FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
April 2 - 8, 2012
WEATHER: As summer slowly approaches our weather starts to warm up and we had our indications this week that summer will be here soon. We had a high of 94 degrees on Thursday along with a low of 72 degrees in the morning, our highest levels all week. Our average was 64 degrees in the morning and 86 during the day. We had no cloud cover, it was sunny all week long with only light winds for the most part here in Cabo, but with a good afternoon breeze on the Pacific side.
WATER: While we experienced a "feel" of summer weather on land we also received a slight "feel" of summer water out on the fishing grounds as the water off of the San Jose area warmed to as much as 74 degrees this week. Combine that with the small swells and it was almost like fishing in August! Of course the water was not as warm as it will be then and there are no big Blue and Black Marlin around yet, but there were lots of fish in the area. On the Pacific side of the Cape the swells were a bit smaller than those we had last week but the water remained cool and slightly off color. With an average of 64 degrees and an occasional cold spot of 61 degrees from close to the beach to outside of the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks, you did not encounter clean water until 40+ miles offshore. Directly south of Cabo and to the west to a line directly south of San Jose the water warmed a bit to 66 degrees but remained slightly green. East of the line directly south of San Jose the water warmed to 73-74 degrees and was blue. All this was of the end of the week, as the warm water stared much closer to Cabo at the beginning of the week and slowly moved to the east over the 7 days.
BAIT: Caballito and Mackerel as well as a few Mullet could be had for $3 per bait. A few of the bait boats had "frozen" ballyhoo for between $3-4, each, but you never know how many times they had been "frozen".
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The marlin we were seeing last week between the 1150 and Punta Gorda were still there this week, but they were not as hungry as they were last week. The full moon has a strong effect on the feeding patterns and once the moon starts to wane these fish should start to feed again. Meanwhile, it was frustrating to toss bait in front of these fish just to see them ignore it, but once in a while one of the Marlin took an interest and bit. In the same area we were seeing plenty of Thresher sharks, and occasionally one of them would bite. Mix them in with an occasional Mako shark and there was a decent chance to catch something offshore this week.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Still not showing up with any numbers, there were a few football fish to be found mixed in with porpoise, but you really had to check out a large number of porpoise pods before finding Tuna. Once in a while someone would hook into a decent fish over 60 pounds, but they were few and far between. A few boats were making the run from Cabo up to the Inman Banks area and catching Tuna to 60 pounds on drifted Sardines, but it was a real scratch to get one hooked, and there were plenty of times it was a wasted trip, but for those who only wanted to target Yellowfin, it was just about the only game in town.
DORADO: The warm water off of San Jose produced the few Dorado we saw this week with the smaller and more common fish being in the 10 pound class and found close to the beach. I did see several larger Dorado, the biggest being 42 pounds, that were caught offshore by boats fishing for Marlin. There were no numbers on these fish as they were all singles, but as the water warms up there should be more of them around.
WAHOO: Still none that I heard of this week, and I was surprised since Easter is the full moon. Perhaps as with the Marlin, the bite will happen on the waning moon.
INSHORE: Inshore action continued strong this week with Yellowtail to 35 pounds, Sierra that averaged 4 pounds, small Roosterfish of less than 10 pounds and some decent Jack Crevalle to 20 pounds. Almost all the Yellowtail action took place on the Pacific side in water between 80 and 120 feet deep. Finding the fish and then going back over the spot again and again produced numbers, but having a good fish finder on the boat really helped as this week the fish were constantly on the move. Often you had to spend 10 or 15 minutes finding the school after catching one or two fish. As far as the Sierra are concerned, the favorite areas were just off the beach in front of the Diamante Golf Course on the Pacific side and in front of Cabo Real Golf Course on the Cortez side. Small hootchies in ping and chartreuse as well as Sardines worked well. The Roosterfish were small but aggressive, trying to eat any live bait that was slow trolled on the surface, but the best results came from continual casting of plugs into the surf from the boat, and retrieving it in a walk-the-dog style. With an occasional Jack Crevalle crashing the party you never knew what was going to bite!
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe! It's a really great one.
NOTES: This weeks report was written to the music of Mason Proffit on their album "Come and Gone" released by Flaming Arrow Records with some of the music having been recorded as early as 1976. The Talbot brothers were great musicians and a big influence on a lot of us. It's Easter day, time to get cooking!
Have a great week, catch lots of fish, and get those reservations for Cabo made!