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Cabo San Lucas - January 14th, 2013
supplied by: The Patient Angler
RECORDED: 
67 °
FISHING: Great
Just got back from a trip down to sunny Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It actually wasn’t as sunny and warm as usual with the tail of the cold front that swept across the west coast passing over the Baja peninsula. It was still a lot warmer than at home, but a jacket was needed during the chilly early morning hours of fishing out on the boat. I went down to chase Marlin on the fly and test out some new gear with Grant Hartman and his experienced crew of Baja Anglers.
Timing was good for the trip with a favorable moon phase, good water conditions and light winds, but the cold front made marlin fishing on the fly a little tougher as it tends to keep Marlin down and not as accessible to the fly.
When fly-fishing for Marlin, we normally troll a spread of hookless teasers on top of the water behind the boat that imitates a small school of fish with the hopes of bringing a Marlin up from the depths thinking he’s found something to eat. Once the Marlin shows himself and tries to eat one of the teasers, we pull it away from him and reel the teaser in quickly trying to lure the fish closer to the boat. They normally don’t like loosing their free lunch, so they chase it down rocketing toward the boat half out of the water like a torpedo trying to catch their meal that got away. When the teaser and the following Marlin are brought to within 20 yards of the boat, the teaser is pulled from the water at the same time a cast is made with the fly. If all things work as planned, the Marlin stops when his lunch (the teaser) is pulled from the water and then attacks the fly when it hits the water thinking it was the lunch he just lost. Then all hell breaks loose when you set the hook and all you can do is hang on and hope he doesn’t take all your line or break you off since Marlin leaders are normally made with 20-pound line. Then it’s just you and one of the biggest fish in the ocean in the ultimate game of tug of war.
As it turned out, we only saw and got shots at three Marlin during the trip. The first was a Marlin we spotted cruising on top, but had no interest in anything we had to offer as far as teasers were concerned and casually swam off. The second Marlin we encountered came in on the teasers and Captain Alex did a great job teasing him in for a shot. I made the cast and the marlin shot across to my fly and wacked it with his bill, but didn’t eat it and swam away. Alex immediately grabbed a pitch bait teaser and cast it out to try and bring the Marlin back to the boat. The Marlin jumped on the pitch bait and chased it back in for another bait & switch cast, but again turning away from the fly at the last second. Alex skillfully brought that fish back to the boat seven times for cast attempts, but results were the same, he just wasn’t lit-up enough to commit to the fly and we were once again searching millions of gallons of water for another fish.
Later in the day, “Third time’s the charm” was all I could think of as another Marlin crushed the farthest teaser back and wouldn’t let go of it. Captain Alex grabbed the teaser rod and fought to rip the hookless teaser bait from the Marlins mouth. Once Alex tore the bait free and quickly reeled it back to the boat, the Marlin exploded from the water racing with half it’s body out of the water trying to reclaim it’s prize. This Striped Marlin was hot and lit-up and the fish you’re looking for when casting a fly. Alex pulled the teaser just as I made the needed cast, placing the fly just to the right of the incoming Marlin. I made one strip popping the fly on the surface and this big beautiful fish turned and shot over and hammered my fly. I set-up on him making sure I had a good solid hook-up and with line screaming from my reel the Marlin started the first of three long runs. He leapt and bound across the ocean surface like a jet ski until he was just small splashes on the horizon taking a most of my 800 yards of backing with him. After 45 minutes of fighting him back to the boat, I finally could see my fly line again and right when you start thinking you’ve got him beat, a heavy head shake indicated the start of another blistering run taking another 300 yards of my line back out into the blue. After fighting him back in, he made one last short halfhearted run and I knew he was tired I had him beat. After an hour and a half on the rod, I was glad when Alex finally got hold of his bill and we boated the Marlin for a quick picture and release.
With my arms felling like rubber bands after achieving my goal of catching a Marlin on the fly during this trip, we decided to fish the inshore and had a blast casting to Roosterfish, Jack Crevalle, Green Jacks, Yellow Tail and Sierra right along the beach.
I hadn’t been down to Cabo for about a year and as I was taking my seat on the plane for the flight home, I wondered why. With great people, great food and great fishing, it’s hard to not have a great time!
The Patient Angler
Peter Bowers
photos
Weather and Lunar Phases
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Cabo San Lucas - December 26th, 2012
supplied by: Fly Hooker Sportfishing
RECORDED:
82 °
FISHING: Great
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Dec 16-23, 2012
WEATHER: It has been a strange week for us on the weather front as we started the week with a bit of high cloud cover then went into a period of sunny skies for a few days. After enjoying the sun it appeared that we had just been teased as the clouds moved in on Thursday morning. The rain began and it was on and off all day and night with an eventual dump of about 1 inch total. We expected the clouds to move away then but upon looking at the animated shots could see that this may last at least through the weekend, and perhaps even longer. I don't know if I should call this a “pineapple express” or not as it is coming at us from at least 800 miles south of Hawaii. There is a frontal system to the north of us that is preventing this system from going further north, if it lets up perhaps our skies will clear. Looking over my reports for the past 10 years we normally get this type of weather at the beginning of the year, and it is short lived giving us a little rain every week for about three weeks. One thing this has done for us is wash off all the trees and plants, giving back that green look, and of course it will help everything continue to grow. I just hope that since the weather is cooler with our lows in the high 60's that the mosquitoes and flies will not be as prevalent. Our daytime highs have been in the mid 80's.
WATER: Once again due to the cloud cover there were no good shots of the surface temperature, but from what we could see and what was reported by the boats it appears as if the water temperature across the area has dropped another degree or two. On both the Cortez and on the Pacific side of the cape we had inshore water at 75 to 76 degrees while just offshore on the Cortez side it warmed to 79 degrees and on the Pacific side to 78 degrees. With the rain came murky inshore water and the off-color conditions extended out for about ½ mile around all areas where arroyos entered the ocean. The cloud cover was moving in from the southwest but the surface winds were from the north, and with the north wind came choppy sea conditions on the Pacific side. Swells from the southwest collided with the wind from the north and it was a bit uncomfortable, at least on Thursday and Friday. By Saturday the winds had died off and the water settled down. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was very nice with small swells at 1-3 feet, and if you were within 10 miles of shore the wind had little effect on you.
BAIT: There were bigger live baits such as Caballito (goggle-eye scad), some Mackerel (pacific greenback mackerel), Lisa (yellowtail mullet) and a few mixed baits available at the usual $3 each. Frozen horse-ballyhoo were available as well at $3 each and if you went north in the morning with plans to fish in the Punta Gorda area there were some Sardina available as well if you were there early, at the usual $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Not surprisingly there are fewer and fewer Blue and Black Marlin reported as the water cools off, but I know of at least one boat that caught and released a Blue Marlin they estimated at #250, and this was reported by experienced anglers. The fish was found inside the 95 spot to 1150 line, an area this boat fished heavily for several days. The Striped Marlin bite continued to pick up, and we do expect the action on these guys to improve on a steady basis. Drifting the high spots along the shore on the Pacific side with live bait dropped deep is still the most constant producer, but more and more fish are being found on the surface. As the cool water continues to wrap around the Cape from the Pacific side the Striped Marlin are following, and the fishing is improving on a daily basis on the Cortez side of the Cape. This was nice to have happen this week as conditions on the Pacific side were a bit bumpy. I think that perhaps 75% of the boats that went out this week were able to hook into a Striped Marlin. Unfortunately there are still many of these fish being killed by the crews, even though the anglers want to release the fish. I keep seeing the buckets going up the docks with a Marlin folded into it and no longer wonder why so many boats refuse to use circle hooks, I know that the crews want to keep the fish, sigh.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Perhaps we will not see good Tuna action in our area until the beginning of the year, but there are still some cows being caught on the Gorda Banks every day. The fish have been under some heavy pressure but they are there, it is just a matter of spending the time, waiting them out, waiting for the bite to happen. Most of the action has been on chunk baits with hooks tied directly to the main line, and the fish are running between 150 and 250 pounds. Elsewhere the porpoise pods continue to be a hit-or-miss experience, with the first boats that find pods holding fish managing to get two or three in the 25 to 75 pound class and boats showing up a bit later just getting practice at trolling lures or soaking bait. I heard from a couple of private boats that there is an on-off bite on fish averaging 25 pound on the high points off of Punta Gordo, but they are getting there before sunrise to get into the bite, shortly after sunrise the local fleet pangas out of San Jose show up and the bite quickly drops off. Porpoise have been found from 5 miles due south to all along the 1,000 fathom line, so you never know when or where they may appear, you just have to keep your fingers crossed that the ones you come across hold tuna. The larger fish have been caught on live bait while lures, especially cedar plugs and dark colored feathers have been the best producers on the medium and smaller fish mixed with porpoise.
DORADO: Dorado action continued, but at a reduced pace as the water continues to cool. Most of the action has been found within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side, and while there are fewer numbers, the size continues to improve. Many of the fish being found are in the 20-25 pound class, and most of these fish are being found under feeding Frigate birds, and caught on live bait tossed out directly under the birds. You have to be careful though, because these birds are also a good indicator of feeding Striped Marlin, and it has not been uncommon for a couple of baits tossed out to be inhaled by a pair of Marlin! My guess is that about 75% of the boats are coming in with Dorado these days, but only 20% of them are coming in with limits, compared with 60% coming in with limits two weeks ago. The Cortez side is now producing more Dorado as the warmer water is now in this area and the Pacific side is cooling off, so look for the bite to slowly move from the Pacific side to the Cortez side over the next few week.
WAHOO: As always, a hit or miss fishery is the best way to describe the Wahoo bite. Mostly this week it has been a miss, but there are a few boats that are having fairly regular action of fish ranging from 20 to 35 pounds, as well as a few fish that are only as big as Sierra. Trolling lipped plugs like Rapallas, or swimming plugs like Marauders has been the best method of getting a Wahoo bite, but boats that are chunking or live baiting are getting bit as well, it's just that most of these bites are cutting the leader!
INSHORE: The inshore bite has not changed from last weeks report with the exception of the fact that at the end of the week the areas around the arroyos have had dirty water due to the rain run-off. More and more Sierra are beginning to show up locally and while small at 3-5 pounds they have been biting when the schools have been found. Add in a few early Yellowtail to 20 pounds, a few red Snapper to 15 pounds and a few grouper to 20 pounds and the traditional inshore fishery is beginning to shape up nicely. Still, most of the Pangas are fishing slightly farther off the beach, taking advantage of the continued Dorado bite and the close proximity of Striped Marlin.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this months recipe!
NOTES: We are seeing more and more whales showing up, both Humpbacks offshore and Gray Whales along the beach. Christmas is usually the start of the season for these guys (actually girls) to show up and they are not disappointing us this year. Just before the holidays is normally a slow time for tourism as family are staying home in celebration, but as soon as Christmas is over we expect to be very busy again, and hopefully the fishing continues to improve! My music choice for this week was the CD “Underground Whispers” by violinist Alex DePue and guitarist Miguel De Hoyas. I listened to this one again as Miguel was playing in Las Riberras this weekend and we wanted to go listen, but all the hotels and motels were sold out due to an off-road race taking place. I had to listen to the CD instead, sigh. Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the "FOLLOW" on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com
From our house to yours!
http://www.msn.americangreetings.com/ecards/display_facebook.pd?p=3344721&m=7635&i=470101282&source=agfb
Weather and Lunar Phases
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Cabo San Lucas - December 17th, 2012
supplied by: Fly Hooker Sportfishing
RECORDED: 
80 °
FISHING: Great
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Dec 10 - 16, 2012
WEATHER: It has been a strange week for us on the weather front as we started the week with a bit of high cloud cover then went into a period of sunny skies for a few days. After enjoying the sun it appeared that we had just been teased as the clouds moved in on Thursday morning. The rain began and it was on and off all day and night with an eventual dump of about 1 inch total. We expected the clouds to move away then but upon looking at the animated shots could see that this may last at least through the weekend, and perhaps even longer. I don't know if I should call this a “pineapple express” or not as it is coming at us from at least 800 miles south of Hawaii. There is a frontal system to the north of us that is preventing this system from going further north, if it lets up perhaps our skies will clear. Looking over my reports for the past 10 years we normally get this type of weather at the beginning of the year, and it is short lived giving us a little rain every week for about three weeks. One thing this has done for us is wash off all the trees and plants, giving back that green look, and of course it will help everything continue to grow. I just hope that since the weather is cooler with our lows in the high 60's that the mosquitoes and flies will not be as prevalent. Our daytime highs have been in the mid 80's.
WATER: Once again due to the cloud cover there were no good shots of the surface temperature, but from what we could see and what was reported by the boats it appears as if the water temperature across the area has dropped another degree or two. On both the Cortez and on the Pacific side of the cape we had inshore water at 75 to 76 degrees while just offshore on the Cortez side it warmed to 79 degrees and on the Pacific side to 78 degrees. With the rain came murky inshore water and the off-color conditions extended out for about ½ mile around all areas where arroyos entered the ocean. The cloud cover was moving in from the southwest but the surface winds were from the north, and with the north wind came choppy sea conditions on the Pacific side. Swells from the southwest collided with the wind from the north and it was a bit uncomfortable, at least on Thursday and Friday. By Saturday the winds had died off and the water settled down. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was very nice with small swells at 1-3 feet, and if you were within 10 miles of shore the wind had little effect on you.
BAIT: There were bigger live baits such as Caballito (goggle-eye scad), some Mackerel (pacific greenback mackerel), Lisa (yellowtail mullet) and a few mixed baits available at the usual $3 each. Frozen horse-ballyhoo were available as well at $3 each and if you went north in the morning with plans to fish in the Punta Gorda area there were some Sardina available as well if you were there early, at the usual $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Not surprisingly there are fewer and fewer Blue and Black Marlin reported as the water cools off, but I know of at least one boat that caught and released a Blue Marlin they estimated at #250, and this was reported by experienced anglers. The fish was found inside the 95 spot to 1150 line, an area this boat fished heavily for several days. The Striped Marlin bite continued to pick up, and we do expect the action on these guys to improve on a steady basis. Drifting the high spots along the shore on the Pacific side with live bait dropped deep is still the most constant producer, but more and more fish are being found on the surface. As the cool water continues to wrap around the Cape from the Pacific side the Striped Marlin are following, and the fishing is improving on a daily basis on the Cortez side of the Cape. This was nice to have happen this week as conditions on the Pacific side were a bit bumpy. I think that perhaps 75% of the boats that went out this week were able to hook into a Striped Marlin. Unfortunately there are still many of these fish being killed by the crews, even though the anglers want to release the fish. I keep seeing the buckets going up the docks with a Marlin folded into it and no longer wonder why so many boats refuse to use circle hooks, I know that the crews want to keep the fish, sigh.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Perhaps we will not see good Tuna action in our area until the beginning of the year, but there are still some cows being caught on the Gorda Banks every day. The fish have been under some heavy pressure but they are there, it is just a matter of spending the time, waiting them out, waiting for the bite to happen. Most of the action has been on chunk baits with hooks tied directly to the main line, and the fish are running between 150 and 250 pounds. Elsewhere the porpoise pods continue to be a hit-or-miss experience, with the first boats that find pods holding fish managing to get two or three in the 25 to 75 pound class and boats showing up a bit later just getting practice at trolling lures or soaking bait. I heard from a couple of private boats that there is an on-off bite on fish averaging 25 pound on the high points off of Punta Gordo, but they are getting there before sunrise to get into the bite, shortly after sunrise the local fleet pangas out of San Jose show up and the bite quickly drops off. Porpoise have been found from 5 miles due south to all along the 1,000 fathom line, so you never know when or where they may appear, you just have to keep your fingers crossed that the ones you come across hold tuna. The larger fish have been caught on live bait while lures, especially cedar plugs and dark colored feathers have been the best producers on the medium and smaller fish mixed with porpoise.
DORADO: Dorado action continued, but at a reduced pace as the water continues to cool. Most of the action has been found within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side, and while there are fewer numbers, the size continues to improve. Many of the fish being found are in the 20-25 pound class, and most of these fish are being found under feeding Frigate birds, and caught on live bait tossed out directly under the birds. You have to be careful though, because these birds are also a good indicator of feeding Striped Marlin, and it has not been uncommon for a couple of baits tossed out to be inhaled by a pair of Marlin! My guess is that about 75% of the boats are coming in with Dorado these days, but only 20% of them are coming in with limits, compared with 60% coming in with limits two weeks ago. The Cortez side is now producing more Dorado as the warmer water is now in this area and the Pacific side is cooling off, so look for the bite to slowly move from the Pacific side to the Cortez side over the next few week.
WAHOO: As always, a hit or miss fishery is the best way to describe the Wahoo bite. Mostly this week it has been a miss, but there are a few boats that are having fairly regular action of fish ranging from 20 to 35 pounds, as well as a few fish that are only as big as Sierra. Trolling lipped plugs like Rapallas, or swimming plugs like Marauders has been the best method of getting a Wahoo bite, but boats that are chunking or live baiting are getting bit as well, it's just that most of these bites are cutting the leader!
INSHORE: The inshore bite has not changed from last weeks report with the exception of the fact that at the end of the week the areas around the arroyos have had dirty water due to the rain run-off. More and more Sierra are beginning to show up locally and while small at 3-5 pounds they have been biting when the schools have been found. Add in a few early Yellowtail to 20 pounds, a few red Snapper to 15 pounds and a few grouper to 20 pounds and the traditional inshore fishery is beginning to shape up nicely. Still, most of the Pangas are fishing slightly farther off the beach, taking advantage of the continued Dorado bite and the close proximity of Striped Marlin.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this months recipe!
NOTES: We are seeing more and more whales showing up, both Humpbacks offshore and Gray Whales along the beach. Christmas is usually the start of the season for these guys (actually girls) to show up and they are not disappointing us this year. Just before the holidays is normally a slow time for tourism as family are staying home in celebration, but as soon as Christmas is over we expect to be very busy again, and hopefully the fishing continues to improve! My music choice for this week was the CD “Underground Whispers” by violinist Alex DePue and guitarist Miguel De Hoyas. I listened to this one again as Miguel was playing in Las Riberras this weekend and we wanted to go listen, but all the hotels and motels were sold out due to an off-road race taking place. I had to listen to the CD instead, sigh. Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the "FOLLOW" on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Weather and Lunar Phases
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|
Cabo San Lucas - December 10th, 2012
supplied by: Fly Hooker Sportfishing
RECORDED:
87 °
FISHING: Great
Edit
Delete
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Dec 3-9, 2012
WEATHER: The air continues to get cooler every week, but I still don't think we are going to have a white Christmas in Cabo! This week on the way to the Golf Course I read a chilly 65 degrees, but it did warm up later on to 81 degrees. Our average early morning has been right around 71 degrees, down a bit from last week. The week started out with sunny skies and slowly the clouds moved in, and with the clouds came some wind. The wind really picked up on the Pacific side on Friday, building up some nice whitecaps and rollers making it very uncomfortable to fish, but that was the introduction to the cloud deck that hovered over us on Saturday. On Saturday the clouds settled in and the wind died down.
WATER: Due to the cloud cover there were no good shots of the surface temperature, but from what we could see and what was reported by the boats it appears as if the water temperature across the area has dropped a degree or two. On both the Cortez and on the Pacific side of the cape we had inshore water at 77 to 78 degrees while just offshore on the Cortez side it warmed to 81 degrees and on the Pacific side to 80 degrees. On the Pacific side the water became a bit off-colored, not as clear as we had been getting the past several months. Due to the wind at the end of the week we did have several days when the Pacific side became very choppy, on the Cortez side the swells were small and the wind just created a small chop. Farther up the coast on the Cortez side, up past Punta Gordo the water conditions again became a bit rough due to the wind.
BAIT: No change in the bait availability this week from last week. There was plenty of Caballito, a few Mackerel and a very limited supply of Sardina. The bigger baits were the usual $3 each while the Sardinas, if you could find a boat with some to sell, were going for $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: As the water cools down the number of Striped Marlin that are being seen and are being caught continues to increase, and the number of Blue and Black Marlin caught decreases. As a matter of fact, I only heard of one Blue Marlin being caught this week, a small fish of about 200 pounds caught on the Cortez side out around the 1150 area. The Striped Marlin are another story though. It appeared that if you really wanted to catch a Striped Marlin all you had to do was wait. The fish were stacked up on the Lighthouse ledge, San Cristobal point and a few were on the Golden Gate bank again this week. Along with dropping bait down and drifting for them in these areas, boats were seeing more and more tailing fish on the surface, and getting more fish coming into the pattern when trolling lures. Over all though, the best method continued to be dropping live bait down 100 to 200 feet and waiting for a bite. As I mentioned last week, this is not my favorite method, but it sure does work. Trolling rigged Ballyhoo was also a great producer as long as there were fish in the area you were working. There are still a few Sailfish around to go with the Marlin, but not in any great numbers. The Striped Marlin have been ranging in size from 50 pound little guys to 180 pound fish with the average right around 110 pounds.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There is still a lack of schooling Tuna in our area, even though once in a while a boat will find porpoise with Tuna on them. One of our clients this week was trying to get a Marlin on his Fly Rod and while looking for the right fish they found a pod of Porpoise that held tuna. When getting one to strike the fly proved unsuccessful they put out a live bait and brought in a nice 70 pound fish. Other boats soon arrived and for a little while there was some action. This has been the situation this week, at least to the south and the west. For boats going up to the Cortez side and working the Gordo Banks, there are still some nice big cows being caught, but as always, you really have to put in the time and effort to get one of them. Chunking with Bonito and Skipjack while chumming with Sardinas has been the preferred method for these freight train tuna. Farther up the coast there is still some action happening on the high spots as long as the wind is not blowing. There were a couple of really good days this week according to boats that made the run from here, but the earlier you arrived the better, and boats fishing out of San Jose did much better than boats out of Cabo as it is at least an hour closer for them.
DORADO: The Dorado action dropped off quite a bit this week, probably due to the cooler water as the fish move and follow the warmer temperatures. Not that there were no fish, there just were not the numbers or concentrations we were seeing several weeks ago. As an example, boats fishing short trips close to home had a difficult time getting limits this week. It took a concentrated effort and a full day working the shoreline between Cabo and Todo Santos for one of our clients to come in with 9 very nice fish. Hard work as he said and the fish were scattered. It was steady action all day long with the largest fish going 35 pounds, several in the 25 pound range and the rest between 12 and 18 pounds. Slow trolling Ballyhoo in an area where a fish had been hooked up sometimes produced another fish, but the fish were not concentrated. The normal method of keeping a fish in the water as a decoy to bring in other fish in the school did not work well this week. Fishing Frigate birds was a good method, as always, of getting hooked up to a Dorado, but as the water cools the chances are just as good that the birds are working Striped Marlin as they are of the fish being a Dorado.
WAHOO: The Wahoo bite slowed down quite a bit this week as we are going into the new moon phase, but there were still a few fish caught and more lost. The action as always was just off the rocky points and drop-offs of fish that ranged from wee-hoo's to 40 pound fish.
INSHORE: More and more Sierra are beginning to show up locally and while small at 3-5 pounds they have been biting when the schools have been found. Add in a few early Yellowtail to 20 pounds, a few red Snapper to 15 pounds and a few grouper to 20 pounds and the traditional inshore fishery is begining to shape up nicely. Still, most of the Pangas are fishing slightly farther off the beach, taking advantage of the continued Dorado bite and the close proximity of Striped Marlin.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this months recipe!
NOTES: Whale season in on its way, traditionally between Christmas and Easter, but there are a few showing up now. We finally got our Christmas tree up and have been watching specials on TV, getting into the spirit of Christmas. It's sometimes hard to do when the weather doesn't change! If you are thinking about coming to Cabo for a vacation and want to fish, check us out on our website, all we do is fishing, no tee-shirts sales, bait or gear, we concentrate on fishing!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the "FOLLOW" on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com
Weather and Lunar Phases
|
|
Cabo San Lucas - December 3rd, 2012
supplied by: Fly Hooker Sportfishing
RECORDED:
90 °
FISHING: Great
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
November 26 – Dec 2, 2012
WEATHER: Once again the lowest I saw the temperature this week was 72 degrees, low enough that I felt a slight chill (yes, I have lived where it has been warm on purpose and maybe my blood is a bit thin, lol!). With daytime highs in the high 80's it was a great week. We had mostly sunny skies and a bit of wind from the north on most days, once in a while shifting and coming at us from the northeast or east for a few hours, then switching back. It's not time for sweaters in the evening yet, and I am a bit surprised since looking back over the past 13 years worth of my reports it is normally five degrees cooler during this week.
WATER: The water across the region was 81-83 degrees this week and once again we had no major temperature breaks. The only anomaly we had was an 85 degree hot-spot appearing across the 1150 and 95 spot on the 25th. The water on the Pacific side developed just a tinge of green late in the week while on the Cortez side it remained clean and blue. The surface conditions on the Pacific side were a bit on the bouncy side early in the week as we did have a fairly steady breeze at 12 knots from the north, at least until the middle of the week, and combined with 3-5 foot swells (long period though, no real steep stuff) it was uncomfortable for some people. The winds died off later in the week and it was much more comfortable by the weekend. On the Cortez side it was comfortable as usual with small swells at 1-3 feet and little wind until you got 25 miles out or up past Punta Gorda a ways, then the effects of the northerly breeze began to be seen.
BAIT: There was plenty of Caballito, a few Mackerel and a very limited supply of Sardina this week. The bigger baits were the usual $3 each while the Sardinas, if you could find a boat with some to sell, were going for $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Our water has remained warm enough for there to still be some Blue and Black Marlin around, and anglers have lucked into a few of them this past week. I know of one Blue Marlin that was brought in and weighed that was 425 pounds, caught due south of us at 15 miles, there was also a Black Marlin estimated at 400 pounds caught up on the Gordo Bank. Smaller Blue Marlin were reported as well, no great numbers but enough of them that the possibility of catching one was better than most years at this time. The Striped Marlin action has picked up, and I expect it to continue to improve as the water keeps cooling down. Many boats are releasing two to four fish per day using several methods to hook the fish. Sight casting to Marlin seen tailing down swell has always been a favorite here, and done by an experienced crew can be a really beautiful thing to watch. Fortunately the fish were feeding in the feeding mood this week, a surprise since we are just coming off a full moon. The most common method used this week is one of my least favorites, but very productive in certain situations. Using live bait bridled to the hook with 12 feet of leader, the leader is attached to the main line and a 3 to 5 ounce torpedo sinker is attached to the main line just above the swivel. The rig is lowered to just off the bottom and drifted until a fish bites. This works very well when the fish are concentrated in a certain area and won't come to the surface, or only come up in small flurries. The downside, and the reasons I don't really care for it is that it is boring, with no action happening for a long time, and the fact that there is so much line out, and so many boats using “J” hooks that too many fish are gut hooked and killed. The use of circle hooks while fishing this way should be mandatory, in my opinion, but of course there would be no way to enforce it. It is effective though, and was used a lot this week at the ledge off the Pacific lighthouse, the point off of San Cristobal and on the Golden Gate Bank.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The lack of consistent action on Yellowfin Tuna continues to amaze me, but as I look over the past years reports I noticed that the situation has been about the same every year, I am just getting antsy for the good action to happen! On a very positive note, there are still large Yellowfin Tuna being caught at the Gordo Banks, with several fish each day weighing over 100 pounds and an occasional fish over 200 pounds. The pressure on them has dropped off and I think that with enough time spent fishing for them there is a good possibility of hooking one of these larger Tuna. How much time would be needed is a gamble though, it could be an hour or it could be several days! Elsewhere, there have been football fish to 12 pounds caught all along the coastline on the Cortez side with most of the action concentrated on the northern inshore banks past Punta Gordo, but consistent (not red-hot) action has been found off of Palmilla, Chileno and Cabo Del Sol as well. The smaller fish have responded to chumming with Sardina (if you can get them) while the larger fish at the Gordo Banks have been biting on slow trolled live baits and drifted chunks. Offshore action on Yellowfin has been very spotty this week with only a few pods of porpoise holding fish. My records show that for the past 6 years this has been true, and the few offshore fish that have been caught have been found outside the 1,000 fathom line on the Cortez side or north of the Golden Gate Bank on the Pacific side.
DORADO: OK, Dorado have returned to the top of the list and regained their title of “Fish Of The Week”. While I would not say it is “red-hot” it is as good as I have seen in a long time, and as it is fairly late in the season most of the fish are good sized, averaging in the 12-15 pound class with quite a few fish pushing the 25-30 pound range. Many boats have been able to limit out on these nice eating fish fairly quickly in the morning, leaving them plenty of time to try for Marlin or Wahoo the rest of the trip. Of course as with all fishing, the fish are where you find them , and getting in the right area was a necessity for a good catch. Trolling lures at 8 to 9 knots until hooking up, then slow trolling live bait in that area was one way, and worked very well. Leaving the first fish hooked up in the water until more fish appeared is an old tried-and-true method that continues to produce great catches. The only downside of course is that your fish may come off while using it as a decoy! Great action can occur when frigate fishing. Trolling as normal while scanning the sky for working Frigate birds, then running over to where they are working and tossing out live bait is exciting and very productive. These birds are not out there for sport, and they have much better eyes than we do so using them as spotters makes all kind of sense. We had several clients who limited out on Dorado early in the day this week using this method. Remember, the limit on Dorado is two fish per day, per person. If the Captain and crew have licenses they can count in your catch as well!
WAHOO: This full moon phase has been great for Wahoo, not the day of the full moon but the days prior to and just after gave us steady action on Wahoo the ranged from 5 pounds (wee-hoo) to fish in the 40-50 pound class. Almost all the action occurred close to shore along the ledges, areas ranged from Vinorama on the Cortez side to Todo Santos on the Pacific side. Almost any point and any steep drop could hold these speedy fish. Fishing with Rapallas, Marauders, steel leader bullet head lures and rigged ballyhoo worked well. More fish were lost than caught since their razor-like teeth cut through mono leader easier than a hot knife through butter, but a lot of them were hooked in the corner of the jaw, that allowed anglers to get them to the boat. Not every boat caught these fish, but there were enough of them around that you had a decent chance.
INSHORE: As the water cools down we have had a slight improvement in the inshore fishery, but most of the Pangas are still targeting the Dorado and Striped Marlin just off the beach. Those that are working the beach areas are finding decent numbers of small Roosterfish (to 15 pounds), and occasional early Yellowtail and and few early Sierra. These Yellowtail and Sierra are small ones, and I am going to get out this coming week and try to catch a dozen of the small Sierra to freeze up for rigged Marlin bait for next year! There have been decent catches of Snapper and Grouper on the bottom and plenty of Needlefish and Bonito on the surface.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this months recipe!
NOTES: With Thanksgiving vacation over and Christmas yet to come, we are in a traditional slow time of year when it comes to the numbers of visitors we see. What this means for you is less pressure on the fish stocks and a better chance of hooking up! The weather is great, the fish are here, the whales are starting to appear and the golf courses are in great shape. Ready for a vacation? This weeks report was written to the music of Ernest Ranglin, if you like guitar, you have to listen to his version of “Stop That Train” from his album “Memories of Barber Mack”, a very infectious, toe tapping jazzy Jamaican instrumental! Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the "FOLLOW" on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Weather and Lunar Phases
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Cabo San Lucas - November 26th, 2012
supplied by: Fly Hooker Sportfishing
RECORDED:
88 °
FISHING: Great
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
November 19 - 25, 2012
WEATHER: I almost put on a heavy long-sleeved shirt yesterday morning as it was 68 degrees outside! That is the coldest I have seen it so far this season and it felt great. As the day went on it warmed to 88 degrees and if that's not great weather, I don't know what is! We had a few clouds over us early in the week but then it cleared and we have had blue skies from Tuesday on through the weekend. The winds have been variable with a few gusty days starting the week, but things leveled out into the normal days flow with calm mornings and breezy conditions starting about noon. Most of the wind has been from northerly directions.
WATER: There were no temperature breaks out there again, the water was a pretty even 81-84 degrees from up on the Pacific all the way to the East Cape, and it was clean, blue water as well. On the Pacific side the surface conditions were great in the mornings once we went past Tuesday, earlier in the week than that and it was a bit bumpy in the mornings due to the winds. The swells were coming in at 2-5 feet and spaced well apart, making it a smooth ride. On the Cortez side the winds were lighter and had little effect on the fishing between here and San Jose, I heard that the wind had more effect the farther up the coastline you went. The swells on this side of the Cape were small and insignificant at 1-3 feet.
BAIT: The water has cooled a few degrees, down from the 86 degree water we were seeing a month ago and as a result there are a few Mackerel showing up as bait. Buying Mackerel or Caballito from the bait boats sets you back about $3 per bait and there have been very few Sardines this week here, but there have been a limited availability if you travel north to San Jose.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: With the water still warm enough there are still Blue and Black Marlin around, but no large ones that I heard of, and no great numbers either. The best results I know of in the past week on these larger fish came from the Pacific side as one of our clients had a double hook-up on small Blue Marlin. He was fishing solo and one fish came off right away, the other was released at the side of the boat after about an hour of fighting time, with plenty of pictures as it was held in the water. The fish looked to be about 225 to 250 pounds. Other boats reported hooking one now and then with almost all of them released or lost, I only heard of one that was brought in. As far as the Striped Marlin go, things are starting to pick up. This is nice to hear since things have been a bit slow. The cooler water bringing in the Mackerel has the Striped Marlin following them, and as most of the bait has been deep, the best results on Striped Marlin have been had by boats that are hooking up live bait and dropping it down to where the bait is. The usual areas such as the ledge off of the lighthouse, the point at Los Arcos and the mouth of Migraino Canyon, areas where the bait tends to stack up, have played host to many of the local fleet boats giving this method a try. Some boats have been working on the Golden Gate Bank as this is often the first area within easy reach for the fleet that these fish stack up on. A few more boats have been traveling as far as 50 miles up the coastline to the Finger Banks in the hope of getting into these fish early, before the pressure intensifies. Many of these fish have been small, between 50 and 90 pounds, but there have been a few large ones of over 200 pounds caught as well. While the fishing is picking up, it is still not a wide open bite, perhaps that will happen withing the next several months as the water cools even more and the Mackerel appear in force. We are really hoping to see large numbers of big Sardines as well, that was the major feed when we had the great fishing several years ago. Folks, if you are going to be Marlin fishing, remember that catch and release will ensure we have these fish for our children to catch!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The fantastic action that happened several weeks at the Gordo Banks continues to slow down. There were a few fish reported every day the week before last, this past week it was even slower with only a few large Tuna taken. Other than that, there were only a few reports of any Yellowfin being caught. One boat with our clients found a stump with the roots in the air about 25 miles out and caught a large number of football size tuna off of it, but the porpoise pods that have been found have been empty of fish life. Once in a while a Yellowfin has been caught by boats chumming heavily along the coast in front of the Cabo Del Sol area, but most of the fish coming in to these chum lines have been big Bonito.
DORADO: I wasn't sure if I should call Dorado “fish of the week” again or not, since the bite dropped off, but they are still the most common catch. Again, most of the action has been on the Pacific side of the Cape and finding feeding Frigate Birds, being the first one there and slow trolling live bait has been the key to consistent catches. It's either that, or trolling lures until you hook a fish then keeping him in the water as a decoy, dropping back live bait or cut strip baits to any fish that come in to follow him. Both methods worked well for boats that only wanted Dorado. Quite a few fish were caught by boats dropping bait for Striped Marlin, a nice break when the bite on the big fish was slow, and putting something in the boat that was good to eat.
WAHOO: As we approach the full moon the bite on Wahoo has improved a bit. I have heard reports from boats traveling to the Punta Gordo area and past there that they have been getting bit on a regular basis. Once that happened almost every one of them put out a trolling plug on wire leader and worked the area where they got bit. About half of them managed to get a fish in the boat. On the Pacific side the same thing has happened up the coastline toward Cerritos beach. There have been no big numbers of fish, there never are any great catches except by a few people who specialize in these speedsters, but the bite has improved, and hopefully they will remain around for the next month or so.
INSHORE: Inshore fishing remains slow with most boats working outside the beach area for Dorado. Those we have had out, mostly fly fishing, have reported occasional Dorado, small Roosterfish, plenty of Needle fish and green Jacks and loads of Bonito. Working the bottom has produced a few nice snapper and a couple of grouper as well.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this months recipe!
NOTES: Thanksgiving is over and we had a really great time with 30 people attending, lots of food and drink. The only downside was no football! Our TV system (at home)has been having problems for several months and we thought it was finally fixed as the TELMEX tech. Came Thanksgiving at noon, did a quick check and said he would be back in an hour after doing some switch work downtown to improve our service. 30 minutes later, no TV, no Phone Line, no Internet, nada. He finally returned the next day and we still have no TV, sigh. Everyone had a great time anyway, so all is good. Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the "FOLLOW" on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Weather and Lunar Phases
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Cabo San Lucas - November 19th, 2012
supplied by: Fly Hooker Sportfishing
RECORDED:
89 °
FISHING: Great
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
November 12 - 18, 2012
WEATHER: The birds are chirping outside this morning as they are very happy with this 73 degree weather, and so am I! We have been experiencing lows in the low 70's all week long and highs in the high 80's. Great weather, and everyone is commenting on it. We have had mostly clear skies this week with a few offshore and mountain area clouds, along the coastline it has been sunny. The wind has been light to non-existent with an occasional breezy hour or so in the late afternoon.
WATER: On the Pacific side of the Cape the water has been blue and the swells have been small at 3-5 feet early in the week and tapering down to 2-3 feet by weeks end. On the Cortez side the water has been a bit greener, but not really enough to be readily noticeable, and the swells have been 1-3 feet. Water on both sides of the Cape have been 82-84 degrees all week long with no apparent temperature breaks anywhere. With the light winds the water on the Cortez side yesterday looked like a mirror until noon, when a few breezes kicked in. On the Pacific side it was almost as smooth and flat.
