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George Landrum (Captg)
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Username: Captg
Post Number: 75
Registered: 8-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008 - 7:21 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
April 28-May 4, 2008
WEATHER: We had just another week in paradise with our daytime highs varying between 90-95 early in the week and 85-90 later in the week. Our nighttime lows varied as well with 75 early in the week and 65 later in the week. That nighttime low of 75 on Monday and Tuesday night forced us to turn on the air conditioner! We had partly cloudy skies all week long with winds at 10-15 knots from the northwest with occasional higher gusts.
WATER: There was little change in the surface conditions from last week. The Pacific side of the Cape had swells at 3-5 feet and the Cortez side had 1-3 foot swells. The water temperature on the Cortez side was a pretty even 74-76 degrees from the shore out to around 12 miles, then it became 67-69 degrees for another 12-20miles, then there was a pretty strong break where it warmed right back up. On the Pacific side the temperature remained around 66-69 degrees. On the Pacific side from the Golden Gate and across the San Jaime Bank and toward the beach the water was a fairly dirty green, the closer to shore you got the dirtier it got. This plume of cool, green water extended to the south of the Cape keeping the water outside the 1,000-fathom line that dirty green.
BAIT: There was plenty of bait this week as the larger boat brought in plenty of Mackerel to sell to the Panga bait boats. With the small moon the bait boats were able to catch plenty of Caballito as well. This week the bait was the usual $2 per bait. When we purchased bait on Saturday, our supplier informed us that as of this coming Wednesday all the boats were raising their prices to $3 per bait. Keep in mind there has not been a raise in the bait price for almost 8 years, so this is not unexpected.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Once again the billfish were very easy to find this week, all you had to do was get out on the water. From just off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side around the Cape to the Punta Gorda area they were everywhere. Early in the week they were on the surface sleeping and tailing. Unfortunately, they were also full! They may have been stuffing themselves on squid once again, but for whatever the reason, you could throw baits to 25-30 fish and be lucky to find one or two that were hungry. A few boats resorted to drifting live baits deep, and this technique did work a little better than trolling lures while casting bait to fish on the surface. As the week went on the fish seemed to move up the Cortez coast just a bit and then back to in front of the arch. At the end of the week the ratio of fish baited and fish hooked improved a bit and most boats that tried to work Marlin were able to catch between two and four per trip, definitely an improvement over earlier in the week. Mackerel was the bait of choice; Caballito just didn’t seem to get the fish interested. The Striped Marlin averaged around 120 pounds.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: At the beginning of this week all the purse seiners we had out front last week had gone north, leaving us with just “scales drifting down” where before we had great fishing. Of course the fish were not around, they had all moved out or had been scooped up in the nets! Well, on the positive side, on Saturday this week the fish re-appeared just two miles out off the arch and lighthouse. These fish were also a bit larger with most of them between 20-30 pounds with a few pushing 40 pounds. One hour in the fish resulted in 16 Yellowfin for one of our groups of anglers. Almost anything worked, as these fish were very hungry. I went up on the Cortez side on Saturday and we got into a very larges group of dolphin with birds everywhere and large schools of bait showing up on the depth sounder. No Yellowfin though, and I could see two super seiners just on the horizon to the north, off of Los Frailles. I wonder if they had already gotten all the fish?
DORADO: The warmer water out front brought more dorado into our area and most boats were able to get at least one or two fish per trip. One of my friends was fishing up off the Punta Gorda area earlier in the week and found a dead whale that had been around long enough to attract quite a collection of life under it and was able to limit out on fish averaging 15 pounds. There were a few fish in the 30- pound range there as well. Everywhere else the bite was just all right with bright colored lures and live bait fished for Marlin getting the most fish.
WAHOO: The moon phase might be wrong for Wahoo this last week as I did not hear of any of them being caught.
INSHORE: Our anglers tat fished off of Pangas this week continued to do well with a varied catch including Roosterfish to 15 pounds, Sierra to 8 pounds, Yellowtail to 15 pounds and an assortment of bottom fish such as snapper and grouper to 10 pounds. The majority of the fish were found just off the beach on the Pacific side but when the late afternoon winds kicked in the afternoon trips worked off of Gray Rock and Cabo del Sol for the same type of fish. On Saturday, when the Yellowfin showed up so close to the arch, almost every Panga out there was in the mix, and they all did well. Quite a few of the Pangas were working just off the beach for Marlin as well throughout the week, and were averaging just about the same as the cruisers.
NOTES: The Seiners left, that’s good news, there are Tuna out front again, that’s good news! Live bait is going up in price on Wednesday, that’s bad news! I’m done with this week’s report, that’s good news! Until next week, tight lines! Give a listen to the music of an old Fender Stratocaster player, Dick Dale on his album “Spatial Disorientation”, that’s weird news! |
George Landrum (Captg)
New member
Username: Captg
Post Number: 74
Registered: 8-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008 - 8:57 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
April 21-27, 2008
WEATHER: I guess that I probably don’t say this enough, but I have to let you know that this is just about my favorite time of the year for the weather. We have had morning lows in the mid to high 60’s and our daytime highs have just reached the low 90’s. The week began with mostly cloudy skies on Monday and on Tuesday afternoon they started to break up. The wind was kicking in a bit early in the week as well. The clouds brought no rain and after they were gone the winds were very light, just enough to put a light chop on the water in the afternoon. The week ended on a very nice note with clear and sunny skies and light winds.
WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape had swells at 3-5 feet but spaced well apart. On the Cortez side south of the Punta Gorda area things were nice with swells at 1-3 feet. On the Pacific early in the week and up past Punta Gorda the winds kicked it up a notch and the water was choppy. On the Pacific side the water temperatures were lower than on the Cortez side with 69-71 degree water almost everywhere. The temperature break was a straight line north to south off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. East of the break the water warmed to 75 degrees and out at the Cabrillo Seamount late in the week we had some water as warm as 82 degrees for a day or so.
BAIT: This was a tough week to get bait; the bait boats were working hard at snagging Caballito right at the mouth of the marina and were not having a lot of luck. I heard of quite a few instances of bait boats charging as much as $5 per bait. That is high, but not bad if it is the right bait, but the fish definitely preferred Mackerel, and the Caballito are not in very good shape after being snagged. In other words, bait was scarce this week, and expensive.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Once again there were plenty of Marlin out there but the bite was still off. There were plenty of squid in the area and the Marlin were stuffed. A few boats were doing all right on Mackerel (a scarce bait this week) and a few fish were caught on Caballito, but the majority of fish were hooked on artificial lures. The Striped Marlin were all over the place from a mile off the arch to 5 miles off of Gray Rock, you had no problem finding fish, but they were not very hungry. On the Billfish side of things, I heard that several weeks ago there were three or four large Blue Marlin, one in the #800 and a couple on the 500-600 pound class caught right out front when these small football Yellowfin first showed up. I didn’t hear of them at the time, but was told of them yesterday by a very reputable Captain.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin Tuna were the fish of the week, at least at the beginning of the week, and are also the “rant” fish of the week. At the start of the week, under the cloudy skies, hordes of football size fish, from 8 to 20 pounds showed up jut off the beach from 2-5 miles from the arch. All the tuna you wanted were available and everyone limited out on fish. On Wednesday the Purse Seiners started to show up. On Wednesday there were 6 boats out there, on Thursday there were 9 boats, on Friday and Saturday there were 13 boats, at least 8 of which were super Seiners over 200 feet long and with spotting helicopters n the decks. They were fishing these tuna just 2 miles off the beach. The marines went out and stopped two of the boats and chased them away, but said that the others all had permits to fish there. These fish have hold that can carry 1,500 TONS of fish. Needless to say, at the end of the week a good day on the water resulted in a dozen or fewer tuna for the sport fleet. There were the occasional nice fish; the largest I heard of was a double on fish in the #70 class.
