Cabo Fishing Report for Sept 2-8, 2002 Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 2-8, 2002 WEATHER: We finally got some rain this week! It was a little spit on Tuesday morning, just enough to get the windshields wet but early Sunday morning we got enough rain to wash off all the plants, cars and boats. Didn’t need to water the plants in the yard. Thankfully it came with no wind as well because there had been the possibility of Tropical Depression #11 coming over us. Nice weather all week, slightly overcast most days with the high temps in the mid 90’s and the lows around 80, humidity a bit high, mostly in the mid 70% range. (When I’m With U/Everything I ever Needed) WATER: Good conditions on all sides all week long. It did get a bit bumpy to the south in the afternoons but nothing outrageous. The water was nice and blue and the highest temperature I found was 86 degrees at Gorda Banks. Most of the fishing grounds showed in the low 80’s and it was not until you were more than 50 miles out that the temperature dropped to the 70’s. The Pacific side was a few degrees cooler than the Sea of Cortez all week long but conditions were the same. (Reaching Out 2 U(Todos Bajo La Misma Luna)) BAIT: Most of the larger baits were Caballito with a smattering of Mackerel tossed into the mix and there were Mullet available if you made arrangements in advance. The normal price of $2 per bait (amazed that this hasn’t changed in three years). I did ask around this week about Sardinas (iron-side herring) but was told that there were none available at this time. (Merengue De Alegrias (Candy 4 My Soul)) FISHING: BILLFISH: The swells from the passing of Hurricane Hernan seemed to put the Marlin off their feed at the beginning of the week but as we got closer to the weekend the bite picked up quite a bit. A big change is in the number of Blue Marlin we are starting to see. It seems that everything is showing up a little bit late this year and the boys in the blue suits are no exception. The bite was scattered, with Marlin showing up in all area but the concentration of Blues seemed to be at the edges of the banks and canyons. Make sense though, as that is where the bait is concentrated as well. These Blues have been ranging in size from 200 to 800 pounds with most of them in the smaller end. I know of two this week in the 800 pound class, so there are big fish out there now! Plenty of Striped Marlin in the patterns also, with many boats catching and releasing two or three per trip. Striped bite was an even mix on lures and baits and the Blues were almost all on lures. A few Sailfish are showing as well and they are in the same areas as the Dorado. (Deep In Your Heart) YELLOWFIN TUNA: I have seen some very nice Yellowfin hung this week and every one of them has been caught among the Dolphin. Quite a few fish in the 80-200 pound range are slamming lures and most of them are being caught by the first few boats to the pods and as normal, the larger fish are being hooked outside the edge of the pods. A few are being caught by the boats doing the “run-and-gun”, dropping baits deep ahead of the moving school and this has worked (and been used) by late-comers to the school. There are quite a few football fish being found as well but it seems to be pretty consistent that it there are big fish in the pods the smaller fish are absent. No hookups on the first few passes may mean there are some bruisers under there! Scattered on both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez from 10 to 40 miles out, Striped Marlin lures, spreader bars and daisy chains in pearl, green and orange have done well fooling the Tuna. (Danza Viva (My Heart Grows Wings)) DORADO: The best action on the Dorado for the numbers of fish has been within 5 miles of the beach on both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez. For the larger fish, further offshore is the name of the game, but you are going to loose in the numbers game there. Inshore the average size has been 15 pounds with most boats able to get between three and a dozen fish per trip. Offshore we are looking at an average in the 35 pound range but only one for every other boat. This may be because of the concentration on Tuna this week or it may just be the way things actually are. The larger fish have been fooled by Marlin lures and slow trolled live baits while the smaller fish have been pounding on smaller feathers. (Promise (Beyond The Mountains)) WAHOO: A few nice Wahoo were caught this week but as usual they were scattered and caught by boats looking for something else. I was told by a friend who brought his boat down from California that they ran into a great bite at Uncle Sam Banks on the way down, but we have had no concentration close to Cabo. (Samba Pa Ti (Thru Every Step In Life U Find Freedom From Within)) INSHORE: The normal inshore fish have been scattered this week with only a few nice Roosterfish, Jack Crevalle and Amberjack hitting the decks. One of the reasons was the big storm swells mixing up the water close to the beach. Most of the Pangas have been working a little further out and focusing on Dorado, Skipjack, Bonita and football Yellowfin. Toss in an occasional Striped Marlin in the mix and the fishing has been pretty darn productive. Most of the fishing has taken place within 10 miles of Cabo as it has been difficult to put a Panga in through the surf elsewhere. (Lilac Sun) NOTES: Great weather, great fishing, what more can you ask for? Oh yeah, this report has been written as I sit here at the keyboard listening to some great music! The sun is just coming up, the birds are singing, the rain has stopped and everything smells damp, the boat is out fishing with great, happy people and I could not get into the rock and roll mood this morning. Relax, kick back and listen to the nuevo flamenco style of Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra on their 1992 release “Solo Para Ti”, Sony records. There are two instrumental duets with Carlos Santana on this CD, “Reaching Out 2 U” and “Samba Pa Ti”. Put it on, close your eyes and pretend you’re in Cabo! Until next week, tight lines! And HEY, if you have any questions about the fishing (or music), feel free to e-mail, I answer back fast! Fly Hooker Daily Catch Reports for Sept 2-8 “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 Rick and Barry didn’t know each other before last night and each of them wanted a chance to do some offshore fishing. They met and decided that splitting a charter between the two of them was a good idea so this morning they met at E Dock aboard the “Fly Hooker”. The objective for the day was to get offshore and find some Dorado and Tuan, maybe a Wahoo, fish to take home and have for dinner tonight. Juan and Manuel headed out to the south side of the San Jaime Banks looking for fish. The swells were pretty good sized due to the passing of Hurricane Hernan earlier and the fish seemed to have shut their mouths a bit. The fishing was slow and all the action they had was strikes by two Dorado, both of them coming off and tossing live bait to one Striped Marlin they found on the surface. We are hoping the action picks up in a day or two as the swells die down. Barry said that this was the first fishing trip he has ever been skunked on. Ouch, hate to have that happen to anyone. “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 6, 2002 Ryan and Kristen Pessara and their friend Jimmy are fishing aboard the “Fly Hooker” today. The Pessara’s have fished with us before, as have their parents. Today was Ryan’s lucky day though. Juan and Manuel took off to the east this morning, out to the 95 spot. Dolphin in the area had been holding some of the large Tuna and they thought that getting out early would give them a good shot at one of those “Grande Atun” that had been caught the last two days. They got to the area and had not had the lines in the water longer than ten minutes when they got their first strike of the day. Juan told me that it was a “Big” one and that it came unbuttoned real quick. They continued working the Dolphin for a long time without any other strikes. A few fishing boats in the area hooked up and the guys were starting to get depressed thinking that their only shot of the day had been missed. Juan told them to be patient, there was plenty of time left! Sure enough, about 11 am a Blue Marlin came up on one of the blue/pink rigger lures and checked it out. He made a swat at that lure and drifted over to the smaller lure on the other rigger. That one must have been more to his liking because that is the one he ate. It was Ryan’s turn in the fighting chair and he worked like mad. The Marlin did a lot of surface work for the first 20 minutes or so, then sounded. It’s likely that sometime during that jumping, running and leaping about the leader wrapped around the tail because after being on for two hours it was determined that the fish had died. Ryan could feel and Juan could tell by the action of the rod that the fish had died. Straight up and down, they hand-lined the fish to the boat. Juan called on the cell phone and said that they were going to continue trolling for another 15 minutes then they were going to come in to the main dock to hang the fish. Mary and I arrived at the main dock before they got in and when they came around the corner they had the Marlin flag flying as well as two Dorado flags. Kristen said that they had hooked the Dorado at the last minute and that it was nice that both he and Jimmy had been able to catch a fish, specially since Ryan had hogged all the action earlier! The Blue weighed #375 on the scale! That was a nice fish Ryan, Juan had estimated on the phone at it weighing around #250. Now before those of you reading this report get upset and say they should have released the fish, I need to let you know that the guys were nice enough to bring down 50 Billfish Foundation tags for us, and they were looking forward to releasing any Marlin caught. The fish came to the boat dead and it did not go to waste. Now, if the guys have any money left later in the week, considering all the activities they want to do, they might go out again, this time with either Kristen or Jimmy fighting the big fish, Ryan needs time to let his blisters heal up! Thanks guys, have a great week! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 7 SEPTEMBER, 2002 Ben Peterson, Matt Meier and their friend Rick are fishing the “Fly Hooker” today. They went out on another boat yesterday, we saw them at the main dock as they weighed the #230 Blue Marlin that Rich had caught. They had fished the Pacific side out about 10 miles and worked Dolphin trying to get Tuna. Rich had never caught a billfish before and when the Marlin hooked up he was the designated angler. His fish got tail wrapped, just ad Ryan’s fish on the “Fly Hooker” had yesterday, that is why they had boated the fish. That was the only action they had all day so for today they wanted to focus on Dorado or Tuna, never mind the Marlin. Juan and Manuel decide that the action on the Dorado had been better closer to shore and worked the Pacific side out by the lighthouse out about three miles. The action was good until about 11 am, then it died. During that time they brought three Dorado into the boat, along with one White Tuna. Juan said they had about five other Dorado hit but not stay hooked up, some of them very nice sized. The guys had a great time and said that Juan and Manuel were the best crew they had ever fished with, and these guys have fished Cabo several times a year for the last 7 years. Sure is good to hear that, and they were happy enough that they decided to book the boat for a 1/2 day trip tomorrow, their last hurrah before heading home. Thanks for the comments on todays trip, and great luck tomorrow! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 8 SEPTEMBER, 2002 This is a 1/2 day trip for Ben, Matt and Rick, sort of their last “hurrah” if you will and they had hopes of some great fishing adventures. Yesterday the bite was good until about 11 am, that was high tide, and they thought that a 1/2 day trip would put them out there on the peak of the bite. Well, that’s fishing. The way it turned out was Juan and his brother Juan (Manuels day off) worked the same area they had found fish at yesterday. They managed to catch three Skipjack Tuna and one of them was rigged as a live bait and slow trolled for an hour, hoping for a monstor Yellowfin Tuna or Black Marlin. They were working the ledge off the lighthouse but other than the Skipjack they had no luck. Juan said that according to the radio things were slow all around except for a few boats that got into the Tuna about 30 miles out. Well, you never know, and they did try hard. Thanks guys, we are glad you had a good time and hope the fishing is better for you next time you come down! Until then, tight lines! Until Next Week, tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew