Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Capt. George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 7-13, 2002 WEATHER: Ah, winter in Cabo! No snow on the ground here, not even a hint of frost. A light sweater when the sun is down is all you needed this week to stay comfortable with the low temperature in the evening staying somewhere in the high 50’s and the daytime highs in the low to mid 70’s. We had a bit of cloud cover move in during the middle of the week and it has remained partly cloudy since then but there has been no rain. (Jingo) WATER: At the beginning of the week the water temperature off of the Cape was an almost universal 74/75 degrees except for an area on the 1150 spot that reached 76/77 degrees. Now, at the end of the week the warmer water has backed off a bit and we have a band of cooler water wrapping around us close to shore. The cooler water is 72/74 degrees and the warmer 75/77 degree water runs from the 1150 westward to Jaime Banks, passing about 10 miles south of the Cape. Gordo Banks is presently showing 73 degree water and the temperature break that was off of the southern part of the East Cape last week has moved south and is no sitting just off of the 1150 spot. Surface conditions have been good with only small swells and light wind chop in the mornings on the Cortez side with the conditions on the Pacific being only a little bit rougher. (Persuasion) BAIT: Caballito have been readily available as have smaller Mackerel. The Sardinas were a bit more difficult to find and the ones you could find were still very small. Larger baits were the usual $2 per bait and the Sardinas were going for $20 a large scoop. (Treat) FISHING: BILLFISH: Striped Marlin continued to dominate the Billfish catch last week although I did see a few Black Marlin brought in, one a very respectable looking 350 pound fish on a private boat. Early in the week the bite seemed to have shifted from the Golden Gate Banks to just to the south of the Cape and I heard reports mid-week that it had shifted back to the Golden, but never did get any first hand knowledge of this. I did talk to and observe Captains and fishermen that worked the 95 spot, 1150 spot and the main current lines south of us and they reported that there were plenty of Marlin tailing but they were not showing much interest in eating. Those that were caught were hooked on live bait for the most part and when they were hooked on trolling lures it seemed as if the fish were just haphazardly swatting at the lure, not totally focused on feeding. The average size was 120 pounds and they showed a preference for Mackerel over Caballito. (Chunk a Funk) YELLOWFIN TUNA: The fish that were holding off of the arches last week disappeared this week and the large concentrations we were finding in the Dolphin moved on to other places. The Tuna bite has dropped off accordingly, at least right here in the area. There were reports of some very good fishing for the larger fish off of the Finger Banks last week but that is out of the range for most all of the charter boats here in Cabo. I talked with a few of the private boats that went up this week to check out the reported action and they said that the fish that might have been there appeared to have moved on also. There has been steady but slow action off of the Gordo early and mid week for middle weight fish in the 30-50 pound range but nothing to really set your blood on fire as the water has been an on and off again green. Football fish on live Sardines drifted off the rocky points in 250 feet of water seem to have been the ticket for consistency on Yellowfin this week. (Fried Neckbones) DORADO: Just when you thought it was ended, there they are again! For about two days this week almost every boat that went out came back in with at least two or three Dorado, and some managed to get limits for their customers. The ticket was finding floating debris. Stumps, tree trunks, 2x4’s, pallets, anything that had been in the water long enough to form a food chain around it seemed to be holding Dorado. Boats were finding the debris anywhere from 10 to 22 miles offshore and worked them hard with live bait. When the bait was gone you cut open the stomachs of the fish you had caught and recycled! Most of these fish were very nice ones in the 25-40 pound range and were a blast for the anglers using spinning gear and lighter conventional tackle. During the rest of the week Dorado were still being found just off the beach by boats slow trolling live bait but the fish were a bit smaller, most of them in the 6-12 pound class. (Conquistadore Rides Again) WAHOO: I wish! A few incidental fish have been caught and they have been associated with structure, both bottom and floating. A few fish were caught by