DORADO: The warm water has resulted in an increase in the numbers of Dorado being caught. Most boats are getting a fish or two a day; on Saturday we caught four Dorado between 12-18 pounds. They are in the same area as the tuna and marlin, right in among the Seiners. A live Caballito dropped back after a hook-up resulted in at least one of our fish, the others bit on bright colored lures.
WAHOO: There were a few Wahoo caught, again in the warm water out front, but not many of them. Average size was reported at 25 pounds.
INSHORE: The warmer water resulted in fewer Yellowtail being caught this week, but an increase in the numbers of Roosterfish. The Roosterfish are still on the small side with an average weight of around 5 pounds. Live bait was tough to come by so while the Caballito were large, there were not many of them and the ones anglers used were getting pounded hard by the Roosters. Most of the hook-ups were a result of luck, as the baits were much too large for the fish. The Sierra bite has dropped off as a result of the warmer water but the Pargo and grouper bite has become better. With the Tuna so close to shore, many of the Pangas were targeting them, and they had good luck.
NOTES: The Tuna Seiners had everyone up in arms, especially late in the afternoons when they started to set nets around the few sports fishermen that stayed out. I had thought that they were not allowed by law to fish any closer than 20 miles form the beach, and not at all within the Sea of Cortez, but I must have misunderstood the rules. Anyway, I overheard more than one local crew complain and talk about doing something, but since the Marines are letting them fish, it must be legal (right?). If we saw these numbers between one and 6 miles off of the beach, imagine how many more are just beyond the horizon. If these boats continue to fish right in front of Cabo, look for the numbers of all species caught by the local sport fishing fleet to drop off quickly. I remember what just 2 of these boats did to the fishery on top of the Gorda Banks six years ago; it took four years for the fishery there to recover. The Pangas and fishermen out of San Jose ended up ganging together and throwing rebar anchors into the middle of the Seiners nets while they were fishing and powering out, ripping their nets up. Until next week, keep your fingers crossed! |
George Landrum (Captg)
New member
Username: Captg
Post Number: 73
Registered: 8-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 21, 2008 - 8:02 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
April 14-20, 2008
WEATHER: Once again we have had a week of sun and fun here in Cabo. This time of year the spring break crowd is gone, the number of cruise ships calling at our port is down and the temperature has started to climb. Not too high, just into the low 90’s during the day and the low 70’s at night, but that’s just perfect for me! With this kind of weather a lot of our friends have returned from the cold north while many of the winter residents have gone home to prepare for spring back there. Just a very nice time of the year!
WATER: We have had light afternoon breezes for the first part of the week changing into light morning breezes later in the week, but nothing heavy enough to cause problems out on the water. A prevailing northwesterly direction has meant that the water on the Sea of Cortez has been very nice with only slight swells and wind chop while the Pacific side of the Cape has had slight swells and mostly slightly choppy conditions. Water temperature on the Pacific side has remained cooler than on the Cortez side with that wrap around the Cape from the east I mentioned last week still happening. Offshore on the Pacific side it has been 67-69 degrees while closer to the beach, say 4-5 miles off the beach and 10 miles to the north the warmer 74-degree water has prevailed. Of course the cooler water has meant green conditions and on the Golden Gate Bank reports were of very green conditions. On the Sea of Cortez we have had consistent 74-75 degree water across all the areas with just a slight tinge to it.
BAIT: There were many more Caballito available this past week than there were Mackerel, and they were both the normal $2 per bait. I did not hear anything about Sardinas.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: You didn’t have to go far this week to find Striped Marlin, but you had to have the right bait and a good amount of luck to catch one! Early in the week the bite was good up at the Punta Gorda area later in the afternoon and there were not many fish in our area, but on Wednesday the suddenly showed up in large numbers. It was not uncommon to spot pods of three to fifteen fish less than four miles form the arch, and often within a mile or less. The problem was that the fish were not very interested in Caballito, and that was the bait most common from the bait boats. Mackerel was preferred by the Marlin that were hungry. Being off the feed was probably due to them feeding all night during the full moon phase (tonight is the full moon). What they have been feeding on also had an effect! There were balls of 12-inch squid everywhere, and almost every species of fish caught this week was stuffed with them. Captains and anglers who were on top of their game and lucky enough to get a fish to the boat were ready with a bait net to catch any fresh squid spilled from the Marlins mouth, and some of them were lucky enough to be on top of one of the squid balls when the marlin forced them to the surface, managing to net a few live ones to toss out. Guaranteed catch if that happened! But, alas, for the most part boats were lucky to catch one marlin after throwing bait to dozens of lazing fish.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The tuna bite in our area dropped off again although a few boats were able to get into small pods of porpoise that were holding then. The tuna that were caught were not large ones; most of them were in the 10-15 pound range. A good catch this past week would have been four or five tuna. Most of them were found to the south at a distance of 10 miles and more, a few more were found around the 1150 area. Red and orange colored lures in the smaller sizes sort of imitated the squid they were feeding on.
DORADO: Once again the numbers of Dorado slowly increased over the numbers caught last week. It seemed that about 20% of the boats were flying a yellow flag or two when they returned this week. Most of the fish were found in the same areas as the Striped Marlin and they were also stuffed on squid. One nice thing is that the average size has been fair, not a lot of the little slipper size (5-8 pounds) were caught, most of the fish were around 12-15 pounds.
WAHOO: What Hoo once again, and I was surprised since we are in a full moon phase. Maybe the water just has to warm up a bit more?
INSHORE: There were reports from the anglers and Captains of large numbers of small Roosterfish once again just off the beach on the Pacific side between the arch and the lighthouse. These fish have been pounding small Caballito and the boats often had to return for more bait. The size was small with an average of 5 pounds, but a few larger ones, to about 15 pounds, were caught in the same area every day. I had an angler tie into a very large Sierra on Tuesday in this area. He fought the fish on line around 15 pounds in strength and said the Sierra would have weighed about 20 pounds (this is an experienced angler and Captain saying this). Of course when I told them that it might have been a possible line class world record they were mad they had filleted the fish! There have been some nice Pargo in the 20-30 pound class start to show off of the rocky points and live bait slow trolled deep has been the key for the larger ones. Adding to the excitement of fishing this way is the possibility of hooking up to some of the 30-40 pound Yellowtail that are still around. There are still many of the smaller ones, but as I said last week, not in the numbers we had been seeing. Even with the inshore action being good, many of the Pangas are targeting Marlin since they are so close right now.
NOTES: My golf game continues to improve; I am now consistently breaking 100. Don’t laugh, that is quite an improvement for me! I am looking forward to fishing this coming week; I just hope things keep popping out there! This weeks report was written to the sound of my dog snoring in the background, she had a hard day at the beach this morning! Until next week, tight lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
New member
Username: Captg
Post Number: 72
Registered: 8-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 - 8:31 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
April 7-13, 2008
WEATHER: The weather continues to slowly warm up as our nighttime lows have been in the high 60’s and our daytime highs have been in the high 80’s. There have been very few clouds in the skies this past week, just scattered around here and there for the most part. No rain has been seen to fall anywhere near us. Sun block of at least SPF-35 has been a necessity.
WATER: It appears that the California current has become weaker as the warm water on the Cortez side of the Cape has started to come across into the Pacific side over the week. The cooler water in the current has been forced offshore, outside the San Jaime Bank it is a cool 68-69 degrees while on the bank and up to the shoreline it is a warmer 73-74 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape we have mostly warm water in the 74-75 degree range. Surface conditions have been great this past week with small swells and very little wind.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin are re-appearing in large numbers now as the water has warmed up to their preferred 74 degree range, but they are not biting all that well. That is not to say there are no fish being caught; it just means that as far as the percentage of fish caught to fish seen, well, that is a low number. The positive side of this is that there are large numbers of fish being seen on the surface, small groups of three or four and larger groups that number up to fifteen fish. Most boats have been releasing two or three Marlin per trip, but throwing bait to forty or so fish in order to get those numbers. The area around the 95 spot has been holding large numbers of Striped Marlin, as has the area around the 1150.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We had a wide-open bite on the football size fish this week as a large school moved to within 4 miles of the bay early in the week. Boats were getting 20-30 fish each before tiring and going on to fish for Marlin. These fish were averaging 8-10 pounds each with a few in the 20-pound class. They were biting anything you put in the water, but the larger fish were eating live bait dropped in front of the moving schools. Any boats that went out at 150 degrees ran into these fish on Monday and Tuesday, as the week went on the fish moved to the west. There were other scattered schools found, but with the bite so good close to home not many boats went much farther to look for larger ones.
DORADO: There continued to be a few fish caught this week and as the water warms up more we should expect to be seeing more Dorado. I had a report of a boat up at Los Barillas catching 27 Dorado after finding a dead seal and that is the type of thing that may begin to happen here. Not that we kill seals, but this time of year we begin to find kelp fronds and trash in the water that hold large numbers of Dorado.
WAHOO: What Hoo once again.
INSHORE: The numbers of small Yellowtail being caught has lowered this week, weather because they have moved on to water more in keeping with their preferred temperature or because they became fished out, I don’t know. But instead of filling coolers with these small 5-8 pound fish, boats are getting just three or four per trip. What has a lot of anglers excited is the number of Roosterfish that have been showing up just outside of the arch. There have been mornings when 20 fish have been caught and released by one boat, but the fish have been small with an average size of 5 pounds. Little guys, but when you use light tackle they are a blast to catch! The Sierra bite has fallen off a bit as well and with the smooth water conditions and the Yellowfin Tuna being close, a lot of the Panga fishermen have been going out for the Tuna.
NOTES: Maybe I’ll try this thing I’ve been trying to get to use next year, it does not look like I will get to use this technique anytime soon, sigh. Anyway, we had great fishing this week and I hope it continues, with the numbers of Striped Marlin we are seeing if they start biting it will be awesome. This weeks report was written to the music of John Lee Hooker on the 2006 Virgin Records release “Best Of Friends”. Until next week, tight lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
New member
Username: Captg
Post Number: 71
Registered: 8-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2008 - 7:03 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
March 31-April 6, 2008
WEATHER: The weather has continued to make a believer of me in Cabo being the perfect place to live this time of year. Our daytime highs have been in the low 90’s and our nighttime lows in the mid to low 60’s. We had mostly sunny skies this week and for the most part, light winds. There were a couple of days in the middle of the week where the wind blew strongly from the west, but it was for only a day or two.
WATER: Water temperatures on the Cortez side of the Cape have continued to rise slowly; we had as warm as 75 degrees at the end of the week across the 95 spot. There is still a plume of cool 67-degree water coming across the tip of the Cape from the Pacific side. Both sides of the Cape experienced bouncy conditions on Friday and Saturday when the wind shifted and came from the west, but it settled right down. Water clarity had been an issue on the Pacific side close to shore but that has cleared up a bit, however the farther to the north you went the greener the water became. The blue water has remained south of us at a distance of at least 25 miles. Even the warm water across the 95 spot has been slightly green in color.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The good news is that the Striped Marlin bite has continued to improve; it was better this week than last week. That may be due to the warmer water we are experiencing, but for whatever the reason, we are happy. Along with the improved bite is the fact that the fish have moved closer to us, in the warmer water across the 95 spot, which translates into shorter runs to the Marlin. They seem to be a bit larger on average than we have seen lately as well. I did not hear of any other species of billfish this week, but I am sure there were some strikes on larger ones.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The football size Yellowfin continue to provide action but they have been a little harder to find for many of the boats. 25 to 30 miles to the south has continued to be the most prolific area for these fish and the first boats to the schools are doing well with an average catch rate of 10-12 fish per boat. Anglers arriving a little late have not been shut out, but it has been a slow pick for them with an average of four or five fish per boat. There were rumors floating around in the middle of the week of a private boat finding a school of fish averaging 80 pounds, but I was not able to confirm any information on that.
DORADO: The warm water continued to produce fish that averaged 12 pounds with a few in the 20-30 pound class, but there were no large numbers from that area. Almost everyone got a fish or two though. There was one day when a couple of boats found a patch of kelp to the inside of the San Jaime bank and loaded up on Dorado that averaged 15 pounds, they worked it hard with cut bait and kept radio silence until they were done. They looked for it again the next day but it had drifted off and could not be found again.
WAHOO: What Hoo?
INSHORE: Firecracker Yellowtail continued to provide plenty of action for inshore anglers this week with the fish averaging 5 pounds. Sierra were in the same areas and while the fishing was not red-hot for them, the bite was still decent with anglers catching as many as they wanted. Roosterfish were also mixed in with the Yellowtail and Sierra. They were small ones at an average of 5 pounds, but provided good action on light tackle, and a variety in the catch. White Bonita rounded out the inshore action with fish from 5 to 12 pounds. All of these fish were found in water less than 100 feet deep, close to the shoreline on the Pacific side.
NOTES: I did not manage to get out and try the thing I mentioned last week, perhaps I will get a chance this week. If I do, I’ll fill you in on the results. The bite continues to improve in our area and our hope is that the trend continues. Whale sightings are down as the migration is almost over. On Saturday we saw only two, a mother and baby Humpback headed north on the Pacific side. Let me take a second here for some blatant advertising. The Shrimp House is back!! Shrimp and bulldogs! On Hidalgo Street. Right now the sign says El Patio, but Maro is getting that changed This weeks report was written to the sounds of U2 on their 1987 Island Records release “The Joshua Tree”. Until next week, Tight Lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
New member
Username: Captg
Post Number: 70
Registered: 8-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 10:01 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
March 24-30, 2008
WEATHER: Wow, did we ever have great weather this week! I was telling my wife yesterday as we were driving out of town that I wish it was like this every day, then she reminded me that if it was, there would be too many people living here! Guess that’s right, I mean it was 11 am and it was a beautiful 77 degrees out there, and only 67 when we got up in the morning. We had lightly scattered clouds all week and this wonderful weather. Sure am glad I was here this week!
WATER: The winds from the northwest were on again, off again this week as they kicked up for three days during the middle of the week. This resulted in rough conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape and in the Sea of Cortez offshore. Along with the wind came a strong push from the California current, bringing water along the Pacific coast as cold as 61 degrees. On the charts it looks like a finger cupped around the Cape, pointing toward the east. The warmer water, in the 71-degree range at the end of the week, was outside the 1,000-fathom line again. Earlier in the week it warmed up to 75 degrees in a warm eddy that spun across from the west to the east, then went beyond our immediate area. The water between Cabo and the 1150 and north of that line has been a consistent 71-72 degrees while the water on the Pacific side offshore has been a much cooler 67 degrees.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite picked up this week, not red hot by any means but much better than it has been. Most of the fish were found outside the 1,000-fathom line and in the warmer water on the Cortez side. Most of these fish were on the surface and caught on live bait, but a few were attracted by lures and bit on drop-back live bait or were hungry enough to eat the lures. My guess is that the average was a fish for every other boat, with a few boats managing to hook up and release two or three per day. One nice thing I heard early in the week was of a Black Marlin reported to be in the 400 –pound range being caught by one of the fleet boats while they were fishing for football Tuna outside the 1,000-fathom line. That was reported as happening on Tuesday. A few more Swordfish were sighted as well, but there were none reported hooked up that I heard about.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Football Yellowfin in the 6-15 pound class continued to be the fish of the week as almost everyone willing to get out 30 miles was able to get limits, some more than limits. It usually did not take long as the fish were very hungry and multiple hook-ups were the norm, as three or four lines would get hit at the same time. Boats with just one client aboard went to pulling only one or two lines. The fish slowly moved to the east over the course of the week and the best bite was between 180 and 210 degrees during the start of the week and between 170 and 140 degrees at the end of the week. A few boats were able to get into slightly larger fish averaging 30 pounds at the end of the week, but rough offshore conditions made keeping sight of the Dolphin pods hard to do.
DORADO: There were a few more Dorado caught this week than last week, probably due to the eddy of warm water that passed our way. Most of the Dorado were caught in the warm water as boats fished for Tuna. Average size was around 15 pounds but a few boats caught doubles on fish in the 30-pound class.
WAHOO: What Hoo?
INSHORE: The rough water on the Pacific side combined with cold green conditions that started early in the week meant the inshore fishing was not very good this past week. That is not to say there were not fish caught, but the numbers were down from what we had been experiencing. The Sierra bite was spotty; a good trip resulted in a half-dozen or so to 10 pounds with the average size around 6 pounds. There were Pargo found in the rocks at the points and still a few decent Yellowtail were found.
NOTES: I don’t know if the warming of the water is a trend that is going to continue, but I sure hope it does. It seems that the water getting warmer means better fishing for us. I am going to get out this week and give a few things I have been working on a try; I’ll let you know next week if they work out. Until then, try and keep a smile on your face, things could always be worse. This weeks report was written to the music of my dog snoring in the background after a long morning at the beach! Tight Lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
New member
Username: Captg
Post Number: 69
Registered: 8-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008 - 8:33 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
March 17-23, 2008
WEATHER: The weather has been going back and forth from cool to warm and it seems to change about every 5 days or so. This past week it was cool at the beginning and warm toward the end. At the end of the week our nighttime lows were in the mid 60’s and our daytime highs reached 91. Earlier in the week everything was 10 degrees cooler and there was wind and partly cloudy skies. Thankfully, the wind died down to nothing on Thursday and there were just light breezes over the Easter weekend.
WATER: Water conditions remained less than perfect on the Pacific side at the beginning of the week with strong winds from the northwest pushing up swells to 6 feet with lots of whitecaps on top. Also during that time frame the Cortez side was rougher than is normal with winds from the North not really pushing up swells but bringing on a lot of chop. At the end of the week things had really settled down, the wind quit blowing on Thursday and the swells relented on the Pacific side, becoming 2-3 feet with no chop, and conditions almost glassy on the Cortez side. On Sunday afternoon the wind again started to pick up from the Northwest and the Pacific side started to kick up a bit. Water temperatures were much warmer due south of the Cape much of the week with a band of warm water out past the 25 mile line, wandering between there and 30 miles out. This water was in the 70-70.5 degree range and was pretty clean and blue. I made a run out to the southern side of San Jaime on Friday and while I read mostly 68 degrees to the south, as soon as I approached within 5 miles the water dropped to 64 degrees and turned very green. I overheard other Captains mention that the water out past the 95 spot was also cool, but a bit cleaner, but with no fish to be found.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There were very few Marlin caught this week and the ones that were caught were found due south, in the warmer water among the Dolphin, I think the hook-up ratio was probably in the 10% range once again. Just as happened the week before, there were a few Swordfish sighted and fished for, but I did not hear of any coming in to the dock.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again the football size fish were found anywhere from 170 degrees to 220 degrees off of the cape. The distance varied from 32 miles to 38 miles, but very few fish were found any closer than that. All of the fish were associated with the white-bellied Dolphin; if you found a pod of them the chances were good that there were fish with them. The average size was 12 pounds with a few fish going to 20 pounds and a few in the 8-pound range. Best lures were cedar plugs and dark colored feathers. Multiple hook-ups were not uncommon and most boats later in the week were able to catch as many as they wanted. I heard of one boat that got into fish just a little bit bigger at a reported 25-pound average while fishing a bit farther east, just to the south of the Cabrilla Seamount, but there was no confirmation on that. The full moon we are going through right now may be helping our tuna catch.
DORADO: Once again there were a few Dorado caught, but most of them were very small. A few boats reported finding patches of kelp while looking for Tuna, and some to these patches held Dorado and small Yellowfin as well as a few Yellowtail.
WAHOO: Wahoo are in the same category this week as Dorado, with the red flags seen flying but I believe they were all for Sierra!
INSHORE: The bite on small Yellowtail continued this week with many more of them being taken off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. A surprise for most anglers was the chance to get bit by large Humboldt squid. The squid were concentrated off of the arch, right in front of town, and on Friday they had moved even closer, with boats fishing for them within 200 yards of the Marina entrance. Sierra continue to provide action for those fishing just outside the breakers on both sides of the Cape, but the action seemed better on the Pacific side.
NOTES: It’s a long run out to the Tuna, and they are not big fish, but at least there is action in that area, plus the chance to come across a Marlin or Swordfish as well as a patch of kelp. The Tuna have been keeping anglers happy and with the Humboldt squid right in front there is no reason for anyone to have gone home empty handed later in the week. The Whales are slowly moving back to the north, we saw only three of them on Friday. If the water warms up a bit things should start to take off, our fingers are crossed for better action in the future. My golf game is better; I am consistently scoring below 100 now with no mulligans. Maybe by the time I’m 90 I will break 90! Until next week, Tight Lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
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Post Number: 68
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
March 10-16, 2008
WEATHER: While the week started off great, with the daytime highs to the low 90’s and nighttime lows in the mid 60’s, at the end of the week the clouds moved in and the wind picked up. As of the weekend we were having winds from the northwest to 18-20 mph with partly cloudy skies and the average temperatures had dropped by 8-10 degrees. No rain came with the front system, but it definitely cooled things off.
WATER: As a result of the winds later in the week, what had been smooth 2-4 foot swells with light breezes on the Pacific side turned into sheep farming by Friday. Everywhere you looked there were whitecaps and swells that had kicked up to 4-6 feet with a few larger ones. Boats that fished south of the Cape early in the week started reporting the wind and swell increase on Tuesday and by Thursday the effects were right off the Cape. On the Cortez side, things were a bit nicer, especially in the morning before the wind really got to cranking it up. Outside of 10 miles though the effects came into play and you had to deal with the choppy conditions. As a result of the wind and the strong California current there was a band of very cool water, down as low as 59 degrees right at the lighthouse. Almost made me expect Albacore Tuna! On the Pacific side the water remained cool, between 59 and 65 degrees outside the 1,000-fathom line. This cool water extended south a distance of 30 miles while on the eastern side of the Cape it only went north as far as a line east of Cabo out to the 1150 area. Farther north it warmed a bit to the 68-degree range and out to the south of the Seamount there was a warm spot that had been drifting around all week that had water as warm as 71 degrees.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin this week were found either close to shore, within 10 miles on the Pacific side or far out, past 30 miles to the south. While there were fish spotted, there were not many of them that were hungry. Looking at the flags flying as boats returned for the day and talking to the guys who were out there this week, the fish were either going to eat right away or disappear before you could get a bait to them. My guess is that only 10% of the boats had a decent shot at a Striped Marlin this week and about half of them hooked up, with some of these fish lost. From that I guess you can tell that the percentages were pretty low. I did hear rumors of a large Marlin, either Blue or Black, being landed early in the week. This fish was reported to be in the #400 range but I never heard anything more on it. With water this cold it would be surprising to me to have one out there, but you never know. There were a few more Swordfish hooked this past week in the cool, green water to the southwest with the largest reported at #250. These fish were reported to have eaten live Mackerel.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again it was mostly football Yellowfin this week. The majority of the fish were found south at 30+ miles early in the week before the wind picked up. Later in the week the fish may have been there still, but it was too rough for most of the boats to get there. As a result of the wind more boats fished on the Cortez side of the Cape and around the warm water sot south of the Seamount there were reports of fish averaging 25 pounds with a few to 50 pounds mixed in with the white bellied dolphin. There were massive pods of these dolphin reported off of the Pacific side in the area of the San Jaime Banks, but with the pods reported to be 3 or 4 miles wide and long, it was difficult to find any fish with them.
DORADO: I did see several Dorado flags early in the week but nothing over this weekend.
WAHOO: Wahoo are in the same category this week as Dorado, with the red flags seen flying but I believe they were all for Sierra!
INSHORE: There was a giant school of small Yellowtail found on the Pacific side up at Los Arcos early in the week. Thank goodness the wind kicked up, as there may be some of them that escaped to reproduce. A lot of the Pangas were going out and loading up on them, and these were small fish in the 5-pound range. I hated to see this as for many of the guys there was no reasoning with them, it was a “load up while you can, the hell with the stock’ mentality. There were a lot of the Captains however that limited their clients to only a couple of these for dinner, then took off to look for larger fish. My hat is off to these guys; they care about the future of the fishery here. Also inshore there were scattered Pargo up in the rocks as well as a few larger Yellowtail to 40 pounds just off the bottom in 120 feet of water.
NOTES: I hope the winds die down, but it looks as if it may continue to blow for the next four of five days. Normally this type of wind only lasts three days then we get three days of good weather. It remains to be seen if we will have the same pattern this season. There are still whales around but they are getting ready to return to the north. No music this week, I wrote this report to the sounds of the wind blowing, my dog snoring and one of the cats crying for treats. Until next week, tight lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
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Post Number: 67
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
March 3-9, 2008
WEATHER: It was just another great week here in Cabo! I love living here when the weather is like this, the daytime highs in the mid 80’s and the nighttime lows in the high 50’s, it makes me feel good to get up in the morning to a slight chill, and cooking on the grill in the evening is so nice! We had mostly sunny skies this week with no rain seen or felt.
WATER: The water on the Pacific side of the Cape has cooled considerably with the near-shore water 64-65 degrees while farther offshore it warms to a toasty 69 degrees. The near shore cooler water is slightly green while offshore there is a nice blue color. On the Cortez side the water across the 95 spot, the 1150 and Gorda Bank has remained at 66 degrees and green. Off shore at a distance of 30-50 miles the water warms up to 72 degrees and is just slightly tinged with green. Our good deep blue water is to the southwest. Everything appears to be moving slowly to the east with a clockwise rotation. The water has remained nice on the surface on both sides of the Cape with swells of 2-3 feet and light winds.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin catch remained slow this week for most of the boats but there were fish found. Most of these were tailing or sleeping fish, and only a few were hungry and bit. These fish were in the cooler water close to shore, most of them found off of the points and drops along the Pacific side of the Cape, but there were also a few fish found just outside the Gorda Bank area. There were a few more Swordfish sighted this week but I did not hear of any boated.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This past week was almost a repeat of last week as there were plenty of the football size fish to be found offshore. On the Cortez side, out toward and on the edge of the warm water at 30-50 miles the fish were slightly larger at 15-30 pounds with a few fish pushing 40 pounds. To the south of the Cape and to the south of the San Jaime Bank the fish were footballs for the most part with an occasional fish pushing the 25-pound mark. The best action was had with smaller feathers with squid colors as these fish are just stuffed with 4-5 inch squid. Having all the rods go off at the same time was not unusual, but it did take time to get out there and back.
DORADO: There have been a few fish found this week, but no large numbers like a few boats had the week prior. Most of these fish have been found in the warm water to the south and west and have averaged 15 pounds.
WAHOO: I did not hear of any Wahoo this week but I did see several flags flying along with Tuna and Dorado flags so I assume there were some of them caught offshore.
INSHORE: The inshore fishing remained hot this week with large numbers of Sierra and smaller Yellowtail providing plenty of action on both sides of the Cape. Smaller swimming plugs pulled just outside the breaking waves provided lots of action on Sierra to 8 pounds and Yellowtail to 10 pounds. Fishing slow trolled live Mackerel down close to the bottom in 50 feet of water caught fewer, but much larger fish, up to 10 pounds on the Sierra and 35 pounds on the Yellowtail. A few very nice Grouper and Snapper fell to these same methods. Just off the rocky points there was great action on the Bonita to 20 pounds and they bit well on blue-silver irons fished yo-yo style. An occasional big Yellowtail was an added bonus for many anglers.
NOTES: Things continue to improve and I am optimistic it will continue. Now, if only my golf game would hit the next level! This weeks report was written to the music of Alison Krauss + Union Station on the 2002 Rounder records release “Live”. |
George Landrum (Captg)
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Post Number: 66
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 7:05 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Feb 25-March 2, 2008
WEATHER: It warmed up a bit this past week with several days where our highs were in the mid to high 80’s. On the cooler days we were in the high 70’s, still just about right. In the evening it cooled off quite a bit and on the cold nights we were seeing temperatures in the mid 60’s with a bit of an evening breeze working that made it feel even cooler. There were partly cloudy skies for the first part of the week but it cleared later on. There was no rain, of course.
