Cabo San Lucas Fish Report Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 22-28, 2001 WEATHER: It’s getting really nice these days! Warm days, perhaps a little on the hot side for some people with the temperature in the low 90’s and high 80’s. The evenings have been nice and cool, great for sitting out on the patio listening to music since the temperatures have been in the 70’s. There was no rain this week and we had clear skies every day. (Reference Point) WATER: Light winds all week kept surface conditions nice everywhere you wanted to go. There was a slight chop on the Pacific side some days in the afternoon but the Sea of Cortez remained almost pool-table flat. Water temperature in the Sea of Cortez was in the mid 80’s just about everywhere except for a small spot midway between Gordo Banks and the Cabrillo Seamount where it dropped to 78 degrees for a while. The warm water was carried around the cape in a current that was about 13 miles wide as it swept around and then spread out and the water then cooled a bit, dropping to the low 80’s. Also, the water on the Pacific side tended to be a bit greener than the water in the Sea of Cortez. (Missing Your Touch) BAIT: An interesting situation here, most of the boats going out on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were involved in the “Bisbee Black and Blue” tournament and were not looking for baits like Caballito and Mackerel. Those baits were readily available at the usual $2 each. The difficulty was in getting good size Skipjack for Marlin slow trolling baits. (Take Five) FISHING: BILLFISH: The target of the week was very hard to come by for almost all the boats here in Cabo. The biggest of the week was a Blue Marlin of 518 pounds caught aboard the “Stimulator”, Captained by our friend Jay. Nice fish and it won first place overall in the “Bisbee”. Next largest fish was a 450 pound Black Marlin caught aboard the “Blackjack” on the first day of the tournament. There were many more Striped Marlin sighted and released than any other species and overall the Marlin fishing was considered very slow for Cabo. We are not quite sure of the reason but it probably has a lot to do with the aftereffects of the Hurricane at the beginning of the month. Most of the fish caught in the tournament were caught on live bait, most of it Skipjack Tuna or Yellowfin Tuna. These baits were either slow trolled over the edges of the Banks or the drop-offs or they were soaked in one spot for hours. Not a very exciting way to fish but it does produce results if you put the time in. Most of the Striped Marlin were caught on lures because very few of the boats were willing to soak a small live bait or toss one to a tailing fish, after all, when the biggest Blue can bring in $500,000+ there is a tendency to ignore the Striped marlin. Almost every fish weighed in or caught was found on the Sea of Cortez side, either around Gordo Banks or to the north around Punta Gordo. A few smaller fish were found towards the Cabrillo Seamount but the largest were close to shore. (Make My Day) YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were a few fish found this week but the larger fish were mostly ignored in favor of Marlin due to the tournament. Footballs were actually targeted by a lot of the boats as they make such good baits for the Blue and Black Marlin. The Gordo Banks area was packed with boats to the point that it was difficult to entice any fish to strike. Those boats that were able to get the Tuna found the best luck using Sardinas. There were some nice fish found by boats not in the tournament mixed in with porpoise out in the Cabrillo Seamount area and in the edge to the southwest where the water temperatures changed. (Caravan Of Dreams) DORADO: I have to be real honest here, and as those of you who check the report on a weekly basis know, I don’t pull any punches. The catch ratio on Dorado as a catch per unit hour of effort go has dropped dramatically this past several weeks. Most of this is due to the disappearance of all the wonderful debris we had floating in the current lines for the past three weeks. Mother nature finally decided it was time to remove it from the area and most of the Dorado appeared to have followed it. Not to say there are not still Dorado to be found, but it is not the fish in a barrel situation we were so lucky to have for a while. Most of the fish were found in the area sue south of the Cape or just to the east towards the Sea of Cortez, but there were reports of very nice catches made from the Golden Gate Banks area early in the week. The largest fish I heard about this week was an honest 60 pounds caught out by the Seamount. Small feathers and chunk baits used when one was hooked up seemed to be the ticket this week, and color did not seem to matter much. (Homecoming) WAHOO: I think it was due to the concentrated efforts of the tournament boats on the ledges and edges but there were more Wahoo caught this week than I have seen for some time. The catch was low among the daily charters but for the boats concentrating in the right areas Mr. Dental managed to appear often enough that he was cussed out by some. With most of the fishing effort concentrated on the Gordo Banks it is not surprising that there were more Wahoo reported from there than elsewhere and most of them were caught on lures. Sizes varied from 15 to 40 pounds. (Cuban Heels) NEARSHORE: I really have nothing to report on the near shore fishing this week and I apologize, I have been concentrating all my efforts on the tournament this week. At a sketchy best I will say that the catch has not been great but there has been fairly steady action on Dorado, Skipjack and Bonito. (Lullaby For The First Born) NOTES: One more tournament online for the year and this nonsense is over with! (Really think I would have said that if my boat had won?!) November 7-10 is the Western Outdoors Tuna Tournament and it promises to be the best yet. I really look forward to meeting all the folks that fished the last two years, specially the San Diego firemen from last year who just missed winning it all with the fish estimated at #237. Hey Zach, that’s you guys! Got to get going before my drink melts into ice water so pay attention next week and I’ll let you know if thing have gotten better or not! By the Way, this was written to the mellow guitar music of “Acoustic Alchemy” on their album “Reference Point” published by Moonstone Music in 1990. Sit out on the patio, put on the CD and let the stress drain away! Until next week, Tight Lines! "Fly Hooker" Daily Report Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 22, 2001 This is the first of four days of fishing aboard the “Fly Hooker” for Andy Solimine, Bill Carpino and Craig O’Callaghan, from now on collectively known as the “Conehead Gang” due to their mass consumption of almost everything, all the time! Wow, can those guys eat! They have booked the boat for the “Bisbee Black and Blue” tournament and today is a pre-fishing day, one where they get a chance to run through procedures and get used to the captain and crew. If this is done correctly there are no surprises during the tournament and everything goes smoothly. Unfortunately Manuel was not able to go with them today. Saturday the Federales confiscated his car due to expired Tabs and he needed to get to the impound lot before the parts started disappearing! We were able to get one of the captains on a boat near us to go with Juan and give the “Coneheads” a chance to do a shakedown run. They headed up the Sea of Cortez side and worked the 95 spot and Gordo Banks but saw no Marlin. They did lose 1 Dorado. I hope this means that they are saving the big one for the tournament! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 23 OCTOBER, 2001 Tim and Jill Lawrence were out today on their third trip and Juan and Manuel decided to go up on the Pacific side a way and look for Dorado. Since Tim really wanted a Blue Marlin we decided that they had just been trying to hard and needed to relax and just go for the fun instead. Sometimes that works and it sure did today. They only caught one fish but it was a nice one. Tim finally got his Blue Marlin, a fish that was estimated at 250 pounds before it was tagged and released. Way to go Tim! They didn’t find any other fish today and it looks like it is going to be a slow tournament, not a lot of fish are being found. We will have to cross our fingers. Tim and Jill get to go again on Saturday so we will have to wait and see how their last day goes. Until then, Tight Lines! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 24 OCTOBER, 2001 Andy, Bill and Craig, the “Coneheads”, stayed true to their name and brought mass quantities of food to consume and managed to eat almost all of it during today’s fist tournament day. The shotgun start was at 8 am and the air was pounded by the sound waves of 155 boats jamming down the throttles all at once! For the past two days almost everyone had been doing a bit of pre-fishing and the general opinion was that the best fishing had been up the Sea of Cortez in the Gordo Banks area. Almost 3/4ths of the boats headed up that way and the “Fly Hooker” was among them. This first day resulted in just one strike. That came on the shotgun positioned lure and it was only on for about 15 seconds. Everyone aboard agreed that it was a big fish but no one saw it as there was no surface action after the strike. That was it for the “Conehead” team but tomorrow is another day. The biggest fish of the day in the tournament was a 450 pound Black Marlin caught in the Gordo Banks area. There were six other fish brought in. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 25 OCTOBER, 2001 Once again there were no Marlin caught by the “Coneheads” but they consumed mass quantities. They did catch a very small Dorado, one of about 5 pounds or less, perfect for a live bait or a skip bait but other than that it was a strikeout. The fishing was very slow across the board today and among 155 boats there was only one Marlin weighed in and it was just 350 pounds. The “Fly Hooker” continued to fish the Gordo Banks area today. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 26 OCTOBER, 2001 Again fishing the Gordo area there were no strikes for the “Coneheads”. Craig has been trying his best to do his duty as food and beverage director for the team and we all agree that he has done a wonderful job every day. Andy and Bill have been patiently waiting for a chance to fight a big Marlin but it was not meant to be during this tournament. They have caught big Marlin before and just wanted a chance to get some money for the work! Oh well, I hope the next tournament they enter they have better luck. They did catch two very small Dorado that were in the tubes for bait. The big fish of the tournament was one of three weighed today and it was a Blue Marlin that set the scales back at 518 pounds. It was caught aboard the “Stimulator”, owned and captained by Jay Bush, who we are proud to say we know. The only thing better than him winning would have been the “Coneheads” winning! Juan’s phone was not working today so we missed the team by 5 minutes when they pulled in and did not get to talk to them about the tournament but we wish them well on the next one they enter. Thanks guys, and tight lines! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 27 OCTOBER, 2001 This was the last day of fishing for Tim and Jill Lawrence. Tomorrow they have to head back up to the cold weather in Anchorage. Juan and Manuel worked south of the Cape today and they managed to get two strikes from Marlin. Both of the were Striped Marlin, no Blues, but one of the strikes was on a new lure Tim had just bought. Ken of “Hi-5” lures had a booth at the tournament and Tim picked out a nice head in a yellow/black color scheme that he nicknamed the “Bumblebee” and he had one good hookup on that lure. The other fish just swatted at the lure and did not hookup. Both strikes were on lures in the “shotgun” position in the spread. We were really happy to have Tim and Jill on the boat this trip and look forward to seeing them again soon. Next month Tim is on his way to Africa for a bit of hunting and we hope he gets his Kudu. Jill, Mary says she is sorry that she forgot to bring you that book to read on the last day on the boat, but we are going to send one to you. Until next time, Tight Lines! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 28, 2001 Richard and Elaine Blunt are from Anchorage, just as were Tim and Jill Lawrence. Must be really cold up there this time of year! They are here in Cabo for two weeks. They have been coming here for 10 years and are fishing aboard the “Fly Hooker” for three days. Richard really wants to target Tuna and Juan and his brother Juan (it’s Manual’s day off) decide to head south about 20 miles and look for porpoise. The water was dead! No action to be seen except for a few small peanut Dorado jumping around a little bit of trash. They did spot one Striped Marlin that was not interested and it was not until bout 1 PM that they got a good strike. After about a 45 minute fight Richard was able to get the Blue Marlin, estimated at 220 pounds, up to the boat. Then it was discovered that the fish was missing one eye and it was gaffed and brought aboard. Well, a slow day for fishing but at least it was not a skunk! We will keep our fingers crossed for some Tuna to show up on Tuesday! Until then, tight lines from George, Mary, Manuel and Juan, the “Fly Hooker” Crew