boats willing to forego the temptation of Dorado on the debris and able to work Iron below the surface acrobats. A few more were caught at the edges of the canyons and banks. These strikes were coming on straight running Striped Marlin lures in darker colors, but again, there was no consistency in the catches. Just as last week, I saw a large number of Wahoo flags being flown only to find out that they were being flown to signify catches of Sierra. (Soul Sacrifice) INSHORE: Unfortunately there was not a lot happening this past week for the boats fishing inshore. The best action came from Sierra and they are not here in full force yet. Second best bet was working off the beach and points for Dorado and Football Tuna. The normal inshore species such as Roosterfish, Needlefish, Pargo and Amberjack are not biting well, if they are still around. We are keeping our fingers crossed that as the water cools down the Yellowtail will start to show up! (As the Years Go Passing By) NOTES: More and more Whales are arriving so it’s nice to get in a bit of Whale watching with your fishing trip. Medano beach in front of the beach bars and restaraunts is coming back into shape with mother nature adding a little more sand every day. I was intending to go through the whole selection of Jimmy Buffet albums I have but received such a ration of ka-ka from people that I decided to change the selection this week. It appears that there are a bunch of Dinosaurs out there that prefer dinosaur rock and roll music. One comment in particular “This isn’t the Bahamas, it’s Cabo so play some Cabo music, and none of that big hair stuff either!” So Chris, just for you and Bosun here is Santana in Columbia’s 1997 release “Live at the Fillmore ‘68”. Enjoy it because I might go to “Buck Owens and the Buckaroos” next week! Fly Hooker Daily Catch Report “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 9 JANUARY 2002 Our anglers today booked quite a while back and this is only the second time we have done a trip like this. Bill and Lou Schwartz are from Illinois and arrived in Cabo this morning at 9:30 and were aboard the “Fly Hooker” and out fishing by 10:30. What made this unique was that fact that they arrived in Cabo aboard the cruise ship “Statendam”! Bill is a travel writer and has extensive fishing experience around the world. His request was for some light tackle action and Juan and Manuel did their best to please. After several hours of fruitless searching they received a call that a friend had found a floating piece of wood and it was holding Dorado! A fairly brief cruise of about 30 minutes put them in the area but there was nothing to be found. Juan checked the GPS numbers with someone else and it was another 15 minute cruise and they arrived at the correct location. Action! Dorado all over the place! The only thing that was working was live bait and Juan pulled out the spinning gear, Shimano Baitrunners loaded with 25 pound line. Bill proceeded to have a blast, eventually bringing 9 Dorado to the boat. One they released, a female, and the rest they kept. Juan and Manuel shared the chore of filleting the 8 Dorado, each between 25 and 40 pounds! Bill and Lou had a great time and took a bag of fillets back to the boat for dinner. Thanks folks, it was great to meet you and we are glad it was a successful fishing trip! Until next time, Tight Lines! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 11 JANUARY 2002 Today we had two couples from the state of Oregon on the “Fly Hooker”. Rick and Janet and Mark and Theresa have been having a great time in Cabo and decided to give the fishing here a try. A bit of joking went around this morning about who was most likely to get sick. It seems that both Rick and Mark had a lot of fun last night and may be suffering from a slight case of Tequilaitis this morning! Anyway, off they went and Juan and Manuel decided to try the Sea of Cortez side since that seems to be where the warmer water is closest. About 8 miles off Punts Ballena hey found a Marlin tailing on the surface and this fish was hungry! Since by this time everyone except Janet was sick, she got to fight the fish herself. It was a fight lasting about 35 minutes and the Striped Marlin was tagged and released. A very nice 120 pound fish and she is going to get her release certificate in the mail! A short while later they found a willing Dorado and the 20 pound fish was filleted out and taken to a restaraunt for dinner! They returned to the marina a bit early due to the Tequilaitis and every one felt much better the next day! Thanks guys, and if we ever get up to Oregon in the Fossil area we might stop by the Stage Stop Bed and Breakfast and visit! Until next time, Tight lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew