Cabo Bite Report Capt. George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT MAY 23-29, 2005 WEATHER: Afternoon winds here in town gave everyone a good idea of what to expect out on the water this week. The wind was from the NW and fairly steady most of the week, shifting to come from the South or SW in the late afternoons. A steady 10-15 knots most of the time. The skies were only partly cloudy for most of the week and we had no rain. Our day time highs were in the low 90’s and high 80’s and the night time lows were in the mid 60’s here in town. WATER: This week the conditions are just the same as last week with the exception that the intrusion of cold water we had wrapping around the Cape due to the California current was much stronger, colder and with green water. This finger ran from the Cape and up the Sea of Cortez from a half mile to mile offshore to just outside the 95 and 1150 spots. With temperatures in the 65 and 66 degree range this finger extended up to five miles past the outer Gorda Banks. There was a temperature break of almost 5 degrees just along the outside edge of the finger of water and it ran from the NE to the SW. We did have the continued NW winds causing very rough conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape, so rough that few, if any, boats tried to fish past the lighthouse. On the Cortez side the conditions were much better if you got past the Chileno area; the way the winds blew it was still lumpy to the southeast of the cape. Up in the Punta Gorda and Gorda Banks area it was a bit choppier than last week. Having the water between 63 and 67 degrees on the Pacific side was not a problem since the conditions were so rough. BAIT: Back to getting Mackerel at the usual $2 per bait and there were some Sardinas early in the week at San Jose for $20 a bucket. FISHING: BILLFISH: The cold water intrusion from the Pacific side of the Cape pushed the Striped Marlin that had been concentrated at Punta Gorda farther up the coast to the Los Frailles area, an easy 40 mile run, easy that is until you turned and came back against the wind and chop! There were also Marlin found on the warm side of the temperature break at the outside of the cold finger of water. Boats fishing the Frailles area reported a fair early morning bite with two to three fish per day as long as they were there before 10 am. There was almost no action after that. The bite outside the finger of cold green water was a bit more consistent even though not as many fish were seen in the area. Almost everyone fishing in this area had at least one shot at a hook up. On the way to the temperature break you went through the green water and there were Swordfish sighted there, I found one on the surface yesterday just to the south of the 95 spot, but I have not heard of any boats hooking up to them, although I am sure some have. YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Tuna that were holding at the Gorda Banks last week seem to have either gone off the bite or gone somewhere else. A few are still being caught but not enough to make the trip worthwhile just for them. There have been small football Yellowfin everywhere along the temperature break on the Cortez side and I have heard guys on the radio discussing finding Tuna in the cold green water on the Pacific side early in the morning. A lot of these fish were blind strikes, no porpoise in the area. Cedar plugs worked great and once you got a strike and hooked up you worked the area for a while. It was not uncommon to get multiple hits each pass on the fish. DORADO: I think I saw a total of 10 Dorado flags this week, and that should say it all. Wait for warmer water. WAHOO: There are still Wahoo out there but they are not holding around the usual structure. Fish are being found off the 50 fathom drop at Red Hill and at Punta Gorda, as well as along the temperature break outside the 95 spot. While fishing there yesterday (and getting beat up in the 50’ Viking) we had a double strike on nice fish, losing one lure and landing a Wahoo of about 70 pounds. Making another pass on the spot we hooked up two Bonita and had one of the 8 pound fish sliced cleanly in half by a Wahoo we estimated at over #100 just before trying to lift the Bonita out of the water. An hour later and four miles away we had another Wahoo hooked as part of a double strike. We lost the Wahoo just before the boat but brought in the 10 pound Yellowfin that struck at the same time. INSHORE: A few boats were able to work along the shoreline on the Pacific side up as far as the lighthouse, but the water was rough. There were Sierra and some Yellowtail in the area that provided some action. The Cortez side had better water conditions early in the morning most days and there were Snapper, Grouper and a few Sierra as well. NOTES: Swordfish have everyone’s attention this week and hopefully the winds will die down and allow better sighting of the fish. I wouldn’t mind a night on the water drifting baits for them either! If the winds do die we should have some great action for the coming week, with such a defined temperature break there should be steady action all along the edge. This weeks report was written to the music of Rick Wakeman on his very relaxing 2002 Master Music CD “The Natural World Trilogy”. Until next week, tight lines!