BAIT: Our normal $3 each for Caballito and a few Mullet with some Sardines at $25 a bucket if you travel toward San Jose to get them. I know it's expensive, but trying for an hour to make your own bait really takes a chunk out of the fishing time, but it's always your choice. Frozen Ballyhoo at $3 each.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There were Blue Marlin this week as yesterday we had one client who had a double strike on them. Since he was fishing alone one was lost quickly but he managed to get the other one, estimated at between #200-#250 to the boat for pictures and a release. A couple who we had on another boat had a hook-up on another Blue estimated to be in the same size range but lost it after a short fight. Other boats reported strikes as well and these fish were within 3 miles of the beach on the Pacific side, caught while working the area for Dorado. In my report last week I said I had not heard of any Blues or Blacks being caught that week and I was notified via e-mail by a good friend that his Captain, who has caught Black Marlin as large as 742 pounds, had hooked one he estimated at 900 pounds on Thursday of last week. The boat was 15 miles to the south and they fought the fish for 6 hours, bringing it to leader 8 times before the line finally broke. You just never know what you are going to hook into out there! There were some scattered Striped Marlin along the coast line as well, but few of them were willing to eat a live bait, they were more interested in checking out the lures than anything else. Still, there were fish caught and as was the case last week, I thing the sucess rate was about 20%.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The current changed direction according to Captains who have been working the Gorda Banks looking for more of the big Tuna that were there for the Tuna Tournament. The shift in the direction has resulted in a shift in the fish as well and the methods that were taking fish are no longer working, the fish have to be there to catch them! Along the coast line on the Sea of Cortez there has been scattered concentrations of football to #25 Yellowfin, and chumming with Sardines has worked to bring them up where they can be caught. The only problem is weeding through the white Skipjack, but even these white Skipjack are good to eat and fight hard. Unless you are a die-hard big tuna guy, these fish offer lots of action and good table fare as well. Elsewhere the action has been spotty as there have been few Porpoise pods that have been holding tuna. Once in a while one is found and the first boat there has fantastic action on fish to 40 pounds, but for the most part these fish have been absent this week.
DORADO: Dorado have regained their title of “fish of the week”. We went through a three day dry spell as many of our anglers can attest, but that may have been due to the new moon on the 13th. By the 16th the action resumed on the Pacific side close to the beach. Being in the right place at the right time was key to a good catch close to home as the bite was early, and getting a fish hooked quickly resulted in others following it in. In the area from the Arch to Migraino Beach the fish were scattered in small groups. For boats willing to make a run of 1 ½ hours to outside Todo Santos at the end of the week, the action was wide open. A few boat charged a fuel surcharge to go there as that is quite a fuel consuming trip, but if you just chugged your way up there after running for ½ hour you missed the wide open bite, you still caught fish, but not as many. And these fish were decent sized, most of them in the #20 class or better. Boats working the inshore area on the Sea of Cortez caught Dorado while working for Yellowfin, but not in quantity and the fish were not as large. Remember, the limit is two Dorado per angler!
WAHOO: The only Wahoo action I heard of this week was at the end of the week in the Todo Santos area by boats that went there for the Dorado. One boat reported landing 5 Wahoo in one trip, but the fish were smaller sized, in the 12-20 pound class.
INSHORE: I don't think there was any change in the inshore fishing with the exception of a few decent Grouper being caught. Scattered small Roosterfish, not many of them but a few that averaged 10 pounds, a few Sierra on the Pacific side and a few early Yellowtail, not large but in the 10 pound range were pretty much the basis of the catch reported by the few Pangas that actually fish the conventional inshore fishery. Most of the Pangas were going for Dorado and Tuna, good action and more fun.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe! A really good one for Dorado!
NOTES: Thanksgiving is coming up and as we do every year, we are having 30 or so people over to the house for dinner. A 25 pound turkey in the oven, a prime rib on the grill, everyone bringing side dishes and drinks. I forgot what hard work it is to get the house presentable and everything set up. Boy, are we going to be busy this week. I think we will once again have a great time, last year we had 36 people and everyone enjoyed it. I hope your Holiday is a good one as well! Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the "FOLLOW" on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Weather and Lunar Phases
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Cabo San Lucas - November 12th, 2012
supplied by: Fly Hooker Sportfishing
RECORDED:
94 °
FISHING: Excellent
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
November 5 - 11, 2012
WEATHER: I love this time of the year in Cabo. We get the nice cool evenings when the temperature is right around 80 degrees, mornings with a slight chill with low 70's and daytime where you can warm up a bit in the low 90's. No sweaters needed at night, but no air conditioning either! This week we had mostly sunny days with light clouds for most of the week. The winds were light except on Saturday when they freshened up a bit, but they never got strong.
WATER: On the Cortez side of the Cape this week we were seeing water from the beach out to the 1,000 fathom line showing 82.4 to 84.4 degrees while just past this area the water warmed up to the mid 85 degree range and did touch 86 degrees in a few areas. The water was mostly clean and blue with a few of the area in cooler water showing a touch of green, but nothing easy to notice. Add in the flat water with little wind and no swells to speak of and it was like being on a pool table. On the Pacific side it was 81 to 83 degrees all along the coast line from the beach out past the banks. The water was clean and blue with small swells and almost no wind most days. It did blow a bit on Saturday but not hard enough or long enough to get the swells up, just a bit of chop. UPDATE 11/11/12: The wind yesterday continued to blow the rest of the day and increased over the night. We went to the Pacific side this morning and only made it half way past the lighthouse to the Los Arcos area before turning back. Swells had picked up to 4-6 feet with the wind at 15-20 knots. Boats running the beach made it farther up, avoiding the wind chop and current lines, but I can't imagine that the water conditions off the beach were much better. Wind is supposed to lay down to 8-10 knots tomorrow, and like today from the NNW.
BAIT: Same as last week, Caballito and Mullet could be had at $3 each. Once the water cools a few more degrees there should be a few Mackerel showing up as well. There were Sardinas at $25 a bucket and plenty of them as boats were supplying enough for the Tuna Tournament. You could get frozen horse Bally-hoo at $3 each.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: I heard of no reports I could verify of any Blue or Black Marlin this week, and I spent two days with a friend looking for only those fish while the W.O.N. Tuna tournament was going on. There were some Striped Marlin caught, but almost all were on the Pacific side, close to the beach. A few boats were dropping live bait down halfway to the bottom or all the way to the bottom and getting a few hook-ups, and there were a few fish spotted tailing that were willing to eat a live bait. Just as last week, I estimate that about 20% or fewer of the boats were able to catch a Striped Marlin this week. There were also few Sailfish, though a couple were caught, and they were found on the Cortez side in the warmer water.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Fish of the week! The only reason they have edged out the Dorado is the number of boats that were targeting them this week. Thursday and Friday were the two fishing days for the Yamaha/Western Outdoor News Tuna Tournament and with 121 teams entered the pressure to find a big fish was heavy. Since practically the only area that has been producing any Yellowfin fish of quality has been the Gordo Banks, my friend Mike of”Renegade Mike” told me it was almost a parking lot with over 70 boats positioned on and around the area on the first day. The pressure was too much for some of the boats on the second day so they left and targeted Dorado and Wahoo instead. The results were impressive with the largest fish caught being 372 pounds! Mike caught the largest Tuna of day one with a #266 and ended up taking second overall along with a fish that would have been fourth place if the money had paid out that far. There were a dozen fish over 200 pounds caught during the tournament, and all but one came from the Gordo area. The tournament has no idea of the numbers of smaller fish but there were plenty of them! Most of these fish were taken by boats that were chunking bonito or chumming with Sardinas, and you were not getting bit if you did not have flouro-carbon leader, the fish were very shy. The only other area that produced Yellowfin was a school on the second day approximately 12 miles to the north of the Golden Gate Bank. I only saw 6 boats working this school, four of them flying kites, but one of the 200+ pound fish was caught from this school.
DORADO: I think the results of the Tuna tournament speak of the Dorado fishing as far as size goes as there were no Dorado weighed over 30 pounds, even with $78,000 U.S. on the line the second day. But there were lot's of them out there! Almost all the action was on the Pacific side between the Los Arcos area all the way to Todo Santos. Fishing within two miles of the beach using drifted or slow trolled live bait, or fishing a spread of lures, every boat that tried was able to limit out on fish that ran from 10 to 20 pounds with a few to 25 pounds. As usual, getting the first one hooked up and leaving it in the water behind the boat resulted in more fish coming in and better catches. With most of the boats on the first day concentrating on Yellowfin the pressure on the Dorado was light, but on the second day of the tournament it picked up a bit. Now that the tournament is over you can expect the pressure on the Dorado to return as they are the base of the charter operations this time of year.
WAHOO: Once again Wahoo action was sporadic with quite a few small fish caught and no really large ones. The action was spread out all over the place with fish being caught around the Punta Gordo area and up off of Todo Santos. Looking for them along the 50 fathom line or closer in resulted in fish that were in the 20 pound class. The largest one weighed in during the Tuna tournament was only #30.4 and ended up taking the $78,000 prize in the Wahoo/Dorado category. My math makes that fish worth $2,565.78 a pound!
INSHORE: There was no change in the inshore fishing report for this week . You can almost consider the Yellowfin, Skipjack and Dorado bite as inshore fishing since the main concentration was in less than 300 feet of water, and since it has been so good, few of the Pangas did any fishing right on the beach. Those that did found a few smaller sized Roosterfish, plenty of Needle-fish, a scattering of Jack Crevalle but not a lot of anything else. I did hear of a few Sierra being caught, but not any large numbers.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe! A really good one for Dorado!
NOTES: The tournaments are now over and it is time to settle in for the season. It appears as if both the Tuna and Dorado may be here for a little while longer, at least for the next month or so. Hopefully the Striped Marlin bite will turn on soon. When we start to see more Mackerel in the bait supplies there should be more Striped Marlin showing. Remember, all I do is fishing (with a bit of golf thrown in) so you get a no non-sense, factual report on our conditions every week, and most of the time I have been on the water a day or two myself. I have had a few questions about how I get my information, and after 13 years here I have an amazing number of phone numbers that I work every week, besides by own experience. Combine the calls I make to Captains, I talk to great numbers of anglers, both clients and non-clients to find out how they did and where they went. This weeks report was written to the music of Brian Flynn once again as I am looking forward to his bands concert this Sunday at the outdoor amphitheater in the new cultural center. (Brian has played with Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, Loverboy, Ralph Dinosaur, The Marshall Tucker Band, Molly Hatchett, Southern Rock Allstars and Guess Who). Looking forward to it! Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the "FOLLOW" on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Weather and Lunar Phases
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|
Cabo San Lucas - November 5th, 2012
supplied by: Fly Hooker Sportfishing
RECORDED:
95 °
FISHING: Excellent
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
October 29-November 4, 2012
WEATHER: It was a pleasure this week to be out and about in Cabo as our daytime highs never seemed to top the mid 90's. That was the middle of the day and even then there was so little humidity it did not feel hot. At night we got into the mid 70's, not cool enough for a sweater but perfect for walking around. As a matter of fact, this week was perfect for hanging at the beach, getting out on the golf course or spending time on the water. With clear skies all week long plenty of visitors were able to work on their tans as well.
WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape had swells at 2-5 feet all week long, and with light breezes from the northwest most of the week there was some slight chop late in the day, but never anything uncomfortable. The water between San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks averaged 82 degrees while the water right along the beach was several degrees warmer. On the Cortez side the water was several degrees warmer at 85 degrees at the beginning of the week and dropping an average of ½ to 1 degree at the end of the week. With swells at small to non-existent the water was almost like glass with light wind riffles until Saturday. On Saturday the wind changed direction and started coming from the East. This gave a bit of chop to the water but with the small swells it was nothing to worry about. As the week went on the currents pushed the warmer water from the Cortez side across the tip of the Cape and it's influence was starting to be felt directly off of the Cape, which had been a continuation of the Pacific side early in the week.
BAIT: Caballito and Mullet could be had at $3 each, but the number of Mullet seem to be dropping off. Once the water cools a few more degrees there should be a few Mackerel showing up as well. There were Sardinas at $25 a bucket and you could get frozen horse Bally-hoo at $3 each.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The number of Striped Marlin caught this week was not impressive, my guess is that about 20% of the boats managed to get a billfish. A few boats managed to get their anglers into two fish, but they were the exception. Most of the action seemed to happen on the Pacific side right in the transition zone between the warm and slightly cooler water off of the beach, but there were also fish found on the Cortez side at the 95 Spot and the 1150, though those fish were more likely to just look at a lure or bait than eat. There are still a few Sailfish around as well, but once again they are not in the numbers we were seeing a month ago. I did not hear of any large Blue or Black Marlin being caught this week, but there were several small ones reported released, and I did see several small Blues brought into the main dock area.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There has been a very good bite on football sized Yellowfin tuna from 8 to 15 pounds near shore between Grey Rock and Palmilla this week. These Yellowfin are mixed in with “White” Skipjack in the same size range and have offered anglers great action all morning long as long as the Sardinas chum lasts. With these Skipjack being good eating, unlike the “Black” Skipjack (with the three black spots at the base of the pectoral fin) there has been plenty of good eating fish available. For larger Yellowfin almost the only other option was working the grounds at the Gorda Banks. There were not a large number of fish caught every day, but there were quality fish. Putting in the time while drifting live baits or slow trolling a down-rigger or chunking cut bait and Sardinas sometimes resulted in a cow Yellowfin over 200 pounds. Offshore the action was extremely slow as the pods of porpoise that were found tended not to have any fish associated with them. There were a few exceptions, but the fish were not large ones, mainly in the 20-30 pound class. I guess you can figure out where most of the boats in this weeks Tuna tournament are going to be fishing, huh?
DORADO: Good one week and not the next, then good again, what can we say? The Dorado action this week was very good with almost everyone wanting them coming in with limits. There was a lot of consistent, but scattered action along the Pacific coastline as boats worked their way from the arch all the way to Todo Santos. One fish here, two fish there, and so on until a limit was had. A few boats were able to find floating debris offshore and filled limits working one spot, but most boats on the Pacific had to cover ground. On the Cortez side, boats that were working the Yellowfin and Skipjack just off the beach also had some good Dorado action as the chumming attracted these fish as well. It seems that the fish found on the Pacific side were slightly larger averaging 15 pounds while the fish with the tuna were averaging 10 pounds.
WAHOO: Wahoo action was sporadic this week, unlike the action last week. A few fish were caught, and the heavy chumming by boats fishing tuna brought Wahoo as well as the Dorado into the area. There were a few baits cut off that the anglers never knew had been touched as the razor toothed fish swiftly sliced through the light mono leader, but still a few were landed. Boats trolling Rapallas and Marauders did fair as they worked the drop-offs along the beach and pulled them over the high spots, but a lot of time was spent for just a few fish overall.
INSHORE: You can almost consider the Yellowfin, Skipjack and Dorado bite as inshore fishing since the main concentration was in less than 300 feet of water, and since it has been so good, few of the Pangas did any fishing right on the beach. Those that did found a few smaller sized Roosterfish, plenty of Needle-fish, a scattering of Jack Crevalle but not a lot of anything else. I did hear of a few Sierra being caught, but not any large numbers.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe!
NOTES: The big news this week is the Yamaha/Western Outdoor News Tuna Tournament. It is only $800 to enter so it is affordable to everyone, which has made it known as the Blue-Collar or Working Mans tournament. There are jackpots, drawings, prizes and parties galore. Registration is on Wednesday with the fishing taking place on Thursday and Friday with the awards ceremony on Saturday. You can get more information at the official website, www.loscabostunajackpot.com. It makes for a hectic week, and it's lots of fun. I have know teams to put together enough money to enter and never fish or plan to fish, they just want a chance to win the prizes and attend the parties! I will give the results in next weeks report if you want to check it out. This weeks report was written to the music of violinist Alex Dupue and guitarist Miguel De Hoyos on their album “Underground Whispers in A”. Google these guys and check out the music! Until next week, tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts it on Sunday morning. So if you
can't wait, click the "FOLLOW" on the top of the
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!
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Cabo San Lucas - October 29th, 2012
supplied by: Fly Hooker Sportfishing
RECORDED:
93 °
FISHING: Excellent
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
October 23 - 28, 2012
WEATHER: I really don't know what to say except to mention what a great pleasure it has been to once again get through the heat and humidity that summer time brings to us here in the southern part of the Baja Peninsula. When our nighttime lows stay in the mid 70's and the daytime highs stay in the low 90's it is about as good as it gets, compared to what we had for the past three months. In another few months we will be even cooler as the temperature at night drops to the low 60's, but this weather I would prefer to have year round! We had very light clouds this week and while the beginning of the week started off a bit windy, by the end of the week we were experiencing just light breezes. The week started with moderate winds from the northwest, picking up in the afternoon, and ended with light breezes from the northeast in the morning, dying to nothing in the afternoon.
WATER: On the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape we had water at 84-85 degrees inside the 1,000 fathom line most of the week, with the exception on Friday when a hot spot of 87 degree water formed across the 1150 to the 95 spot and out to the 1,000 fathom line. For most of the week there was a good temperature break at the 1,000 fathom line as well with the water to the northeast being 2 degrees warmer than the water to the southwest. Surface conditions on the Cortez side were great all week as well with swells at 2-4 feet early in the week and dropping to 1-3 feet later in the week. On the Pacific side we were seeing the water between the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks at 84-85 degrees with swells at 3-6 feet early in the week and dropping to 2-4 feet later in the week. In between the Cortez and the Pacific we had a late intrusion of cooler water at 82-83 degrees, coming in to almost three miles of the arch. The water was slightly cleaner on the Pacific side than it was on the Cortez side this week.
BAIT: Same bait report as last week. Sardines could be had here in Cabo this week, probably due to the demand of the tournament boats who use them to catch skip jack and small Yellowfin for bait. A scooped bucket would set you back $25, but they were in much better shape than the Sardines we were getting earlier in the week from bait boats farther north. Caballito and Mullet could be had easily at $3 each, and there were frozen Bally-hoo for $3 each.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Our big money Marlin tournament season is over now that the Bisbee Black and Blue is finished, at least the tournaments for big Marlin. Next week is a small tournament with the Trip Advisor website members, then the W.O.N. Tuna tournament in November. Next year we will see more tournaments that focus on Striped Marlin in the Spring. Statistics can do funny things to your thinking, and as I did last week in the report, this week I am going to lay a few more on you, based on the three day Black and Blue tournament that just finished. There was 106 teams fishing three days for 318 boat days on the water, with big Marlin as the focus. There were 67 billfish caught, 1 Spearfish, 4 Sailfish, 4 Black Marlin, 19 Blue Marlin and 39 Striped Marlin. Based on this, it took 4.75 boat days to get a Marlin this week. Pretty sad stats, and when there was only one Marlin caught over 300 pounds it almost makes me cry. (The team that caught the 2.4 million dollar fish is not crying!) Once again I have to remind you that the stats for normal charters would be much better as the focus for most of the boats in the tournament was big Blue or Black Marlin over 300 pounds, or numbers of smaller sized Blues or Blacks. None of these boats focused on Striped Marlin, which is the most common species here, as evidenced by the comparative number caught during the Tournament. In conclusion, while the possibility of getting a Blue or Black to the boat was fairly small, the chances of hooking into a Striped Marlin, if you focused on that, was fairly good, probably at twice the rate of the Marlin hook-ups experienced by the tournament anglers.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: With the Black and Blue Tournament going on, and since Tuna did not count in any category, the pressure on the Tuna was pretty slack. Not that there were many out there, but those that were caught were pretty decent fish. There were scattered pods of Dolphin to the south 30 miles and to the west the same distance, and some of these pods produced a few Yellowfin to 35 pounds, but once again the focus for big fish was on the Gorda Banks area. Charter boats drifting, slow trolling or flying live bait off of kites were getting the occasional bite from fish that occasionally exceeded 300 pounds (314 for one boat) but most of them were between 100 and 200 pounds. It took a while, you had to have patience. One of our friends worked the area for two days and managed to get a nice 158 pound fish.
DORADO: The Dorado bite experienced a sudden drop this week and I am not sure why. Plenty of charters were working both the inside and the outside area of the Pacific coastline and most were lucky to get three or four fish, there were no really large concentrations found. Boats that did well were ones that were willing to lose their first fish to get more. Leaving that first fish in the water and slow trolling it 30 feet behind the boat until more fish appeared was the trick, and it works much of the time. We had one fly-fishing client this week who did very well, it's often hard to get enough shots at a fish on the fly rod, but if your target is Dorado, this method as well as heavily chumming with Sardines works very well. On the Cortez side there were Dorado appearing in fair numbers off of the Cabo Del Sol area as tournament boats were heavily chumming the area early in the morning attempting to get those big Skipjack for live bait. With 30 or 40 boats tossing Sardinia in the water the Dorado came in and there were quite a few caught. I didn't see any really large Dorado come in, or hear of any large ones, most of the fish were between 10 and 15 pounds, but there were a couple of big fish caught by tournament boats, at least I assume they were big as the teams reported the hook-ups on the radio before reporting them as non-qualifying species.
WAHOO: The full moon did produce more Wahoo than were caught last week. During the tournament our team caught a 60 pound fish the first day. While not worth any money in the tournament, it sure was good to eat! Other boats reported hooking up Wahoo as well, and there were a decent number caught by the charter fleet. I did hear of one boat getting two 30 pound fish one day. The action on these fish was scattered and not concentrated in any one area.
INSHORE: The slow down in the Dorado bite had many of the panga anglers crying this week. Last week was absolutely great, but there was a dearth of action off the beach this week. One of the saving graces was that area off of Cabo Real early in the morning as the numbers of white Skipjack and scattered Dorado at least produced action. For the normal inshore species such as Roosterfish, Jacks, Grouper and Snapper, the action was slow as well. Fishing on the Cortez side of the Cape just off the beach produced most of the action as this was the side of the Cape that was holding the Sardinia schools.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe!
NOTES: In a couple of days I am going to produce a short blog with some number crunching concerning the tournaments we have just had, so check it out. I had a great time fishing this week, just wish our team, “Sporty Game” had gotten our big bite on Thursday hooked up. Oh well, next year! We did get that nice Wahoo as well as a Dorado while bait fishing, so there were fish in the boat, just not the right kind. I would like to thank Mary for keeping the blog updated with the tournament results while I was out fishing, great job honey! Also, a big thank you to Mark Bailey for turning me on to the group “Two Tons of Steel”, this is the first time I had heard of them. Based out of San Antonio, they are described as a “rockabilly” group. However you want to describe them, they are fun to listen to! Until next week, tight lines! Oh, don't forget that Cabo has changed their time already, last night we set our clock back when we went to sleep. This is one week earlier than in the states, so don't get confused when you get down here!
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