CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
December 6-12, 2010
Weather: It all remains the same as our nighttime lows remain in the low 60's and the daytime highs in the high 80's. Mostly clear skies and no rain. Almost boring except that we love the "no snow" for Christmas effect!
Water: The water everywhere we could get to on a day charter was 75-75 degrees. Way out to the west, past our range the temperature break had moved to more than 50 miles offshore and there it dropped to 72 degrees. At the end of the week there was a band of warm 77 degree water running from just off of Punta Gorda and southward toward the 1,000 fathom line, and there was a large spot of 78 degree water 30 miles to the south of the Cape.
Bait: Caballito and Mackerel were both available as live bait this week at $3 each. There were fewer Sardinas around our area but reports were that they were still available in San Jose for the boats that wanted to make the 1 hour run up there.
FISHING
Billfish: Last week I said that maybe the moon phase was what was turning the Striped Marlin off their feed. I may have been wrong (wouldn't be the first time) as even as we come out of the new moon phase the continue to keep their mouths shut. We are still seeing them out there every day, and every day there are a few caught, but there has been no real success stories. A very lucky boat may get one or two releases, but that is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Of course this means spending a lot of unproductive, boring time focusing in one area, an area where you know there are fish, and hoping that they suddenly go on the feed for a few minutes, or traveling constantly hoping to come across a new batch of fish that are hungry. Either way, Marlin fishing this past week has been fairly unproductive and boring.
Yellowfin Tuna: Yellowfin Tuna continued to be the offshore fish of the week as schools of football and a bit larger fish move in and out of our area. Sometimes as close as 4 miles out and sometimes as far as 25 miles out, they have provided fairly consistent action for fish up to 35 pounds but averaging 15 pounds. Consistent action is one thing, but consistent location is another. These fish have been moving, and moving quickly so the area that produced in the morning may not be the area they are at in the afternoon. This has made for some frustrating days, but when you do get into the fish, it has been great. Along with the football fish have been some that have gone as large as 100 pounds, but they have been far fewer than the smaller fish.
Dorado: Dorado were scarce this past week with only a few boats coming in flying multiple flags, and those have been for fish that have averaged 12 pounds. A few larger fish have been found in the offshore waters, but the majority have been found close to the beach and they have been the smaller fish. Not as many as there were a while ago, to paraphrase a song, they are still available for those who are willing to work for them and think they have the luck.
Wahoo: Among 10 boats fishing a small local tournament for tuna and Wahoo, only one small fish of 12 pounds was brought to the scale. Several days before,friends of ours caught one of 80 pounds, and the day of the tournament another friend lost 7 fish in a row due to leader being bitten through. This shows me there are still fish out there, but preparation is the key to success on these fish. Wire leader, shallower water and either high speed artificial lures or rigged bait slow trolled is what seems to work, at least last week.
Inshore: Sierra have taken over the show for the inshore fishing, but some Yellowtail are beginning to show up as well. While not large, the Sierra have been there in numbers and it was not a problem for most boats to limit out on them quickly. The Yellowtail were a bit larger, but still on the small side at an average of 6 to 8 pounds. Anglers from up north would call them "firecrackers" but they still eat good and fight well if the tackle is matched to their size. A few Amberjack as well as good numbers of Bonito and Skipjack have rounded up the most common inshore catch last week.
Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM.
My music this week was Boz Scaggs on his 1994 Virgin Records release "Some Changes", still one of my favorites!
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