Cabo Bite Report FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING Captain George Landrum [email protected] www.flyhooker.com Cabo Fish Report August 21-27, 2006 WEATHER: We have been experiencing our normal summer humidity and this week is just about what we expect from this time of year, highs in the high 90’s and humidity in the 60’s. That makes it feel over 100 degrees out there and being on the water is almost the only thing that helps relieve the sweat factor (other than being inside in the air-conditioning). We had a little relief this wee in the form of cloud cover, early in the week it was the tailing ends of banding from hurricane Ileana as she passed to the southwest of us. At the end of the week it was from a large system crossing over us from the mainland. We did receive a lot of rain up in the mountains and certain parts of the Los Cabos area received more than just window dotting rainfall as well. On the 27th we actually had a half day of hard rain, about an inch and a half! WATER: We experienced fairly large swells all week, in fact the Port Captain closed the harbor at 9 am on the 23rd due to the size of the swells, but of course that was well after most of the charter boats left at 7 am. A few boats returned early with seasick passengers but most of them were able to hang in with the 6-foot swells. He re-opened the harbor at 7 am on the 24th so there was no real time lost for anglers. Water on the Pacific side was a bit rougher than on the Cortez side of the Cape with the swells at 6 feet and the wind at 10-15 knots from the NW. On the Cortez side the swell effect was not quite as bad and the winds were less so a lot of boats concentrated their efforts there. Pacific temperatures ranged between 80-85 degrees and on the Sea of Cortez it was between 83 and 86 degrees. The water was nice and blue on both sides of the Cape. BAIT: No change in the bait availability from last week with the exception of Sardinas, there were very few available from La Playita due to the storm swells close to shore, instead most of the boats picked up Sardines at Palmilla. Bait for the most part here in Cabo consisted of Caballito with a few miscellaneous species in the mix such as Slip-mouths and Ladyfish. Up off of Palmilla and La Playita there were Sardinas available at $20 per scoop, and these were some decent sized baits. FISHING: BILLFISH: There are still Striped Marlin out there but the numbers are going down, as the water remains warmer that they like. The warmer water has brought in some large Sailfish, many of them over 90 pounds, and the bite for Blue Marlin has picked up. Most of the boats that are trying for a big fish are getting at least one shot a day at a Blue and probably 50% of them are getting solid hook-ups. These have been nice fish with an average size of 200 pounds and a few individuals have been over #500. I did not hear of many Black Marlin caught this week. Almost all the big fish-Blue Marlin action has been outside the 95 spot, around the 1,000-fathom curve. A few have also been found off of the Lighthouse on the Pacific side and at the Gorda Banks. Most of the Blue action has been on lures but a few boats have reported excellent results with Bonita used as skip baits, rigged with circle hooks (remember to release your billfish!). YELLOWFIN TUNA: I did not hear of much Tuna action on the Pacific side this week but that may have been due to the slightly rougher conditions there. We did have an excellent Tuna bit on fish from 20-40 pounds at the Inman bank early in the week. These fish were interested in Sardines and chumming with some brought the football size fish to the surface and the action was great. There were a lot of Bonita mixed in with the Yellowfin. Fishing large Sardinas deeper in the water, around 40’ resulted in some larger Tuna for a lot of boats, there were reports of as many as 8 fish over #60 per boats with a few fish reaching the #100 mark. Later in the week this action seemed to move toward us with a lot of boats stopping at the Gorda Banks and getting the same results DORADO: Slow trolling strip baits was the way to go if you wanted Dorado this week. A good trip could result in 45 to 50 pounds of fillets. Most of the fish were between 12 and 20 pounds and they were found close to shore with the most effort being expended on the Pacific side. These fish like the rougher water and with the swells churning up the beach there were a lot of rip currents and debris lines to attract their attention. Lures also garnered a few fish but best results were had with the first fish kept behind the boat and chunks or strip baits drifted behind the first caught fish. WAHOO: I saw a few Wahoo flags this week, but later discovered that boats that had no Shark flag aboard had flown most of them. There were a few Mako sharks caught but none of them were large. INSHORE: Dorado and Yellowfin Tuna were the main targets for the Pangas this week while a few boats die try for Roosterfish. Unfortunately the swell size kept most of the Pangas from both getting the right bait for Roosterfish (mullet) and from getting really close to shore, right in the surf zone. NOTES: The fishing continues to improve, as the weather remains hot and humid. I am going to be gone for most of next week but hopefully will get the skinny on the fishing when I get back. Until then, enjoy some good music and tight lines!