WATER: I fished both sides of the cape this week, on the Cortez side on Wednesday and the Pacific on Friday and they were surprisingly similar as far as surface conditions went. On the Cortez side the water was cool and green out as far as the 95 spot and the 1150, past that point and out to the Cabrilla Seamount things warmed up to 73.4 degrees and were nice and blue. The only problem we had was the fact that we could not find any fish! The surface was almost glassy with current rips easily seen and the swells slight at 1-2 feet but all we ended up with was seeing some common Pacific Dolphin, a few Humpback Whales and two Striped Marlin on the surface. Oh, we did release on 3-pound Dorado. On the Pacific side on Friday the water within three miles of the coast was a bit bumpy and there was a strong cloud line out 15 miles. We went 31 miles out looking for Tuna and other than the first three miles, the swells were slight at 2-4 feet and the water was glassy, almost summer time like. The water was a slight bit cooler at 71 degrees but we did find football-size Tuna to 25 pounds.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There was a bit of Striped Marlin action almost every morning for boats the fished the area off of Los Arcos on the Pacific side, but it revolved around the tide change and did not last long on any one day. The lucky boats were getting two releases a day while most others were lucky to get a strike. The nice part of the billfish situation is that the Swordfish are starting to be seen on the surface on a fairly regular basis, and by that I mean regular when compared to normal! Probably one in 15 boats have sighted a Swordfish this week and one boat I know saw three different fish on Tuesday and managed to find one of them hungry, proceeding to catch a Swordfish in the 150-pound class after a fight of 90 minutes.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There are finally Tuna showing up on a regular basis even if they are football size fish. From a distance of 30 to 45 miles at between 150 and 240 degrees from the Arch there have been fish found every day. A few small groups have been found closer but they have not been biting well. On my Friday trip we went 31 miles at 230 degrees to find two separate pods of Dolphin. Both of them held fish with the first pod having fish averaging 20 pounds and the second pod averaging 10 pounds. A triple strike, then the fish in the first pod went down. At the second pod we were covered up with all five lines going off, then a double, then singles for a total of 16 Tuna at the end of the trip with the larges at 25 pounds. A friend of mine found fish at 170 degrees and 45 miles on Wednesday that averaged 25 pounds and picked 16 of them in about an hour before having to return to port
DORADO: The warm water on the Cortez side produced a few Dorado this week but other than one day, Tuesday when a pair of boats found a dead seal and loaded up on 15-pound fish, they have been scarce with just a few fish showing up.
WAHOO: I did hear of one nice Wahoo being caught this week about 35 miles to the south by a boat looking for Tuna. The fish was reported to weigh around 90 pounds. I am sure there were a few others caught, and on Wednesday we had one make a pass at one of our lures, but I had no other confirmed reports of them.
INSHORE: The inshore fishing has remained good for Sierra and Yellowtail. Most of the Yellowtail have been caught by boats fishing swimming plugs for Sierra and these fish have been small, but boats willing to do the work and drift live baits deep off of the rocky points or use iron jigs to “yo-yo” have been getting a few nice fish of up to 30 pounds. The Grouper have started to bite a little better and there are still a few snapper being found in the rocks.
NOTES: Things are starting to look up on the fishing front here in Cabo as we are starting to see some Tuna showing up and the inshore fishing remains good. Our fingers are crossed that things continue to remain on a positive track. My golf game is improving as well; I am now consistently getting under 100 strokes! This weeks report has been written to the music of the Gypsy Kings on the 1995 Nonsuch Records release “The Best Of The Gypsy Kings”. |
George Landrum (Captg)
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Post Number: 65
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 8:02 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Feb 18-24, 2008
WEATHER: We had a few clouds in the sky this week, but not enough to call it cloudy, just enough to make things cool. Our daytime highs were in the low 80’s and the nighttime lows were in the high 50’s. Light winds on shore kept things nice and comfortable while at sea on the Pacific side things were a little bumpy as the winds were from the northwest and kicked up a light chop.
WATER: The wind died down this week so surface conditions were much better on both the Pacific and the Cortez sides of the Cape. On the Pacific swells were 3-5 feet with a light chop while the Cortez had swells at 1-3 feet with almost no chop in the morning and offshore chop in the afternoons. Water temperatures on the Pacific side were warmer, almost averaging 68 degrees up to 10 miles offshore and out a bit farther it dropped to 67 degrees. The water close to shore, in the warmer area, was very green, almost brown in some areas. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was 64-65 degrees out to 4 miles from the shore and farther than that, across the Gorda Bank and the 1150 spot the water warmed up to 69 degrees. There is a plume of cool, off-colored water running south from the Cape, but the water out 5 miles to the south side of the 1,000-fathom line warmed to 71 degrees. While the warm water was on both sides of the Cape, the only really blue water was on the Pacific side out past the San Jaime Bank.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: About the only thing I have to say for the past weeks bill fishing is that it was almost non-existent. Not that there weren’t people out trying, it’s just that the few fish that were found were not interested in eating. The full moon may have had something to do with it perhaps, it’s been know to have an effect, but it’s not really an explanation of why the fish have mostly disappeared. Perhaps the much cooler than normal water has something to do with it as well? One bright spot is that the green, cool water has brought about more sightings of Swordfish, but I have not heard of anyone actually hooking one up in a legal sort of way, but a few guys did hook fish by snagging them, then proceeded to loose them after several hours of fighting time. These Swordfish have been seen in the cool water plume running directly south from the Cape.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: No change this week from last week on the Tuna situation. There are still only football fish being found out there, and most of them have been between 18 to 30 miles to the south. Boats working westward past the banks were not doing well with only an occasional pod of porpoise showing, and few of them holding fish. Once again red hootchies were the best bet for these fish as most of the stomach contents were found to be red crab.
DORADO: I did not hear of any Dorado being caught this week, and saw no new yellow flags flying. I am sure there were a few, but no reports were heard by me.
WAHOO: Once again I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican Wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Just like last week, with the exception of more small Yellowtail being caught by guys pulling small swimming plugs for Sierra. Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action dropped off again, it seems to be a “good one week, slow the next” type of fishery. Snapper fishing has again improved and there are a few more grouper being found by those targeting bottom fish. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Well, the nice weather continued for this past week as we had hoped, but the fishing has been very “off”, compared to the usual activity we get this time of year. The best bet has been fishing inshore; a lot of trips have been saved by targeting Sierra after six hours of looking for Marlin and Tuna. Fishing inshore also gets you up close to the whales, and that is always a lot of fun. This weeks report was written to the music of Boz Scaggs on his 1994 Virgin Records release, “Some Changes”. Until next week, Tight Lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
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Post Number: 64
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2008 - 9:14 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Feb 11-17, 2008
WEATHER: We had partly cloudy skies early in the week, then things cleared up at the weekend and it was bright and sunny. We also had quite a bit of wind from the northwest up until the weekend; it then died down here in town. There was no rain associated with the early week cloudy conditions.
WATER: Surface conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape were rougher than they had been last week due to the continuing wind. Choppy seas, running at 4-6 feet with 12-15 knots on top made for unstable footing and a lot of spray and pounding while running to and from the banks. On the Sea of Cortez the surface conditions were much better, but there were few boats fishing the area due to green, cold water. With the surface temperatures at 67-69 degrees all the way up to Punta Gorda, and down to 64 degrees north of there, the fishing was not very good. On the Pacific side things were warmer and the water a bit clearer, but the cool water seems to be working its way toward us there as well. There remains a plume of warm 71 degree water running from across the Golden Gate bank to three miles outside the lighthouse as well as an area on the western edge of the San Jaime bank that is as warm, but the warm water seems to be receding southward.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin have continued to remain scarce with the only concentration found atop the Golden Gate Bank, and there were not many of them willing to eat. Most boats fished the bank with slow drifted live Mackerel caught on the site and felt they were doing well with a couple of Marlin bites and possibly one or two releases. Boats using smaller diameter floura-carbon leader with circle hooks were having better luck than others with most of them able to get up to a half-dozen bites a day for up to that many releases. Running to feeding Marlin, marked by the diving birds, was not as productive as the fish did not stay up long. On Saturday and Sunday there were up to 60 boats working the bank with most of them only getting one or two bites, and almost all of them having sick anglers on board due to the surface conditions.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There are still only football fish being found out there, and most of them have been between 18 to 30 miles to the south. Boats working westward past the banks were not doing well with only an occasional pod of porpoise showing, and few of them holding fish. Once again red hootchies were the best bet for these fish as most of the stomach contents were found to be red crab.
DORADO: I did not see any Dorado myself, but I did overhear one conversation concerning a decent catch made by a boat that found a piece of wood in the water 30 miles to the south, and they were apparently able to pick off 5 fish between 15-20 pounds.
WAHOO: Once again I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican Wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action dropped off again, it seems to be a “good one week, slow the next” type of fishery. Snapper fishing has again improved and there are a few more grouper being found by those targeting bottom fish. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Still lots of whales out there, everyone is seeing them during the fishing charters. There are also quite a few small Mako Sharks being caught at the Golden Gate Bank, but I have not heard of any large ones. This weeks report was written to the music of “Mighty Lester” on their 2006 release “We are Mighty Lester”, released by themselves, some really swinging blues! Until next week, keep your fingers crossed that the fishing picks up and the nice weather continues! Tight Lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
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Post Number: 63
Registered: 8-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 11, 2008 - 8:00 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Feb 4-10, 2008
WEATHER: It felt like winter this week even though it never got below 56 degrees. Maybe it’s just that I am used to the warm weather now. Our lows, alt least the lowest I saw, was 58 degrees, but with a bit of wind on it, it felt colder. Our daytime highs were in the high 70’s and most of the week we had partly cloudy skies most of the week. On the 9th the skies actually cleared enough for the sea-surface temp charts to come through on the Terrafin web site.
WATER: I did not see anything warmer than 70 degrees this week, and most of that was a plume coming up from the south and running from 20 miles due south to the southern end of the San Jaime Bank. Inside that band it dropped to 67 and 67 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape it was a consistent 68 degrees until you got past the Punta Gorda area, and then it dropped to a very cool 63 and 64 degrees. The surface conditions were great with small swells from the Northwest on the Pacific side and almost pool-table smoothness on the Cortez at the end of the week.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Boats looking for Marlin were really having to scratch for them this week, and I mean that they were difficult to get to bite, not that they were hard to find. Some boats working deep bait on the Golden Gate Bank had luck, but it was not steady by any means. There were also some hungry fish found close to shore, within two miles, along the points on the Pacific side. Boats venturing farther offshore were seeing quite a few fish in small groups of two or three at a time, but they had lockjaw and most refused to bite. As an example, a large private yacht that has placed in quite a few tournaments spent 12 hours late in the week fishing for marlin, from 6 am until 6 pm and were only able to find two hungry fish, and that was a double hook-up.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The porpoise are starting to show up in fair numbers but not all the pods have Yellowfin with them. Fishing south of the San Jaime and west of there boats are finding pods of between 20 and several thousand porpoise. There have been Tuna of between 15 and 30 pounds caught among the mammals, but I did not hear of any large ones yet, and a good day so far has been getting eight or ten of these fish to bite. Most boats are having a hard time getting hooked up to them though as they have been feeding fairly heavily on red crab, according to the guys who have opened up the ones they catch. As a result, the small hootchies in red colors have worked best on these smaller Tuna.
DORADO: A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
WAHOO: I didn’t hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for “Mexican wahoo”, or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action is picking up once again with several fish to 40 pounds being boats as well as a few nice grouper to 50 pounds. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Whales, whales, whales and porpoise, there have been plenty of these out there for anglers that get bored of not catching fish this week. Well, for some of them at least! I am taking off for L.A. to re-new my Captains License and will be coming back in the middle of the week, maybe fishing will have gotten better by then! Until next week, tight lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
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Post Number: 62
Registered: 8-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 04, 2008 - 9:05 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Jan. 29-Feb 4, 2008
WEATHER: We finally had a couple of days where the sun actually shined all day long. The middle of the week was special, no clouds and it warmed up a bit. Our morning lows have been around the low 60’s to high 50’s, colder when there were no clouds. The highs for the days have been between the low and high 70’s with one day where it reached 82 degrees here at the house. Cloudy early in the week and at the end of the week.
WATER: Surface conditions on both sides of the Cape were good this week with slight swells and only light winds. On the Pacific side the water temperatures were in the 70-71 degree range with a light tinge of green to them while on the Cortez side the water was about a degree or two warmer and clearer. Due south at a distance of 20 miles the water warmed up to 74 degrees and became blue.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite remained slow, the concentrations of fish have moved and no one has been able to find them yet. Well, except for one day early in the week when only 10 boats were at the Golden Gate Bank and the Marlin re-appeared for the day. The action was pretty good on Monday and the top boats released double-digit numbers. That shut right back down though, as on Tuesday almost 40 boats worked the bank and there were only about ten fish released. Most boats have been happy to release one or two Marlin per trip and a few lucky (or good) ones have been in the 3 or 4 release range. The bite has been on a mix of live bait and lures with many of the live bait fish coming on deep dropped baits or slow trolled live baits on the Golden Gate Bank.
YELLOWFIN TUNA Well, for most of the boats out there a few football Tuna are all that they have been able to get onto, but every once in a while a larger fish in the 30 –pound range is hooked up. These fish are almost all with Porpoise and there are not many of them found right now. I sure hope things change soon as Tuna are one of our staples this time of year. The area due south to 35 miles has been the best producing, but the action has started to swing into the Sea of Cortez direction, perhaps following the warmer water movement.
DORADO: A few fish now and then, no steady action but the fish that have been taken have been from the warmer water areas.
WAHOO: I have heard of a few boats getting Wahoo in the warm water to the south, but there has been no numbers, just a fish now and then in the 40-pound class.
INSHORE: Sierra, small Roosterfish, Ladyfish, Snapper and some Bonita have been the inshore production this week. The Sierra bite has been on and off on the Pacific side but the best results have been while using Sardinas as bait. Snapper are being found in the rocks, I mean right up in there, and a lot of them are being lost due to that fact.
NOTES: There are more whales showing up, I had a good time watching them while sitting in the Cost-Co parking lot waiting for my wife yesterday! The Humboldt Squid are still around feeding on the red crabs and Swordfish are still being sighted, but I didn’t hear of anyone catching on this week. Until next week, Tight Lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
New member
Username: Captg
Post Number: 61
Registered: 8-2006
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 - 7:54 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Jan. 23-29, 2008
WEATHER: It has been cloudy most of the week so sun seekers were not very happy; I saw a lot of folks that were very burned, thinking that the clouds were stopping the tanning rays. Oh well, at least the clouds helped hold the warmth in and we didn’t see temperatures lower than the mid 60’s at night. At the end of the week early I the morning it was 69 at our house. Daytime highs were around the low to mid 80’s, warm enough that I had no need of a sweater most of the time. With all the clouds I thought that we were going to get some rain but all that happened was a bit of spit, you know, the kind that just dots the dusty windshield on the car? That was early in the week on Tuesday, and it was probably my fault as I had just washed the Jeep when it started.
WATER: There did not appear to be any real change in the water conditions from the week before. The cloud cover made it almost impossible to get an updated sea surface shot from space so reliance on the boats that were fishing was very strong. It appears that the water within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side up to just past the Golden Gate Bank remained warmer than that farther offshore and was a nice blue color as well. On the Golden Gate and the San Jaime Bank the water was off color green and quite a bit cooler at 70 degrees and lower. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was green and off-colored everywhere and the area off of Punta Gorda was reported as almost a brown color by some boats. To the immediate south on an east-west line across the arch the water warmed up and blued up. As you reached 8 miles to the south the temperature rose to 74 degrees. Surface conditions across the area were good since this cloud cover arrived without any wind. Some swells on the Pacific side with a light ripple on top most of the time, but on the Cortez side up past Punta Gorda the wind started howling.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite remained off for another week for most of the boats. The fish were found on the Pacific side and to the south but while there were a lot of fish seen on the surface, not many of them were hungry. A few, very few, boats managed to come in with between three and five Marlin flags flying, but most boats were feeling lucky if they were able to get a couple of fish to eat and get one to the boat for a release. The big new for the week is the appearance of some Swordfish. This week several of these fish were spotted on the surface and at least two that I know of were hooked. One was hooked on a live Mackerel while fishing 23 miles to the south and was fought for six hours before the 100-pound leader parted. The Captain estimated to fish at over #300! It’s tough to get a fish like that on Striped Marlin gear!
YELLOWFIN TUNA I overheard a conversation about a private boat being hooked up on a very big Yellowfin just off the Golden Gate Bank on Saturday, and then nothing else. I know a few boats have been having a little luck on fish in the 30-pound class out past the San Jaime Bank, but it has been very inconsistent. The same has been the case on the football sized fish, they have been out there but the bite has been slow, a few fish have been the average with a few boats able to get into double digits.
DORADO: Once again there have been a few fish caught, one or two here and there, but no large numbers have been reported. The best area has been the warm water to the south.
WAHOO: Inconsistent, but there have been some quality fish out there. One boat caught two of them between 80-100 pounds in the warm water 20 miles south and a few other smaller ones were reported from the same area.
INSHORE: The Sierra action picked back up on the Pacific side as schools of fish to 10 pounds have moved in off of the beaches and rocky points to the north of the lighthouse. Double-digit catches were not a problem. Either whole Mackerel rigged with a stinger hook I the tail or large Sardines were needed for the larger fish, hootchies and plugs did not work on fish over six pounds. Off of the Rocky points Snapper have begun to show, it is time for the normal spring spawning groups to begin gathering. A few Yellowtail continue to be caught but the numbers have really dropped off over the past several weeks.
NOTES: There were acres of Humboldt Squid reported on the surface feeding on red crab this week, and this may have been a contributing factor in the Swordfish being seen. There are still whales out there and the numbers seem to be increasing. This weeks report was written to the guitar of Marshall Crenshaw on the 1989 Warner release “Good Evening”, great stuff! Until next week, Tight Lines! |
George Landrum (Captg)
New member
Username: Captg
Post Number: 60
Registered: 8-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 7:30 am: | |
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Jan. 8-21, 2008
WEATHER: For the past two weeks our cool wintertime conditions have continued. Our nighttime lows have been down in the mid 50’s while the daytime highs have reached the high 70’s but have mostly been in the mid to low 70’s. As of the end of this week the skies have been only partly cloudy and we have had no rain. It has become windy in the afternoons but the mornings have been calm for the most part.
WATER: The water close to the beach on the Pacific side has remained warmer than most of the area with an average temperature of 71 degrees out to a distance of three-four miles from the beach at the inside of the Golden Gate Bank area. This warm water extends to the southwest across the San Jaime Bank and then in a thumb-shaped are with the tip 15 miles south of Cabo it warms to 73-74 degrees. The 71-degree water extends into the Sea of Cortez across the 95 Spot but stops short of the 1150. Water outside of this range on both sides of the Cape drops in temperature to the mid and high 60’s. At the end of this week, there was cold and dirty water across the Golden Gate Bank, the Finger Bank and the 1150 and Gorda Banks. The area inshore between Cabo and Punta Gorda was reported as being very dirty and green.
BAIT: Today is the full moon and as usual, as the full moon approaches the number of Caballito available for bait has fallen off. There are still plenty of Mackerel however and all these larger baits are at the normal $2 per bait. I have been told that there were no Sardinas available due to dirty water conditions up in the San Jose area.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite has dropped off quite a bit over the past week and instead of boats coming in with double digit numbers of flags, the high catch boats were getting four or five fish. Most boats were happy to get one or two releases and many were happy just to get a shot at a fish. One of the reasons may have to do with the temperature and clarity of the water in most areas, but the moon phase may have had an effect as well. Most of the Striped Marlin action was taking place between the San Jaime Bank and the 95 Spot and areas to the south of there, down in that warmer water area I mentioned earlier. I also heard form a Captain on a fleet boat that they hooked up a Blue Marlin earlier this week for a short while down in that warmer water, but the fish came off after the first run.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The Yellowfin Tuna that I have heard about have all been from the San Jaime area and for the most part have been football sized fish in the 10 pound range, found mixed in with porpoise. There have been a few fish to 40 pounds mixed in with them as well, but the numbers have been low. I have also hear unconfirmed reports of some nice sized fish being found occasionally 40-50 miles to the south of us. These fish have also been mixed in with porpoise and are reported to be in the 50-60 pound class. As far as I am aware no one has yet gotten into any concentrations of #100 + fish in the past two weeks, but we are hoping that it happens soon.
DORADO: The cool water of the past month has really slowed down the Dorado bite as they move south into warmer water. A few fish have been caught every day and for the most part they have been either just off the beach on the Pacific side or in the warmer water due south. The average size has been around 12 pounds with a few fish in the 25-pound class, but most of them are average size. The number of fish per boat is much lower as well, with an average catch of .3 fish per day, or 1 fish per three days of effort. I expect the Dorado to almost disappear as the water continues to cool.
WAHOO: As the full moon approached there were a few Wahoo caught, and there will probably be a few more on the waning side of the moon as well, but they have been incidental fish caught in the open water due south. Wahoo like warm water and just like the Dorado; there are fewer of them around right now than there were earlier in the season. The fish that were caught averaged 40 pounds and were caught on dark colored Marlin lures.
INSHORE: The Yellowtail bite dropped off as the water on the Cortez side of the Cape became dirty. A few have been caught on the Pacific side off of the rocky points on live bait dropped to about 250 feet, but there has been no consistent bite on them. The Sierra bite has slowed down as well with most boats getting only a half-dozen or so per trip. The Pargo are starting to show among the rocks on the Pacific side, and hopefully action on them will improve this coming week as the moon starts to wane.
NOTES: The fishing really slowed down the past two weeks as the water cooled off. Hopefully the Yellowfin will show in force and give us some alternative action, they are overdue based on the past six years catch records. On the positive side, the water conditions have been pretty good! This weeks report was written to the music of Mark Knopfler on his new solo release “Kill To Get Crimson”, a melancholy set of songs, sort of like the fishing the past two weeks! I just returned from visiting my father in Oklahoma City, his birthday was Saturday and it was nice seeing him for his 71st! Happy birthday dad! So, for those of you who were wondering why there was no report last week, now you know! Until next week, tight lines! |
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