04-26-2004, 03:57 PM
[font "Times New Roman"][center]Capt George Landrum[/center] [center][/center] [center]Fly Hooker Sportfishing[/center] [center][/center] [center]gmlandrum@hotmail.com[/center] [center][/center] [center]www.flyhooker.com[/center][/font][size 2] [left][/left] [left] [/left] [left] [/left][/size][font "Times New Roman"] [left]CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT APRIL 18-24, 2004[/left] [left][/left] [left]WEATHER: We had wonderful weather this week as it was sunny all week long and the wind only started blowing after noon each day and almost every day had stopped by morning. The one exception was on the 21st when it continued to blow until 9 AM. Our daytime highs were in the low 90’s and night time lows reached down to the mid 60’s but most nights were around 70 degrees.[/left] [left][/left] [left]WATER: The water on the Pacific side of the Cape has been cold, at least relative to the water on the Sea of Cortez side. It did not get to 70 degrees until you were well past the San Jaime Banks, and the water close to shore was as cold as 63 degrees. On the Sea of Cortez it was another matter as we had a finger of warm water, sometimes as warm as 77 degrees, push towards the Cape following the shore and extending out to around 12 miles. Once out past the 12 miles the water got a bit off color but remained fairly warm. The cold Pacific water continued to push in but upon meeting the warm water on the Cortez side it was forced to the south.[/left] [left][/left] [left]BAIT: The normal $2 per bait for Caballito (most of them were small) with very few small Mackerel available. I did not hear of any Sardines making it down to Cabo from San Jose.[/left] [left][/left] [left]FISHING:[/left] [left][/left] [left]BILLFISH: The warm water returning to our area brought the Billfish with it! I heard reports of at least three Blue Marlin being caught this week, with the largest one at #480. On Thursday the Striped Marlin bite just seemed to explode with some boats getting shots at as many as 20 fish a day. The average seemed to be 10 fish a day (not caught, but seen and baited) with most boats able to get at least one to the side. The bite was in the warm water area of the Sea of Cortez, between the shore and out 10 miles, and from right in front of town all the way up the coast to the Punta Gorda area. Most of the bites seemed to occur on trolled lures, with the strikes on them out numbering the strikes on live bait by about 3 to 1. Most of the fish were in the #120 class.[/left] [left][/left] [left]YELLOWFIN TUNA: If you read last weeks report, you remember me mentioning the Purse Seiners that have been hanging around. Well, they are still here. I was out on the water today and saw three of them under way just off the coast on the Cortez side, one of them was a super seiner carrying a helicopter on the roof. Besides those three, there were four more anchored off the beach in Cabo Bay. Now let me pose a question to you. If these boats are not legally allowed to fish within 50 miles of the coast, why do they stop and drift all day on the banks and the 95 spot? Do you think they may be waiting for the sport boats to leave so they can set their nets at night? That may be one of the reasons we are not seeing any Yellowfin much larger than 20 pounds, with the rare exception of an occasional 40-60 pound fish, and may also explain why the porpoise are behaving so strangely. All right, the Yellowfin this week were on the small side still, but they were still the fish of the week as almost all the charter boats were able to get a few of them on board, and a few boats absolutely loaded up on them. Early in the week just to the west of the San Jaime was a good area and then the bite shifted to due south of the Cape. Often in Porpoise, but just as often they were blind strikes. Contrary to what is usually the case, the best bitten lures this week were feathers in bright colors, Mexican Flag and Yellow/Green. Normally they bite best on dark colors.[/left] [left][/left] [left]DORADO: There were not a lot of Dorado caught this week but it looks as if the bite should be picking up soon. A couple of days in a row there were kelp paddies found on both the Pacific (early in the week) and on the Cortez side (later in the week) and these paddies held decent numbers of Dorado to 25 pounds. There are still occasional fish being found in the blind in the warm water areas as well.[/left] [left][/left] [left]WAHOO: Last week there were some Wahoo beginning to show and this week they came on strong. Not every boat caught them, but there were boats that were in the right place at the right time and did very will. One Captain I know got the fish of a lifetime when he hooked a Wahoo that weighed #120 as he was approaching a kelp paddy. He ended the day with 4 Wahoo, the other three were a pair of #40 fish and another one of around #70, and he lost several others! There were quite a few of the larger fish caught this week and the Gorda Banks as well as the points between Cabo and San Jose popped out fish as well. Oh, don’t forget the kelp paddies and the open ocean fish as well! Marauders and dark colored lures, mostly in blue/black and Petrelero worked well.[/left] [left][/left] [left]INSHORE: No change from last week so here it is again. Slow fishing in rough water on the Pacific side, but those that could handle it found fair fishing up around the lighthouse on the Pacific and just off the Arches for Yellowtail to 25 pounds on live bait dropped deep and irons in white. There were also Sierra in the 4 to 8 pound range in the same area as well as right in the Cabo San Lucas Bay and up around El Tule. The favorite for good catches of Sierra seemed to be dark colored hootchies run deep with the use of a planer or down-rigger. Elsewhere the inshore action was slow with only a few fish found.[/left][/font][size 2] [left][/left] [left] [/left][/size][font "Times New Roman"]
NOTES: Lets see, hot topics of the week were the "Purse Seiners", the great Wahoo bite and finally the Striped Marlin bite turning on. I already wrote about them in the report so I won’t go over it again. Let’s hope the bite continues on the Wahoo and the Marlin, and keep our fingers crossed that something will be done with the Seiners. A.....before I forget...be sure to get a fishing license when you are here if you plan to go fishing. The guys from Department of Fisheries have been boarding boats returning to the marina (accompanied by armed marines) and confiscating the rods and reels from boats where the anglers do not have licenses. I saw this with my own eyes this week. It is no longer difficult to get a license though, not the time draining and headache causing chore it used to be. Just go to the little office over by the main dock (ask anyone, they will tell you where it is) and pay the fee, they will issue it right there, right now! This weeks report was written to the music of my cats screaming for fresh Tuna, maybe next week I will put a CD on and drown them out! Until then, tight lines![/font]
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NOTES: Lets see, hot topics of the week were the "Purse Seiners", the great Wahoo bite and finally the Striped Marlin bite turning on. I already wrote about them in the report so I won’t go over it again. Let’s hope the bite continues on the Wahoo and the Marlin, and keep our fingers crossed that something will be done with the Seiners. A.....before I forget...be sure to get a fishing license when you are here if you plan to go fishing. The guys from Department of Fisheries have been boarding boats returning to the marina (accompanied by armed marines) and confiscating the rods and reels from boats where the anglers do not have licenses. I saw this with my own eyes this week. It is no longer difficult to get a license though, not the time draining and headache causing chore it used to be. Just go to the little office over by the main dock (ask anyone, they will tell you where it is) and pay the fee, they will issue it right there, right now! This weeks report was written to the music of my cats screaming for fresh Tuna, maybe next week I will put a CD on and drown them out! Until then, tight lines![/font]
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