Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report for May 26th -June 2 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR 27 MAY-2 JUNE, 2002 WEATHER: Well, the disintegration of Hurricane Alma well to the west of us brought gusty winds from Wednesday on through most of the rest of the week but didn’t bring us any rain. We had some slight overcast skies but most of the week was clear and sunny. Our daytime highs ranged from the high 80’s to high 90’s and our lows at night down to the mid 70’s. (Expectations) WATER: On Wednesday we started to feel the effect of Hurricane Alma as the swells increased in size to 6-8 feet and the wind brought a 1-3 foot chop on top of it. Most of the wind was from the west over the weekend and that made for a fairly rough ride wherever you went. We have had a band of warm water along the coast on the Sea of Cortez, this water extends out about 6 miles and at the tip of the cape it gets swept to the south and extends out about 25 miles. Within a mile of shore in the same area and extending north almost to San Jose the water is an off-green color. The warm water is up to 83 degrees and past it the temp drops to the mid 70’s. The Pacific water is also in the mid 70’s almost everywhere and a bit off color close to shore. As of Sunday the warm water band retreated up the coast and now only reaches to San Jose. The water right in front of the Cape has dropped to 67/68 degrees. (Take Me Back) BAIT: Caballito at $2 each, the normal stuff, little change. (The Circular Letter) FISHING: BILLFISH: Good early in the week with some nice Blue Marlin beginning to show up and the bite was halfway decent for the Striped Marlin. Most of the action for both species was on lures with yellow/orange/red seeming to be the top choice mentioned by most anglers and Captains, with blue/green/black a close runner-up. As the swells picked up on Wednesday and the inshore water went off color the bite seemed to drop also. A few Stripers were caught close in but the action seemed to move northward up the Sea of Cortez with most of the action taking place at Gorda Banks or further north. Few boats were flying Marlin flags for the days catch after Wednesday though there were a few with multiple catches but it appeared better than it was if you glanced around the Marina. Some boats still had flags up from last week. (Sundance) YELLOWFIN TUNA: Scattered football 5-15 pound fish in the blind on the Pacific side through Thursday then that dropped off also. No reports this week of anything much larger than 25 pounds nor were there any reported found with porpoise. The Pacific football size fish bit well on cedar plugs and dark colored feathers and a few anglers told me they had luck on them by dropping iron after hooking up on the troll. (Bring Back The Time When (If)) DORADO: The main item on the fishing menu this week were Dorado in the 12-25 pound class. A few were caught up to 50 pounds and most of the fish were found either under floating debris (the larger fish) or in the blind close to shore. Live bait worked wonders on the larger fish and most of the smaller ones were hooked on lures pulled for Striped Marlin or Tuna. The large swells from Hurricane Alma have washed a lot of large debris off the beaches on both the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific side and if the currents don’t carry it away too fast we should have some good action on debris fish in the next week or so. Also there is the possibility of large mats of Kelp being washed down our way due to the swells and currents and when that happened last year, well, about all I can say is “whoopee!!” (There Is A Road) WAHOO: We actually had a bit of a bite going on with the incidental fish before the Hurricane effects hit us. Since Wednesday, and as a matter of fact, since Tuesday, there have been very few of the speedsters caught. (Vision) INSHORE: Some nice Roosterfish before the hurricane swells hit, and reports of a scattered Yellowtail or two. There had been steady action on the smaller Dorado as well as the Bonita and Skipjack but all that pretty much disappeared as of Wednesday and the appearance of the green water. The rest of the week the Pangas worked a bit further offshore looking for Dorado, but not with a lot of luck, at least from the anglers reports I received. There had been great action catching and releasing sharks, both Blues and Hammerheads before the storm swells, but that died off as well. (Common Mama) NOTES: Our fingers are crossed that the debris knocked into the water will provide some outstanding fishing action soon, and the Marlin bite should turn back on any day now. Saturday was Navy Day here in Cabo so a lot of boats went out and partied. Seemed everyone was flying every flag they had in celebration of the day, not as a result of fishing success. If you are comming down to fish this month, be smart and don’t book from the coyotes around the Marina. They have gotten so bad and the