Cabo San Lucas Fishing Report Capt George Landrum Fly Hooker Sportfishing [email protected] www.flyhooker.com CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 16-22, 2002 WEATHER: Oh my goodness, we had rain this week! And it was a good rain, just the kind we needed. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we had rain in the morning for a few hours, a good rain, not a downpour or a drizzle. This is the kind of rain that soaks in and now the air is clear of dust, the plants are washed off and everything is starting to leaf out and bloom! All this was the result in a recurve of the system that passed to the south last week. On Friday we had the temperature drop to 70 degrees at night and the daytime high was 85, low humidity and a light breeze. Ah, wonderful! Clear skies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, it just doesn’t get any better than this! (Gravity Storm) WATER: Rough water at the beginning of the week due to the recurve of the system that passed south last week. This is also the weather that brought the rain. The east wind and the swells it kicked up resulted in the Port Captain closing the port Monday morning, but a few boats made it out earlier. At the end of the week things had calmed down a lot and the water was very nice. Monday the wind was out of the East and as the week progressed the wind had shifted clockwise so that on Saturday it was back to the normal Northwest direction. Green water inshore out to about a mile in most areas, past that it was blue. Our band of warm water shifted a bit as the changing wind and current moved it around. At the end of the week we have a spot of cooler water in the 80 degree range sitting on top of the Gorda Banks. Between there and the Cape we have 84 to 86 degree water, out at the San Jaime we have 80-82 degrees and up at the Golden Gate we are marking 84-85 degrees. (Mermaid In The Night) BAIT: Late arrivals to the bait boats were finding it a bit of a struggle to get good baits early this week as the rough water and east-southeast winds kept the bait boats efforts and successes down. Later on it was the same situation but due more to the full moon. No problem if you were early though. Normal price of $2 per bait and most of it was Caballito, few if any Mackerel. (The Pascagoula Run) FISHING: BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin and Blue Marlin bite slowed down this week as we approached the full moon. There were still a few fish being caught, and there was one #632 Blue reported. The 95 and 1150 spots both provided action while the rough waters limited the number of boats that fished the Pacific area early in the week. Edges of the 83-82 degree break were productive and the bite was evenly mixed between live bait and lures. (Strange Bird) YELLOWFIN TUNA: Thank goodness the Tuna are still out there! Some nice fish were taken this week, some of them in the #150+ range, a lot of schoolies in the #40-#50 class and quite a few smaller footballs. The larger fish and the schoolies were with Porpoise and the footballs were both with porpoise and in the open. Hooking up on lures then tossing out live bait as the hooked fish were being fought provided a lot of action, but most boats were satisfied to use lures, and the best ones seemed to be the ever popular cedar plugs. The fish ranged from 8 to 28 miles out, both to the south and south-east. (Why The Things We Do) DORADO: Mostly scattered fish this week with the concentration being closer to shore. Average size is down a bit, most of the fish being schoolies in the 8-12 pound class. Further offshore there are larger fish, but they are spread out. Small feathers in bright colors to get the first fish, then live baits to hook the larger fish following the first one in. Mostly on the Sea of Cortez side out to 5 miles for the groups of smaller fish. (Boomerang Love) WAHOO: Once again, what Hoo? (Take Another Road) INSHORE: The large swells and heavy winds early in the week pretty much shut down the inshore fishing but as the week progressed the Pangas were working out to 5 miles for Dorado, football Tuna, Skipjack and Bonita. At the end of the week the inshore water was still green but there were a few Roosterfish being caught. (Off To See The Lizard) NOTES: Wow, I guess I really caused an uproar with my note section last week about the licenses! Almost overloaded my in-box with questions. I did not mean to cause any panic folks! Just telling you what’s happening from someone who lives here! Now, I don’t know if all the uproar had anything to do with it or not, but as of two days ago we have been allowed to buy blank licenses for anglers arriving after hours and fishing the next day, or licenses needed for anglers fishing the weekends, when the office is closed. You still need the license but now we can once again take care of it for you. So remember, if you are booking a boat where it says the licenses are included, they are charging you for them, so make sure you receive it and keep it with you on the trip! If the license is not included, ask the booking agent, owner or Captain to arrange it so you have them in the morning. A one day license is $103 pesos as of 9-19-02. This weeks sounds are Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefer Band on the 1989 MCA release “Off To See The Lizard”. Yes Chris, I know this is Cabo and I should have rock and roll, get over it! Fly Hooker Daily Catch Report “FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 21, 2002 For our only trip this week our angler on the “Fly Hooker” was Hiramatsu Takuya, of Tokyo, Japan. Takuya fished with Juan and Manuel on his last trip to Cabo, 5 years ago. He has fished Madeira, Venezuela and Kona as well, always looking for Marlin, the larger, the better. Todays trip did not result in any Marlin for him but a good time was had anyway. Juan and Manuel headed out to an area 30 miles tot he south of the Westin Hotel. The water was rough but very blue, warm and loaded with Flying Fish. The first six hours of the trip were spent in this area but they had no luck. Takuya then decided that any fish was better than no fish and they began to work a school of football Yellowfin that were pinpointed by one lonely Frigate bird working them. The first pass resulted in a double strike, did the second pass, then the next four passes were single hookups. Eight Yellowfin in all and the sizes ranged from 10-30 pounds. Takuya had a bag of fillets he took to a restaurant for dinner and he let us know that he is already looking forward to coming back to Cabo next year, but for at least two days of fishing instead of just one! Domo Arigato Hiramatsu-son! Until Next week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, The “Fly Hooker” Crew!