Cabo Fish Report June 3 – 9, 2016

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING

Captain George Landrum

gmlandrum@hotmail.com www.flyhooker.com https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

Cabo Fish Report

June 3 – 9, 2016

SYNOPSIS: It has been two months since my last report as we had seen very little change in conditions until recently. Several weeks ago things began to improve as the water began to change a little and now we have experienced decent fishing for the past two weeks, with fingers crossed it will be even better! Striped Marlin to the southeast and easterly, Tuna out front and to the west, Dorado and Wahoo scattered closer to the beach and some good Roosterfishing along the coast line. Check below for a few more details!

WEATHER: This morning it was 67 degrees at 6 am, three days ago it was 79 degrees and everyone was shopping for new floor fans! We have clear mostly cloud-free skies at the moment but just experienced three days of cloud cover. No rain and the breezes have been picking up a bit in the evening. During our week of warm weather the winds appeared from the south, coming off the warmer water down there, more recently the cooler winds have started in again from the northwest, again from the cool water to the north.

WATER: As of today we were seeing cool, almost cold water along the beach, the temperatures were ranging from 68 to 70 degrees with the cooler water on the Pacific side. Last week these waters were in the 70 – 77 degree range. Once you get offshore around 10 or more miles the water warms up to 74 degrees, last week we were seeing the temperature around 77 degrees. The water overall is an off-blue color with currents now coming up from the south. Wind chop on top of three to five foot swells on the Pacific side made fishing to the west and south uncomfortable for some people, but for those who did not mind getting a bit wet, the fishing was worth it. The water conditions on the Sea of Cortez side were much better than on the Pacific, but well offshore there were still some large swells wrapping around the Cape.

BAIT: The bait availability has been on and off, with a variety of live baits but no one species except Caballito in abundance. There have been a few Mackerel, Look-downs, grunts, green jacks and little pompano, no Sardinas that I heard of. The live baits have been the normal $3 each, and many of the boats have been using (or at least taking) frozen ballyhoo in order to be sure of having something fishy to use!

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Thank goodness the fishing for Striped Marlin has improved! The best area to find them has been around the 1150 spot, but anywhere from the 95 Spot to the Gorda Banks has had fish at times, it’s just that the concentrations tend to move around with the bait and temperature. One day the bite would be hot right on top of the 1150, then nest day it would be hot ten miles further to the east, and the third day the concentration could have moved to just outside the Gorda Banks area. The important part is that there were numbers around, and that they were hungry. While most charters were very happy to hook a few and get one or two for release, a few boats were able to be in the right place at the right time and experienced outstanding fishing with double digit releases. Other areas around the Cape were producing Striped Marlin as well, but not in the numbers we were seeing to the east. Please remember to catch and release your billfish if they are healthy when you bring them to the boat. Do not remove them from the water as this can cause internal damage once the support of the water is removed.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: We have had plenty of football Tuna around! Several weeks ago the bite had just started to turn on for some slightly larger sized Tuna, then the purse seiners showed up, of course it went downhill then. Thankfully there are still good numbers of the footballs, and still some larger fish surprising anglers, some to 200 pounds. Most of the tuna activity has been to the south and west with the larger fish being found to the northern edge of our charter range. Boats working the Golden Gate to the San Jaime were finding enough fish to make it worth the choppy conditions (unless you asked those who got seasick!).

DORADO: Well, the Dorado made a showing! There were a couple of nice sized fish in the 20 pound class, but most of them were much smaller, really release size fish for most people as they were in the 5-8 pound class. The Dorado were found just off the beach to 10 miles offshore with the concentrations found on the Cortez side of the Cape. There were a few patches of these small guys found several miles off the beach on the Pacific side, and up to the beach itself, but no big concentration. I really hated to see a few of the boats come in flying 5 or 6 Dorado flags and then seeing these 24 inch fish being unloaded! Not a lot of meat on them, toss the little guys back and wait for the big ones!

WAHOO: I was very surprised to find that the Wahoo catch, since my last report, has improved quite a bit! For quite a while we had steady action on these speedsters, but then they disappeared. Right after that they showed up again, and action has been fairly steady on fish from 15 to 25 pounds with a few topping 40 pounds in the mix. Getting out early was the key for multiple fish, as was using wire leader. Many boats were coming in with only one out of four or five strikes due to the razor teeth slicing through the mono leaders. A few anglers were amazed to see no lure on a few lines when the mates cleared them on a hookup! The Wahoo were scattered around in the usual near-shore environment, along points or drop-offs.

INSHORE: Thank goodness the inshore fishing has picked up! We finally started seeing some decent Roosterfish as of two weeks ago. Many of the fish were small, in the 5-10 pound class, but there were plenty of them in the 15-25 pound class as well, and I talked to a few anglers who battled fish in the 40 pound class (with no luck!). As well as the Roosterfish, we have seen decent numbers of Snapper and a few nice late season Yellowtail. Toss in the normal and expected bottom fish such as Triggerfish, Grouper and Amberjack as well as an occasional influx of Jack Crevalle and there has been steady inshore action lately/

 

NOTES:

If you are planning on booking a fishing trip soon (or later in the year), contact me to see what I can set you up with. I offer fishing charters for people with any type of experience on the water at reasonable rates, and service is the name of the game to me!

My Music of the week: The album “Live From Amsterdam, Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa”. Simply amazing!

The information I use in these reports are obtained in many different ways, some from personal experience, some from my clients and Captains who are out every day, and some from on-line subscription services such as Fish-Track, BuoyWeather and SurfZone as well as HurricaneZone. I, and only I, am responsible for any errors made, as I sift all this information and compile it.

Thank you very much for checking out my report, and if you would like to book a charter, check out www.flyhooker.com, I have just re-vamped the web site , it is still under development, but there will be new photos, articles, tips and techniques every week starting next month.

If you want to get the report every time I update, go to my blog at www.captgeo.wordpress.com and sign up! No spam, I do not share your e-mail and you can un-subscribe at any time!

Meanwhile, Tight lines!

 

Cabo Fish Report March 18 – 31, 2016

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING

Captain George Landrum

gmlandrum@hotmail.com www.flyhooker.com https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

Cabo Fish Report

March 4 – 17, 2016

SYNOPSIS: This will be a short report as not a lot has changed over the past two weeks. The water is cooling, there have been some football tuna, a few Striped Marlin, scattered Yellowtail, Sierra and small Roosterfish.

WEATHER: This morning it was 63 degrees and windy at 15 knots from the northwest with higher gusts. This made it feel colder than it was and then the sun broke out! Our average high for the week was 83 degrees and our low average was 63 degrees. We had some very windy conditions during the middle of last week and at the end of this week, between it was nice with plenty of sun.

WATER: The water has continued to cool down, last week the Pacific side was showing 71-72 degrees, this week we are seeing69-70 degrees in the same locations. These temperatures have extended to about 15 miles offshore on both the Pacific side and the Cortez side of the Cape. Outside the 15 mile range it warms to 72-73 degrees. Currents are strong from the northwest, as has been the wind. This combination has resulted in large swells with plenty of chop on the Pacific side at the end of both last week and this week, while the water on the Cortez side within 10 miles of the beach has been much smoother.

BAIT: The usual variety for this time of year is Mackerel, Green Jacks and a few Caballito and that is what we are seeing now. I have still not heard of any Sardinas being available locally. Bait has been the normal $3 each and a lot of the bait boats are carrying frozen Ballyhoo and squid slabs for sale as well.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Striped Marlin fishing has been just a bit better than during the last report, I believe the success percentage to be between 20-25% for boats targeting them. The bite (or what there was of it) had been just outside the beach area on the Pacific side last reporting period, at the tail end of this period the fish seemed to have moved up the Sea of Cortez to the San Jose Canyon area. That may have been because the rough conditions on the Pacific side forced most of the boats to fish the Canyon area, it is hard to be sure. The Marlin that were found were picky fish and it was difficult to convince them to eat a live or dead bait. Small hooks and very light leaders gave an improved chance of hooking up, but decreased the chance of getting them to the boat. These fish would eat an unrigged bait with no problem, so it was exasperating!

