CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING REPORT FOR MARCH 18-24, 2002 Capt. George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING REPORT FOR MARCH 18-24, 2002 WEATHER: Well, we got our day of wind this week, just as we have every other week this month. This week it started Saturday night and lasted through Sunday morning. The rest of the week was just beautiful! The skies were lightly overcast with high clouds early in the week and later on went to solid blue. We had no rain (again) and the daytime temperatures were in the mid 80’s with the nights in the mid 70’s. (Friends) WATER: The Pacific side has been cool all week with the water in the mid to high 60’s. This cool water has wrapped around the Cape and up the Sea of Cortez as far as Punta Gorda. On the Cortez side it has only extended out a distance of 15-20 miles, basically from just to the south of the 95 spot (about 5-10 miles) to on top of the 1150 spot. On the outside (east) side of this band of cool water the temperatures have climbed to the mid 70’s with a sharp distinct break in the 1150 area. Due south of the Cape the warm water has been further away but the combination of water temperatures and currents have made the southern direction a favorite destination for the past week. It appears as if we may have an eddy of warm water in the 78 degree range coming at us from the direction of Mazatlan, that might change things a bit more. (The Extremist) BAIT: Bait has been the usual and normal $2 per and there has been a variety on most days, either Caballito or Mackerel. I haven’t heard of any Sardinas here in Cabo but word is there are some available up towards San Jose. (War) FISHING: BILLFISH: I hate to say this and it is really tough to do so, but the Marlin bite has not been very good this past week. Most of us are convinced it is the water temperature but who really knows? There have been Striped Marlin sighted and there have been a few caught, but only in the last few days of the week. Mid week you did not see a blue flag flying unless it was for a fish caught last week and that boat hadn’t moved. On the good news side of the picture, the cool water has brought some Swordfish to the surface this week. About one in ten of the boats going out have spotted one, but as far as I know none have been legally hooked up. (Cryin’) YELLOWFIN TUNA: This fish has saved the trip for many boats this week. The Yellowfin finally showed up close enough for the charter boats to reach them! Almost all of the fish have been Dolphin and Porpoise associated and the majority of the time they have been between 18 and 35 miles to the south of the Cape. There have been more than one school at a time in close proximity and many of the boats were hoping from school to school, wanting to get into the bigger fish. There were plenty of the football fish, and for those wanting them they were running from 8-20 pounds. A few of the schools had fish in the 40-60 pound class and there were a few lucky (or skilled) boats that found fish in the 100 pound class. Best baits for the schoolies were cedar plugs and feathers, the medium fish were biting on live bait dropped down in front of the moving schools. Many of the larger fish were caught by running the front edges of the moving school with large Marauders or Rapalas at high speeds. (Rubina’s Blue Sky Happiness) DORADO: These were hit and miss fish this week. A lack of floating trash and the cool water made it tough to find the Dorado in any concentration. A few boats were able to do it and worked what they found hard, but for the most part the fish were a lucky strike while blindly trolling. (Summer Song) WAHOO: What Hoo? (Tears In The Rain) INSHORE: What I am hearing from the Pangas is that things have been a bit tough most days. The cool water has slowed the action for most of the main targets. They are starting to catch a few Yellowtail early in the morning at the Arch and there have been some nice Amberjack found as well. The Sierra bite is a bit slower than last week but there are still some nice sized Bonito to be found within three miles of shore. (Why) GIANT MEXICAN SQUID: Yep, Thursday was a good day to be a squidder. 13 miles out on the Pacific side were squid ranging in size from 6 pounds to 60 pounds! Wow, look at all that Calamari! Best baits were anything you had placed on a hook and dropped in the water. (Motorcycle Driver) MERMAIDS: Sure, go look on the beach! (New Blues) NOTES: Things are starting to get a bit better on the fishing scene. Besides the fishing there have been plenty of Whales, Porpoise, Dolphin and the occasional Turtle to keep everyone interested. It is spring break and Easter week so the town is crowded. This weeks report was written to the unbelievable guitar work of Joe Satriani on his album “The Extremist”, published by Relativity Records in 1992. Enjoy! Fly Hooker Daily Catch Reports Mar 19-24 “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 19 MARCH 2002 Bob Fisher and his wife were our anglers on the “Fly Hooker” today, they were referred to us by our friend Tim Lawrence of Anchorage. Bob works for Tim at Polar Supply. It was an unproductive trip as far as fish were concerned, not a strike all day. Bob is a fisherman so he can understand it when something like that happens, that is fishing. I have to apologize to both him and his wife though, because the service normally provided by Juan and Manuel was not there today. Juan is now taking 10 days off in the hope that an adjustment occurs and whatever is troubling him gets straightened out. Meanwhile, his older brother Juan and a friend named Rigo will be filling in as deckhand for the next ten days at least. Both of them are great fishermen, friendly guys and speak good English! Fingers crossed that the fishing improves. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 20 MARCH 2002 Todays anglers were Doug Means and his son Ryan and daughter Stephanie. It was a very long trip to find fish but at least the water had settled down a bit since yesterday. Not until they were 33 miles to the southeast were they able to find fish, but when they did it was a nice one. Working a school of porpoise they finally managed to hook up to a fish interested in eating. The fight was a down and dirty one since the fish never jumped. Of course, I have rarely ever seen a 60 pound Yellowfin Tuna jump after being hooked! A very nice fish and it filleted out beautifully! They also had a nice sized Dorado hooked up for a few moments but it managed to shake the hook free. Glad there were some fish caught and we are really hoping that the fish come in closer soon. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 21 MARCH 2002 Today we had two guys aboard the “Fly Hooker” who were double booked by an agent onto a boat already booked. We were open so took the trip, that is the reason I never did get the guys names, sorry. They had a blast though, Juan and Manuel managed to find Yellowfin Tuna mixed in with the Porpoise only 13 miles south of the lighthouse. They got multiple hookups but only got 5 Tuna in the boat. The fish ranged from 12 to 20 pounds and provided some very good eating for all of us, Thanks Guys! They had a great time and said they look forward to coming back in the fall for some big fish action. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 22 MARCH 2002 Six young men who are Air National Guard Reserves were anglers aboard the “Fly Hooker” today and they stayed up and partied most of the night last night. They booked the boat the day they arrived and have been partying ever since! Most of them spent the majority of the day sleeping. Of course, that is except for the time they spent catching Giant Mexican Squid! Manuel headed the boat towards the same area that they had found the Tuna in yesterday but those fish had moved on. Instead, the cool water had brought in the Squid. Two of the ones that they managed to get to the boat were between 40 and 60 pounds each! There were also 6 others in the 6-8 pound range. Great Calamari and Juan and Manuel had a chance to learn how to clean squid! Later on in the trip they came across a Swordfish lazing about on the surface. They tried tossing a live Caballito at it. The fish swung towards the bait but did not take. They tried to drag one of the smaller squids in front of the Swordfish but no action from that either. No matter what they tried it wouldn’t work. After a half hour it was time to leave. At least when they got in there was a chance to Ohh and Ahh everyone with the Squids! Thanks guys, and we hope you enjoy all the fried Calamari you have now! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 23 MARCH 2002 We had two couple aboard the boat today, Jackie and her husband and Sy and his wife and they just wanted to go out and catch fish. Juan and Manuel had to go quite a way out and it was a bit of a late start due to sucking a plastic bag into the starboard engine saltwater intake. Once that was cleared up off they went. Thirty miles south there were Tuna working with the Porpoise. By the time they got there most of the boats had caught fish and had worked them hard. Juan and Manuel decided to try something a bit different and it paid off in a big way. They lost one small fish after a very short fight then hooked up to a bigger one. After about a 15 minute fight on the Shimano Tiagra reel they managed to get the Yellowfin Tuna in the boat and into the fish box. The tail stuck out quite a way! Back at the dock we had a chance to get a close look at the fish and dockside estimates were 95 pounds, a very nice fish! We lost another fish that both Juan and Manuel said was larger when it struck a Braid Marauder plug and the welded swivel on the plug broke and the hook detached from the lure. Second one this week, guess I have to go and change the factory set-up on these plugs. Anyway, nice fish, good water and only Sy’s wife got sick. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the fishing continues to stay good for the next month or so! Until Next week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew