Cabo Fish Report

 
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

October 25-31, 2010

Weather: We have had the best weather for the past several weeks! Morning lows in the low 70’s and mid-day highs in the mid to high 80’s with a little dew on the plants in the mornings has made everything brighten up and look great.

Water: The water in most areas of the Sea of Cortez has been a steady 82-83 degrees but at the end of the week there was a hot spot of 87 degree water off of the Punta Gorda area. The warm water wrapped around the Cape, creeping up along the shoreline on the Pacific side as far north as the Golden Gate Bank with 80 degree water. More than 4 miles offshore on the Pacific side the water cools considerably to 74-77 degrees. Farther out than 50 miles to the southeast the water cools again to 77 degrees while the warm water from the Sea of Cortez continues to the south and southwest in a finger of warm water.

Bait: Caballito were available at $3 each as were mullet. There were small Sardinas as well at around $30 a scoop.

FISHING

Billfish: With the Bisbee’s Black and Blue Marlin tournament over the focus has changed a bit with the boats going out re-focusing on the more common Striped Marlin instead of the larger Blue and Black Marlin. There are still nice Blues and Blacks being caught each day, but there has not been the pressure, the intensity of effort we saw the past week. The larger fish have still been coming from the warmer waters up around San Jose in the Punta Gorda and Vinorama area and along the line between the 95 spot and the 1150, while the Striped Marlin have been just off the warm water along the Pacific side, with more fish being found to the northern area than to the south end of the Cape.

Yellowfin Tuna: The Yellowfin Tuna this week were spread out all over the place, and there were some really nice ones caught. The largest I heard of came from the Gorda Banks, two days in a row there were fish over #300 caught, the largest at #350! There were football and slightly larger in the area as well and a few fish over 100 pounds. Boats working off of Palmilla and Cabo Del Sol with Sardinas were doing well on fish in the 15-25 pound class. Offshore in the Sea of Cortez passing pods of Porpoise signaled the presence of nice Yellowfin more often than not, but there were a few instances where the Tuna were not present. These fish ranged in size from 20 pounds to occasional groups of fish to 200 pounds seen breaking the surface, and a few being hooked up. On the Pacific side there were also passing pods of Porpoise off of the lighthouse, close to shore that were delivering Yellowfin that averaged 35 pounds with an occasional fish to 60 pounds, and boats working the San Jaime Banks area were pleasantly surprised to see fish in the #200 class breaking the water, but frustrated when they would not eat. Boats that were willing to go the extra yard by working kites with both live baits and artificials were able to hook the occasional fish to #180, but the larger ones were elusive. All this leads up to what looks like a really fantastic Tuna Tournament!

Dorado: If you were in the right place at the right time it was no problem to limit out on the Dorado this week, but many boats also had little luck. It seemed as if the fish on the Pacific side moved just a little farther to the north than they were last week, which seems counter intuitive as the cooler water is to the North. However, there were passing schools of fish found offshore at a distance of 10-15 miles on the Pacific side as well as very far to the south of us at a distance of 30+ miles, and some of the schools were of large fish, with an average of 30 pounds. That was not the norm however, as the fish closer to hove averaged 12 pounds yet once again, with only an occasional fish to 30 pounds. A few boats found small floating debris and were able to pull some decent fish from them using live bait, or were able to get good numbers by leaving the first fish hooked up in the water and waiting for the rest of the school to show up.

Wahoo: There seemed to be a few more Wahoo this week than last, but once again they were an incidental fish as few boats were targeting them. The boats that did get Wahoo seemed to find them while fishing for Tuna closer to shore, which makes sense as Wahoo are structured oriented fish.

Inshore: I heard that there were schools of Roosterfish averaging 4 pounds cruising the beach off of Playa Grande and the Solmar, small fish but at least they were Roosters, good for those that have a bucket list to work on. This morning I came across a couple of locals working the beach with spinning rods right in the arroyo between Club Cascades and Villa Del Palmar and they had a good number of small Jack Crevalle as well as one very nice Sierra! We had one fly fishing client out this week who caught one small Roosterfish, several Ladyfish and a few Sierra on the Pacific side close to the beach. I also had one Panga Captain tell me that he had caught a Yellowtail that weighed 22 pounds for a client on the Pacific side up around the the rocks at the lighthouse, but I never saw the fish.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos!

Once again I had a “ye-haw” western bent, music with a drawl as I continued to explore the CD’s brought to me by my friends from Plano, Texas. A new favorite was Wade Bowen on his CD “If We Make It Home” Until next week, tight lines!
https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

bisbees winners

Top 5 Teams
Rehab — John Stonecipher — 560 & 347 lb. black marlin
Reelaxe — Jose Almanza — 599 lb. black marlin
C-Bandit — Buzz Colton — 549 lb. black marlin
Dream Weaver — John Boratto — 484 lb. black marlin
KW’s Karma — Ron Pascoe — 431 lb. black marlin
Top Release Teams
El Lobo — 600 points / 2 blue marlin (on time) — $37,846.00
Auriga — 600 points / 2 blue marlin (on time) — $13,100
Mobius — 300 points / 1 blue marlin (on time) — $7,278.00
Day 1 Jackpot Winners
$200 & $500: Reelaxe — $55,505.00 (599 lbs. / Jose Almanza)
$1,000: Rehab — $73,950.00 (560 lbs. / John Stonecipher)
$2,000 & $5,000: C-Bandit — $282,200.00 (549 lbs. / Buzz Colton)
$10,000: Tiger Spirit — $127,500.00 (427 lbs. / Luis Liera)
Day 2 Jackpot Winners
$200, $500, $1k, $2k, $5k: Dream Weaver — $411,655.00 (484 lbs. / John Boratto)
$10,000: Sporty Game — $127,500.00 (426 lbs. / Chuck Grieger)
Day 3 Jackpot Winners
$200, $500, $1k: Rehab — $129,455.00 (347 lbs./ John Stonecipher)
Day 3 $2,000, $5,000 and $10,000 Dailies roll backwards to the largest fish in the category.
$2,000 & $5,000: C-Bandit — $282,200.00 (549 lbs. / Buzz Colton)
$10,000: Tiger Spirit — $127,500.00 (427 lbs. / Luis Liera)

Cabo San Lucas Marlin Week!

 
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

October 18-24, 2010

Weather: Once again you could not have asked for more perfect weather as our morning lows were in the low 70’s and the daytime highs in the mid to high 80’s. The humidity was low, the bugs were almost gone, the sun was shining and the water was warm. It really does not get much better than this!

Water: On the Sea of Cortez we had 83 degree water from the shore out to a distance of about 10 miles then it started to drop to 79 degrees. The surface conditions were great with very small swells and little wind. On the Pacific side the wind was fairly constant from the northwest, but not strong enough to make it impossible to fish, just uncomfortable for a lot of people. The warm water from the Sea of Cortez started to wrap around the Cape and extended itself out to the southern edge of the San Jaime Bank at the end of the week. The near-shore water was a cool 78 degrees while out a distance of 30+ miles it dripped to 75 degrees.

Bait: Caballito were available at $3 each as were mullet. There were small Sardinas as well at around $30 a scoop.

FISHING

Billfish: Marlin remained the talk of the town as the 30th annual Bisbee’s Black and Blue tournament too place Wednesday through Friday. There were 8 marlin over 300 pounds brought to the weigh scale on the first day of the tournament with the largest being 599 pounds. Actually there were 9 fish brought in, but the largest one, a 800 pound Blue Marlin was 10 minutes late and did not qualify. Overall for the 103 boats fishing, there were 74 fish reported caught with 13 Black Marlin, 32 Blue Marlin, 28 Striped Marlin and one Sailfish. This is just for the tournament and does not count fish caught by charter boats not involved. With 0.73 fish per boat it was slow the last two days, but the average size was very good. Most of the fish were caught on the Sea of Cortez side as the conditions for large fish were more favorable there.

Yellowfin Tuna: Seeing the big Yellowfin Tuna blowing up on small bait fish was not an uncommon sight this week and several of the large fish were brought in. The largest I heard of was one that weighed right around 388 pounds, caught by a boat fishing for big Marlin in the tournament. There were quite a few fish in the 30-40 pound class brought to the docks by the charter boats, and most of these were caught due south of the Cape, fairly close to shore.

Dorado: The charter fleets continued to do well on Dorado just to the south and on the Pacific side of the Cape with an average of three fish per boat, and some limiting out with fish that averaged 12 pounds. An occasional fish went to 40 pounds, but not quite as many as there were last week.

Wahoo: I did not hear of as many Wahoo this week, but it may have been because of the number of boats fishing for Marlin. With the full moon though, and the large number of boats working the Gorda Banks and the flats off of Punta Gorda, not having many Wahoo hook-ups was a surprise.

Inshore: For the third week in a row, this week was a repeat of the last week for the inshore fishing. Roosterfish to 40 pounds, some nice sized Sierra and a scattering of Snapper were reported from the Pacific shoreline this week. The Roosterfish were caught on live bait and the schools have been fairly large. The Snapper have been tight into the rocks, but our small swells have made it easier than normal to get in there and toss a live bait. Most of the Pangas have been focusing slightly offshore fishing for the Dorado.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos!

This week I decided to go western as a friend brought me some down home Texas music! One of my favorites was Hayes Carll on his CD “Little Rock” Until next week, tight lines!
https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

Bisbees Fishing Tournament

finally after 30 years, you can watch Tournament action Live. http://bisbeeblackblue.catchstat.com/

Marlin fishing during tournament week

 

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT

Capt. George Landrum

Fly Hooker Sportfishing

www.flyhooker.com

gmlandrum@hotmail.com

October 11-17, 2010

Weather: What a beautiful week we had! As is usual for this month of the year, the weather changed for us and the temperature dropped what felt was five degrees. With no storms on the horizon and just a light breeze we had great weather. Our daytime highs were in the high 80’s to low 90’s and our nighttime lows were in the mid 70’s.

Water: On the Sea of Cortez side we had 86 degree water all along the coast out to a distance of about 5 miles, then it dropped a degree to 85 degrees. On the Pacific side it was mostly 82 degrees between the Jaime Bank, the Golden Gate Bank and the shore. Outside the banks the water dropped to 78 degrees. There was a bump, a bit of a swell, on the Pacific side while the Cortez side had almost pool table flat water with maybe 1-2 feet of swell, spaced far apart.

Bait: Caballito were the most common baits to be had from the boats this week and were the usual $3 each. The bait barge had some as well as some Sardinas. With the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament just happening and the little and big Bisbee tournaments the Sardinas have been the bait of choice in order to catch the smaller Tuna for bait.

FISHING

Billfish: The first day of the Los Cabos Tournament was Wednesday and two big fish were brought to the weigh station. The largest was a Black Marlin that was reported to have been caught in the vicinity of the Gorda Banks and weighed in at 713 pounds. The second was a Blue Marlin that weighed in around 650 pounds. The last day of the tournament had three marlin over 400 pounds brought to the weigh station. The first day of the little Bisbee tournament was Saturday and a several nice fish were brought in as well. Next week I should have an update on the big Bisbee tournament as I will be captaining a boat for that one and will have the radio on full time! There were still plenty of Striped Marlin being found out there with most of the action happening on the Pacific side up around the Golden Gate. While the action is nor red hot, there has been a fairly steady bite on fish with most boats getting a shot or two a day, and a few getting multiple releases.

Yellowfin Tuna: Yellowfin Tuna action remained steady for boats fishing for the football fish up to 20 pounds in size, particularly around the Gray Rock area and the Santa Maria area during the tournament days. With that many boats chumming with Sardinas the fish are attracted to the area. There were a lot of Bonita and Skipjack as well. The area off of Palmilla has been producing some decent fish to 30 pounds for boats using Sardinas as bait. The largest Tuna of the Los Cabos tournament was 209 pounds and was caught by a friend of ours, who will not give any details about where or how, except to say the fight took two hours, and by the way, was caught on a Panga!

Dorado: The charter fleet did very well on Dorado this week but I was surprised that the largest Dorado caught during the Los Cabos Tournament by a tournament boat was only 31 pounds. I saw much larger fish being brought in by the charter fleet, some of the fish must have been at least 50 pounds. Perhaps it is the areas that were being fished because most of the big Dorado, and the large numbers came from the near-shore area on the Pacific side.

Wahoo: There were plenty of Wahoo reported this week and some boats were able to get multiple fish in the box, but you had to leave early for the first bite. Working the bottom contour around the 300 foot line with lures on wire leaders or rigged ballyhoo at first light seemed to work well for several boats that concentrated on these fish this week. The fish ranged between 30 and 50 pounds. In the offshore areas the fish seemed to average a bit larger but there was no concentrations to be found, the fish were sporadic.

Inshore: This week was a repeat of the last week for the inshore fishing. Roosterfish to 40 pounds, some nice sized Sierra and a scattering of Snapper were reported from the Pacific shoreline this week. The Roosterfish were caught on live bait and the schools have been fairly large. The Snapper have been tight into the rocks, but our small swells have made it easier than normal to get in there and toss a live bait. Most of the Pangas have been focusing slightly offshore fishing for the Dorado.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos!

My music choice for this week was a new favorite of mine, Jack Johnson, and his CD “On and On” has been playing and re-playing in my truck and at home. It is a 2003 Universal records release. Until next week, tight lines!

https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

hot summer nights, big tuna, abundant dorado

 

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT

Capt. George Landrum

Fly Hooker Sportfishing

www.flyhooker.com

gmlandrum@hotmail.com

Sept. 27- Oct. 3, 2010

Weather: We had mostly clear skies this week with plenty of sun. That meant of course that it was hot as well, and of course at this time of year it was also humid. Our daytime highs were in the mid to high 90’s but one afternoon we saw 104 degrees. Nights were hot as well with the lows only down in the low 80’s.

Water: With no storms in the area the water has remained perfect for the fishermen, small swells, just a bit of wind on top most of the time. Water temperatures on the Pacific side have been 80-81 degrees and on the Cortez side between 86-89 degrees.

Bait: We are still having a bit of a problem with bait availability as the bait guys have not been getting a lot of Caballito, but they have been able to get plenty of other stuff like green jacks and Mullet. There have been some, just some, Sardinas available from San Jose. The small swells this week have made it easier to net these baits.

FISHING

Billfish: The water warmed right back up and with it came the big Marlin. Last Sunday a Blue Marlin was weighed in at #780, and just yesterday (Saturday) there was a reported #1,200 brought in, also a Blue Marlin. That last fish has not been confirmed by me as I just heard about it yesterday in the evening. There have been plenty of nice fish in the 200-300 pound class caught as well, and there have been Striped Marlin found on the Pacific side in the slightly cooler water.

Yellowfin Tuna: There was also little change in the Yellowfin Tuna action as compared with last week. The fish have been found in all the usual places, the Outer Gorda Bank, the Inman Bank, the 1,000 fathom line in the Cortez side, 40 miles to the south, south of the San Jaime Bank and just the other day we had a brief showing of decent fish just 5 miles off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. Most of the fish have been footballs but the school that showed off of the lighthouse had fish to 120 pounds, and the banks have been producing occasional fish that size and larger. Almost all of the larger fish on the banks have been caught on live bait while around half the fish found offshore in Porpoise have been lure-caught fish.

Dorado: Once again Dorado were the fish of the week and the size has stayed decent with an average of 18 pounds and lots of fish in the 30-35 pound class. We had one angler land a bull Dorado that was over 50 pounds, possibly as large as 60 pound on Wednesday, along with several others in the 30 pound class, and they released plenty more. Most boats were able to get limits of these fish without trying too hard, and most of them were found on the Pacific side of the Cape.

Wahoo: A few fish were reported this week, but the bite remained sporadic. The fish that were caught were either on high spots or found offshore while looking for Tuna.

Inshore: Most of the inshore action this week consisted of Roosterfish and Jack Crevalle with an occasional Snapper or Grouper. Most of the reason was the Pangas were fishing near-shore instead of on the beach as usual due to the numbers of Dorado to be found and the flat water conditions. Working water from 100 feet deep to water five miles from the beach almost every Panga out there was able to limit out if they wanted.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos!

Once again my great thanks to the guys from Jersey and Virginia, Ed, Gene, Herman and Kent for the new music! Today’s report was written to the music off of the CD “God and Guns”, a compilation of Lynyrd Skynyrd music, released in 2007 by Roadrunner Records. Until next week, tight lines!

https://captgeo.wordpress.com/