Cabo Bite Report Capt. George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT JANUARY 17-23, 2005 WEATHER: We had rain this week! On Tuesday the wind started to blow strong from the west and then the clouds rolled in on Wednesday. In the evening the drops started coming down sporadically and dotted the windshields on the cars. When we woke up on Thursday morning the streets were wet and there were puddles in the low lying areas. All the plants got dusted off and the boats had a soft water rinse. That was the big news. Other than that, things have remained about the same with our night time lows in the low to mid 60’s and our day time highs in the mid 80’s. WATER: Surface conditions were very good this week on both sides of the cape with the exception of Tuesday when the winds picked up before the front moved in. There was a strongly defined temperature break over the San Jaime banks but there was no fish in the area in the latter half of the week. The water temperature near shore has been in the 72-73 degree range and a bit farther off shore the water warmed to 75-77 degrees. This warm water area was shaped like and upside down horseshoe at the cape and ran about 8 miles off shore. BAIT: This week the bait has been almost all Mackerel with just a few very small Caballito in the mix. The price has been the normal $2 per bait. FISHING: BILLFISH: Unbelievable as it may be, this weeks report is almost identical to last weeks! Wednesday was a banner day for Striped Marlin this week as the fish were packed up and close to home. The area to be was within 8 miles of shore just off the arch to the lighthouse, and they were feeding heavily. Most boats that worked the area were able to get at least several fish hooked up and almost everyone came in flying at least two Marlin flags. The most I heard of on one boat was 9 Striped Marlin released that day, and they were biting anything offered even dead bait on a drop back. That night the wind kicked up and by the morning the fish had scattered. The bite from Thursday on was not as good with the fish moving off the spot, but there were still a few fish in the area. It seemed that the fish started a slow move to the east and at the end of the week the Pacific side was pretty much dead and the action had moved to the area of the 95 spot. YELLOWFIN TUNA: There was very little Tuna action this week, at least on anything of size. Every day a few boats were flying Tuna flags and when asked, the anglers all said they were for small, football size fish. There were Yellowfin at the Golden Gate Banks area and also a few miles off shore around the Los Arcos area on the Pacific and the fish were associated with Porpoise. One of the Private boats worked well to the west of the San Jaime at the end of the week and found nothing out there at all. We sure thought that the temperature break would be holding fish. Sigh. DORADO: Dorado action picked up this week and the action was close to home. The edge of the warm water band as close as 8 miles out held fish this week and most boats that worked the area were able to get at least a few fish in the boat. Most of them were on the small side, less than 12 pounds, but there were a few in the 20-30 pound class as well. Almost any thing bright colored worked on them. WAHOO: What Whoo? INSHORE: It was a slow inshore bite this week but with the water being as calm as it has been, most of the Pangas have been working the off shore waters. There was a slow down on the Sierra bite but you could still get a few fish in the 3-5 pound class if you were in the right spot. Every thing else was spotty. NOTES: Finished the Golf lessons and now I am ready to kick some butt! I was supposed to play this morning but we made reservations too late and could not get a tee time until 1 pm so guess it means the driving range instead. The football playoffs this afternoon. My goodness how a day can fill up! Next week I will be getting in some boat work and fishing as will post the next report for you on what is going on here in Cabo. Until then, Tight Lines! Daily Catch Reports Capt. George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 21, 2005 Six guys from Florida came to Cabo as a short working vacation and ended up fishing with me today. John was the head honcho but Raul was the fisherman. Raul just bought a 55’ 2003 Viking but has not fished it yet and none of the guys have ever caught a Marlin before, so that was the objective today. The bite has been close to home, most of the action happening less than 10 miles out for the Striped Marlin, so that is where we focused our efforts. Watching for the Frigate birds working over fish, we ended up almost 12 miles outside Cabo Falso, hooking up to small Dorado, less than 8 pounds, on almost every pass under the birds. Enough was enough and after getting four of six fish to the boat we changed tactics and headed in closer to land, hoping for the Marlin to appear. At almost straight on noon there was a strong strike on the Whisky line and I was sure we had finally had a Marlin hit. Nope, it was a nice Dorado though, around 25 pounds. It was a good fight but that was all the action for us today. Everyone caught fish except for Raul, but he had some fine pictures to take home with him! Thanks guys, and have a safe trip home. James, Paul and Mark are from Texas and are here for three days of fishing. James runs a Charter Service in the Gulf and while they are all fishermen, they have never caught Marlin before. That means that there are three days to get three Marlin. Never mind the Tuna; they can get plenty of them at home! That’s a good thing since there have not been all that many of them around. Well, they were out today and The Captain worked up north in the Sea of Cortez, up past the Gorda Banks area. Not a bad day on the water either, with a total catch of five Dorado and a Striped Marlin release! They saw several other Stripers, but there was only one that they were able to hook up and get to the boat. Maybe tomorrow they will get another one! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 22, 2005 James, Paul and Mark had their second day of fishing today and did end up getting the second Striped Marlin of the trip! They also picked up a couple more Dorado. They were fishing the same area as yesterday, up around the Gorda Banks area. Tomorrow they are fishing a different boat, but we hope that they are able to get that third fish hooked up! I was fishing today with the owner of the boat I am Captain on and we had no luck at all. There had been good Marlin and Dorado action yesterday just off the arch and light house so we started out 2 miles in front of town. One rigged Squid on the whiskey line, a rigged Ballyhoo on each outrigger and a live Mackerel on each flat line as well as a daisy chain of artificial squid on each teaser. Two hours after starting and having worked our way to the lighthouse with not one fish up and hearing that every one else was having the same kind of luck, we pulled lines and ran out to the San Jaime Banks. I had heard that someone had found Porpoise out there and was marking fish under them, but when we arrived there was no one around and no Porpoise. Just air stories I guess. There was a very nice temperature break there but it was not holding any bait or fish. We did see one feeder Striped Marlin but the fish had no interest in anything we had out. Skunked with the boss on board, sigh. We are trying again on Wednesday and I hope my luck changes! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 23, 2005 The third day of fishing for James, Paul and Mark resulted in the third Striped Marlin of the trip, so all three guys were able to boast of having caught and released a Marlin! Way to go guys! They also caught several Dorado today, one of them around 30 pounds. With a different boat and Captain today, they went up the Pacific side about 10 miles. At one point they had five Striped Marlin in the pattern, that is when the hooked the one that was released. Mark said that if he had a fly rod on board he might have had a good chance at them! We are glad thing worked out just the way you wanted and look forward to your next trip! Thanks guys! Today was also the first day of a scheduled three days of fishing for the Tom Stuehler party of four and they really want a Marlin for Tom’s wife’s 50th birthday. They fished on the same boat that James, Paul and Mark fished on their first two days and the Captain went to the same area up the Sea of Cortez that they had been working before. The results were a bit different though, and the water was a lot rougher than it has been. Both the women got sick, everyone got wet and the fishing was slow. They ended up with one very small Dorado, one small Yellowfin, and the crew saw two Marlin but could not get them to eat. We hope that the trip on Tuesday has better results! Until next week, Tight lines!