FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
March 5-11, 2012
WEATHER: Great weather once again with our nighttime lows in the mid 60's and the daytime highs in the mid to high 80's and just a bit of cloud cover during the middle of the week. The winds were variable in direction and strength depending on your location. On Thursday it was blowing hard in San Jose but calm in Cabo, the reverse the next day. We were on the Pacific Thursday and Friday and it was calm with just a slight breeze from the southwest.
WATER: On the Pacific side the water was 71 degrees within four miles of the beach and 73 degrees from there to 8 miles east of the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks. Due south at 12 to 15 miles we had 77 degree water and to the east past the 115o and the Gorda Banks we saw 70 degree water. Surface conditions were good with swells at three to five feet on the Pacific and one to three feet on the Cortez side.
BAIT: Mackerel and Caballito were the baits available at the normal $3 each but there appeared to be few Sardinas available this week. Many of the bait boats would sell only five live baits and try to talk you into buying large frozen ballyhoo as well, but the fishery right now doesn't really need these large ballyhoo.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Still an on and off fishery, the beginning of the week saw quite a few Striped Marlin showing themselves from the arch to San Cristobal on the Pacific side and a few of them were willing to eat. A few boats managed to release as many as three fish while drifting live baits deep but then the fish moved on and the bite stopped. On Thursday we saw a few fish on the south side of the Golden Gate and managed to release one, but on Friday we baited two fish at the San Jaime and east of there with no action at all. Other boats were reporting the same results from all over. Perhaps the full moon on the 8th had something to do with this?
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The area known as the "herradura", south of the San Jaime held porpoise that were with football Yellowfin early in the week then they moved on. At the end of the week there were reports of the same size fish being found in the warm water 12 to 15 miles to the south of the Cape. No great numbers were caught by any boat, but getting four or five was the average while the fish were there, plus you had shots at a Marlin or two.
DORADO: A repeat of last week as there were scattered Dorado found offshore in the warm 74 degree water. These fish were nice sized, but there sure were not many of them. A few boats caught fish to 30 pounds but they were not there thick enough to focus on, instead they were incidental catches for boats focusing on Marlin and Yellowfin. There were scattered smaller fish to 10 pounds caught near shore by boats fishing for Sierra and Yellowtail, but once again not enough of them for any focused effort.
WAHOO: I was surprised that I heard of no Wahoo caught this week considering the full moon is normally a good time to catch them, and the warmer water we have seen is perfect. Oh well, like last week, what hoo?
INSHORE: I said it best in last weeks report when I made the comment "Things sure can change from week to week". True words as the great Yellowtail fishing we had been having took a turn toward the down side. Boats were still fishing for them but instead of getting five or six per trip on average, the results were quite a bit worse with many boats not getting any at all. A lucky few were able to catch one or two of them, but that was the exception. There was a better bite on Sierra though, and some of the fish were decent size, up to 8 pounds. Toss in some good Pargo and Grouper fishing and there was action to be had inshore.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe!
NOTES: Great weather, decent fishing and smooth seas, what more do you want? Yeah, I know, great fishing would be better, but you don't always get what you want, sometimes you get what you need. Guess what music I listened to this week for the report?
Have a great week, catch lots of fish, and get those reservations for Cabo made!