Cabo Fishing Report for Jan 21-27 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JANUARY 21-27, 2002 WEATHER: Brrrr.... Winter has arrived in Cabo. Those of us who live here year round are wearing sweaters or jackets in the morning and evening since the temperatures have been into the mid 50’s a day or two. Daytime it has been a much more comfortable low to mid 70’s. We had a heavy overcast on Thursday and sort of knew it was going to happen because of the very heavy and strong winds that blew through the area on Wednesday. Those winds were recorded up to 40 knots and I saw a Hobbie Cat outrun a jet ski in the bay at around 1pm. Thank goodness it was only for the one day. Not sure if it would continue, a lot of us cancelled trips for Thursday and put them on for Friday. (Tropical Lady) WATER: Other than on Wednesday the water conditions last week were just fine on the surface. On Friday there were comments such as “it’s like a lake out there!”, a big change from the meadows of sheep on Wednesday. The surface temperatures are starting to get quite a bit cooler also. The warm water that was lying adjacent to the cape has now moved off shore a few miles and has shifted towards the Sea of Cortez side. Gordo banks has warmed up a few degrees and the water out to about 5 miles here in Cabo San Lucas has cooled off about 5 degrees. The Pacific side had waters at San Jaime Banks and at Golden Gate banks in the 67/68 degree range. The 95 spot and 1150 spot are showing at 72/73 degrees. (E Piko) BAIT: A fairly good mix of Caballito and Mackerel was available all week at $2 per bait but the Sardinas were scarce, perhaps due to the cooling water conditions. (Baby Blue) FISHING: BILLFISH: Once again we had a surprising week on the Billfish. Blue Marlin were still being caught in the warm water to the south and there were plenty of Striped Marlin being hooked up on the edge where the cool water and the warm water met. Most of the Blue Marlin were caught straight south or around the 95 spot area and they were fooled by lures in the Mean Joe Green, Dorado and Silver/Blue colors. The fish were running from 180 pounds to 500 pounds and the boats that worked specifically for them were having about 40% success in finding one to strike. That was early in the week, prior to Wednesday. After the wind, the success ratio dropped, a lot! The tail end of the week was almost strictly a Striped Marlin fishery and the fish were averaging 120 pounds. Most of them were sighted while on the surface and were caught using live bait. mackerel out performed Caballito by about 2-1 in hookups. Most of the Striped Marlin were found on the temperature break that ran from the lighthouse at Cabo Falso and out towards the south side of San Jaime Banks. (Red, Red Wine) YELLOWFIN TUNA: Meat fish of the week! There were plenty of football size Yellowfin out there this week and few boats had trouble finding them if the Captains and owners were willing to listen to the radio and run a few miles. The Yellowfin were mixed in with the Dolphin and the first boats on the scene were getting the larger fish but the action all week was consistent enough to be able to plan on targeting Tuna for a trip. Sizes ranged from 15 to 30 pounds with an occasional 50+ pound fish in the mix. These were great fun on spinning gear and small feathers in yellow/green, white/pink plus the natural cedar plugs provided steady action. There were pretty cramped quarters on some of the schools as boats zigged and zagged but the fish kept biting. The majority of the action took place on the temperature break in the same locations that held the Striped Marlin. (Nobody’s Child) DORADO: Once again the Dorado were scattered and only a few boats were able to find them in any concentration. Most of the fish were singles found mixed with the Tuna. (Sounds like last weeks report!) Most of the Dorado caught were found in the same areas that produced the Blue Marlin, looks like water temperature was the key this week. A few fish in the 30-45 pound range were caught but most of them were 12-20 pounds. Larger lures produced the bigger fish and few of them were caught with live bait this week unless there was a follower to one already hooked up. (Crazy) WAHOO: There were scattered fish found and those were incidental catches, not from anyone focusing on them. As with the Dorado and Blue Marlin, water temperature seemed to be the key to finding a Wahoo and they were in the warmer areas. Sizes ranged from 20 to 80 pounds and I saw a picture of one that weighed in at 125 pounds on the public scale. Most of the fish caught ate a Marlin lure and many more were lost than brought in. (Masese) INSHORE: The inshore fishing should start to pick up soon as this cooler water heralds the approach of the Yellowtail. This week action was a bit slow with effort focused on near-shore Skipjack, Bonita, Dorado and Yellowfin. Bottom action was sketchy and the surf action was very slow, especially after Wednesday’s winds. ((Tukake Mai) NOTES: I finally got a chance to meet Gene Kira (Baja Destinations and Western Outdoor News). A super nice guy and very dedicated to his craft. Tourism is picking up here in Cabo and there appears to be a lot more fishermen in town! Everyone is getting bookings for February so we are recovering. This weeks report was written to the easy Pacific Island sounds of “Kapena” on their CD “The Kapena Collection” 1992 KDE records, Kaneohe, Hawaii. Aloha Bruddah! "Fly Hooker" Daily Fishing Report “FLY HOOKER” FISHING REPORT FOR JANUARY 21, 2002 Our friends Don and Kathy Cole have returned to Cabo for 6 weeks to assist the local church they used to attend as it builds an extension out on Mesa Colorado. A few days ago Don decided that they needed a break and booked the boat for today. They have two other couples with them and they just want to catch some fish and have some fun on the water. Juan and Manuel headed out to the south where the warmer water has been and they have a fair amount of confidence that they will find some Dorado or Tuna. Unfortunately they don’t find anything and the morning is just a boat ride. All that changed around noon when a Sailfish came in on one of the lures. This was out on the Pacific side of the Cape, where they had gone when the action to the south failed to take off. The Sailfish was brought to the boat fairly quickly, a fight lasting 15 minutes on light tackle. The fish was tagged and released to fight again another day. later on they hooked and landed a nice 30 pound Dorado, perfect for dinner! Thanks Don and Kathy! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 22 JANUARY 2002 Bill Berg and his friends Ron and Joe are here in Cabo to escape the cold weather up in Connecticut. Bill has a 28’ Albermarle up there named the “Fin Addict” and Ron and Joe both own boats also. The trip to Cabo was Joe’s idea and the guys are having a blast so far. Normally they go to the Florida Keys but this year decided to change things up. The objective of the trip is for Joe to catch a Marlin. Everyone else would like one too, but mainly they want to have fun. With Marlin the objective Juan and Manuel head to the south, convinced that the warm water will produce the fish. Today it worked! The fish struck a custom lure made for us by Hi-5 Lures, a Earl Aqui (Guam) designed head in green and black with matching skirts. The lure was run in the shotgun position from the bridge rod. Joe was the designated angler and using the Shimano Tiagra 50WRLS reel with #80 mono topshot was into the Spectra backing fairly quickly. Everyone said later that there was probably 500 yards of line out at one point but it only took Joe 25 minutes to regain all the line and bring the fish to the side of the boat. A tag was placed in the fish and everyone watched the Blue Marlin swim away. A very nice, very acrobatic fish estimated at #250! Congratulations Joe! Bill and Ron had to settle for fighting Tuna that were found in a pod of Dolphin, bringing in 4 fish estimated at between 20-30 pounds. Oh Yeah, Ron had to take the blame for loosing a nice Wahoo, estimated at #80. It wasn’t really his fault. The fish made a strong run and after regaining most of the line it did the movement they are nicknamed for and shook it’s head. The rod straightened out as the hook pulled loose. Oh well, tomorrow is another day! This evening we had a barbecue with grilled Tuna and Sashimi. A really great time and a chance to get better aquatinted, plus have a few cervesas. Fingers crossed for tomorrow and until then, Tight Lines! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 23 JANUARY, 2002 This is the second day of fishing for Bill, Ron and Joe and they were hoping for a repeat of yesterdays action. Instead of that, they got a chance to experience “Victory at Sea” as the wind started to pick up velocity at about 8:30 in the morning. By 10 am the wind was blowing at 40 knots and the seas were 6-8 feet. The only fish that was able to catch a lure was a small Dorado. We decided to postpone the last day of fishing until the 25th in order to give the wind a chance to die down and the seas a chance to settle. “FLY HOOKER” FISHING REPORT FOR 25 JANUARY, 2002 This is the last chance for Bill, Ron and Joe to catch more fish in Cabo and Juan and Manuel are determined to get them some more action. Yesterday was a lay day just in case the wind had continued, but it had died down Wednesday night. The boats that did go out yesterday did not find many fish and the water was still lumpy, so perhaps it is just as well that the trip was postponed for a day. Juan and Manuel headed the “Fly Hooker” towards the temperature break on the Pacific side and early in the morning got a call from a friend about a pod of Dolphin that had Tuna mixed in. They picked up the lines and ran for a short while and were able to get into the action before 20 other boats arrived on the scene and put the fish down. The result was a catch of 7 football Tuna in the #15 class. Other boats showed up and everyone on the “Fly Hooker” agreed that they should return to the Marlin search. A little while later a Striped Marlin was spotted tailing on the surface and Juan pinned on a live bait and cast to the fish. He worked the rod a little, teasing the fish with the bait and when the fish had taken the Mackerel he handed the rod to Bill and told him to go for it! Ron and Joe counted the number of times the fish jumped and they both agreed that the total was 24! They started out with picture perfect vertical jumps and graduated to grayhounding leaps as the fish battled against the drag and Bill. The #40 line stood up to the task, as did Bill, and he was able to bring the #110 fish to the boat for a tag and release in only 20 minutes. A very nice job! Sometime later Joe was able to lose a very nice Dorado and everyone got a chance to give him a hard time over it! The day was over quickly and the fishing conditions had been excellent. Everyone had been able to fight a large fish during this visit to Cabo and only Ron had not had the chance to catch and release a Marlin, but his chance will come on the next trip. Thanks guys, we really enjoyed your company, both on the boat and on land, and we look forward to seeing you again in the future! Until then, tight lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew