wear a hole in it’s mouth, but regardless they had a great day on the water. Of course the wind started to blow pretty good late yesterday and the water was rough, but they did get into the fish! Let’s keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 8 APRIL, 2004 Jon, Stacy and Derek were out today on the second of their three days and today they were finally able to get a Marlin to the boat. They were fishing 21 miles to the southeast and there was a pretty nice temperature break there. On the way out they picked up two small Yellowfin of about 15 pounds each, plus a small 10 pound Dorado. When they reached the temp break they found a small group of Striped Marlin that came in and attacked the lures. Juan said that there were five fish on the surface and that three of them whacked at the lures. One of them was hooked up good and Juan tossed out a bait that was totally ignored. Stacy was the lucky angler and it took him about 25 minutes to subdue the feisty #130 Striped Marlin. After the fight the fish was released and everyone started on the beer! Not a bad day and they were able to pick up one more of the #15 Yellowfin on the way back in. A good day and some nice flags flying when they entered the Marina! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 10 APRIL, 2004 The last of three days of fishing for our Canadian fishing guides/students and the water was much rougher today than the first two days they fished. We were supposed to have a trip yesterday but the wind was blowing so hard in the morning that we postponed until Easter Sunday. At least it calmed down in the afternoon and this morning ‘twas just a slight breeze. Of course that did not change the set of the swells any, and it was still blowing pretty good off shore by all accounts. With the rough water they were not able to get as far off shore and with the fact that one of the guys was feeling a bit “disabled”, the fishing left a bit to be desired. Two very small Yellowfin were all that happened today, and the fish were small enough that they might have been put back out as live bait had the water temps been right for Blue Marlin! Well, the guys had two great days of fishing and they were able to get one Marlin to the boat and released so the trip was a success. I just hope that the next time they are all able to get a fish to the boat and released! Thanks guys, and have fun for the rest of the vacation!