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Fishing Reports for Local Area - Location |
    
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 11, 2005 - 7:21 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JULY 4-10, 2005
WEATHER: Clear skies at the end of the week were welcome after expecting cloud cover from the disturbance and tropical storm that had starting developing down around Acapulco. We had expected to get a heavy cloud deck as it worked its way up the west coast. Didn’t happen and we are glad! What did occur was glassy water during the middle of the week and then the winds picked up again on Friday, continuing through out the weekend, but as I said, clear skies. Day time highs were in the mid 90’s and night time lows in the mid 70’s.
WATER: At the beginning of the week the water on the Pacific side turned very choppy, then calmed at the middle of the week. At the end of the week it had chopped up again. It looked as if the California current started to push hard and brought the cool water to wrap around the point again as the water was in the high 60’s to low 70’s on the Pacific side out to the banks, and green as well. This water wrapped around the Cape and continued up to just short of the Gordo banks and out to a distance of 20 miles. Outside of this cold plume the water was 76-78 degrees and blued up again, but was choppy.
BAIT: Caballito and Mackerel at $2 per bait with a few Mullet in the mix.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The cold water on the Pacific side brought in reports of Swordfish and a Panga was reported to have caught one weighing at just around 160 pounds. Striped Marlin were out there but it was 25 miles before you got into any serious action. Fish were found closer to the Cape, as close as 6 miles, but there was nothing steady or consistent about them. I did not hear of any large Blue or Black Marlin in our area this week, but I am going off of reports from other Captains and anglers received over the last 1 ½ days as I just returned from a boat delivery to Puerto Vallarta.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I did not hear of any large Tuna this week, but then again I was gone for most of the week. The fish I did see come in this weekend were all smaller fish in the football and school category. I heard a rumor (that’s all it was!) that there were big fish found at the Gorda Banks, but talked to no one who could give me any solid information on that. The football and school fish were found 25-35 miles to the south-southwest, right around where there was a temperature break from 72 to 74 degrees.
DORADO: Apparently you needed to go up the Sea of Cortez, chasing the warmer water for the Dorado this week. The cold water chased them out and few fish were found close to home.
WAHOO: I can give you very little information on the Wahoo bite. I did see a few flags flying this week end but did not get a chance to talk to the Captains or anglers flying them.
INSHORE: A good solid discussion with a much respected Panga Captain revealed that the bite had been off this week, as well as his bookings. During a trip for food, with a diving friend on board, they were able to get into some very good Pargo action on the Pacific side and catch a few Roosterfish as well. The comment was that most of the boats were not going far enough up the coast, most of the fish were found up around Migrainos.
NOTES: Fingers are crossed that the cold water goes away and the winds die down. It’s not terrible, but who wants to run for 25 miles and get bounced around to get into the fish? We were just getting some great action going when I left for Vallarta and maybe it will turn around quickly! Meanwhile this report was written to the music of “Arcano”, the brother/sister duo of Erika and Vick del Real Alvarado, with violin and viola. I heard them at the square doing a public show in Vallarta and bought one of the three releases they had for sale. Classical and covers of easy listening music, great stuff! By the way, Russ, thanks for the across the board comp at the Four Seasons resort course at Punta Mita, totally awesome experience! Until next week, tight lines! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 04, 2005 - 8:43 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JUNE 27-JULY 3, 2005
WEATHER: A little wind was around this week but it was gentle and blowing from the south for the most part at around 5-10 knots, except for Friday when the clouds looked like race cars as a remnant feeder band from the south raced past us. Along with the feeder band came overcast skies with the threat of rain, but nope, no rainfall happened. Our day time highs were in the high 90’s while our night time lows were in the mid 70’s. We had high humidity accompany the overcast skies.
WATER: Good water on the Pacific side with large swells later in the week... The water was blue and the temperature averaged 77 degrees except for just along the shore where it was tinged with green and dropped in temperature to 75 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape almost the exact same conditions applies, temperature and color wise. There were no significant temperature breaks found.
BAIT: Caballito at $2 per bait with a few Mullet in the mix.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: At the end of the week you could tell that the Striped Marlin bite was dying off. There were fewer of them caught even with the good moon phase. There were still fish being found and caught but not in the numbers we were seeing last month. Scattered fish were found at the 1150 and beyond as well as around the San Jaime banks. Blues are starting to show up with a few fish in the 200-400 range being caught and released. A good friend of mine reported hooking the largest Black Marlin he has ever seen and loosing the fish (popping the leader at the side of the boat) after a 30 hour fight and the clients had given up.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: A repeat of last week with Yellowfin taking the “fish of the week” position. The big boys are still out there with at least two over 200 pounds being landed this week. Of course most of the fish are footballs, but there is always the chance at one of the tequila fish. The big gals have been mixed in with the black porpoise. There were also 100 pound fish seen feeding on the Pacific side with no dolphin in evidence but I am not sure if anyone was able to get a hook into them. As normal, small dark feathers for the footballs and the big ones seemed to like live bait or Marlin lures.
DORADO: There have been some nice fish taken this week with an average size of just around 15 pounds, but the big ones were in the 45-50 pound class. Live bait dropped back after a trolling hook up more often than not brought a second fish to the boat. Best bets were just off shore along the Pacific side or out at the San Jaime banks. There were reports of scattered big fish up around the Punta Gorda area as well.
WAHOO: Not as many fish were found as last week, but there were still Wahoo flags flying this week almost every day. Best areas were the Gorda Banks and Punta Gorda. Fish were reported striking in the blind way off shore as well; we got one in the blind on Thursday that was around 55 pounds.
INSHORE: Repeat of last week’s inshore report. Most of the inshore action was concentrated on Roosterfish, as the action became red-hot for fish between 25 and 40 pounds almost everywhere along the coast. Working the rocky points on both sides of the cape, as well as the beach areas resulted in almost all the action you could handle on both the Roosterfish and some nice Pargo. A few Sierras and a few Yellowtails were in the mix as well and they were found on the Pacific side of the cape.
NOTES: Good fishing is here, and while not red hot yet, there looks to be good things happening in the future! This weeks report was written to the music of Boz Scaggs on the 1994 Virgin release “Some Changes”. Happy 4th of July everyone. Until next week, Tight lines! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 27, 2005 - 8:44 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JUNE 20-26, 2005
WEATHER: As of the end of the week it is looking really good on the weather front here in Cabo. The winds we had been experiencing for the last few weeks finally died out and since Thursday the weather has been great! Our night time lows have been in the low to mid 70’s while our day time highs have been in the mid to high 90’s, real summer weather for us. We had a very slight sprinkle in some parts of town on Tuesday, just enough to dot the dust on the windshields.
WATER: The Pacific finally lived up to its name, thanks to the wind dying down this week. There were swells but little if any chop out there and many of the boats went in the direction of the Golden Gate and San Jaime Banks looking for fish. The water is just a little green close to shore on the Pacific, and a little cooler than the off shore water at 67-70 degrees, out for a couple of miles. Past that it warms to around 72 at the banks and 73-74 degrees just to the south of the Jaime. On the Cortez side of the cape we have that cool water extending in a plume out to the 95 spot. All the other areas have water in the 72-75 degree range with water up at the East Cape in the 78 degree range. The water color still has a very faint green tinge to it but that should go away soon.
BAIT: Caballito at $2 per bait with a few Mullet in the mix.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: With the coming of the full moon the bite from the Striped Marlin has died down a bit, they are still being found but not in the quantities they were being seen in last week. One of the areas that has been producing them is along the Pacific coast where that cool water and warm water meet. I would venture to guess that one out of 5 boats were able to get hooked up to a Striped Marlin this week, and it was largely a matter of being in the right place at the right time. On an up note, the water is warming up and the Blue Marlin are starting to show up. A few fish in the #200-#300 range have been seen cruising the lure patterns and a few of them have been coaxed into striking. Live bait has been the best producer for the Striped Marlin while lures in dark colors have gotten the attention of the Blue Marlin.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Fish of the week. No doubt about it, with the full moon and the currents changing things busted wide open on small Yellowfin in the football class. Almost any boat that tried was able to catch all they wanted of the Tuna in the 6-15 pound class and there were a few in the 25-35 class as well. Most of the action took place south of the arch early in the week and then moved up the Pacific side. Many of the fish were found via blind strikes with no indicators in the area. Hooking up a multiple on the footballs, once they were in the boat and the lines re-set, passing over the same area would result in strikes again. The larger fish were found with the Dolphin, and the “tequila” fish over #200 were not in evidence as the black Porpoise they were associated with last week have moved on. Feathers and hootchies in all colors worked well on the football fish and cedar plugs and dark colors worked on the slightly larger fish with the Dolphin.
DORADO: Last week I said that the water is warming up so keep your fingers crossed. Well, the water warmed up and it worked! For quite a few boats Dorado may have been the fish of the week. Most of the action was found on the Pacific side, and while it may not have been due to the warmer water I am sure it helped. The main action came as a result of floating Kelp paddies found off shore. As these paddies drifted down from the northern Baja they accumulated a food chain under them and having been untouched until arriving here, they were loaded with fish. The action began on Thursday when boats found the patches up the coast and offshore where the warm water met the cool water. The kelp paddies were anywhere from just a few strands to one we saw that was at least 100 feet in diameter. Live bait worked well as did trolling lures, and if you were the first one to the paddy there was an almost guarantee of getting hooked up. The fish ran from 10 to 40 pounds with most of them around 15 pounds.
WAHOO: Associated with the Kelp paddies and helped by the full moon phase, lots of boats were able to get Wahoo this week. Early in the week it was mostly coastal contour fish, found around the 50 fathom line. At the end of the week the action moved to the kelp paddies. Not being ready for them, a lot of boats were bit off on mono leaders when they first approached the paddies as Wahoo ranging from 20-60 pounds struck before the Dorado got there. The same thing went for working live bait; the Wahoo would bite through the mono leader. Putting on wire leader kept the bite-offs to a minimum but also resulted in fewer Dorado. Let’s see, Wahoo or Dorado, sigh, what a terrible choice to have to make! Heavy metal heads on wire leader as well as “Marauder” type plugs worked very well on the Wahoo and resulted in more fish in the box. It was not uncommon for a boat to be flying between 2 and 6 Wahoo flags if they were the first to a producing kelp paddy.
INSHORE: Most of the inshore action was concentrated on Roosterfish, as the action became red-hot for fish between 25 and 40 pounds almost everywhere along the coast. Working the rocky points on both sides of the cape, as well as the beach areas resulted in almost all the action you could handle on both the Roosterfish and some nice Pargo. A few Sierras and a few Yellowtails were in the mix as well and they were found on the Pacific side of the cape.
NOTES: The fishing is turning on! Keeping our fingers crossed worked and it looks like it is going to be a good way to end the month. I saw three whales the other day, which was a surprise since they were Humpbacks that are normally out of our area by now. This weeks report was written to the music of “Cheap Yellow Mustard” on their self titled album recorded tat the Bakersfield School of Music in 2003. Many thanks to Cameron Melville, the keyboardist, for getting me a copy of this great album, whenever I need a good funky blues lift I pull this one out! Until next week, tight lines! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 20, 2005 - 7:45 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JUNE 13-19, 2005
WEATHER: Things have been improving a little bit on the weather scene here in Cabo. The wind that has been plaguing us for the past month seems to be slowly dying down. It is still blowing in the afternoons but it is starting later and is not quite as strong. This is not to say it has disappeared, but it is getting better out there. Our day time highs have been right around 90 degrees this week and out night time lows in the low 70’s. It is starting to look and feel a little like summer!
WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape is cold and very windy. I went 10 miles out yesterday at 170 degrees and in the 50’ there was no way I was going to turn back up-swell. The wind is slowly dying down but it is still victory at sea out past a mile anywhere north of the light house. With water temperatures ranging from 57 to 67 degrees, why get beat up and break a boat? The only fishing on the Pacific has been close in and close to home. The Sea of Cortez side has been wonderful, especially in the morning before the wind shifts and picks up. The warmer water we have been waiting for is moving in and while there are some swells to deal with, having water up to 79 degrees has meant that there are fish out there! While there has been no strong temperature break, there has been a slight one accompanied by a current line running east-west around 5 miles past the 95 spot and the 1150.
BAIT: Caballito at $2 per bait with a few Mullet in the mix. Very few Mackerel and no Sardinas that I heard of.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Fish of the week was Striped Marlin, no doubt about it. They were concentrated along the current line out past the 95 and 1150 and most boats were having no problem finding the fish, getting them to bite was another story. While some boats have it down to a science and consistently come in with two to six flags flying, others just aren’t able to find the right fish and tossed baits at dozens without a bite. Down-size the leader and hooks, it might work. There were fish between 100 pounds and up to 180 pounds caught this week, and you could see free jumping fish all over the place. The current line was not the only place to find them either, we worked off of Punta Gorda a few day ago and they were all over the place out 12 miles. Listening to the radio I am hearing guys up at the East Cape talk about finding fish within a mile of the beach. It sure is good to hear the action! Live bait worked well and fast trolled lures; in excess of 9 knots did the trick as well. Most of the fish caught and brought to the side of the boat were stuffed with foot long squid, tossing out fresh squid as they thrashed. On a side note, there were two Swordfish reported caught this week, one of them was released by the angler and was reported at around #250, I am not sure of the size on the other fish. And folks, these are fish sighted on the surface during the day, not drifting at night.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin Tuna were a close runner-up for fish of the week Lets see, there are plenty of football size fish south of the arch, and most of them are fairly close to shore and the water is not too bad, but how many fish around 8 pounds so you really need? They are not associated with Porpoise, and the farther out you go the more you get beat up. I did see my first few large fish of the year, but I was not the one who caught it. A Yellowfin in excess of #200 was caught outside the Gorda Banks by a boat working the warm water and Black Porpoise looking for a Blue Marlin. The fish grabbed a blue/white lure (think “flying fish”) and took the first time lady angler 30 minutes to bring to the boat on #80 class line. One other fish weighed in at #280 and was caught by Mark Austin on #40 line, taking him 2 hours and 10 minutes to land. He was fishing in the Lucas Billfish Challenge, a charity tournament raising funds for S.I.D. research. There were a few other reported hook ups on large fish as well but I am not sure if any of them made it back to the dock.
DORADO: The water is warming up so make sure you keep those fingers crossed.
WAHOO: Again, keep those fingers crossed, the fish should show up, at least a few of them as the water warms up.
INSHORE: Some Sierra were still showing up in the catch from the Pacific side as well as a few Yellowtail, but there was no wide open bite on them. Small football Yellowfin showed in quite a few Panga fish boxes and there was the occasional nice Pargo as well. Most of the effort was concentrated on Roosterfish, and they have been making a good showing off the beaches on the Cortez side of the Cape. I have talked to a few anglers who have had luck with them off the beach while surf casting.
NOTES: It is getting more like summer, thank goodness. Before you know it things will bust wide open. I can’t wait! The big Tuna showing up is just a start, at least we hope so! An apology for last weeks music listing, it should have been David Grismon instead of John Grishman on the “Dawgs” album. I listened to it again this week! Until next time, tight lines!
 |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 13, 2005 - 8:13 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JUNE 6-12, 2005
WEATHER: We still have the wind that has been pestering us for so long, and we wish it would go away! The breeze has been pretty steady from the WNW all week with the exception of two nights when it died down and yesterday when it switched and came from the WSW. I know that later in the year we will look back and wish we had this cool wind with us again, but for now it is getting tiresome. Our night time lows have been in the range of 58-62 here in town; reports from friends who live on the Pacific side say they have recorded 54 degrees there. Our day time highs have been up to 91. Still no rain, but a good fog band moved through on Saturday.
WATER: If you drew a line from east to west across the peninsula a few miles above Cabo and recorded the temperature difference you would see a 17 degree difference with 57 degrees along the Pacific coast and 74 degrees on the Sea of Cortez. Guess that almost tells the whole story, huh? The warm water on the Cortez side extends from 1 mile here in Cabo to 7 miles offshore up at the Punta Gorda area. From there until 20 miles out the water is on the mid 60’s, then it warms to around 69 degrees. The cold water is green and there is not a lot of good, solid blue water around, at least not until you get way off shore, up around the East Cape. The Pacific has been almost un-fishable; the few boats that have gone out there in the mornings have had a quick return. The Cortez side has had much better surface conditions once you got past the Gray Rock area.
BAIT: Back to getting Mackerel at the usual $2 per bait plus a few mullet, there were some Sardinas early in the week at San Jose for $20 a bucket.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin were the Billfish of the week as I did not hear of any Swordfish caught. There were boats fishing for them but I did not hear results going around town. The Striped Marlin were in the warmer water starting from the Gorda Banks area to up around the Estiladera area. A lot more fish were seen than were hooked. Some boats were getting up to four fish a day and a few boats reported as many as six. Live bait was the favorite and lures came in second with green/yellow working well.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There was a good bite for football Yellowfin from 8-15 pounds along the temperature-color break 18 miles out at 160 degrees early in the week, but boats working the area later on reported little luck. An occasional fish was caught around the Gorda area but there was nothing consistent. Finding the Dolphin was the key, but only one out of 6 pods held any Tuna.
DORADO: Just like last week and the week before. I think I saw a total of 15 Dorado flags this week, and that should say it all. Wait for warmer water.
WAHOO: What?
INSHORE: A repeat of last week’s section. Rough water on the Pacific side of the Cape made most of the boats concentrate on the area from the lighthouse and around to the arch, plus along the beach on the Cortez side of the Cape. There were still Sierra being caught and some of them were very nice sized, from 6-10 pounds. One positive note was that the cold water brought the Yellowtail with it. The bite turned on fairly well in the middle of the week with fish being found from the lighthouse to Gray Rock. Live bait dropped deep and iron worked deep caught the most fish, but trolling plugs along the coast in 60-100 feet of water worked well also. There were Roosterfish caught on the Cortez side, fish to 40 pounds were reported both from Pangas and from the beach. Red Snapper were biting as well if you could get a live bait right into the rocks and not get snagged.
NOTES: Seems more like spring time that summer here, when the sun goes down and the wind is blowing I need a light jacket and long pants. We all know that it can’t last forever, but I wish it would end soon! This weeks report was written to the sounds of John Grisham on the 1990 release “Dawg’s”, and it is worth a listen! Until next week, tight lines! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 06, 2005 - 7:06 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2005
WEATHER: Wind, wind and more wind. That pretty much summed it up for us this week on the weather front as every day the wind blew from the NNW to the SSW at between 10 and 20 knots. We did have a few mornings when it seemed that it had died off, but when you poked your nose around the corner to try the Pacific side, you go smacked in the face with the cold wind. Some mornings on the Pacific side the temperature was in the high 50’s. In town our daytime highs were in the mid to high 80’s while our night time lows were around 60 degrees. No rain at all but we did have partly cloudy skies on Sunday morning.
WATER: On the Pacific side this week we had very cold water, at places it was as cold as 58 degrees right along the shore. Out around the Golden Gate and San Jaime Banks the water warmed to 67 degrees. Due south of the cape the water was cold at 66 degrees until 14 miles out then it warmed to 68 degrees. On the Cortez side of the cape we had a band of warmer 72 to 76 degree water along the shore up to the Punta Gorda area, and this band extended from just along the beach here in Cabo to across the outer Gorda Banks and the Punta Gorda region. Outside the band of warmer water the temps dropped to 64-65 degrees and went out at least 20 miles. There was no really well defined temperature break as the wind and currents moved the water around, blending the temperatures and the colors. We had strongly colored green water to the south and on the Pacific side.
BAIT: Back to getting Mackerel at the usual $2 per bait and there were some Sardinas early in the week at San Jose for $20 a bucket.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Just as the report stated last week, the bite for Striped Marlin has died off since the water cooled off so much. The few fish that were caught this week were mostly from the warm water areas up around Punta Gorda. There were a few fish found outside to the south in the slightly warmer water 14 miles out, but they were few and far between, and the water was rough as well. There were Swordfish found again this week and I did hear of a private boat that got two of them on Friday.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Scattered football size Yellowfin to 15 pounds and a few fish in the 25-30 pound class were pretty much it for the boats this week. The fish were not concentrated in any one particular area and a lot of them were caught while trolling in the blind. Finding porpoise did not mean you were going to get into the Tuna this week, there were a lot of pods of porpoise that were fishless.
DORADO: Just like last week. I think I saw a total of 10 Dorado flags this week, and that should say it all. Wait for warmer water.
WAHOO: I saw a few Wahoo flags this week but I am not sure they were for fish caught this week or not. I did not hear of any fish caught; just saw a few flags flying on the boats.
INSHORE: Rough water on the Pacific side of the Cape made most of the boats concentrate on the area from the lighthouse and around to the arch, plus along the beach on the Cortez side of the Cape. There were still Sierra being caught and some of them were very nice sized, from 6-10 pounds. One positive note was that the cold water brought the Yellowtail with it. The bite turned on fairly well in the middle of the week with fish being found from the lighthouse to Gray Rock. Live bait dropped deep and iron worked deep caught the most fish, but trolling plugs along the coast in 60-100 feet of water worked well also. There were Roosterfish caught on the Cortez side, fish to 40 pounds were reported both from Pangas and from the beach. Red Snapper were biting as well if you could get a live bait right into the rocks and not get snagged.
NOTES: Once again Swordfish have the angler’s attention. I expect a few more fish to be caught this week before the water warms and turns blue again. Meanwhile the off shore action is pretty sorry; the only bright spot this week was the inshore fishery with Yellowtail and Snapper taking the spotlight. It sure is strange to have April conditions at the beginning of June! Or fingers are again crossed (seems like we never get them uncrossed for one reason or another) that the water warms up and brings along the Tuna, Wahoo, Dorado and Marlin! This weeks report was written to the music of Deep Purple on their 1972 release “Machine Head”. Until next week, Tight Lines! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 30, 2005 - 8:25 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT MAY 23-29, 2005
WEATHER: Afternoon winds here in town gave everyone a good idea of what to expect out on the water this week. The wind was from the NW and fairly steady most of the week, shifting to come from the South or SW in the late afternoons. A steady 10-15 knots most of the time. The skies were only partly cloudy for most of the week and we had no rain. Our day time highs were in the low 90’s and high 80’s and the night time lows were in the mid 60’s here in town.
WATER: This week the conditions are just the same as last week with the exception that the intrusion of cold water we had wrapping around the Cape due to the California current was much stronger, colder and with green water. This finger ran from the Cape and up the Sea of Cortez from a half mile to mile offshore to just outside the 95 and 1150 spots. With temperatures in the 65 and 66 degree range this finger extended up to five miles past the outer Gorda Banks. There was a temperature break of almost 5 degrees just along the outside edge of the finger of water and it ran from the NE to the SW. We did have the continued NW winds causing very rough conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape, so rough that few, if any, boats tried to fish past the lighthouse. On the Cortez side the conditions were much better if you got past the Chileno area; the way the winds blew it was still lumpy to the southeast of the cape. Up in the Punta Gorda and Gorda Banks area it was a bit choppier than last week. Having the water between 63 and 67 degrees on the Pacific side was not a problem since the conditions were so rough.
BAIT: Back to getting Mackerel at the usual $2 per bait and there were some Sardinas early in the week at San Jose for $20 a bucket.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The cold water intrusion from the Pacific side of the Cape pushed the Striped Marlin that had been concentrated at Punta Gorda farther up the coast to the Los Frailles area, an easy 40 mile run, easy that is until you turned and came back against the wind and chop! There were also Marlin found on the warm side of the temperature break at the outside of the cold finger of water. Boats fishing the Frailles area reported a fair early morning bite with two to three fish per day as long as they were there before 10 am. There was almost no action after that. The bite outside the finger of cold green water was a bit more consistent even though not as many fish were seen in the area. Almost everyone fishing in this area had at least one shot at a hook up. On the way to the temperature break you went through the green water and there were Swordfish sighted there, I found one on the surface yesterday just to the south of the 95 spot, but I have not heard of any boats hooking up to them, although I am sure some have.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Tuna that were holding at the Gorda Banks last week seem to have either gone off the bite or gone somewhere else. A few are still being caught but not enough to make the trip worthwhile just for them. There have been small football Yellowfin everywhere along the temperature break on the Cortez side and I have heard guys on the radio discussing finding Tuna in the cold green water on the Pacific side early in the morning. A lot of these fish were blind strikes, no porpoise in the area. Cedar plugs worked great and once you got a strike and hooked up you worked the area for a while. It was not uncommon to get multiple hits each pass on the fish.
DORADO: I think I saw a total of 10 Dorado flags this week, and that should say it all. Wait for warmer water.
WAHOO: There are still Wahoo out there but they are not holding around the usual structure. Fish are being found off the 50 fathom drop at Red Hill and at Punta Gorda, as well as along the temperature break outside the 95 spot. While fishing there yesterday (and getting beat up in the 50’ Viking) we had a double strike on nice fish, losing one lure and landing a Wahoo of about 70 pounds. Making another pass on the spot we hooked up two Bonita and had one of the 8 pound fish sliced cleanly in half by a Wahoo we estimated at over #100 just before trying to lift the Bonita out of the water. An hour later and four miles away we had another Wahoo hooked as part of a double strike. We lost the Wahoo just before the boat but brought in the 10 pound Yellowfin that struck at the same time.
INSHORE: A few boats were able to work along the shoreline on the Pacific side up as far as the lighthouse, but the water was rough. There were Sierra and some Yellowtail in the area that provided some action. The Cortez side had better water conditions early in the morning most days and there were Snapper, Grouper and a few Sierra as well.
NOTES: Swordfish have everyone’s attention this week and hopefully the winds will die down and allow better sighting of the fish. I wouldn’t mind a night on the water drifting baits for them either! If the winds do die we should have some great action for the coming week, with such a defined temperature break there should be steady action all along the edge. This weeks report was written to the music of Rick Wakeman on his very relaxing 2002 Master Music CD “The Natural World Trilogy”. Until next week, tight lines! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
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Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 23, 2005 - 7:33 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT MAY 16-22, 2005
WEATHER: My how things change every week! This week we had night time lows in the high 60’s here in town, into the mid 50’s out on the Pacific side beaches. Our daytime highs were in the mid 80’s and for most of the week it was windy. The winds were mostly from the north-west but late in the week shifted and came from the southwest. No rain and only partly cloudy all week long.
WATER: The surface conditions were almost a repeat of last week as we did have the continued NW winds causing very rough conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape, so rough that few, if any, boats tried to fish past the lighthouse. On the Cortez side the conditions were much better if you got past the Chileno area; the way the winds blew it was still lumpy to the southeast of the cape. Up in the Punta Gorda and Gorda Banks area it was almost glass-like with just a bit of a bump and no wind chop. Having the water between 63 and 67 degrees on the Pacific side was not a problem since the conditions were so rough. At the start of the week we had the temperature break that ran from the Cape to the SSW, as the week continued and the California current kept the cold water flowing, we had an intrusion just offshore where a finger of the cold water worked it’s way around the Cape in a band from just outside the 95 spot to up around the 1150 spot and out for around five miles. This pushed the warmer water in to the coast and up toward the Punta Gorda area.
BAIT: Once again we had a difficult time getting local bait this week. At the end of last week the large seiner that supplies the Sol mar fleet and long range boats with bait arrived with a load of Mackerel and it was a good thing, as the local bait supply almost dried up. At the end of the week those supplies were almost gone as well and many boats that left a bit late could not get bait. Even with the lack of supplies the price remained the same with both Mackerel and Caballito at the usual $2 per bait. A few boats also had small jacks, around two pounds each and some big silvery sided fish that looked like jacks but nothing likes to eat. Well, something is better than nothing I guess, but that is why I have a supply of frozen bait on board!
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Wow, it’s amazing, but this weeks report on Marlin is almost a repeat of last week’s report, almost a prediction, if you will. This week we had the 2005 IGFA/Rolex Offshore Championship Tournament here and it was an all-release format with over 70 teams from around the world. Four days of fishing resulted in over 500 Striped Marlin released. That works out to an average for two fish per boat per day, which was the average I reported last week. The top boat for any one day had 11 releases and many of them had three or four with a couple of boats having seven or eight. Of course a few boats only had one release for four days, but that fishing. The areas the fish were caught remained the same as last week with the biggest concentration just off shore up at Punta Gorda, around the 50-100 fathom line. The difference from last week was that this week the big concentration of Mackerel schools were gone; there were just small bait balls in the area so it was had to catch live bait. One boat did get a Blue Marlin estimated at #250 pounds and released it after a two hour fight on #30 test line. Unfortunately the bite died off the day after the tournament ended. We were still seeing Marlin all over the place but they were not hungry. Hopefully they will start biting again soon.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This is a repeat of last week’s section. Once again there were football sized fish showing up under the Dolphin, but not every pod held fish and not all the fish found would bite. When they did it was not uncommon to limit out on Tuna in the 10-25 pound range. Most of the fish were found near the temperature break south of the cape about 25 miles, where the water was a bit bumpy. There were nice fish holding on the Gorda Banks as well, but they were very picky fish. Nice Yellowfin from 30 to 100 pounds could be seen busting the water but the only anglers having any luck on them were the Panga fishermen out of San Jose who were there at gray light in the morning and using Sardinas for bait on #60 fluorocarbon leader.
DORADO: Very few Dorado this week and they were not very large. With 70 tournament boats fishing four days, on day one only 8 Dorado were caught, and most of them were less than 10 pounds. We should see more action as the water continues to warm.
WAHOO: No change from last week’s report. Wahoo were out there this week and there were still a number of them caught out at Punta Gorda and around the inner Gorda Banks and the Red Hill area. A few of the fish caught went to 80 pounds and there were a lot of surprised anglers when they checked lures and found that there was nothing at the leader, a Wahoo had sliced through the leader and taken the lure without them even noticing. Dark colored lures in Petrelero and Green/Black seemed to be a favorite.
INSHORE: Mixed action on Roosterfish, small Dorado, Skipjack Tuna, Jack Crevalle and a few Sierra, with an occasional nice sized Grouper tossed in. I saw a couple of Grouper in the 60-80 pound class that were taken this week, one on a slab yo-yo’d in 80’ of water and the other on a live bait at around the same depth. Almost all the action was on the Sea of Cortez side since the Pacific was so rough and cold.
NOTES: This week’s report was written to the music of Blue Oyster Cult on their self titled 1972 debut album “Blue Oyster Cult”, just a bit before their full “rock” image music. Until next week, enjoy the music of the world and have “Tight Lines” whenever you get out! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
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Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 16, 2005 - 8:22 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT MAY 9-15, 2005
WEATHER: Day time highs in the mid to low 90’s and night time lows in the high 60’s have us feeling pretty good right now, and it’s really nice to have the humidity low! We ended up with a little overcast at the end of the week, nothing heavy and nothing that should bring any rain. Most of the week the wind was out of the north-west and it picked up a bit in the afternoons.
WATER: This week the water conditions were almost a repeat of last weeks. The Pacific side of the cape is still much cooler than the Cortez side with the average temperature at 67-68 degrees while on the Cortez side the water has been mostly between 74-78 degrees. The temperature break that formed last week along the edge of the California current has stayed there and runs from the light house on the Pacific side in a SSW direction and keeps going for over 40 miles. Surface conditions on the Pacific side have been a bit rough due to the fairly steady NW winds but the Sea of Cortez has been really smooth and with almost no wind chop to be found. Once in a while in the afternoon the wind would shift and come from the SW and then things would chop up, but not often and not for long.
BAIT: Early in the week getting bait was not a problem and mostly it was Caballito at the usual $2 per bait. Later in the week there seemed to be a bit of a problem if you were late getting out and some boats ended up leaving with no bait at all. There were some Sardinas found up at San Jose at the normal $20 per scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin remain the fish of the week once again. There was a great concentration of them up to the north on the Cortez side this week, around the Punta Gorda area. At any one time you could see between 60 and 80 boats working the area, and many of them were hooked up. While the Caballito were getting a few fish, most of the boats were having better luck catching their own Mackerel at the site and using them, sort of matching the hatch. Drifting with the live bait, slow trolling them both live and rigged dead worked well, and toward the end of the week there seemed to be a bit of an increase tendency to strike on trolled lures. At the end of the week the fish had either moved closer to home or a new group had come in because things started to take off around the 1150 spot. Not as concentrated as the fish at the Punta Gorda, they were there in numbers strong enough to make it a first stop destination for a lot of the boats. Average Marlin catch for those targeting the fish were two per boat, but many of the boats were releasing four and five per day. Of course there were a few boats that did not catch any, but that is why the stats are called averages!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again there were football sized fish showing up under the Dolphin, but not every pod held fish and not all the fish found would bite. When they did it was not uncommon to limit out on Tuna in the 10-25 pound range. Most of the fish were found near the temperature break south of the cape about 25 miles, where the water was a bit bumpy. There were nice fish holding on the Gorda Banks as well, but they were very picky fish. Nice Yellowfin from 30 to 100 pounds could be seen busting the water but the only anglers having any luck on them were the Panga fishermen out of San Jose who were there at gray light in the morning and using “Chilwillies” they caught themselves.
DORADO: Still not a happening fish, there are a few more of them showing up every week. As the water continues to warm they should start to come on strong. There were fish found this week mixed in with the Yellowfin at the temperature break, and there were still fish found out at the 1,000 fathom line on the Cortez side of the cape. These Dorado averaged 15 pounds and were striking bright colored lures.
WAHOO: Wahoo were out there this week and there were still a number of them caught out at Punta Gorda and around the inner Gorda Banks and the Red Hill area. A few of the fish caught went to 80 pounds and there were a lot of surprised anglers when they checked lures and found that there was nothing at the leader, a Wahoo had sliced through the leader and taken the lure without them even noticing. Dark colored lures in Petrelero and Green/Black seemed to be a favorite.
INSHORE: There was not a lot of change in the inshore fishing, there are still a few Sierra being found on the Pacific side of the cape and a few Roosterfish as well. Everyone I talked to that had been Panga fishing said that they had good action, and pretty steady at that on a good mix of fish, with no one fish showing exceptionally strong.
NOTES: I am going to be pretty busy this week since we are having the Roles/IGFA Championship Tournament in Cabo this coming week. Four days of fishing for 74 teams from around the world. You had to have won a qualifying tournament to be invited and it is a billfish release tournament on 30 pound line. It is being filmed by the Outdoor Network for an hour special later in the season. I don’t get to fish it but will be running the video boat if things don’t change. Sure is a good thing the Marlin fishing has been so good, now we are keeping our fingers crossed that it continues to stay good. This week the report was written to the music of Pink Floyd off the 1996 Capitol CD “Relics”. Until next week, Tight Lines! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
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Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 09, 2005 - 8:06 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT MAY 2-8, 2005
WEATHER: We continued to have northwest winds this week and that meant there was only one day with partly cloudy skies. No rain fell on us and our daytime highs were in the low 90’s with night time lows in the mid 70’s. Sunny skies with cool mornings and evenings, low humidity, it just makes me feel good!
WATER: The California current has kept the water on the Pacific side of the cape cold with most of the area between 64 and 68 degrees, at least until the San Jaime where the water warmed up to 70-71 degrees. On the Cortez side of the cape the water has been much warmer with a ridge of water in the 77 degree range running from the Gorda to the 95 spot and then to the southeast. The strong California current has been at around 2 knots and collapsed the small hook of warm water we had just to the south so that now we just have a 5 mile wide band of warm water along the coast toward San Jose for about 5 miles. Elsewhere on the Cortez side the water has been in the mid 70’s. The Pacific side has been rough and the Cortez side to the east of the 95 spot has been decent, but a bit lumpy.
BAIT: There were Caballito available at the normal $2 per bait and if you went up toward San Jose early in the morning there was a chance of getting Sardinas at $20 per bucket.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Still the fish of the week, the bite on Striped Marlin has been improving. Most of the fish have been holding in the warmer water on the Cortez side out toward the 95 spot or up the coast past the Gorda Banks area, up around Punta Gorda. Between one and four fish have been caught per boat with a pretty even mix between live bait and lure caught fish.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Football Tuna in among the Dolphin were a fairly common catch this week and there were a few larger fish found as well, fish up to 30 pounds. Still none of the #100 fish showing up, but hopefully they will be here soon. A few fish were caught in the blind this week but most of them were associated with the Dolphin. Feathers in dark colors and cedar plugs worked well when the fish were found.
DORADO: The best bite on Dorado this week was on the Cortez side out around the 1000 fathom curve. There were strong current lines and rips in the area and they had the fish excited and feeding heavily. As the water has warmed up there have been more flying fish in the area and there were good concentrations of them out at the drop. This also bodes well for a showing of Blue Marlin soon!
WAHOO: There was a pretty fair pick on the Wahoo this week but most of the fish were found up around the Punta Gorda area by boats fishing for Marlin. The Gorda Banks had fish showing up there as well and Mackerel Scad rigged with a short wire bite leader and dropped to around 100 feet caught some nice fish for a few boats slow trolling them on the east side of the inner Gorda.
INSHORE: Most of the inshore bite was close to home with a half dozen decent Sierra per boat, fish to 8 pounds. There were also Jack Crevalle mixed in with them. A Roosterfish bite occurred of the beach at San Cristobal for a day or so with fish to 35 pounds being caught, but the wind only allowed for a few hours in the morning before the water became too rough to stay. There are big concentrations of Mullet moving into the area so hopefully the Roosterfish bite will pick up soon.
NOTES: Like I said last week, the fishing continues to improve. That’s a good thing and we hope it continues. This weeks report was written to a mix of songs off the internet, almost all of them blues by Sam “Lightnin” Hopkins, the legendary Texas bluesman. Until next week, Tight Lines! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
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Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 7:40 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT APRIL 25-May 1, 2005
WEATHER: The wind this week was pretty steady from the northwest and that meant that we had a dust haze hanging over Cabo all week long. You could really notice it from the ocean; I had clients ask if that was smog. Thank goodness, not yet! There were a few scattered clouds at the beginning of the week but the rest of the week it was warm and sunny. Friday and Saturday were probably two of the most perfect weather days we have had here in a long time. The daytime temperatures were around the mid 80’s and our night time lows were right at the low 70’s and there was almost no humidity. Of course we had no rain this week!
WATER: Once again the water on the Pacific side was consistently colder than the Sea of Cortez. Pacific temps were mostly in the 67-69 degree range with a little spot of warmer 71 degree water just off the beach up toward Migraino at the end of the week. If you followed a direct line to the southeast following the direction of the coast from the Pacific edge you would be following a temperature break where it warmed to 71-72 degrees, out to a distance of 20 miles. There has been a little hook formed by the warm water that has this break as the western edge, inside the temp’s drop a couple of degrees and it warms up again right around the 95 Spot. There was a ridge of warm water running from the northeast to the southwest in the Sea of Cortez from the Gorda Banks to and past the 1150 this week and the water was right around 74-75 degrees. Surface conditions on the Pacific were pretty choppy all week long but on the Cortez side it was nice.
BAIT: There were Caballito available at the normal $2 per bait and if you went up toward San Jose early in the morning there was a chance of getting Sardinas at $20 per bucket.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: For the third or fourth week in a row Striped Marlin have taken the top spot as fish of the week. While not biting with the same amount of enthusiasm as they were last week, they are still out there and almost every boat is getting one a day hooked up. As the week came and went the concentration of fish has moved closer to us. At the beginning of the week there was a heavy concentration up on Punta Gorda and at the head of the San Jose canyon, right off the beach at San Jose. At the end of the week they were a bit more scattered, but there were strong showings between Red Hill, off the Westin, and all the way to just outside the arches. While the fish were there in large numbers, getting them to eat was a problem. One of the best methods early in the week was to pull up to where the fish were concentrated, find the bait on the fish-finder them make bait on the spot. While we were getting Caballito from the bait guys here in Cabo, it seemed that most of the Marlin were feeding on Mackerel. With fresh mackerel as bait, slow trolling the area or deep dropping the bait resulted in quick hook-ups. At the end of the week the Mackerel seemed to have scattered and better results were had slow trolling dead bait through the area. Oh, the best location for the Stripers was within 5 miles of shore! That’s right, where the water was nice and flat! It was a good week for Marlin, all things considered.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Most of the Yellowfin caught this week were footballs, and as a surprise, most of them were caught in the blind. There were very large pods of Porpoise found in the cooler waters on the Pacific side out around the Golden Gate and San Jaime banks, but there were very few Tuna caught around them. Most of the Yellowfin caught were found within 5 miles of shore, from the Lighthouse on the Pacific side to the Red Hill area. The mix was about 60% Skipjack and Bonito and about 40% Yellowfin and the Yellowfin averaged 8-10 pounds, like I said, football fish. Small dark colored feathers and hootchies worked on these fish.
DORADO: Same as last week, some Dorado were found this week but they were found mixed in with the football Tuna. There were not the numbers caught that were found last week though, and some of the fish were a bit larger. I talked with one Captain that said one Dorado they caught was at least 50 pounds.
WAHOO: Unlike last week, I did see a Wahoo this week, at least for a short time. We had a strike on the short rigger on Thursday and I was watching when the estimated #70 Wahoo hit and started screaming out line. We got the lure back after loosing 100 yards on the first run. The leader was cut up a bit, as were the skirts, but it sure woke everyone up! I was hearing of other boats on the Radio that were getting an occasional bite as well. Almost all the action was taking place in the same areas as the Marlin.
INSHORE: The Sierra action picked up at the end of the week with a good concentration of fish found just off the beach on the Pacific side, from just north of the lighthouse to the Pedregal area. Working with small Rapallas in bright colors, Sierra from 4 to 8 pounds were making all the Panga anglers happy. If you were in the middle of the schools early there was a chance of getting 15 of these great tasting fish (I know several Pangas that did it) but most of the boats were happy with a half dozen or so, with a few Jack Crevalle mixed in. There have been a few Roosterfish caught as well and that is not surprising as we are seeing more Mullet in the area now.
NOTES: All right, things are looking up! The fishing continues to improve, slowly but steadily. With the water warming up it should not be long before we start to get showings of Blue and Black Marlin as well as more Dorado and Yellowfin. There were giant Humboldt Squid this week as well, for those that were looking for something different, all you had to do to find them was look for concentrations of Seagulls, then drop down a bait fillet or squid jig and work the spot. This weeks report was written to the music of surf guitarist Dick Dale on his newest CD, “Spacial Disorientation”. Until next week, Tight lines! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
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Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2005 - 7:39 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT APRIL 18-24, 2005
WEATHER: It is the time of year when we have varied winds, sometimes from the east, sometimes the west and sometimes no wind at all. It seemed this week that we had a little bit of everything and there was no predicting from which direction it might blow, if it did. The majority of the time it was from the north or west so there was always nice water on the Sea of Cortez side. Our daytime highs have been rising and at the end of the week we were seeing the low 90’s during the middle of the day. We had a little rise in the humidity as well. The evening lows were in the mid 60’s.
WATER: Water temps on the Pacific side were varied depending on where you were at the end of the week. We had cool water up around the Jaime and Golden Gate Banks, mostly in the 67-68 degree range and a finger of cool water directly to the south of us as well. The warmer water was on the Cortez side of the Cape with water ranging from 72 to 78 degrees. There were few sharp temperature boundaries; the change was spread over a fairly large area for the most part with the exception of directly to the south where there was a distinct break of 4 degrees early in the week. Water conditions were good almost all week long but it was just a bit uncomfortable on the Pacific side early in the week. For most of the week conditions on the Sea of Cortez were nice, more like being on a lake.
BAIT: There were Caballito available at the normal $2 per bait and if you went up toward San Jose early in the morning there was a chance of getting Sardinas at $20 per bucket.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Once again Striped Marlin took first place as the fish of the week. Much like the action several months ago, we had a large group of fish move into the area and while they started out close to home, the main concentration of them was up around the Gorda Banks and Punta Gorda. From just off the beach to 6 miles out early in the week, the bite was on with lots of Marlin being seen and quite a few being hooked up. There has been a lot of squid in the area so lures in the petrelero color were particularly effective, as was dead bait. As the week progressed the main concentration was found a bit farther north and then the action went almost wide open. Most of the boats going the distance returned with up to six flags flying and almost everyone was able to catch and release two or three. I fished off of the 1150 last Sunday, just before this reporting period and went 4 for 5 on Marlin while on a Tuna hunt. I went again on Wednesday and brought up over 2 dozen fish, with 15 of them into the lures while working 4 miles to the southeast of the Outer Gorda. Great fishing this week!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: At the end of the week there were some football Tuna found, after a long absence. Most of the fish were to the south of the Cape, and around the area to the south of the San Jaime. Spotting the Porpoise was the key, as usual, and the catch ranged from one to 8 fish per boat, with the fish mostly in the 10-20 pound class. Small feather in dark colors and small dark hootchies worked best on these fish.
DORADO: Some Dorado were found this week but strangely enough, they were found mixed in with the football Tuna. Almost every boat that returned with a Tuna flag had Dorado as well, and the fish were between 10 and 15 pounds.
WAHOO: I didn’t see a Wahoo this week but did see a few flags flying. With the concentration of Marlin close to shore and around the Gorda Banks that comes as no surprise; the surprise is that there were not more of them caught.
INSHORE: There was no change in the inshore report this week; it was a repeat of last week’s action. The Sierra action moved back to the Pacific side of the Cape this week but it was not easy, most of the Pangas were scratching to get a half dozen of the good eating fish in the boat. There was action on Jack Crevalle and small Roosterfish as well as some decent Pargo, but no wide open bite on any one species. With the Marlin moving in close to the beach at the end of the week, many of the Pangs were focusing on them.
NOTES: The water is warming up and the fishing is improving as it happens. We are returning to summertime weather and hopefully summertime fishing as well! This weeks report was written to the blues music of the Carvin Jones Band from the 2000 CD “I Walked All Night Long”. Thank you Charlie! Until next week, Tight Lines! |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
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Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 18, 2005 - 9:17 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT APRIL 11-17, 2005
WEATHER: The wind died early in the week and our weather started to improve right away. At the end of the week the wind was blowing just a little at night and that kept the bugs down. Our night time lows were in the mid to high 60’s and our day time highs were in the mid to high 80’s.
WATER: On the Pacific side of the Cape the water continued to remain a little on the cool side with temperatures in the high 60’s. The warmer water was on the Sea of Cortez with water staying in the low 70’s. 30 miles to the south the water warmed then the edge ran past the 95 spot as the warm water approached the Cape. Surface conditions on both sides of the Cape were good this week with calmer water on the Cortez side.
BAIT: Mostly Caballito this week with a few Mackerel at the normal $2 per bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Strange to say, I have to pick Striped Marlin as the fish of the week. The bite did not turn on until Friday, but then you did not have to travel far to find the fish. Most of the action was within 7 miles of the shore on the Cortez side of the Cape from Gray Rock to Gorda Banks. Almost every boat came in flying at least one Marlin flag and those that were not flying one had plain bad luck, most likely hooking their fish and then losing it. I fished on Sunday and went four for five on the Stripers, with the fish averaging right around 110 pounds. Catch results on artificial lures and live bait was mixed an almost even 50/50. There was little action early in the week unless you were very lucky. Our fingers are crossed that the action continues this week!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Very few fish were to be found and those that were found were football size mixed in with Porpoise, and most of the action was either to the south or close to shore on the Pacific side of the Cape.
DORADO: This is a repeat of last week! The few Dorado found this week were almost all associated with floating debris or small kelp fronds. The fish ranged from 10 pounds (and a few even smaller) to 25-30 pounds, but they were scarce. My guesstimate is there may have been one Dorado caught for every 15 boats. Naturally a few boats caught multiple fish, but they were the exception and very lucky.
WAHOO: There were a few fish caught, but with all the boats that were working for Marlin close to shore that was no surprise. The fish that were caught were in the 30-40 pound range.
INSHORE: The Sierra action moved back to the Pacific side of the Cape this week but it was not easy, most of the Pangas were scratching to get a half dozen of the good eating fish in the boat. There was action on Jack Crevalle and small Roosterfish as well as some decent Pargo, but no wide open bite on any one species. With the Marlin moving in close to the beach at the end of the week, many of the Pangs were focusing on them.
NOTES: Once again it was a mostly “miss” kind of week for the fishing here. Thank goodness that the Marlin showed at the end of the week or there would have been nothing to write about! As it is, this is probably the shortest fish report I have done since Hurricane Juliet! I hope things improve in the coming week, but even if it does not, I’d rather be on the water than on the beach! This weeks report was written to the 1991 Warner Bros. release of their self-titled album, “Fourplay”. |
CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
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Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 11, 2005 - 9:29 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT APRIL 4-10, 2005
WEATHER: This week started out just great as far as weather went, but it sure ended up on a windy note. In a continuation of last weeks weather, every day through Thursday was just fine with light breezes in the afternoons and daytime highs in the mid 80’s with night time lows in the high 60’s. On Friday the wind began and it blew all the way through Sunday morning. Coming from the north-west, it was a steady 12-15 knots and dropped the temperature about 10 degrees at night. On Sunday morning I registered 60 degrees at my house! Heck, I was just thinking about hooking up the air conditioner on Wednesday! No rain of course, we don’t expect to get any this time of year.
WATER: The week ended with rough water on the Pacific side all the way to the south, due to the wind. Even in front of Cabo it was rough and didn’t calm down until you were a little way up the Sea of Cortez. Once past the 95 spot outside or Punta Ballena on the inside the water mellowed out quite a bit. The Pacific side was cold with water ranging from the mid 60’s to high 60’s. On the Cortez side it was a bit warmer up to the 1150 and Gorda Banks areas, and then it jumped to 75 degrees.
BAIT: There was no problem getting bait this week, only it was mostly Mackerel, with a few Caballito, and they were the usual $2 per bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: What Marlin action we had this week was all Striped Marlin. I was fishing last Sunday and another Captain had a Blue Marlin he estimated at #400 nail a lure and they were able to get several jumps out of him, but that was the only non-Striper I heard of. The few Marlin that were found were either fairly close to Cabo, and I mean within three miles of the shore on the Cortez side, or way up north on the Cortez, up in the East Cape area, 60 miles away. Those fish (the East Cape ones) were just a rumor, I know a couple of boats that went up there looking for them, but have not heard back from them yet. Supposedly the action up there was as good as we had it here two months ago! Close to home there were fish sighted, but they were not in a very hungry mood for the most part.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I find it almost unbelievable that for the third week in a row I could almost repeat word for word the Yellowfin section. Find the Porpoise and you had a shot at Yellowfin. The fish were not large, mostly in the 10-15 pound range with a few smaller and a few larger ones. It took small lures to get them; most of the boats that were successful were jigging hootchies in pink or root beer colors, three inches long. Maybe they were matching the small squid in the area or perhaps there were red crab, but that was almost the only thing that worked. If you did find the Porpoise that were holding fish, you had to work them hard! There were larger fish spotted on the Gorda Banks, Tuna in the 80 pound class, but no one I am aware of had any luck with them except a few of the Pangas from La Playita in San Jose. Those Pangas were able to get Sardinas for bait and were n the banks at gray light in the morning.
DORADO: The few Dorado found this week were almost all associated with floating debris or small kelp fronds. The fish ranged from 10 pounds (and a few even smaller) to 25-30 pounds, but they were scarce. My guesstimate is there may have been one Dorado caught for every 15 boats. Naturally a few boats caught multiple fish, but they were the exception and very lucky.
WAHOO: A few boats had luck on Wahoo, and it was luck, not skill since they were not targeting the fish. The best catch I heard of this week was three fish on one trip, tow of them at #30 and one at #70. For the rest of the boats, there was maybe one Wahoo strike per 20 boats, and one fish caught for 50 boats. Gives you an idea, huh?
INSHORE: There were scattered Sierra schools this week, most of them found on the Cortez side of the Cape but there was decent action as well on the Pacific early in the week before the wind blew up. The fish were averaging 4 pounds with a few to 8 pounds. Good colors were yellow and chartreuse. Some great Pargo action happened around the rocky points for the boats willing to get right in there, and there was good Snapper action as well in water from 150 to 250 feet deep. Some small Roosterfish action happened also, nothing great but there were scattered fish in the 5-15 pound range.
NOTES: Last week I said it was a hit or miss kind of week for fishing, this week I would have to say it was mostly miss. If I could only predict what the fishing would be like I might be rich, as it is I just report how it was. With hindsight I would have to say that I personally would have stayed home the last three days of the week rather than go fishing, but hey, some boats did all right. Our fingers and toes are crossed that the fishing improves soon, and hopefully the wind will die down as well, it is Sunday morning now and it looks like it is starting to slacken off a bit! This weeks report was written to the music of Van Morrison on his 1990 Polydor release “The Best of Van Morrison”. Thanks folks, and until next week, Tight Lines!
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CaptGeo (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 04, 2005 - 9:37 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT MARCH 28-APRIL 3, 2005
WEATHER: We had great weather this week, almost no wind and calm seas. There were some small swells from the north-west and some wind swell from the east once you were to the south of the Cape, but it was very comfortable. Oh, except for a slight chop in the afternoon close to home. Our daytime highs were in the mid to low 80’s while the night time lows were in the mid 60’s.
WATER: Cold water at the end of the week on the Pacific side from just south of the San Jaime Banks on up, the water stayed in the mid 60’s from 10 miles south of the Banks and up to 5 miles from the coast. In close to the coast it warmed up by a few degrees. Due south the water was 68 to 70 degrees and to the east there was a pocket of cold water in the mid 60’s that formed early in the week and got pinched off with a northern movement of the warm water to the south. This pocket of cool water was in the mid 60’s. Elsewhere on the east side the water remained 68-70 degrees until you got 30 miles off shore, then it was 71-73 degrees. There was a pretty well defined temperature break on the Pacific side south of the San Jaime and that break held some floating kelp, these paddies were scattered along the break and occasionally worked loose of the line and eventually formed up to the south of the Cape.
BAIT: There was no problem getting bait this week, only it was Caballito, nice size ones, and they were the usual $2 per bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: While still not being caught in large numbers, the fish have moved closer to home. There was a concentration of Striped Marlin within 7 miles of the lighthouse on the Pacific side this week, lots of jumpers in there but they were difficult to catch. Lucky boats were able to get hooked up to one that stayed hooked, sometimes to several, others were just able to get some line stripped from the reels. Luck was pretty evenly split between lures and live bait, some of the guys think that there is so much giant squid in the area that the Marlin are full and don’t have to work that hard for food. There were Swordfish sighted this week again, but I did not hear of anyone catching them. There may have been some landed though, some of the boats did night-time fishing this week.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Wow, I am just going to repeat what I wrote last week! Look for the Porpoise and if you get lucky there will be Tuna mixed in. That was the key for this week, and the key word there is “lucky”. Many of the Porpoise pods found did not have any Tuna with them, so you often had to try and find as many pods as possible. Those fish that were caught were mostly in the 10-15 pound range with a few to 40 pounds. Cedar plugs and feathers worked and boats that were able to get a good bite going found themselves able to catch a limit. Other boats, not so lucky, ended up a trip with just one Tuna in the box.
DORADO: The kelp finally moved to the south of the San Jaime and into the warmer waters, there were a fair number of Dorado, some of them very nice fish, found under a few paddies. Most of the fish were small ones, from 6 pounds and up. The problem was finding a paddy that held fish! You might work a couple of dozen of them, and they were mostly small ones, before you found one that had fish under it. Getting hit on a lure was a start, but most of the boats had better luck soaking live bait around them.
WAHOO: Wow, we had the best day I have seen in a long time on Wednesday as far as the Wahoo catch is concerned! One boat found a big kelp and there must have been several dozen big Wahoo, ranging in size from 60 to 105 pounds taken from it. A few other smaller kelps in the area kicked out a few fish as well. For the rest of the week there were scattered fish found here and there under kelp as well as along the drop offs on the Cortez side of the Cape.
INSHORE: There were scattered Sierra schools this week, most of them found on the Cortez side of the Cape. The fish were averaging 4 pounds with a few to 8 pounds. Good colors were yellow and chartreuse. A few decent bottom fish were caught as well but most of the Pangas were working offshore since the water was in great condition.
NOTES: It was a hit or miss kind of week fishing, not a lot of fish for most of the boats and a few of them were very lucky and really got into the Tuna, Dorado and Wahoo. I would venture a guess that an average catch for the week was a Marlin and maybe a Dorado or a Tuna per boat, or a couple of each except for Marlin. There are still Humpback whales out there but they are continuing to thin out. This weeks report was written to the sounds of Jimmy Buffet on the 1990 MCA release “Feeding Frenzy”. Until next week, Tight Lines!
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CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 28, 2005 - 8:29 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT MARCH 21-27, 2005
WEATHER: One day the wind blows, the next day there is no wind. This is typical weather for Cabo this time of year but it can make for interesting fishing, for sure! Thankfully most of the week the wind was tolerable, blowing from the north-west or the west and not coming from the south or east. No rain this week and our day time highs were around the low 80’s with the night time lows around the low to mid 60’s.
WATER: Every day that the wind blew the conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape began to erode. If the wind blew for two days, the second day became “Victory at Sea” kind of conditions. With the cold water being pushed into our area by the currents from the north, most of the fish were looking for warmer water anyway so most of the boats ended up fishing to the east or north on the Sea of Cortez. In those areas the surface conditions were much better and the water was warmer. On the Pacific, the cold 67 degree water extended from the shore and out past the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks. Along with being cold, the water was green. On the Cortez side the water close to shore was warmer, mostly in the 70-72 degree range and blue.
BAIT: This was a hard week for getting bait. Some of the bait Pangas limited their customers to 5 baits per day in an attempt to keep everyone happy. What was available was brought in from San Jose and was available at $2 per bait, mostly Mackerel.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin are still shy, but I had a customer this week that fished for 12 hours for two days and managed to release two Striped Marlin and one Blue Marlin, along with having shots at a few more fish. All of his action, along with all the Marlin action that I heard of came from the Cortez side of the Cape and happened close to shore, actually within 5 miles for the Striped, and 30 miles out for the Blue. What a lot of the guys have been looking for this past week were Swordfish. With the water cool and green to the Pacific side and the south, there have been quite a few of them sighted and a few hooked up. Never here in any large numbers, this is the time of year we start seeing them.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Look for the Porpoise and if you get lucky there will be Tuna mixed in. That was the key for this week, and the key word there is “lucky”. Many of the Porpoise pods found did not have any Tuna with them, so you often had to try and find as many pods as possible. Those fish that were caught were mostly in the 10-15 pound range with a few to 40 pounds. Cedar plugs and feathers worked and boats that were able to get a good bite going found themselves able to catch a limit. Other boats, not so lucky, ended up a trip with just one Tuna in the box.
DORADO: Again the floating Kelp was the key to a good Dorado catch, but the currents were not taking much of it to the warmer Cortez side. We found a lot of small paddies in the current lines at the San Jaime Banks, but with the water cold and green there were no fish associated with them. Dorado that were found were on the Cortez side and most of them ranged from 6-20 pounds.
WAHOO: The Wahoo bite improved a bit this last week, but there were still not a lot of them caught. The full moon on the 25th may have had something to do with the improved bite; it seems to happen that way. Most of the fish were 25-35 pounds but a few were reported at 80-90 pounds. Dark colored lures run very long, I mean back on the 12th wake, did very well on Wahoo, as did Marauders run close to the boat.
INSHORE: Just as last week, the Sierra continued to move around. Most of the fish have been 4-8 pounds and now have been found on the Cortez side of the Cape, the green water on the Pacific pushed them around. Along with Sierra there has been a good bite on Skipjack to 10 pounds along with some small Dorado. For anglers working the bottom or mid depths there have been a few nice Pargo and Amberjack mixed in and only a few Grouper and Yellowtail. Next to the beach a few small Roosterfish have been found as well with sizes mostly around 5-8 pounds
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NOTES: I have not seen any Gray Whales this week and have seen only a few Humpbacks. The fish have been scattered and not here in great numbers so having the Whales around made things better, now we have to be satisfied with the Porpoise! Having the Swordfish begin to show makes every trip more interesting, as this is probably the premier billfish available. Catching one of them is like winning the lottery! This weeks report was written to the music of Boz Scaggs on the 1994 Virgin Records release “Some Change”. Until next week, Tight Lines!
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CaptG (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 21, 2005 - 7:26 am: | |
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT MARCH 14-20, 2005
WEATHER: The winds that we started the week with disappeared mid-week and as of now the weather is great! No clouds to speak of, daytime in the high 70’s and night time in the low 60’s, just about perfect. No rain this week, wow, two weeks in a row, maybe we are getting back to normal?
WATER: As the wind disappeared so did the choppy conditions that we began the week with. There are still some decent swells on the Pacific side, and occasionally a wind line, but there is almost pool-table like conditions on the Cortez side of the Cape. Green water close to shore and extending out 15 miles in places on the Pacific side, almost to the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks and it was in the 66-67 degree range, warmer at the end of the week. Once past the cool green water the temperature rose to hit 72 degrees and the water became blue. The cool water wrapped around the Cape in a band that extended north up the Sea of Cortez almost all the way up the East Cape, getting warmer as it went. This band was 15 miles wide as well, with the warmer waters well past the 95 spot and the 1150. At the end of the week the cool water band was getting pinched off at the tip of the Cape as an eddy of warm water pushed our way.
BAIT: The normal $2 per bait for the bait of the month, Pacific Mackerel, and there were some small Caballito in the mix. The bait guys were saying that it has been hard to get any good bait this week.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Marlin continue to be shy and most seem to have taken a vacation. There were a few caught this week but I would have to say that the success rate was around 20-25 percent. Most of the fish caught were on live bait dropped back to Marlin appearing in the lure pattern, but the fish that did come in were often hungry enough that they got hooked on the lure before a bait reached them. Quite a few of the Marlin have been found mixed in with the Porpoise and Tuna and most of the action was due south or on the Cortez side of the Cape.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again the fish of the week, there still have not been a lot of big ones caught. Watching the fish landed and listening to the reports on the radio it seems that the larger fish are pushing 40 pounds while the averages are around 10-15 pounds. They have been found with Porpoise and without Porpoise. Around the San Jaime Banks there were fish caught on blind strikes right along the edges of the drops, elsewhere Porpoise were the key. We metered good fish almost every day when we found the Porpoise, but they have been shy and have been staying 150 feet down. Dropping live bait on them worked if you were able to get the line of travel guessed correctly.
DORADO: What a change from last week! I almost decided to call the Dorado the fish of the week, but while the action was hot, it died off a bit at the tail end. The thing that changed so much from last week was the appearance of scattered clumps of kelp brought to us on the currents from the northern Baja. Anything larger than a single strand seemed to hold fish and the first boats to the kelp really loaded up. Live bait worked well and after the fish became scattered, tossing chunks out brought them together again. The fish ranged from 6-20 pounds.
WAHOO: There were a few Wahoo caught this week, and they were associated with the kelp as well. Most of the fish were 20-25 pounds and there were not very many of them.
INSHORE: Inshore fishing continues to be a bit confusing. There are still plenty of Sierra around but the schools have been moving around a lot. The Yellowtail bite that we expected to have started by now just hasn’t happened yet. With the calming of the seas the chance to bottom fish has improved and that has shown in the inshore catches as more Pargo and Grouper, as well as Amberjack and Jack Crevalle were landed.
NOTES: The Whales are beginning to move back north and we are seeing fewer every trip. It is spring break and the town and beaches are filled with students. I was feeling a bit funky today and listened to a bit of jazz while writing this report. I was tapping my toes instead of my fingers on the keyboard, maybe that is one of the reasons this report is a bit brief! Check out (if you can find it) the 1963 Polygram release called “Jazz Samba” with Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd. Until next week, Tight Lines!
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