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Last week we finally had some Yellowfin in the area. Boats headed out to the San Jaime Banks and reported finding schools of 8-20 pound fish near, but not among, the pods of porpoise. Light leaders and pink or red hootchies were the ticket to getting bit and boats were coming in with 4 to 15 fish per trip, the earlier boats to the action getting the best results. As the wind started picking up the conditions worsened and by two days ago few boats were trying to get out there, so the fish may still be in the area. We will find out once the wind dies off and we have a chance to get to the Banks. Other than that, the action on Yellowfin was very slow and scattered over the normal areas such as the Gorda Banks (a few fish) and the Punta Gorda area high spots. In those locations the best results were had using chunk bait dropped into a chum trail but many boats reported Sea Lions being a real issue.

DORADO: I had clients who released a little five pound Dorado this week, but that was the only one I heard of!

WAHOO: I didn’t hear of any Wahoo being caught this past reporting period. The cool water may be the issue, or the wrong time of the year, or the moon phase, or we have not been wearing the right shirts, who knows?

INSHORE: Even inshore fishing was slow this period. There was scattered action on Sierra, a few Yellowtail were brought in, some Amberjacks, small Roosterfish, small grouper and snapper as well as some small sharks. As you can see, not a lot of any one species, you could not be sure what you were going to catch!

 

NOTES:

If you are planning on booking a fishing trip soon (or later in the year), contact me to see what I can set you up with. I offer fishing charters for people with any type of experience on the water at reasonable rates, and service is the name of the game to me!

My Music of the week a single song by Joe Bonamassa, “Drive” off of his new studio release. Check it out with a search on YouTube!

The information I use in these reports are obtained in many different ways, some from personal experience, some from my clients and Captains who are out every day, and some from on-line subscription services such as Fish-Track, BuoyWeather and SurfZone as well as HurricaneZone. I, and only I, am responsible for any errors made, as I sift all this information and compile it.

Thank you very much for checking out my report, and if you would like to book a charter, check out www.flyhooker.com, I have just re-vamped the web site , it is still under development, but there will be new photos, articles, tips and techniques every week starting next month.

If you want to get the report every time I update, go to my blog at www.captgeo.wordpress.com and sign up! No spam, I do not share your e-mail and you can un-subscribe at any time!

Meanwhile, Tight lines!

Cabo Fish Report March 4 – 17, 2016

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING

Captain George Landrum

gmlandrum@hotmail.com www.flyhooker.com https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

Cabo Fish Report

March 4 – 17, 2016

SYNOPSIS: Happy St. Paddy’s day! I have good news, the fishing has improved a bit since my last report two weeks ago. Inshore has gotten better and I expect for the offshore action to improve soon as well! Scattered Marlin and Tuna, few Dorado and Wahoo, decent Yellowtail and Sierra, a few big Roosterfish and scattered bottom fish.

WEATHER: Our daytime highs have varied between 75 and 88 degrees and the nighttime lows between 62 and 67 degrees. We just finished up three days of overcast skies, but had clear and sunny conditions prior to that. Last week we did have what was described as a “dip” in the jet stream affect us with winds that gusted to over 40 mph. Around the middle of the day the winds had stirred up so much dust and sand that it was difficult to see the water from the hills behind town. Since then we have had mostly light breezes, with it picking up just a little in the afternoon. As of today our prevailing wind is from the West-Northwest.

WATER: With the exception of last Tuesday and Wednesday the swells have been around 2-5 feet on the Pacific side and 1-4 feet on the Cortez side of the Cape. On those two days the wind had really kicked the water up and we saw swells on the Pacific side that may have been 7-9 feet. The Captain closed the port to vessels under 40′ on Tuesday because of the high winds and choppy conditions, but it was opened on Wednesday morning. Now the good news: Last week saw ocean temperatures about 5 degrees above normal, and I believe that temperature difference has been one of the reasons the fishing has been off. It looks like a combination of the winds from last week (small effect, but there) and the strong current flow from the Northwest has moved the cooler waters we expected into our region. There has been an overall drop of 2-3 degrees. Last week report I did we were seeing 74 degrees on the Pacific side and 75-76 degrees on the Cortez side of the Cape, this week we are seeing 71-72 degrees on the Pacific and 72-73 degrees on the Cortez side. As of today, the water on the Pacific side within two to three miles of the beach is a bit off color but not bad and water out past that distance is a clean blue.

BAIT: We are finally seeing some numbers of Mackerel available, the slightly cooler water sure helped here. Other than that, live bait availability has been pretty much limited to scattered species such as green jacks and tortillas. I did not hear of any live sardinas available in Cabo, but there was some freshly dead smaller ones being sold in gallon zip-locks. Live bait cost remained at $3 per bait, I am not sure what was being asked for the dead sardinas. Some boats were using frozen ballyhoo and squid strips.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Striped Marlin fishing has been off and on with it being a matter of the right place at the right time with the right bait or lure. Most of the boats are not getting hooked up to Marlin, and if they are it is just one or two fish. A few boats have done well on occasion, the best I am aware of was three releases on one day. The cooler water on the Pacific side was the area to work, and the farther north you got the better things seemed to be with more fish being seen and a better hook-up percentage. Live bait was king, and Mackerel was the best bet. Boats working north had good luck tossing bait in front of tailing fish while nearer to home the boats pretty much relied on drifting deep dropped live baits over the high spots. This also resulted in some small Mako Sharks and bigger Blue Sharks being hooked.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Even with the cooler water we have not seen much of a change in the Yellowfin Tuna catches. Even though these are highly migratory and do not spend a long time in our area we usually get some good action this time of year. Unfortunately, and perhaps because of the number of purse seiners we have seen, the schools have been small and sparse. When pods of porpoise are found, the tuna normally associated with them have been absent and the porpoise very shy. This often happens when they have been worked by the seiners which will set nets around the pods in order to catch the tuna traveling with them. The tuna that are being caught are small ones in the 8-20 pound class, with a few larger ones on occasion. My fingers are crossed that this will change soon.

DORADO: I have only seen a few Dorado flags in the past two weeks, and none of the fish in person, the water may just be too cool for them.

WAHOO: Pretty much the same with the Wahoo as with the Dorado, but it may also be because of the new moon phase we just went through. For some reason, Wahoo seem to be much more strongly affected by the moon phase than most other pelagic fish. The coming full moon next week may make the difference and allow anglers an improved chance of success on these tasty speedsters!

INSHORE: As in the last report, most of the fishing action and success has been had by anglers focusing on inshore species. I know of some folks who have gone out and caught little, but I think that may be more due to tide conditions than lack of fish. Boats that have based their efforts around the tides, fishing offshore and trolling between the high and low tide and fishing the beach during the hour of high and low slack have done well. The numbers of Yellowtail being caught has risen quite a bit, with some boats getting three to six fish in the 15-20 pound class. Live bait drifted just off the bottom had the best results, but working iron did well also. Numbers of Sierra are slowly improving as well, but you need to find the schools to get good action on them. Looking for breaking shoals of baitfish just outside the breakers is the best way to spot the schools, and the earlier in the morning the better. There were plenty of small Pompano and Triggerfish for anglers looking for action, and I did see some very nice Sheephead caught as well as some medium sized grouper and small snapper.

 

NOTES:

If you are planning on booking a fishing trip soon (or later in the year), contact me to see what I can set you up with. I offer fishing charters for people with any type of experience on the water at reasonable rates, and service is the name of the game to me!

My Music of the week a single song by Chris Joss titled “Tune Down”. Check it out with a search on YouTube!

The information I use in these reports are obtained in many different ways, some from personal experience, some from my clients and Captains who are out every day, and some from on-line subscription services such as Fish-Track, BuoyWeather and SurfZone as well as HurricaneZone. I, and only I, am responsible for any errors made, as I sift all this information and compile it.

Thank you very much for checking out my report, and if you would like to book a charter, check out www.flyhooker.com, I have just re-vamped the web site , it is still under development, but there will be new photos, articles, tips and techniques every week starting next month.

If you want to get the report every time I update, go to my blog at www.captgeo.wordpress.com and sign up! No spam, I do not share your e-mail and you can un-subscribe at any time!

Meanwhile, Tight lines!

 

Cabo Fish Report July 29 – August 18, 2015

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING

Captain George Landrum

gmlandrum@hotmail.com www.flyhooker.com https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

Cabo Fish Report

July 29 – August 18, 2015

SYNOPSIS: There has not been a lot of change in the fishing for the past three weeks, and that is not too much of a surprise. With water temperatures in the high 80’s we are seeing a lot of Blue Marlin and Sailfish offshore, and Roosterfish along the beach. Other species have been scarce with just a few big Tuna, a few nice Wahoo and a few smaller sized Dorado.

WEATHER: We saw some rain in the past few weeks as storms from the mainland blew across the Sea of Cortez. The clouds would stack up in the mountains and then the rain would start, enough to bring some welcome relief to the thirsty desert plants. Just yesterday we had a light sprinkle here in town! I saw a lot of cloud cover during this reporting period, but an almost equal amount of sun so it was a pretty mixed experience. Our daytime highs have hit over 100 degrees several days, last week the thermometer on my truck read 103, but most of the time we have been between 95 and 98 degrees, with high humidity. Yesterday and today felt a bit cooler because of lower humidity but the gauges still read the same when it came to the temperature. Our nights have been warm as well with the lows in the low 80’s. Mostly around 82-83 degrees, and with this humidity almost anyone with an air-conditioner has been using it at night.

WATER: For this entire reporting period we have had greenish water everywhere within 30 miles of Cabo. If you ran to the southwest farther than that you got into cleaner water. Temperatures in the greenish water have been from 89 to 85 degrees, the blue water has been cooler at 85-82 degrees. With the passing of storms well offshore to the west we have had some swells to 2 meters on the southern to western exposures, but that was only for a short period of time. Most of the time the swells were around 2-4 feet and almost always glassy. When there was a breeze it was light so there was rarely any chop on the water. If you did come across any rough conditions it was almost always from the Arch to the lighthouse on the Pacific side. The combination of currents and breeze occasionally made the waves stack up, but getting past them just involved a bit of time and then you were good.

BAIT: Almost all the bait available during this time was either Caballito or Lisa (goggle-eyed scad or mullet) at the normal $3 per bait. There was also frozen ballyhoo at $3 each from a few of the bait boats.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: If you were looking for a lot of billfish you were out of luck, but if you were looking for big billfish then this was the place to be. For some reason, perhaps because the bait has been in the greenish water, the best fishing was within 30 miles, and most of it withing 15 miles. The warm water meant that the Blue Marlin and Sailfish made a showing, along with a few Black Marlin, but there were few Striped Marlin. A great day on the water in our area would result in a couple of Blue Marlin releases along with a Sailfish and a few other strikes. A slow day would have been two or three hook-ups or strikes with nothing hanging on long enough to get to the boat. Larger lures attracted the attention of the Blue Marlin, and running the at 8 to 9 knots worked much better than running them at the normal 6-7 knots used for Striped Marlin. The Sailfish had a difficult time with the larger lures though, so having a few smaller ones in the spread helped overall catch rates. The majority of the fish were found from the southwest to southeast of the Lands End and within 25 miles of port. I did spend five days fishing up on the East Cape at the beginning of the month in preparation for the Bisbee East Cape Tournament and it was very hot, very humid and very slow fishing. The water temps were between 89 and 87 degrees and we managed to have one big Blue hook up then get off and had several Striped Marlin strikes. There were 61 boats in the tournament and they fished for three days. In the end there were only two Marlin over 300 pounds caught, one was a Blue Marlin of just over 400 pounds and the other was a Black Marlin in the 380 pound range. Overall there were four Blacks, 40 Blues, five Sailfish and 13 Striped Marlin. That was 183 days of fishing for 62 fish, approximately 1 billfish for every three days of fishing. Not great numbers there, the action was much better here at home. My team had to withdraw due to mechanical issues, but we will be ready for the October tournaments here!

YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Yellowfin bite dropped off the charts for us as boats searched farther and farther afield for the cows. An occasional football sized fish was caught fishing in the blind, and those porpoise that were found most often had no fish with them.

DORADO: This has been the worst Dorado season I have ever seen here. Everyone is crying but no one is sure of the reason behind the non-appearance of these fish. Some are blaming it on the commercial fisherman who have been authorized by the government (so I have been told) to sell Dorado (up to 30% of their catch, considered by-catch while fishing in a fishery directed at other species). Dorado used to be considered a “sports” fish only, commercial sales of Mexican caught fish was prohibited. The shrimp season has been a big bust this year and many people are saying that many of the shrimp boats have re-geared so that they are catching Dorado. Other people are blaming it on El Nino, saying that the water here is too warm for the Dorado and that is why they are being caught as far north as San Francisco. Whatever the reason, my fingers are crossed that the fast growing prolific fish will be back with us soon.

WAHOO: Once again there were a few decent size Wahoo caught, and almost all of them were caught in the blind as incidental catches offshore.

INSHORE: Roosterfish and Triggerfish were the mainstay of the Pangas fishing inshore this period. Slow trolling live bait in 20-50 feet of water or casting popping plugs into the breaking waves resulted in Roosterfish as large as 65 pounds being caught and released. The average size was around 25 pounds, a very nice fight from a beautiful fish! Boats trying to bottom fishh were getting an occasional grouper, amberjack and snapper, but the bread and butter were triggerfish, and most of them were decent size for the species. They might not look like much, but the meat is flaky white and fantastic as ceviche or pan-fried.

NOTES: October bookings are filling up very fast, but there are plenty of openings for September. We are keeping our fingers crossed for “No Bad Weather”!

If you are planning on booking a fishing trip soon (or later in the year), contact me to see what I can set you up with. I offer fishing charters for people with any type of experience on the water at reasonable rates, and service is the name of the game to me!

My music of the week is an old school band only a few of us older folks may remember. “Blind Faith” album “Crossroads” disc #2.

The information I use in these reports are obtained in many different ways, some from personal experience, some from my clients and Captains who are out every day, and some from on-line subscription services such as Fish-Track, BuoyWeather and SurfZone as well as HurricaneZone. I, and only I, am responsible for any errors made, as I sift all this information and compile it.

Thank you very much for checking out my report, and if you would like to book a charter, check out www.flyhooker.com, I have just re-vamped the web site , it is still under development, but there will be new photos, articles, tips and techniques every week starting next month.

If you want to get the report every week, go to my blog at www.captgeo.wordpress.com and sign up! No spam, I do not share your e-mail and you can un-subscribe at any time!

Meanwhile, Tight lines!

Cabo Fish Report May 5 – 18, 2015

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com http://www.flyhooker.com https://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
May 5 – 18, 2015

SYNOPSIS: Just a quick change-up on the Cabo Fish Report to assist those of you who only want an overview for the reporting period. Below is slightly more detailed information! This Cabo Fish Report will cover the past two weeks instead of the normal week period since there was little change from the April to May report! Billfish are everywhere! Every trip there are 20 to 30 Striped Marlin being spotted, but they are full and not willing to eat. That has been about the only offshore action here in Cabo. Cabrillo, Triggerfish and a few Amberjack inshore, with a few Wahoo as well. Only a couple of Dorado reported and still no sign of Yellowfin in our area. Now, for more detailed information in this Cabo Fish Report, please keep on reading!
WEATHER: It was an interesting weather period for us this past two weeks. The first week covered by this report we had the normal lows of 70 degrees and daytime highs of high 80’s with sunny skies. As the second week came onto the calendar The skies began to cloud up and the temperatures increased. Our morning lows rose steadily from 70 to 78 over four days, the humidity increased right along with the temps and finally, on Wednesday the rain fell. It started with just a few sprinkles, the window spotting kind and we thought that was all we were going to get. The twice the skies opened up, the lightning and thunder happened and we received real rain, the kind that washes everything off, no dust anywhere, and the roads running with water! The winds started to blow afterward and on Thursday morning we were back to 69 degrees in the morning with daytime high of 82 degrees and just a few clouds aloft. Since then the temps have increased a couple of degrees, and the wind has blown in the afternoon and the skies have remained almost cloud free!
WATER: There has been almost no change in water temperatures over the past two weeks as the Pacific side from El Arco and up remained in the 70-71 degree range. From there to around the 95 spot, inshore and offshore the water was a little warmer at 74-75 degrees and from San Jose and north on the Cortez side we were marking 77-78 degrees. Currents on the Pacific side were almost due south from the north and across the Cape and up to Punta Gorda they were running a slight bit weaker from the east to west. If what we have been seeing watching the currents continues as it has been, we could receive warmer water to 80+ degrees in the next several weeks, The water on the Pacific side was cooler than elsewhere, and a bit greener as well. Early last week the currents pushed strongly from the north for a day and brought very green water from the shore to 15 miles out at the end of the Cape. The warmer water on the Cortez side has remained much clearer and cleaner. We had a second round of large swells developed from the same storm system way to the south come and visit us on the 14th. Not as large as the surprise ones from the week before, but with no wind on top it was easy to deal with.
BAIT: Very little change on the bait availability with live Caballito at $3 each and frozen Ballyhoo costing the same.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The number of Striped Marlin being seen seems to increase every day! The only issue is that they don’t want to eat. The majority of the fish that are being caught and brought to the boat have been tossing up squid in sizes from three to seven inches so the hungry fish may be feeding deep and the ones being seen on the surface are full and just traveling. Quite a few boats have been trying down-riggers around the high spots such as the 95 spot and the Gordo Banks, but instead of catching Marlin, most of the bites have been from sharks, ranging from 30 pound Makos to 200 pound Bull sharks with a few Blue sharks and one Thresher and a Hammerhead in the mix. The majority of Striped Marlin that have been caught have been on disabled live bait, the upper lobe of the tail clipped so they are pushing upward and a small slice on the lateral line to slow them and keep the scent in the water. With the Marlin feeding on squid they don’t want to expend the energy to chase down a healthy live bait. Almost all of the fish have been found either due south of the Cape out toward the 95 and 1150 spots, but the better hook-up ratios seem to be closer to the beach rather than out deep. Working the western edges of the high spots has been better than roaming around the open areas.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We keep hoping for a showing of Tuna in our area, and if the currents continue to run the way they are we may finally get to see some. There are fish being caught around the Punta Gorda area, and occasionally a great bite has happened, but it has not been steady there either.

DORADO: Once again we had very few Dorado caught this week, and most of the ones brought in were small, in the five to 12 pound class. The warmer water on the Cortez side, and well offshore were where they were found, but there were no concentrations, all the fish (I use the term loosely) were scattered throughout the area.
WAHOO: Wahoo always surprise me as while the best bite is normally on the full moon, they can, and do, show up at any time. There were reports that late last week there was a good Wahoo bite on the Cortez side, and I did see at least on that looked to be 50+ pounds as well as several smaller 20 pound fish brought to the docks. Reports were of many leaders getting bit through by the Wahoo’s sharp teeth, and most of these attacks took place among boats drifting live bait deep around the shelf drops on the Cortez side. A few were taken on swimming plugs and surface lures as well, and in the same areas.
INSHORE: Inshore action for the past two weeks has been inconsistent with the first week of the month providing some decent shots at Roosterfish to 25 pounds, and then they seemed to go away. The bite on Bonita and Skipjack has remained fantastic and Cabrillo as well as Triggerfish have offered inshore anglers a nice variety to focus their efforts on. Very few Sierra or Yellowtail have been reported, it may be the end of what little season we had for them this year. As the water continues to warm the inshore availability continues to change.
NOTES: I am going to start posting the report on Mondays instead of on Sundays from now on as we seem to be having more trips on the weekends and I like having the best information possible to share with you. The more anglers who get out, the better my information is. The fishing pressure is still light, so if you want to get on the water there is plenty of room! I offer fishing charters for people with any type of experience on the water at reasonable rates, and service is the name of the game to me!
My music of the week is Pink Floyd “A Momentary Lapse of Reason”, we just had a Pink Floyd tribute concert this week, so there you go!
The information I use in these reports are obtained in many different ways, some from personal experience, some from my clients and Captains who are out every day, and some from on-line subscription services such as Fish-Track, BuoyWeather and SurfZone as well as HurricaneZone. I, and only I, am responsible for any errors made, as I sift all this information and compile it.
Thank you very much for checking out my report, and if you would like to book a charter, check out http://www.flyhooker.com, I have just re-vamped the web site , it is still under development, but there will be new photos, articles, tips and techniques every week starting next month.
If you want to get the report every week, go to my blog at http://www.captgeo.wordpress.com and sign up! No spam, I do not share your e-mail and you can un-subscribe at any time!
Meanwhile, Tight lines!

Cabo Fish Report April 27 – May 4, 2015

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com http://www.flyhooker.com https://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
April 27 – May 4, 2015

WEATHER: No rain again! I don’t know why I am happy about that, we always need rain, but instead we had these terrible sunny days with early morning lows in the high 60’s to low 70’s and daytime highs ranging from the high 70’s to high 80’s. Boring stuff when it is every day, all day. Just joking! It has been wonderful this week, the only issue we had was the wind which started showing up good on Thursday afternoon and blew strongly every day since then, coming from the northwest at first then from the south mid day Friday and all day Saturday. On Sunday it started coming out of the west-northwest again.
WATER: It was interesting on the water this week to say the least. We began the week with medium swells that grew in size as the weekend approached. The early part of the week we saw swells at 2-4 feet with surf at the normal 5-6 feet on the Pacific side. Near the end of the week on Thursday they started to pick up and on Saturday we had swells at 6 to 9 feet from the southwest with surf running 12 to 15 feet. This was a result of a strong storm off of South America, it is expected to have tapered off the the 3-6 foot range by Wednesday. The combination of large swells and strong winds resulted in the Port Captain closing the port on Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday it was closed to small boats such as Pangas, but the larger cruisers were allowed out. This morning it was open to all vessels, but I saw a few cruisers returning quickly with seasick passengers.
Water temperatures on the Pacific side were 71-72 degrees while the temperatures directly off the Cape were in the 67-68 degree range. As you continued on up the coast toward the East Cape the water slowly warmed until it reached a 77-78 degree area off of the Vinorama area. Clarity in all areas was a bit off, but particularly from the beach to two miles out on the Cortez side of the Cape, where the strong swells stirred a great amount of detritus and sand when pounding the beaches. The currents were also ripping this week with very strong currents from the northwest along the southern portions of the Pacific side and very strong currents from the southwest from San Jose and north on the Cortez side.
BAIT: Due to the swells there were no Sardinas available from mid-week on, and the amount of Caballito was down as well. What bait was available was the normal $3 each, and there were plenty of frozen local ballyhoo at $3 each.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The number of Striped Marlin being seen improves day by day, but the number being hooked up still remains low. Low is a relative term, and by that I mean compared to the numbers seen, the hookup ratio is low. Having said that, the bite has improved quite a bit since the last report, with most of the boats fishing for them getting hooked up and quite a few of those boats (actually the large majority) getting at least one, often more than that, to the boat for a release. These large swells may bring even more fish to the surface as they ride the face of these and perhaps the bite will get even better! I can’t wait until we start seeing every boat with multiple releases! Meanwhile, the best bite was found from straight off the arch to the 1150 Spot, much of it happening along the temperature change on the east side of the cool water plume. Live bait thrown in front of tailing fish was the number one hook up method, and live bait dropped back to fish attracted to lures in the trolling pattern was number two.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There was no change in the Tuna situation this week. Maybe the Yellowfin will show up in our area soon, but this week was once again extremely slow here in Cabo. The fish that had been showing up off of the Punta Gorda high spots were reported as having an off time early in the week, but just as the winds and swell picked up there were a few reports of decent action a bit farther offshore, between Punta Gorda and the 1150, out around 20 miles. That action was short lived however as the surface conditions became a steady “victory at sea” event. Putting it another way, there were so many sheep in the field you could not count them all!

DORADO: There were still some Dorado being found, and I guess it is not a big surprise after all as the water on the Cortez side is warm enough for them to stay. Not a lot were caught, but a few of them were decently sized in the 20 pound class. There were quite a few smaller 8-10 pound class fish compared to the larger ones, and the luckier boats managed to get two or three. Most boats did not luck out though, and did not get a strike. I was told that the boats that did get a few of these great eating fish found them under working Frigates, always worth checking out!
WAHOO: I was fairly surprised when we did not see many Wahoo early in the week, normally we get a half decent bite just before the full moon. Of course the best bite always occurs three days before the full moon, and since tonight is the full moon that should have been the past three days. However….the swells have really stirred things up close to shore and that is where the majority of Wahoo are found, along the rocky points and drop offs. Usually a few larger fish are found in the open water, but I did hear of any in the later part of the week.
INSHORE: The week started out getting a bit better for inshore fishing as a number of decent Yellowtail in the 15-25 pound class were found in deeper water (150-300 feet), and they were biting on live bait just off the bottom. There were a few Grouper as well and an occasional school of Amberjack would move in for a quick visit. Small schools of Sierra were being found along the beach on the Pacific side and anglers working for them in 75-25 feet of water were getting from 6 to 15 fish per trip. On the Cortez side there were schools of small Roosterfish running from 3 to 10 pounds and they were attacking live baits, but most of the live bait was too large for them to munch on! Well, the bite was decent early on, but then the winds and then the swells came to visit and suddenly the bite went to nothing, then the boats were not allowed out. Sometimes that happens!
NOTES: I am going to start posting the report on Mondays instead of on Sundays from now on as we seem to be having more trips on the weekends and I like having the best information possible to share with you. The more anglers who get out, the better my information is. The fishing pressure is still light, so if you want to get on the water there is plenty of room! I offer fishing charters for people with any type of experience on the water at reasonable rates, and service is the name of the game to me!
My music of the week is Craig Chaquico on “Fire Red Moon”, this album is on fire with the blues!
The information I use in these reports are obtained in many different ways, some from personal experience, some from my clients and Captains who are out every day, and some from on-line subscription services such as Fish-Track, BuoyWeather and SurfZone as well as HurricaneZone. I, and only I, am responsible for any errors made, as I sift all this information and compile it.

Thank you very much for checking out my report, and if you would like to book a charter, check out http://www.flyhooker.com, I have just re-vamped the web site , it is still under development, but there will be new photos, articles, tips and techniques every week starting next month.
If you want to get the report every week, go to my blog at http://www.captgeo.wordpress.com and sign up! No spam, I do not share your e-mail and you can un-subscribe at any time!
Meanwhile, Tight lines!

Cabo Fish Report for April 7 – 12, 2015

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com http://www.flyhooker.com https://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
April 7 – 12, 2015

WEATHER: It feels as if we are coming into a summer weather pattern, at least for this week. Last week our lows were in the low 70’s but this week they have increased a bit every day. Friday the low was 75 degrees at 6 AM, Saturday it was at 76 degrees and this morning it was 77 degrees. The daytime highs have ranged between 90 and 94 degrees All of this is warmer than it has been the last several years, and along with the heat has come increased humidity. I have no idea if this is an indicator of things to come, but I am surprised. We had partly cloudy skies this week and the weather services were calling for a decent chance of rain on Friday, this was changed to Saturday and then to Sunday. Being at the tip of the peninsula we have no idea if it will ever happen as conditions can change so rapidly.
WATER: The water on the Pacific side of the Cape continues to be warmer than normal with most areas showing 73-74 degrees along the beach and just a half degree cooler offshore. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water is showing at 76-77 degrees with an occasional spot of 78 degrees. Both sides of the Cape have decently clean water but the currents on the Pacific side are roaring along strongly from the northwest while on the Cortez side they are weak and from the north east, basicly both are following the contours of the land. The weak currents on the Cortez side appear to be the remnants of the Pacific currents as they loop around the Cape and form a weak circular pattern between us and the East Cape.
BAIT: Just as it was last week, most of the bait available from the bait boats was Caballito with a mix of green jacks and misc. small fish. The boats also had some frozen Ballyhoo and both frozen and live bait was offered at $3 each piece. Calming seas have allowed the net boats in the San Jose area to find and catch sardinas, and if you are in the area early enough you had a chance to buy a scoop for $25.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There was little change this week on the billfish front with many more fish being seen tailing down swell than we had several weeks ago, but they still seem to be without an appetite. A few boats were able to find fish that would bite and managed to release one or two, but most of the boats had an exercise in frustration as they tossed bait at one fish after another only to see the bait totally ignored. It may be because the fish are full and have been feeding deep, or perhaps the bait is not the right kind, or the moon phase is not perfect, who knows for sure. All we really know is that if you managed to get hooked up to a Striped Marlin, you were one of the lucky ones! There were also reports of a few small Black and Blue Marlin being seen and occasionally getting hooked up, most likely due to the warmer than normal water we seeing has plenty of the type of bait they love, Skipjack and Bonita. My guess (based on talking to captains and anglers) would be that 45% of the boats fishing offshore had a Marlin strike, while perhaps 25% overall had a successful release. While these percentages are fantastic compared to many places, they are much less than we are used to here. Still, you are not going to catch a Marlin while sitting at the beach bar!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We still have a drought on Yellowfin in Cabo. A few boats were able to get a football size fish or two while fishing close to the beach, but they were vastly outnumbered by the Skipjack and Bonita. Boats that went searching offshore were able to find a few pods of Porpoise, but none of them (that I heard of) held any Tuna. I was told by several anglers that fished out of San Jose that the high spots off of Punta Gorda were serving up some Yellowfin in the 10 – 25 pound class with one larger fish reported at 60 pounds, but they told me the bite was either very early in the morning or almost dark in the evening. Apparently Seals and Sea Lions were an issue as well with many fish being lost to these mammals.

DORADO: Fishing for Dorado this week was an exercise in frustration for most crews as they were few and far between. Normal methods such as getting one while trolling and then dropping a bait back only resulted in a second fish about 20% of the time (normally about 60%) but the biggest issue was getting that first fish hooked up. The Dorado were scattered up and down the coast on the Pacific side with no concentrations anywhere. Spotting feeding Frigates was almost the only way to find the fish (of any offshore species) other than blind trolling. Since there were few fish to begin with, spotting these frigates became vital for a good catch.
WAHOO: I neither saw nor heard of any Wahoo being caught out of Cabo, but I am sure there were a few. I am just a bit surprised since we had a full moon on the 7th, but the waning moon is never as good for these fish as the waxing moon.
INSHORE: Inshore fishing remains limited to mostly Sierra, and if you find a school of them along the beach you can do really well, often limiting out. They have been averaging 6 pounds with a few larger ones in the mix. Chumming them up and then dropping strip baits back to the have offered the best chances at limits, but trolling hootchies and small swimming plugs also worked decently. Some of the boats fishing with fly fishermen did very well with the chumming method but lost many flies due to the sharp teeth on the Sierra. Besides Sierra, boats were finding small red snapper, some decent Amberjack, plenty of Skipjack and Bonita. The Yellowtail have still been a rare visitor to the party but the few that have been caught were caught on live bait drifted just off the bottom in 200+ feet of water.
NOTES: The number of whales being seen has dropped off from last weeks numbers, they are heading back north, as are the spring breakers. The beaches are much calmer now! I do have a very sad not to offer in this report. Those of you who have visited Cabo for any length of time may know Juanito, the owner of the Cabo Lounge. He was just recently diagnosed with stomach cancer and passed away Saturday morning. We will miss this wonderful man, a friend to everyone he met and with a smile and happy words for all. RIP Junaito, we miss you.
The information I use in these reports are obtained in many different ways, some from personal experience, some from my clients and Captains who are out every day, and some from on-line subscription services such as Fish-Track, BuoyWeather and SurfZone as well as HurricaneZone. I, and only I, am responsible for any errors made, as I sift all this information and compile it.

Music of the week is “Ain’t in it for the Money” by Micky and the Motorcars, a great western rock album. Check them out at http://www.mickyandthemotorcars.com. Thanks Mark Bailey for turning me on to them so many years ago!
Thank you very much for checking out my report, and if you would like, check out http://www.flyhooker.com, I have just re-vamped the web site and you may like it. Still under development, but there will be new photos, articles, tips and techniques every week starting next month. I am going to set up a link on the website so you can access the archived reports at my blog. I have tried to load them on the website, but 10 years of weekly reports have slowed down my ability to make changes to anything else. The link will take you to the blog and all the reports since 2010 are listed there. If you want a report from years prior to that let me know and I will e-mail them to you, they go back through 2005.
If you want to get the report every week, go to my blog at http://www.captgeo.wordpress.com and sign up!
Meanwhile, Tight lines!

And as always, George writes this report

and posts to the blog on Sunday morning. So if you

can’t wait, click the “FOLLOW” on the top of the blog

page! You will know whenever something new is posted!

https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

March 9 – 15, 2015

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com http://www.flyhooker.com https://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
March 9, 2015 – March 15, 2015

WEATHER: Good morning everyone, and hello from mostly sunny Cabo San Lucas! We did have a few days this week with overcast skies and yesterday (Saturday the 14th) we actually had a spit of rain from some weather that moved on top of us from the north. Heavy clouds with some lightning and thunder gave pause to those looking to golf, go to the beach or head out on the water, but it all moved away overnight. This week our daytime highs reached 88 degrees while the daytime lows dropped to 65. Those heavy clouds from yesterday also caused a short lasting shift in the wind and it blew from the south rather hard for about four hours, a few boats had to battle the elements on the way in from up the Pacific side. For the majority of the week we had great weather, so good that if it was like this all year round we would be overcrowded!
WATER: The water continues to cool down a little at a time, which is good news for our typical winter fish, but is chasing away the warm water fish we still have lurking about. The coldest water around is at 68 degrees and covers the area between the Golden Gate Bank to the San Jaime Bank just south of the Golden. Inshore along the same area it is almost 70 degrees while the shore area to the north and south is 72 degrees. Water to the south of us is the warmest in the area at 73 degrees close to shore and rising to 75 degrees farther out at 20+ miles. On the Cortez side of the Cape within 20 miles of the beach it has been a consistent 73 degrees. Water clarity has improved across the area and we were seeing very few of the green bands this week. This banding normally happens as our water changes from cool to warm or the other way around with the cool water holding more plankton and chlorophyll, thus the greener water.
BAIT: Bait this week started to include some Mackerel, which is a good sign for the upcoming few months as these baitfish signal the cooling water and hopefully the return of the Striped Marlin. Most of the bait however has been Caballito and Green Jacks, like last week. There are also Sardinas now available from the commercial boats in San Jose.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Until the water cools to a consistent 70 degrees and the Mackerel show up in numbers we are likely to continue to have slow fishing for Striped Marlin. A few boats this week were able to find hungry fish, but most boats saw no sign of them. Most of the ones found were found on the Pacific side in the cooler water. As a good sign of things to come, the water on the Pacific has slowly cooled, and we can see this trend working its way down the coast so hopefully soon the bite will pick up. Meanwhile, the fish that have been found have averaged 110 pounds with a few reported in the 150-180 class, most of them caught on a live bait thrown to a tailing fish.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There was not a lot of change this week in the Tuna fishing as it is still an on-one-day, off-the-next-day type of fishery. Almost all the action to be had was from the Cortez side of the Cape, up off of the Punta Gorda area and the high spots such as the San Luis and Inman banks. That is a very long run for the boats out of Cabo, so most of the action was reserved for boats leaving from San Jose. Also, since it takes a long two hours to get there (including the stop for Sardinas in San Jose) most of the San Jose boats had already set up on the spots leaving the Cabo boats hoping to get some leftovers. Good news is that they are showing up and are not absent like last week! If conditions continue, we might be seeing these Tuna in the Cabo area in a couple of weeks. Most of the fish that were caught we hooked on live Sardinas drifted over the high spots.

DORADO: Dorado are a fish that prefers warmer water than we are seeing now, so it is no surprise that the numbers being caught are dropping off. As was the case last week, the larger numbers being found are to the north of the Golden Gate Bank along the beach. A good catch this week would have been two or three fish, boats fishing offshore or along the beach closer to home were lucky to get one Dorado, let alone two. Many boats this week came in without flags, having only drawn a strike or two all day. It is sad to think of, but that is the way fishing is. We will continue to see a few Dorado being caught for the next few months, but the numbers keep decreasing as the water temperature drops.
WAHOO: Surprisingly we are still seeing Wahoo being brought in, and some nice ones at that. Well, maybe not all that surprising since we have just gone through the full moon phase this week, and Wahoo do bite better on the full moon. The surprising part is that we are catching them, we normally do not get these numbers in the Cabo area although they are common in season around the Mag Bay and Ridge area. These fish are running from 12 to 45 pounds and are being caught in a variety of ways. The most common has been as an accidental catch while fishing for Dorado and Marlin, the second most common has been while drifting live baits, either Mackerel for Yellowtail or Sardinas for Tuna. Naturally most of the fish hooked have been lost since both of these methods require the use of a monofiliment leader, but still some anglers have lucked out! High spots and drop-offs are the preferred areas for these fish and trolling them at higher than normal speed with deep swimming plugs on wire leader has had the best retention rate once the fish are hooked up. Being a pack type of fish, often more than one will strike at the same time, causing the cockpit to get hectic.
INSHORE: Inshore has definitely been the best fishing this past week with plenty of Snapper, some good Sierra and a few large Yellowtail being found. Fishing from 400 to 50 feet of water with live and cut bait was the best producing method, letting the baits down to near the boattom with Yellowtail on live bait deep, Snapper on cut bait in medium depths and Sierra on hootchies and small rapallas in the shallows. Any of these areas and methods were likely to produce other fish as well with an occasional Amberjack and Grouper clamping onto a bait, and an occasional attack by passing Wahoo. I had clients out on a Panga on Wednesday who managed to get three or four Sierra as well as nine nice Red Snapper, a very good thing since their friends who went out all day on an offshore cruiser only managed to get one Dorado hooked up, which jumped three times then came off.
NOTES: I feel an explanation is in order as to why I have not done a report in so long. My beautiful, wonderful wife Mary was diagnosed with Brain Cancer in January of 2013. We spent 18 months fighting the battle before we lost on August 10 of last year. With the travels for surgery, radiation and chemo, as well as the needed 24/7 attention I had to let the report, as well as the business, take a seat out of the way. I am back now and plan to continue where I left off.
The information I use in these reports are obtained in many different ways, some from personal experience, some from my clients and Captains who are out every day, and some from on-line subscription services such as Fish-Track, BuoyWeather and SurfZone as well as HurricaneZone. I, and only I, am responsible for any errors made, as I sift all this information and compile it.
Once again, I will be posting my Music Of The Week every report. This is music that I have either just discovered and want to share (it may be a band or album you are already familiar with, but new to me) or one of my old favorites I have just “re-discovered”. In any event, take a moment to check it out, you may find a new favorite!
This weeks Music of the Week is the album “Change In My Pocket”, a 1990 release from Bullseye Blues and Jazz, by Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets featuring Sam Myers. Great music by some great artists, its a wonderful album to sit and listen to! Thank you very much for checking out my report, and if you would like, check out http://www.flyhooker.com, I have just re-vamped the web site and you may like it. Still under development, but there will be new photos, articles, tips and techniques every week starting next month.
Meanwhile, Tight lines!

And as always, George writes this report

and posts to the blog on Sunday morning. So if you

can’t wait, click the “FOLLOW” on the top of the blog

page! You will know whenever something new is posted!

https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

Cabo Bite Report for Jan. 27 – Feb. 2, 2014

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING

Captain George Landrum

gmlandrum@hotmail.com

www.flyhooker.com

https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

Cabo Fish Report

Jan. 27 – Feb. 2, 2014

 

WEATHER:  We had mostly sunny skies this week with the highs in the mid 80’s and lows in the low 60’s.  I heard that in a few spots it reached the mid 50’s but not at the marina or at our house.  We did have a bit of rain this week.  Last week I mentioned that it had felt humid at the end of the week and we had seen some low black clouds that made it feel as if it would rain.  We didn’t have any of those low black clouds on Monday, just cloudy skies, but in the evening we did get rain, steady enough to get everything wet but not strong enough to wash the cars! Winds were from the north-north-east at the end of the week.

WATER: We did have great water conditions once again with the exception of early in the week on the Pacific side in the afternoons.  During that time frame for the first three days the winds blew fairly strong causing some very choppy conditions up past the lighthouse and offshore.  Of course the afternoons are when most boats were coming back to the marina so it was a downhill, downwind run and not to uncomfortable.  The rest of the time the seas on the Pacific side were in the 1-4 foot range and water temperatures were 74 early in the week, slowly dropping to 70-71 degrees by the end of the week. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was smooth, almost like a pool most of the week with swells 1-2 feet and wind riffles in the afternoons. The water temperature dropped on this side as well with water toward the shore from the 95 spot and the 1150 going from 74 degrees to 72-71 degrees, and the water on the Gorda Bank dropping from 76 degrees at the start of the week to 74 at the end of the week.

BAIT: There was no lack of bait this week and you could buy as many Mackerel and Caballito as you wanted for the usual $3 each.  Still no Sardinas that I was aware of.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: I was a bit surprised this week that the action on Striped Marlin slowed down a bit, I was sure that the new moon phase would help the bite.  Instead, we were seeing between 65-70% of our anglers getting hooked into and releasing a Striped Marlin.  The fish have also started to appear in areas other than on the Pacific side at the high spots, we were finding them on the Cortez side as well, not in any great numbers, but a stronger showing than we had been seeing the week before.  The cooling water may have something to do with this as Striped Marlin seem to prefer water in the 70-72 degree range. With the fish scattered out a bit more, trolling became the preferred method of finding a Marlin.  Spotting a tailing fish then running to it and tossing a bait in front worked better than sitting on the high spots drifting a live bait, and much better than slow trolling a live bait.  The fish also were not shy about slamming a trolled lure!

YELLOWFIN TUNA:  Inside one day and outside the next, you were never sure where the Tuna would appear on a daily basis.  The only sure thing was the more water you covered the better chance you had of getting into a good tuna bite.  Boats found these fish from a mile off the beach up by Los Arcos to 35 miles out at 210 degrees, and almost all of them were associated with Porpoise.  Cedar plugs and dark colored hootchies worked well, and I had a client bring down some cedar plug shapes made from clear acrylic with plenty of silver flash in them and they were amazing, caught so many Tuna on these things that they ended up releasing all the fish under 15 pounds and still limited out in 90 minutes.  Of course with the action that hot and heavy mistakes were made.  They were using light 30 pound leader and they ended up loosing all three lures when the leader chaffed through.  They reported that almost 80% of the bites were on these three lures, guess I will have to get some of these!

 

DORADO: Dorado continued to be the mainstay of the charter fleet this week as both the offshore cruisers and the inshore fishermen were getting Dorado in the fish box.  Most of the fish were off the beach between ½ mile and three miles on the Pacific side, but there were many of them caught on the Cortez side off the beach the same distance.  My guess would be that 40% of the boats that got into Dorado managed to catch the legal limit of two fish per angler, the rest of the boats managed to get at least a few, even if they were not looking for them.  None of the fish I saw were large with their weight running between 6 and 10 pounds with a few fish in the 15 pound category.  Light colored lures and live bait were the key to the Dorado, and of course if you saw Frigate birds working it was either over Dorado (most common) or on Striped Marlin.

WAHOO: To tell the truth I did not see any wahoo this week, but did hear of some decent ones caught on the Cortez side of the Cape.  Boats working the rocks in front of Gray Rock and the drop-off along the cliffs between Santa Maria and Chileano Bay as well as the 30 fathom line off of Palmilla were getting an occasional bite from fish that were reported to be as large as 45 pounds.  There were a few smaller fish reported from the Pacific side but I am not sure which area they were found.

INSHORE: Sierra are still the fish of the week for the inshore fishermen as well as the surf fishermen tossing lures from the beach.  The fish are mostly between 4 and 6 pounds with a few in the 10 pound class.  The favorite areas have been off the de-sal plant just to the north of the lighthouse and the beach off of Playa Grande.  A few boats are still running up to Migraino for the Sierra, getting lots of fish and then working three miles out for Marlin, Dorado and Tuna on the downhill return.  Fishing for the Snapper in amongst the rocks has been an on-off experience with early in the week being “off” due to the slightly larger seas encountered.  Perhaps the coming full moon will bring more fish in. If it does, please remember to limit your catch, don’t catch your limit.  In the spring during the full moon the heavy concentrations of Snapper (and Grouper)you encounter are spawning aggregations, and while your crew may want to catch every fish they can, remember that it’s your charter and your call as when to stop.

FISH RECIPE:  This week we did a spicy fish dish that I adapted from a recipe for General Tso’s Chicken.  Start with 2 pounds of any boneless fish fillet and cube it into 1 ½ inch cubes.  Marinate it for four hours in a mix of the white of 1 egg, a dash of salt and pepper, 1 teaspoon of minced fresh ginger (frozen will work if that’s all you have, just grate it instead of mincing it) and one teaspoon of corn starch.  I put all the ingredients in a gallon zip-lock and shake it around for a few minutes then put the fish in and shake it again, then place it in the fridge.  While it is marinating I made a sauce of 1 ½ tablespoon of soy sauce, 3 table spoons of sugar, 2 table spoons of rice-wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce, 1 tablespoon of chicken broth and 1 tablespoon of sherry (I used tawny port instead).  Once the fish has marinated put four or five cups of fresh oil in a large pot and heat it until its smoking, then dip in the fish pieces three or four at a time and cook for 1 minute, then remove to some paper towels to drain.  Once all the fish is cooked take some of the oil and put it in a large skillet, then place about two tablespoons of minced ginger, one green onion white section thinly sliced, two minced garlic cloves and about three tablespoons of dried red chile flakes in the oil and saute for about 1 minute.  Next add the sauce, then the fish and toss and stir until the fish is well coated.  Serve this on a bed of freshly cooked rice!  Just in case you don’t know, rice is simple.  Boil 2 cups of lightly salted water.  When it comes to a boil add 1 cup of rice and stir quickly.  When it returns to a boil turn it down to a simmer and cover.  Let simmer for 20 minutes then remove from the heat.  After five minutes off the heat remove the lid and stir the rice, then replace the lid.  Easy peasy.

NOTES:  Fish, Sun, Dolphin, Whales, Beaches and Booze!  Cabo San Lucas!  Oh and since it’s Super Bowl Sunday, GO SEAHAWKS!!!!!

Often copied, never duplicated, no plagiarism, all original, and on line for the past 13 years, I hope you enjoy my weekly reports!

And as always, George writes this report
and posts to the blog on Sunday morning.  So if you
can’t wait, click the “FOLLOW”  on the top of the blog
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!

https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

Cabo Bite Report for January 20 – 26, 2014

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING

Captain George Landrum

gmlandrum@hotmail.com

www.flyhooker.com

https://captgeo.wordpress.com/

Cabo Fish Report

Jan. 20 – 26, 2014

WEATHER: We had partly cloudy skies this week as some high cloud cover moved in early and then cleared on Wednesday, then during the later part of the week some of those clouds that you just know are going to let loose with a little rain but just end up teasing you moved in then out of our area by Saturday. The weekend was mostly sunny with some early morning cloud cover. Highs for the week were in the low 80’s while the lows were a balmy 64-65 degrees with a bit of humidity.

WATER: Water conditions on the Sea of Cortez in our area were very good with swells small at 1-3 feet, the water temperature 74 degrees within 6 miles of the beach and 76 degrees outside of that. Strangely enough, the warmer water was a bit more off-color than the cooler water. Up farther on the Cortez side the wind began to punish anglers, and if you went north of Punta Gorda you had to be ready for a bumpy ride. On the Pacific side of the Cape the week started with swells at 1-3 feet and as the week progressed so did the swells. They were not closely spaced but by this morning we were seeing 4-6 foot swells causing a surf of 8-12 feet. We are thankful that the wind has remained down and there has been very little wind chop and swell on top of this ground swell. The water temperature on the Pacific side has remained in the 76 degree range all week with slightly cooler water showing to the north of the Golden Gate Banks. The water has also been a clean blue color almost everywhere, not a deep purple summer color, but nice and clean.

BAIT: Plenty of both Mackerel and Caballito were available this week at the normal $3 per bait. I did not hear of any Sardinas being available.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: I’m not going to blow smoke and say the fishing was outstanding for Striped Marlin this week, but it improved a bit over what we were seeing last week. Every boat that wished to get a Striped Marlin was able to get at least one release, and several boats had multiple releases, up to six per trip. It was all about being where the concentrations were and having the right bait. As was the case last week, the majority of the fish were on top of the Golden Gate Bank and toward the inside of there, and they re-grouped a bit after the strong currents we had last week. Boats that had Mackerel in good condition did well, and those that were able to catch some on the grounds and “match the hatch” so to speak, did very well. The fish at the Gate were feeding on a mix of Mackerel and very large Sardinas. Slow trolling live bait was the best method and deep dropping bait while drifting came in second place as a producer of fish. There were also Striped Marlin found in other areas, namely on the ridge between the Golden Gate high spot and the high spots on the San Jaime Bank, the west side of the canyon. The fish were much more scattered, but finding the tailing fish very often resulted in a hookup when the bait was presented properly. Elsewhere the Marlin were even more scattered, but when found could often be enticed into striking a trolled lure or a live bait dropped back.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: The excitement continued this week as the Yellowfin Tuna that showed up have continued to make their presence known by way of filling the fish boxes! The majority of these fish actually weighed between 10 and 15 pounds, but there were a few schools that held 20-25 pound Tuna. There were also a couple found that had fish to 60-80 pounds on them, but these were few and far between. The larger fish were often fooled into biting by using a kite to get the lures and bait far from the boat and the prop noise. If you happened to be the first on the school, setting two lines out at 250 yards (that’s way back there folks, at a half spool or more, and many crews won’t do it) and making a pass on the front of the school also resulted in some of these larger fish as the lures did not get there until well after the boat had gone. For the footballs, cedar plugs and small feathers to three inches worked great, and a few fly-fishermen had a fantastic time blind casting while the crew chummed up some fish with chopped up bait. It was not hard to limit out on these fish this week, and as usual, many boats seemed to forget that there is a legal limit on how many fish you are allowed to keep (five Tuna per angler).

DORADO: We continue to see Dorado come in every day and I am surprised that the fishing has remained as good as it has. I expect to still be catching a few this time of year, but we have been seeing a few limits coming in this week on Dorado (legal limit is two per angler). Most of the fish have been found on the Pacific side from the shoreline out to about three miles, but there have also been fish on the Cortez side out to about two miles. Most of these fish have been in the 10 pound class but an occasional fish to 18 pounds has been in the mix as well.

WAHOO: I must have missed some wonderful Wahoo action the week before last as I saw several reports that the bite on these fish had been hot. On last weeks report I said that there had been a few scattered small fish but no large ones, then I was contacted by several fishermen who had been reading other reports and they informed me that there had been quite a few large Wahoo caught. All I can say is that I won’t write about it unless I see the fish or trust who is telling me about their fish, so apparently I missed that action. This past week there were some smaller Wahoo found once again and the action was inshore off of the high spots and points on the Pacific side. A few boats that left early and made passes at Gray Rock at gray light also racked up a few of these speedsters, but nothing I heard of was over 30 pounds.

INSHORE: Still the inshore fish of the week, Sierra were the primary target of the Pangas that fished inshore this week. Finding a school was not too difficult, and once you found it getting the fish to bite was fairly easy. It really helps the enjoyment of catching these little guys to match the size of the gear to the size of the fish. Most of the Pangas carry lighter gear, and we have several that carry fly rods as well, so if the numbers are not as important as the action, check to see what equipment your boat has before going for these guys. Reeling in a couple of 4 pound Sierra on #50 gear is not a lot of fun, but at least you get fish in the boat and have something to take home. Right? Hmm…. oh, there are also Snapper and Grouper to be found inshore. The snapper will be right in the rocks, and you are likely to loose a few rigs trying to get them, but they are great eating and it is fun to work them out of the rock piles! The Grouper have been caught by dropping a live bait to within 5 feet of the bottom in 60 to 150 feet of water. Make sure your drag is down as heavy as the gear can take for both the Snapper and Grouper, you need to keep them out of the rocks! Along with these fish, there are a few small Yellowtail showing up, hopefully soon we will be seeing a stronger showing of these gear busting brutes, and a slightly larger class of fish. Many of the Pangas caught a few Sierra for their anglers and then went out for the Yellowfin Tuna and did very well, often getting in a Striped Marlin as well.

FISH RECIPE: This week I used left-over grilled Dorado and just made fish sandwiches instead of ham sandwiches. Same idea, just a different protein, but it helps if you use something besides plain white bread. I like using the large croissants from Costco.

NOTES: Plenty of fish to catch, Whales and Dolphin to see, great water conditions and light crowds! We need to enjoy this while we can because Spring Break is coming soon and things are going to get hectic! This weeks report was written to the music of Brian Flynn and his band. In this case it consisted of Mauricio on the Keyboards, Base and Drums and Brian’s old partner Lulu Small on the guitar and vocals. Got to see them live on Tuesday at Tanga-Tanga, Puerto Parisio Marina side and at the Cabo Lounge. They used to play together 15 years ago, it sure was fine to hear them now! Until next week, tight lines!

Often copied, never duplicated, no plagiarism, all original, and on line for the past 13 years, I hope you enjoy my weekly reports!

And as always, George writes this report

and posts to the blog on Sunday morning. So if you

can’t wait, click the “FOLLOW” on the top of the blog

page! You will know whenever something new is posted!

https://captgeo.wordpress.com/