Cabo Bite Report

[CaptG]

[font "Times New Roman"][center]Capt George Landrum[/center] [center]Fly Hooker Sportfishing[/center] [center]gmlandrum@hotmail.com[/center] [center]www.flyhooker.com[/center] [left][/left][/font][font "Times New Roman"][size 2] [center] [/center] [center] [/center][/size][/font][font "Times New Roman"] [left]CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 8-14, 2003-04[/left] [left][/left] [left] [/left] [left] [/left] [left]WEATHER: It seems that almost every week we have had at least a light sprinkle and this week was no exception. A few days in a row early in the week gave us just enough precipitation to dot the windows and make people run for cover, but thank goodness that was it. Our night time lows got down to 52 degrees a few nights and our daytime highs have averaged around 78 degrees.[/left] [left][/left] [left]WATER: Water conditions were very good this week with no choppy conditions to speak of. There were some good sized swells out on the Pacific side and to the south of the Cape, but no chop on them. At the end of the week the water had changed a bit as a warm finger pushed up from the south and we had 73 degree water from inside the Golden Gate Banks on the Pacific to off of Chileno on the Sea of Cortez. On the Pacific side this warm water only extended out a few miles but at the south end of the Cape it went south and we had some water in the 75 degree range from 3 miles south to 15 miles south and out to the east toward the 95 spot. From the southern end of the Golden Gate to the middle of the San Jaime Banks the water was 67 degrees. There was a very defined and fish holding temperature break of 4 degrees on the San Jaime, and a lot of boats did very well there.[/left] [left][/left] [left]BAIT: The usual $2 per bait with the prevailing bait this week being Caballito. There were some Mackerel around and there were Sardines available as well at the normal $20 per bucket.[/left] [left][/left] [left]FISHING[/left] [left][/left] [left]BILLFISH: As the moon waned the Striped Marlin bite picked up and many more blue flags were flying this week than were flying last week as the boats came in. The fish were pretty much everywhere but the biggest concentration seemed to be around the temperature break off of the San Jaime. Actually, that is where most of any of the species were caught this week! A Marlin a day was the average for most of the fleets but some of the boats were able to get as many as three of the Striped Marlin to the boat for release. Average size was #110 and live bait seemed to work better than lures. [/left] [left][/left] [left]YELLOWFIN TUNA: Fish of the week again as there were more Yellowfin Tuna caught than any other species. Most of the fish were on the San Jaime, mixed in with the Porpoise, and while the majority of them were footballs, there were quite a few larger fish to 60 pounds caught as well. Live bait dropped ahead of the schools worked well on the larger fish while hootchies and feathers did the trick on the footballs and some of the school fish. While the bite was never wide open, it was steady with most boats able to get a half dozen or so fish in the box.[/left] [left][/left] [left]DORADO: That dead whale that I reported on last week showed up after being gone for a few days and this time it was much closer to home. The Dorado caught on it were averaging 12 pounds and they were thick, but picky. The whale appeared off of the Palmilla area only 6 miles out. Later in the week there was a very good bite on Dorado to 35 pounds with the average at 12 pounds as a large school was found 10 miles to the southwest of the Cape. The school was moving through the area and the 10 to 12 boats that were lucky enough to be in the area enjoyed great action on these great fish while using strip baits and chunks. These Dorado were not biting well on lures.[/left] [left][/left] [left]WAHOO: As the moon gets smaller the Wahoo bite improves and this week we had a few other reasons to be happy. The combination of moon phase and the temperature breaks appearing over bottom structure really helped with a few boats getting as many as five Wahoo in a trip. Of course, most boats did not get any at all, but it is all about being in the right place at the right time with the right tackle! The Wahoo were averaging 35 pounds.[/left] [left][/left] [left]IN SHORE: There are still Sierra around and there are some really big ones being caught, some of them appear to be as large as 8-10 pounds.. Still some great Red Snapper fishing as well and they have been right in the surf. Larger Rappalas work for them and some of the guys are getting very good action on the fish from the beach. I have heard that there have been some Yellowtail being caught early in the morning and late in the afternoon and really look forward to getting a chance to check that out for myself![/left] [left][/left]

NOTES: With Striped Marlin fillets bringing 40 pesos a kilo, a lot more of the crews on the so called "Sportfishing" boats are killing the billfish instead of releasing them. Insist that your Captain and crew release any Striped Marlin that are not bleeding severely, and don’t tip them if they kill a Marlin after you ask that it be released. Besides being against the law for sport caught fish to be sold commercially, it is short sighted and detrimental to the species as well as the future of Cabo as a Sportfishing destination. This weeks report was written to the music of Brian Flynn on his self-produced CD "Brian Flynn- The Tanga-Tanga edition". Brian was in town this week and played at Tanga-Tanga a couple of times and was there for the soft grand opening at Mike’s new place outside of town, "the Latitude 22 Roadhouse". What a lot of fun! Check out Brian’s music at his website www.brianflynnband.com and see what I am talking about. Until next week, tight lines![/font]
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[tubeN2]

Hey there Capt G. Thanks for the report. There are some of here that look around other boards reports especially when we plan to fish there in the near future.
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