Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Capt. George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 9-15, 2002 WEATHER: Have you been here in September before? Then you probably know that we are having temperatures in the 80-100 degree range with the humidity up in the 70% area. A bit on the muggy side most of the time and we have been having some overcast sky, mostly in the mountains with a chance of rain every now and then! Wednesday we actually had some rain and that was nice. Not a lot of wind this week except for the first few days, and then it was pretty light out of the northwest. (Borrasca) WATER: The Pacific side has been great with large swells early in the week from the passing of Tropical Depression 11W but not much chop to go with it. Later in the week the swells died down to 2-4 feet. The water on the outside of the Golden Gate Bank was reported to be a bit green but elsewhere it was nice and blue. The Cortez has been blue as well and surface conditions have been great, very calm. From the 22*40” line on north on the Sea of Cortez the water has been between 84 and 88 degrees, south of the line the water has been 83-81 degrees. This warmer water has extended in a finger to the west into the Pacific out to just past the San Jaime Banks. (Bajo La Luna Mix) BAIT: Early in the week there were plenty of Caballito available but this weekend there appeared to be a shortage for boats leaving after 7am. Few Mullet were available and I heard of no Sardinas for sale. Boats getting bait were paying the usual $2 per bait. (Dancing Under The Moon) FISHING: BILLFISH: The billfish bite has slowed down a lot, with fewer Striped Marlin being found, on average, and the Blue Marlin bite has remained about the same. Not to say there are not Marlin being caught, because there are, but not in the numbers of the last few weeks. There have been some Sailfish being caught as well, mostly found mixed in with the Dorado. The Striped Marlin are being found in a straight line, east to west, 12-15 miles south of the cape. The Blue Marlin have been slightly inside the line, on the warm side. Right place, right time with a live bait for the Striped Marlin and almost all of the Blue Marlin have been on lures with the favorite colors this week being the usual blue/black/purple, Mean Joe Green, Dorado and Petrolero. (La Rosa Negro) YELLOWFIN TUNA: Without a doubt the Yellowfin have been the highpoint of the week. The fish have been found from 16 to 40 miles out, all on the cooler side of the temperature break, and all the fish caught have been mixed in with the Porpoise. The first few boats to the schools have been able to get fish and some of them have been big ones! I have seen fish this week running from 15 pounds to 200+ pounds and some boats have gotten more than one of these larger fish. Marlin lures and live baits have been the ticket although slow trolling spreader bars has brought up some fish after they have been hit hard by everyone else. Not every boat has been getting the larger fish but most of them have been able to get at least on pass on the school where they have picked up a few of the smaller footballs. (Bullfighter’s Dream) DORADO: The number of Dorado caught this week has dropped off a bit and the average size has gotten a bit smaller on the schooling fish, but the singles that have been caught have all been nice ones, most of them from #35 on up. Inside the temperature break and all the way up to the shoreline is where most of them were found this week and as usual the larger fish were caught on Marlin lures and the smaller fish on Tuna lures or cut bait dropped back behind a hooked fish. (Driving 2 Madrid/B4 The Storm) WAHOO: “What Hoo?” I saw no Wahoo this week, and only a few flags that may have been either Wahoo or Shark, it was hard to tell! (The Storm Sings) INSHORE: Inshore the fishing has been fair for Roosterfish and Jack Crevalle to 30 pounds and going just a bit outside has given anglers good fishing for Bonito and Skipjack, with some of these fish in the 15-20 pound range, nice fighting size! In that same range and going further out there have been fair shots at Dorado, both trolling and drifting with live bait. (1st Rain/Cry Of Faith) NOTES: If you are coming down to fish be prepared to purchase a fishing license either before you arrive or as soon as you get here. It’s better to get one before you arrive if you can because the license office here has posted hours but they are rarely followed. Often you must wait for the guy to show up, the paperwork takes a long time then you have to go to the bank to pay for the license, go back to the office with copies of the stamped payment slip to get the license. This process can take up to two hours to get through if the office is open when you arrive. For the past year most anglers have not been able to get licenses because of this, and the office will not sell boat owners stacks of blank licenses to sell on the boats. If you arrive at the airport in the afternoon and plan to fish the next day, forget it, it can’t get done. As boat owners we used to be able to go in the day before and purchase licenses with the anglers names and hometowns on them, but the office has decided that you must be there in person with I.D. to get a fishing license. Oh, and by the way, you can’t get them in the morning because the seller says it is too much work for him to get up early in the morning. The reason I am going on about this is because this week the Army guys with automatic weapons have been boarding boats coming into the marina after a days charter and checking for licenses. No license, the fish get confiscated and sometimes the fishing gear as well. We are trying to get something worked out, figure out some way for this to work, but it has been difficult. That is why I recommend that you purchase your fishing license before you arrive. Next week I’ll get into the fish filleting situation! This weeks report written to the soothing sounds of Ottmar Liebert + Luna Negra on their 1991 Higher Octave release “Borrasca”! Fly Hooker Daily Catch Report “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 11 SEPTEMBER, 2002 Mary and I met today’s anglers last year and they decided to book the boat for this years trip. John and Chuck are from Florida and every year they meet with other anglers from Florida and California up at the East Cape for a little tournament. Every year John and Chuck arrive early and try to get a day in fishing here in Cabo. Great guys and loads of fun, they love to fish! Today was not a good one however, it was the first time John has been skunked when fishing Cabo. The wind has been blowing hard from the N.W. for the past few days but Juan and Manuel headed out to the San Jaime Banks, hoping to get into some of the big Tuna that have been found. John said that the swells were 6-8 feet, not too bad, and he thought that they were going to have a great shot at a Marlin. Around noon Juan and Manuel spotted one come into the pattern but it did not strike a lure. They turned around and worked the spot with live bait and could not raise the fish. The area to the south of the banks had lots of Dolphin but even though they worked them for over an hour they could get no strikes. The wind laid down in the afternoon so perhaps the fishing will change for tomorrow. John, Chuck, we hope the fishing is better for you in the East Cape and you guys come in first place! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 12 SEPTEMBER, 2002 Dennis Cagen and his friend Bob are our anglers today and tomorrow. The largest fish they have ever caught was a 10 pounder and they are hopping that they can get something large and with a lot of fight during these two days in Cabo. Juan and Manuel took the “Fly Hooker” out to the west again today, this time just a little south of where they were yesterday. On the way out there, at a distance of about 6 miles, they spotted a Striped Marlin tailing on the surface. Juan tossed a live bait to the fish and it ate it! The fight was on for Bob! The fish was hooked on #40 and it took Bob about 40 minutes to get the fish to the boat. It did all the traditional Marlin jumps, runs and thrashings and gave Bob a few blisters from reeling. Juan was finally able to take the leader to make the catch a legal one before the fish swam away. During the trip they spotted 3 or 4 other Marlin tailing but could not get any of them to eat. Finally they got out to the south side of the San Jaime Banks and into the Porpoise. That is one of the areas that boats had been picking up large Tuna, but they had no luck there on the “Fly Hooker” today. Juan thinks that they may have gotten there just a bit too late. Fingers are crossed for tomorrow! Until then, Tight Lines! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 13 SEPTEMBER, 2002 The second day of fishing for Dennis and Bob provided for more fish but for less weight. No Marlin for them today although Juan did say they had a Blue Marlin come into the lure spread but not stay for longer than a few seconds. They worked the area they found the Porpoise yesterday and were one of the first five boats to the Porpoise. They were really hoping to hook into one of the #200 fish that a few of the boats were getting but instead they had a quadruple strike on Tuna when they first got there. Three of the Tuna were in the 15 pound class and one was around 45-50 pounds and by the time all the action was over and the lines re-set, the bite was off. They continued to work the area for another hour, then left in search of other fish such as Dorado, Marlin or Wahoo. No success was had on the search and they returned to the marina flying 4 Tuna flags. Thanks guys, you were great to have aboard and we hope to see you again, perhaps next year! “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 14 SEPTEMBER, 2002 Today was one of those days when you wish you could wake up and start all over again. We had booked the boat last night for four guys, part of a split group, as they already had booked a boat for four other guys in their group. They were supposed to show at the gate to our slip between 6:30 and 7am. They stopped to get their breakfast and lunch on the way down but their lunch was late getting fixed. They were going to get two cases of beer for each boat but forgot to pick it up. All 8 guys show up on our dock and want to know if we can call the other boat to come over and get the group going on it. The other boat doesn’t answer the radio. All right, we put all eight on our boat and tell Manuel to go to the fuel dock where Mary and I will bring down four cases of beer, then take them to the other boat. While we are bringing down the beer the boss angler, Mike, is trying to get bait. it is already 7:15 and they are only able to get 5 Caballito, none of the other bait boats have any either. We take the group to the other boat and find the Captain sleeping on the bridge, but the boat is set up and ready. All right, the boats are now correctly arranged but the only other boat they are able to find is small 6 inch Pargo, not good baits at all. Better late than never, off they go. Again Juan and Manuel head to the area holding the Tuna and Porpoise because Mike is a Long-range fisherman and wants Tuna. They get a quad strike and all the fish come into the boat, all footballs, and off they go again. As they are working the porpoise (along with 14 other boats) they hit a piece of 4x4 and curl a blade on the starboard prop. Now any time the speed gets over 7 knots they get bad vibrations. All right, 7 knots is a good trolling speed, it just means that now they can’t chase the Porpoise and must target for Marlin and Dorado. Juan and Manuel head in towards shore where the Marlin and Dorado have been. They got one strike from an unidentified fish and then a bit later get a nice 40 pound Dorado. Not bad fishing for the day and they come into the Marina flying four Tuna flags and a Dorado flag and have a good load of fillets to take home with them. We take the prop off , got hold of Peter at the Prop Shop and guess we should be ready to go again on Tuesday morning, should we happen to get a trip! Until then, have a safe and happy weekend! Monday is Mexican Independence Day, guess we will party a bit! Until Next Week, tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, The “Fly Hooker” Crew