Cabo San Lucas Fish Report Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 29-NOVEMBER 4, 2001 WEATHER: Once again the weather has been great all week long. It is starting to cool down and is very comfortable during the day with the temperatures in the low 80’s and no rain. Evenings are starting to get cool enough that everyone is commenting on it, there have been some goose-bumps seen! We had a little cloud cover off shore during the beginning of the week but on shore it has been sunny. (Four Four North) WATER: Great surface conditions on both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez with long slow swells and little if any choppy conditions in the mornings. The afternoon period has offered a more broken surface as slight breezes kicked up a few whitecaps. There has been a band of warm water wrapping around the Cape all week, a continuation of the pattern that started last week but yesterday it seemed to start to disperse. We had this band of water about 20 miles wide at the Cape being pushed by the Cortez currents towards the Pacific and it extended out to San Jaime Banks before meeting Pacific currents that formed a warm water back eddy about 35 miles south of the Cape. The edge of San Jaime had a lot of action this week due to the abutment of the cool 78 degree water meeting the warm 83 degree water and forming very strong rips over the structure. (The Ice Field) BAIT: Caballito have been readily available and I have heard of some boats getting Mackerel also. The usual price of $2 per bait on these. There have been Sardinas available but the bait boats that have them have been up towards San Jose. Sardinas are in the $20-25 per scoop range. (A Virtuoso Is His Own Reward) FISHING: BILLFISH: This week the billfish action has consisted of Striped Marlin for the most part. There have been some nice Blues hooked and released, a few boated, but the majority of the billfish have been Stripes. The Striped Marlin have been found mostly up the Pacific coast and it has been a pretty evenly mixed bite on both lures and live bait. The Blues and Blacks are being found in the warm water up the Sea of Cortez and due south of the Cape. The action on these fish has been mostly on lures. It seems that once tournament time is over very few people want to put in the time slow trolling a live bait and prefer to cover more ground with lures. (Air Proofing Two) YELLOWFIN TUNA: A very on and off fish this week. There have been a lot of football 20-25 pound fish near shore that have offered action to the Pangas early in the week but they seemed to have moved out as the week wore on. The larger Tuna have been much further offshore, up to 35-40 miles out and not always associated with the Dolphin. I had one report of a breezer that was at first thought to be a large dolphin pod working but turned out to be a school of 100-200 pound Tuna. This was mid-week about 35 miles south. Both Gordo Banks and San Jaime have been kicking out some nice fish but for the most part it has again been a hit and miss shot. Live baits, chunk baits and lures all seem to have been equally effective this week. (A Trout Toward Noon) DORADO: I have seen some nice fish this week but most of the Dorado being caught have been the little ones, “Chicken” or “Peanut” fish in the 3-6 pound size. Some boats are enjoying the steady action on light tackle but there have been reports to me by anglers that some of the crews are keeping all these fish they can. If you are fishing and get into them, please ask, no, tell your crew to release the small ones. They grow fast and it won’t be long before there will be enough meat on them to be worth the effort of cleaning. Most of the larger fish were found in the rips out at San Jaime and south of the Cape. Slow trolled Caballito and chunked bait worked with the preference being the live bait. Other large Dorado were picked up here and there while running lures and the only concentration was when debris was found. (Little Beaver) WAHOO: There have been a few Wahoo this week and most of them have been from the rips at San Jaime or out from under the occasional floating debris. The majority of the fish have been in 30-40 pound range. Live bait with a short wire trace was the choice of most people who tried to target the debris and rips but a lot were caught on the traditional plugs and leadheads. (Easter Again) NEARSHORE: Sometimes chicken, sometimes feathers is the description of the Panga fishing here in Cabo for the past week. Early in the week the action was a bit steadier and as time went on it dropped off bit. Most of the inshore-nearshore fish have been found on the Pacific side and the catch has consisted of Dorado and Tuna. A few Sierra were being found by private boats fishing very early in the morning but the bite shut down quickly. (Piece 17) NOTES: I am still seeing a lot of Marlin being brought in and it is hard for me to believe that all these fish came to the boat dead. This means that there is still work to do in convincing people to release their Billfish. Ask the boats policy on that before you book a charter, that is one way of assisting in the effort. If they say they release all Billfish unless the fish die during the fight or are critically injured, book them. If they say it is up to the Captain and crew tell them why you are going somewhere else with your business. The leatherback turtles are coming ashore to lay their eggs so the chances of seeing one while fishing are pretty good. It’s nice to see these big turtles out on the water. Written to the great acoustic guitar music of Leo Kottke on his album “A Shout Toward Noon” released by “Private Records”, 1986, manufactured and distributed by RCA Records. I have put titles of my favorite cuts in brackets after each section of the fish report. Been doing it for each weeks report but a few people haven’t realized what they were! Now you know so listen and enjoy! "Fly HOoker" Daily Report Capt. George Landrum "Fly Hooker" Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 29 OCTOBER 2001 Our good friend Andy Cline took advantage of an open day today and booked the “Fly Hooker” to go fishing with his friends Mike and Mary Kay. The action on the Pacific side was a little slow and the fish were scarce but they managed to tag and release a nice Striped Marlin estimated at 140 pounds after a fight lasting 45 minutes. Mike was the lucky angler on this fish and it was his first marlin. Most of the fight in the beginning was down deep but towards the end the fish became a lot more active. I believe it was Andy who told me that as the fish was released at the side of the boat he finally lit up almost neon blue before swimming away. Andy has caught lots of Marlin and says this is the first time he has ever seen one light up so bright! There was not much other action for the day although they did toss bait to one other fish. We just got an e-mail from Mike, guess he lost his tag card somewhere between Cabo and home and really wants to be able to get his release certificate from the Billfish Foundation so we will see what can be done for him. That’s the info for today, tight lines until tomorrow! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 30 OCTOBER, 2001 Today is Richard Blunt’s second day of fishing with us on the “Fly Hooker” and he is going again on the 1st. Today the plan is to get him into some Yellowfin Tuna, that is what he wanted the first day and Juan and Manuel took off to the horizon looking for Porpoise and big Tuna. The plan for today is to get some Sardinas up at San Jose then work the ledge off of the Westin/Red Hill area for the 20-30 pound fish. Richard’s wife was not along for today’s trip, she was not feeling well so it was just the guys. Juan and Manuel headed the boat up the Sea of Cortez and managed to contact a Panga that had Sardinas for sell. The Panga was at Santa Maria so they did not have to go very far. They worked that area for a while then heard reports on the radio of some Tuna action off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. They cruised there and found a lot of boats working the area with lures and cut bait plus live Caballito but not many were hooking up. Thank goodness they had been able to get the Sardinas! Juan chummed a little with them to get some action started and after about 20 minutes the fish showed up, letting them know by the boils under the surface! Some good fishing action ensued with the final catch total of 6 good football Tuna, the largest about 35 pounds! Now Richard has some nice fillets to go with the Marlin. All right, we will let you know how the fishing action continues here on the “Fly Hooker” in tomorrows report. Until then, fishy dreams! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 31 OCTOBER, 2001 Yesterday we were contacted by Terry Matheson about fishing the “Fly Hooker” for today. Apparently they had been trying to book us through an agent in California for the past two weeks but had never gotten a return call or e-mail so left it up to chance and had their fingers crossed that we would be open for a day when they arrived in Cabo. Terry fished with us last year and really enjoys the teamwork between Juan and Manuel when it comes to finding and catching fish. Today’s request was for fishing action, not for a particular species so Juan and Manuel pointed the bow of the “Fly Hooker towards San Jaime Banks, 28 miles to the west. On the west side of the Banks there was a very strong rip line and there were a few other boats working the area with only slight action at the time. Manuel patrolled the rips, eyes alert for any sign of fish and eventually spotted a piece of 4x4 about 8 feet long. All right! Before all the other boats spotted what was going on everyone in the party was able to tire themselves out catching Dorado. !5 fish in the box supplied a lot of fillets for the group to take home. The largest fish was between 40-50 pounds and the rest were in the 10-20 pound range. With all that action tiring them out they elected to return to the marina early. Terry has more friends coming in on the second and he is going to talk with them to see if they want to go out on our next open day, the 7th. Well, that’s all for today and have some good dreams about fishing until the morning. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 1, 2001 Today is the third and last day of fishing for Lcdr. Richard Blunt and his wife, then they have to pack up and head back to Anchorage and that cold snow that has been falling there, 18 inches as reported by our friends Jill and Tim Lawrence (Hi Jill!). The fist day of fishing for Richard resulted in the capture of a Blue Marlin of about 220 pounds, the second day in filling the fish box with 6 Yellowfin Tuna between 20 and 35 pounds. Today his wife is with him and he is open for just about anything. Juan and Manuel decided that with the action that they found yesterday at San Jaime they ought to try the rips there again. Once again there were quite a few other boats in the area and the “Fly Hooker” cruised up and down looking for signs of fish. They got one nice Dorado of about 25 pounds on one of Richards lures and later found a bunch of boats piled up on a floating piece of trash. Usually the first boat gets all the fish and there were already a lot of boats there, but that was the only sign they had found. Juan started with a live bait and had no takers so then they switched over to cut chunks, still with no results. By that time other boats were giving up and leaving. With the congestion down quite a bit there was room to maneuver and they proceeded to slow troll live bait around the spot. That worked and they ended up getting two more Dorado, both in the 10-15 pound size. That was all the action on this day and Richard has a lot of fillets to take home! Thanks, and we would love to have you fish with us again! Until then, Tight Lines! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 2 NOVEMBER, 2001 Glenn Ronchetti is back! Look out Cabo, he and the family and friends are here to have a good time and enjoy the weather again. Glenn is here with his brother Tom, his dad “Pop’s” his uncle John (former U.S. Ambassador to Swaziland), Glenn’s friend John and Tom’s friend Bobby. Mom has asked Mary to keep track of these wild guys and try to bail them out if they get in too much trouble, haha! We have five days of fishing on the “Fly Hooker” to look forward to and hopefully they will be action filled ones! Today we have Glenn, Pop’s, John and Dave aboard the boat and Juan and Manuel head back out to the San Jaime current rips. They stop just short of the banks as there is an area there that looks really fishy but does not produce anything. Later Manuel says that if they want to get something in the boat and not get skunked that they need to scoot out to the western edge and see what’s up. That they do and end up getting three Dorado and a Wahoo (on a chunk!) so there are some good eating fish for dinner. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope the action picks up a bit tomorrow! Until then, Fishy Dreams! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 3 NOVEMBER, 2001 Glenn, Pops and Dave are on the “Fly Hooker” today and John, Tom and Bobby are on another boat. We had originally had them set up on one different than the one they went out on, but the parts that were sent to repair it were not the right size, so we ended up with a last minute alternate (never the best way to do things). Juan and Manuel decided that the course of action for the day was to go due south of the lighthouse and look for Tuna. There had been some very nice fish found in the are, both with porpoise and not. Some of the Tuna had been pushing 200 pounds so everyone had their fingers crossed. Oh well, it did not pay off for them and they only caught one Dorado. John said that the other boat stayed a lot closer to home and they hooked up a Black Marlin estimated at 500 pounds but the fish pulled hook after a few minutes and a few jumps, they got one Dorado of about 50 pounds and a lot more smaller ones. The action was good for them but they were not happy with the Captain and crew. They had fished with Juan and Manuel so had something to compare and they said the Captain and crew of the boat they were on did not work as a team or seem to really know what they were doing, constant tangles, Captain running down from the bridge to assist at the transom, etc. No problema, they are going on the “Fly Hooker” tomorrow. I just hope that Juan and Manuel are able to handle the pressure of finding fish that will match the action of yesterday! Will keep you informed in tomorrows report, until then, Tight Lines! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 4, 2001 Pops, Uncle John, Tom and Bob were the anglers aboard the “Fly Hooker” for the daytime fishing trip today and the fishing was slow again. Juan and Manuel worked the 95 spot all day as that is where a lot of nice Tuna and a few good Marlin were hooked yesterday. Since you never know when the bite would happen they figured that staying there would give them the best shot at getting into some nice fish. They did get a nice Dorado of about 30-40 pounds and two others between 15 and 20 pounds, but that was all the action for today. It was decided that tomorrows take-off would not happen until 10am since the afternoon bite might be better right now, that way they could fish from 10 till six. At 4:30 I took off with Uncle John, Pops, Gleen and John to try a little bit of night-time bottom fishing. We were really hoping to get into some nice size Grouper and Snapper! At first we went up the Pacific and tried several spots but the wind and current were working against us so at sunset we went back around the arch and up the Sea of Cortez a little way. It took me a little bit of time to find a promising rock pile but on the first drop Glenn hooked up to a big fish. It was probably a really large Pargo as it swam off instead of going into the rocks right away. Eventually we lost it and after about 20 minutes we started to get bit again. It was not a red hot bite but it was fairly steady, and we did supply the rock with quite a few decorations. Two other large fish were hooked up and broken off and we ended the night with four Grouper, two Snapper and a nice Pargo. Mary called us at the end of the World Series with the news and since I was on the phone and had the information I had to tease the guys a bit! Tomorrows another day and I hope the decision to go late and stay late pays off. Check us out next week and I’ll let you know! Until then, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew