Cabo Bite Report FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING Captain George Landrum [email protected] Cabo Fish Report Oct. 3-9, 2005 WEATHER: October has arrived and with it the weather has taken a turn for the better. Our day time highs have been in the mid 90’s and our night time lows have been between 72 and 76 degrees, finally we had a week where I did not need to run the air conditioner all night in order to get some sleep! We have had partly cloudy skies but no rain and everyone had been watching a large area of thick clouds just outside of Puerto Vallerta hoping that the mass did not start circulating. We got lucky and as of the end of the week the cloud mass diminished in size and started to move back to the northeast over the mainland. We have had strong 15-20 knot northwesterly to southwesterly winds all week, and this may have helped keep the clouds away. WATER: On the Pacific side of the cape the water has been cool and a little off color, ever since two weeks ago. Most of the water there has been in the 70’s but it has been hard to tell if there were any breaks in the area due to cloud cover preventing a good picture, and not a lot of boats have been getting out very far due to the choppy conditions. On the Cortez side the water has been warmer, around 81-87 degrees with no sharp breaks, just gradual shifting temperatures. The warmest areas have been around the Gorda Banks. The surface conditions have been good in the mornings but the wind has been picking up around one in the afternoon as the wind shifts around. BAIT: Bait was a bit difficult to get at the beginning of the week due to the rough water from the Hurricane and the Port being closed over the weekend, but at the end of the week there was no problem getting Caballito at the usual $2 per bait. Sardines were in short supply up around San Jose and the bait boats there serviced the Panga fleet first, if there were any left over boats from Cabo were able to get some at the usual $20 per scoop. FISHING: BILLFISH: The hurricane really messed things up on the Pacific side as the bite for Striped Marlin that had been happening last Thursday went dead when boats went back to the area at the beginning of the week. There were still fish around but not in the numbers they had been. Golden Gate Bank held a few fish and there was a lot of Mackerel there but conditions prevented most boats from getting there, not because the water there was rough, but getting past the lighthouse without the anglers getting sick was difficult. There was a decent bite during the week on Blue Marlin on the Cortez side between the 95 spot and the 1150 out to the Cabrilla Seamount as well as a few fish around the Gorda Banks, nothing really wide open, but there were fish around. Also on the Cortez side were some Striped Marlin and a few Sailfish. One friend caught and released a Sailfish estimated at 120 pounds on Thursday. There were a lot of boats concentrating on Blue Marlin this week hoping to get an idea of where to concentrate their efforts for the Los Cabo Billfish Tournament this week. YELLOWFIN TUNA: Definitely the fish of the week since almost every boat that tried was able to get one or two decent Yellowfin to the boat. The main concentration of fish was about two miles to the east of the San Jaime Bank, and the fish stayed in the area all week long. They were associated with Pacific Spotted Dolphin and while they were a bit picky most of the time many boats were able to get a half dozen or so ranging in size from 30 to 60 pounds with a few larger fish in the mix. I saw fish pushing the #150 mark boil occasionally. There was a good school found on Friday out past the Gorda Banks, 35 miles from Cabo and they were associated with the Pacific Spotted Dolphin as well. A friend of mine was the first to the school that day and ended up with 20 fish from 30 to 60 pounds. Another friend was able to get only one Tuna from the school, but what a fish it was! It hit a Marlin jig and after an hour Jay landed a #320 toad! DORADO: For boats who’s anglers could not handle the rougher water offshore, there were Dorado close in, and you did not have to go far from port to get into them. Fish ranging from 6-12 pounds were found right outside of the arch and down to Grey Rock, and up the Pacific side to the lighthouse. Small lures worked in bright colors and often there were followers behind the first one hooked up. A few larger fish were found offshore, but the majority of fish were in close, within one mile of the beach. WAHOO: There were quite a few Wahoo caught this week and the reason may have been the number of boats fishing the right areas for Dorado. With plenty of Dorado close in, fishing the 50-100 fathom line resulted in a lot of lures being lost but a decent number of Wahoo being caught as well. None of the fish were very large with the average weight being 30 pounds. INSHORE: Panga fish was pretty much focused on Dorado this week, but I did see a few of them offshore fishing Tuna on the Pacific side. Rough water but they were having success. Inshore water was still a bit rough along the beach and a bit off color. None of the Panga Captains I talked to said great things about the beach area so there you go! NOTES: I have been seeing a few whales out there in the last couple of trips and after describing them to people who know these things found out they were “Wright” or “Right” whales. Big suckers and pretty distinctive as well! The big boats are all arriving and the Marina is filling up. The first big Tournament of the month is this week so the town is filling up with anglers. We have been having two or three cruise ships a day visiting as well so the town has been busy. Combine that with Sammy Hagar playing every other night for two weeks at Cabo Wabo and this place is busy! Check the report next week and I’ll let you know the tournament results! Until then, Tight Lines!