CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
April 12-18, 2010
Weather: The week started out windy and continued that way until Saturday when cloud cover moved in and things settled down, Our highs were in the mid to high 80's while the lows were in the mid 60's.
Water: Water conditions on the surface on the Pacific side were a bit on the rough side this week and the water out to a distance of 15 miles was quite a bit cooler than elsewhere as the current really kicked in. The near shore temperatures were in the 60's with a low of 64 degrees and a high of 69 degrees. Get outside of the 15 mile zone and it warmed right up to 71-72 degrees outside the Golden Gate Bank and on top of the San Jaime Bank. The warm water continued on the Cortez side of the Cape, everywhere north of the 95 spot mid week, with the water quickly warming to 77 degrees in the area on Saturday.
Bait: There were Pacific Green-backed Mackerel and Caballito at the normal $3 per bait and up in the Palmilla area a few boats were selling small Sardinas for $25 a scoop but tough to find mid week.
FISHING
Billfish: The Striped Marlin bite picked up a little bit as the couple we had fishing for three more days showed. No fish on Monday, the water was rough and it was an early return. On Tuesday they had two Marlin with one release and one boated (the fish was bleeding badly) and the saw a few fish on Wednesday. Other boats were doing about the same as early in the week the fish were showing around the 95 spot, and as the days went on they shifted to the east slowly. On Saturday I received a phone call that one of the fleet boats had landed a Blue Marlin reported to be in the 250 pound class while fishing up around Palmilla.
Yellowfin Tuna: The Tuna were once again a hit or miss fish. A few boats were able to get fish, but most of them were blind strikes with no porpoise in the area at the time. The fish were slightly larger than footballs at 20-25 pounds, but there were no large numbers of them that I could find out. A few boats did find porpoise that held fish,but they were on the San Jaime Banks in very rough water at the beginning of the week and few boats braved the conditions to fish there, and those that did had only scattered success.
Dorado: The water in the Sea of Cortez warmed up and there were a few more Dorado being active this week. No large numbers but the fish were decent sized at a 20 pound average. My estimate was that around 20% of the boats were having a little Dorado action while fishing deep water for Striped Marlin.
Wahoo: There were a few Wahoo caught in the early part of the week in the area of the Gorda Banks, but no large numbers of them. They averaged 25 pounds and the best bite was very early in the morning. Fishing out of San Jose on a panga was the way to go, since there was only a 15 minute boat ride to get there. By the time most of the boats from Cabo San Lucas got there the bite was over. Lots of orange flags Sunday afternoon again reported by someone staying at a Hotel.
Inshore: Inshore action remained a repeat of last week. The action remained good on the inshore fish as anglers got their fill on Sierra, Roosterfish, Grouper and Snapper this week. The Sierra and Roosterfish provided great action close to the beach while the Grouper and Snapper were a steady pick for those anglers choosing to try bottom fishing from pangas.
Notes: With the water warming up and a Blue reported the other day, we might have a few more showing up soon. I sure hope so! Meanwhile if the Dorado start to make an appearance that is fine with us as well. Once again, if any of you are interested in fishing in the Galapagos in the near future, drop me a line and I will give you some of the information I found out while there.
Until next week, Tight lines!