Marina has received so many complaints from ripped off anglers that the Marina Management is trying to get rid of them. (ACoyote is a guy with no booth or office who don’t own, or work as a captain or mate, on the vessel he is trying to rent you. If he doesn’t have a gate key and a key to the boat, he is a coyote!) This weeks report has been written to the jazz piano music of Keith Jarrett on his 1972 album “Expectations” , Sony Music/Colombia Records. Fly Hooker" Daily Fishing Report for May 27-June2 “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 27 MAY, 2002 Steve and Linda, from New Jersey, were our anglers aboard the “Fly Hooker” today. A very good day of fishing happened for them but not until later in the morning. Juan and Juan began the day heading to the Pacific side of the Cape but the water was rough and cold and no one was having any luck. They turned around and worked an area about 12 miles out of Chileno and found some good action. Linda got most of the fish with a total of 4 Dorado between 20-30 pounds. Steve lost a few of them and also had a Striped Marlin break line after fighting for about 10 minutes. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 28 MAY, 200W Jim, Ian, George, Adam and Tom have decided to give us a try at getting them a Wahoo. These guys, except for Adam, are fishermen and that is what they are concentrating on this trip. Yesterday they tried Panga fishing off the Solmar beach and caught Hammerhead sharks. They decided that today would be a general species trip and tomorrow they would try and focus on Wahoo. So much for what they wanted! Juan and Juan headed off to Chileno again, this time working only 6 miles offshore. No action until mid morning again but then the bite turned on. ! Dorado at 35 pounds and lost another one a bit larger. Double strike on Wahoo and both the 60 pound fish in the boat! Tagged and released a Striped Marlin about 120 pounds and lost another one. Hooked up to a Blue Marlin estimated at 300 pounds and got some great surface action out of it before it threw the hook! Wow, quite the trip and that is going to be very hard to beat! A lot of fillets filled the zip-lock bags and the cooler. Our fingers are crossed for good fishing tomorrow as well, as we try and focus on Wahoo. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 29 MAY, 2002 Today Adam has bowed out of the picture and it is just Jim, Ian, George and Tom going. I am aboard the boat as I have all but promised them Wahoo today. So much for promises. At my suggestion to them and instruction to Juan and Juan, we started out by heading to the 95 spot with the idea of working it, then the 1150 then the Gorda Banks and back along the coast. Checking the radio on the way out the reports from the spots were dismal so we decided to work the coastal contours up to the Gorda Banks instead. Hurricane Alma was a long distance off but it was putting out some pretty big storm swells. No wind yet but the water was starting to green up from the Cape all the way up to Punta Ballena. As we passed Punta Ballena we spotted a Striped Marlin come up on the short rigger lure and Juan dropped a live bait back to it. No interest from the fish but we made several more passes in the area just in case. We had no more fish action until we approached the Inner Gorda and then hooked up with a nice Dorado. Hooked up, but didn’t land, as in it got off after the first nice run. Nothing else was happening at the banks except seeing a whale shark just under the surface so we headed back towards the cape. About 6 miles from the banks Juan spotted three Marlin tailing and ran the boat over to them. Again no action from the fish when the bait was tossed! As we approached Cabo we started noticing a lot of debris in the water that the large storm swells had been washing off the beach. Maybe if they stick around and the strong currents don’t carry them away they will be holding Dorado soon. Well, I couldn’t hook the guys up to a Wahoo today so I am sure glad that Juan was able to do it yesterday! Thanks guys, we look forward to another visit from you soon! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 30 MAY, 2002 The “Fly Hooker” was involved in a small four boat competition today and caught the largest fish for the anglers aboard. The fishing was slow due to the effects of Hurricane Alma and one of the boats got skunked as far as fish in the boat. One of them caught one Dorado and the “Fly Hooker” and another one caught two Dorado each. One of the fish we caught was a little 8 pound Dorado that Juan released, the other was a beautiful 41.5 pound bull! The angler was a guy named Gary and he was stoked! The fishing had been slow and all the anglers walking by from other boats kept stopping and checking the fish out. Lets hope the fishing improves in the next few days. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 31 MAY, 2002 The wind died down a bit as did the swells but the green water is everywhere, there seems to be no escape. We had a nice family aboard the boat this morning, booked by another agent. Dad’s name was Tim and they just wanted a bit of family fin and a chance to eat some fresh fish they had caught themselves. The fishing was still slow but Juan and Juan were able to get them hooked up to a small Dorado, which was released and a couple of small Yellowfin Tuna, which were kept and filleted for dinner. No big fish action but at least the water is looking better. The fish were found about 16 miles to the south. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 1 JUNE, 2002 Darryl and Anita from Dallas, TX are our anglers today on a 1/2 day trip. The water turned ugly overnight as the wind never did die down. As we got out to the arch at the Cape the decision was immediate that there was no way we were going on the Pacific side or to the South. So... up the Cortez coast we went. What can I say, miserable boat ride with some very nice people. We saw one boat hooked up to something big, probably a Marlin, and later saw another boat land a small Dorado. We had no strikes and saw no other fish. It was almost victory at sea on the return leg of the trip as the wind was very strong and gusty from the southwest. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 2 JUNE, 2002 John, Ian and Kyle invited me to go out with them today on their 1/2 day trip and I decided to join them, yesterday was not punishment enough for whatever bad things I had done! Ian is a rancher in southern England, and raises milk cows, sheep and pheasants. Kyle Elliot is a salesman for a software company and John is his semi-retired father-in-law, both from the San Francisco area. John and Kyle have fished Cabo before and have a pretty good idea of what to expect. On the way out I do a brief review of angling techniques and we get settled what each persons job is to be when we hook up and then we settle down to fish. The wind had kept blowing all night and I had thought that we might have to cancel the trip this morning at the dock, but once we got out it was very nice! We headed southeast towards the south side of the 95 spot. The sun was coming up through a bit of an overcast and gave us a wonderfully vivid start to the trip. The swells had died as had the wind and we trolled along at 7 knots with the twin Detroit diesels growling their happy song. Mornings like this are what we live for! About an hour after lines in we had a strike on the bridge rod. Ian was the designated angler and got in the chair to work the fish. The strike was a good surface attack and we saw the splash but the fish didn’t jump after that. With the lines cleared Ian made pretty quick work getting the fish to the boat and when it was about 20 yards out we were able to see that it was a Mako shark. When we got it to the side of the boat it started to do the shark roll and before we could remove the hook he cut the leader. Not a big shark but he would go in the 50-60 pound range. Out went the lure again as we settled back to wait for more action. It was about a half hour later when we saw several boats in the distance working an area doing circles. We headed there and found that they were catching small football size Yellowfin Tuna. We had one of them try to eat a large Marlin lure and miss, then hooked on a smaller feather. Kyle brought it in and I got out a spinning outfit and put on a cedar plug. John held the spinning rod as we made more passes on the area and eventually hooked up another small Yellowfin. The action dropped off after that and we turned the boat back towards the Cape, looking for more action from something with scales! After a fruitless hour of trolling I brought up the suggestion of pulling in the lines and running to the Pedregal area and working the nearshore for Roosterfish and Dorado. Seeing as nothing was happening out in the deep water, everyone agreed to give it a try. In came the lines and we cruised in for 45 minutes. Arriving at the coast we put out three live baits, two Mackerel and a Caballito. From the Pedregal beach to the arch there was no action and we were just about ready to call it a day. As we rounded the point one of the live baits took off! I waited a while for whatever had grabbed the bait to get down, then set the hook. Since it was Ian’s turn again, he got to fight the White Skipjack, one about 8 pounds. We made several other passes on the area after landing that fish, but were only able to catch the darn Pelicans that had been attracted by the action. We caught and released two Pelicans then tangled with a third before saying enough is enough and heading in. The red Shark flag was flying along with two Yellowfin flags but we had no flags for the Pelicans! Thanks guys, I had a great time and I know you did too, I just hope that next time the fishing is a bit better! Until Next week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan, Juan2 and Manuel, The “Fly Hooker” Crew