CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JULY 15-21, 2002 WEATHER: Hot is the operative word for the week! We have had daytime temperatures in the 90’s all week and the nighttime lows have gotten into the high 70’s. Toss in a bit of humidity and very light winds and no clouds to speak of and what you have is what the girls call a “glistening” effect. A very nice change from the cold weather we were having last month! (Shame Shame Shame) WATER: Again, the word is hot! At least hotter than we have been having. The coldest temperatures are on the Pacific side and we are seeing those at around 74 degrees. The Cortez side is up in the 80-84 degree range and up until Thursday the water was clearing up. Then we had a bit of a green tint move in. The surface conditions on the Pacific side have been fishable but sometimes a bit choppy within 10 miles of the coast. For some reason, once you got out past that the water calmed down and the wind died. On the Cortez side it has been great in the mornings but in the afternoons the winds shifted occasionally and it got choppy a few days. (Sugaree) BAIT: Mackerel and Caballito at the usual $2 per bait. No word on Sardinas. (Medicine Man) FISHING: BILLFISH: We had a couple of good days but the fishing has been hit and miss. One boat can come in with three flags flying and others in the same area don’t see a fish. The average size has been 120 pounds. Most of the Marlin sighted have been in small groups (Striped Marlin) and it has been an even split on lures or live bait. The Blue Marlin are showing up now and they have been almost totally on lures, though some of the boats are starting to load up their tuna tubes if they can find the bigger baits in the morning first thing. The Blues have been running from 200 to 400 pounds. Most of the fish have come from the Cortez side out around the 94 and 1150 spots. (Barefootin’” YELLOWFIN TUNA: Ouch, not a good showing on the Tuna this week. I had reports of a few boats finding fish on Dolphin, and those were respectable fish in the 40-80 pound range, but I never saw the fish myself. From the flags flying and the reports I am getting from different Captains and Crews I don’t think that there are many Yellowfin out there right now. Not even many footballs are being caught. Those fish that were found were reported to have been caught on cedar plugs run far back and fast, about 9 knots. (Life Is Hard) DORADO: A few fish, just like last week, but most of them have been very nice size, between 25 and 50 pounds. Some of the boats have come in flying one, maybe two flags, most of the boats have not had more than two Dorado flags this week. On Friday someone found a piece of wood that produced multiple catches for the first few boats, but boats 6 through 26 struck out. (Hey You) WAHOO: I hate to repeat myself, but “what hoo”? A few boats flying Wahoo flags, maybe one a day or less. Got To Find My Baby) INSHORE: Most of the Pangas have been focusing on Snapper and Grouper, just like last week. There were some nice Roosters caught but they are not here in force yet. Most of the action has taken place on the Cortez side between Grey Rock and San Jose. (Let Me In) NOTES: The fishing is picking up every day! We are finally getting the water conditions we have been waiting for and I expect it to bust loose anytime in the next week or two. As you may be able to tell from the brevity of this weeks and last weeks reports, the fishing has been slow, but improving every day. Conditions great, but not a lot of action. I have been places where the action we have had would be considered great, but I think we are a bit spoiled here in Cabo! Stay tuned, I expect to be able to provide better news any day now! Written to the beautiful guitar music of Johnny Winter on the 1991 Virgin Records release “Let Me In”. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 15 JULY, 2002 This is the second day of fishing for the John Hurych party and today they got fish! They really wanted to go home with a cooler of Dorado fillets but the Dorado fishing has not been real great. Juan and Manuel tried to find Dorado for them but instead they found Marlin. They had a few strikes and finally had one eat a lure! As they were getting set up on the fish they had another Striped Marlin in the area. Juan tossed it a live bait and they were on a double! Unfortunately that did not last very long as the fish hooked on the bait managed to toss the hook fairly quickly. The other Marlin had eaten the lure and was bleeding heavily from the gills when it was brought to the boat so they kept the fish. Now they go home with a cooler of Marlin instead of Dorado, but they caught fish. Thanks guys, glad you saw some action today! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 17 JULY, 2002 Our friend Greg Yoshi is back and this time he is with his friend Bruce (I think?)! Sorry bout that, I should take notes! Anyway, they are hoping for some action today and Greg has brought along some of his own gear to try out. Juan and Manuel take the boat out to the area around the 95 spot as that is where the action (what there has been of it) has been going on. Well, a day fishing is better than a day at work, but it would be nice to get a fish to the boat! During the day the only thing that happened was two strikes from Blue Marlin. Both of them were on the bridge rod and on Greg’s black/purple swimmer. One strike was just that, a short pull. The other one actually took a lot of line but then tossed the hooks. Juan said that fish was around #350. Nada for the rest of the day. Thanks Greg, next time we hope the fishing is better! FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 18 JULY, 2002 Our friend Corey Werner is back along with his dad Wes and friend Scott plus another friend. Last time Corey was here the fishing was outstanding and they caught lots of big Dorado. He put off the trip a few extra weeks this time in the hope that the fishing might improve but it was not to be. The action today took place outside the 95 spot where Juan found a Striped Marlin that was hungry. The fish bit on a bleeding Mackerel colored straight runner and Cory had the fish, estimated at #100, to the boat in about 15 minutes. They had another fish come in to check out the lures that just made a small grab and did not pull line, and another that cruised in and just looked. That was the action for the day and we hope tomorrow is better, the guys are going to try again! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 20 JULY, 2002 This, the second day of fishing for the Werner party, was uneventful. Corey said that all they saw was a Manta Ray while they were in the deep water and Wes said he saw two small Dorado and two small Sharks on the way back in, close to the shore. Juan said the water had turned a bit green overnight and the temperature had dropped several degrees as well. Corey was hoping the fishing would turn around but it did not so tomorrow they are going to go jet skiing and do the ATV tours. Have fun guys! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 20 JULY 2002 Corey Werner was supposed to have fished today but with the fishing as slow as it has been he opted out. We were lucky enough to pick up a half day trip from an agent so that Juan and Manuel could go out. The client was Mr. Garcia and his three sons. They had an enjoyable boat ride in the area 12 miles out from Chileno beach, but they caught no fish and were in at 11:30. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 21 JULY, 2001 Lella Howard and Mark Trocki are our anglers today, a referral from Larry Ware, who Mark met in Kosovo. Mark is a contract electrical supervisor there and he is on vacation in Cabo for two weeks. Lella arranged this trip and as it is their 17th anniversary the fishing trip is a gift to Mark! Mark really wants to catch a big fish, preferably a Tuna. We explained that the Tuna bite has been very slow to non-existent this past month but Juan and Manuel would try hard. Off they went and it was towards the 95 spot that they headed. Lella said that there were Dolphin around them but Juan said they were Black Porpoise. Anyway, at about 8 am they hooked up a small Dorado on one of the trolling lures. A good dinner size fish but it came off at the side of the boat. Not until 10am did they spot anything else, then it was a Marlin on the surface. Juan tossed out a live bait and the Marlin ate it right away. At first Juan was saying it was a Striped Marlin but an hour later, after a real down and dirty fight on the #40 line and TLD25 reel, Juan was able to tag a Blue Marlin estimated at 200 pounds! Mark was ecstatic, the biggest game fish of his life! That was all the action for the day, and maybe a good thing, Mark’s arms were a bit tired and he just might be getting a blister on his right hand! Thanks guys, way to go!