FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Sept 24 - 30, 2012
WEATHER: We are starting into the season of change, but while during this weekend we felt the temperature drop a few degrees, we still have a few weeks to go. As proof that storm season is not over yet, this week we had two systems that affected our area. The first was the passing of Miriam well to the west of us, the closest we came was 400 miles, but we did get some clouds and a bit of scattered rain, as well as some huge swells. As soon as Miriam had passed and was to the north, another system started up to the south of us. When initially seen this system appeared organized but had not been given a name or number. It covered approximately 350 miles north to south and was extremely heavy with rain, and we all took a deep breath and crossed our fingers. Eventually named Norman after it came along our side, it was very fast moving and too a sharp bend to the east so all we received was the moisture from the northernmost banding, but that was enough to drop up to 3 inches of water on us in 2 days. Our already soaked soil had a bit of a job trying to absorb this new onslaught so the run-off was heavy and once again the streets were not looking pretty after it passed. If this system had gone over the top of us there may have been some severe water damage to the area, but we got lucky. At the start of the week we were seeing the daytime highs in the high 90's and nighttime lows in the low 80's. At the end of the week both temperatures had dropped by 5 degrees. It sure feels nice now, but who know how long that will last! Most years you can almost set your clock by the weather change right October 15 so we may still have a few weeks before the change is permanent.
WATER: The passing of Hurricane Miriam to the west brought us large swells, large enough that the Port Captain decided to close the port on Tuesday. It looked decent out there to us, just large, long period swells, but for safety he closed it. On Wednesday it re-opened and there were still large swells but also heavy rains and wind, maybe the decision was made a day early, but that is the way it goes. With the approach of Tropical Storm Norman he once again closed the port on Friday, and for good reason this time. Heavy winds and lots of rain would have made fishing a bit dicey. With the cloud cover from these systems over our area it was difficult to get a good satellite shot but at the end of the week there was enough o get an idea. On the Pacific side of the Cape the water was 83-84 degrees from the beach to the banks and 82-83 degrees on the banks. Due south of the Cape we had 84=85 degree water while west of us it appeared an even 86 degrees. The main difference was the color of the water, mostly due to run-off from the heavy rain at the end of the week. Along the coast on the Cortez side of the Cape the water was green and dirty out to 8 miles, and extremely dirty within the first mile of the beach. On the Pacific side the water near the beach was still very dirty out at least one to two miles, but past there it cleaned up great. There were large swells on both sides of the Cape early in the week and these later tapered off greatly so that at the end of the week we were seeing only 5-8 foot swells with some winds to 12 knots on them.
BAIT: Live bait was a bit scarce this week due to water conditions but what could be found was Caballito and Mullet at the normal $3 each as well as some frozen Ballyhoo at $3 each as well.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Overall, the fishing appeared much better early in the week than late in the week, but on Saturday there was a Blue Marlin brought in that was reported to weigh in the region of 730 pounds. I did not see the fish nor did I get information on the who, what when where or how, but as soon as I do I will get it out on the blog. Early in the week there were decent numbers of Striped Marlin as well as Sailfish and we had one group fishing who caught small Blue Marlin (about 180 pounds each) two days in a row. The last day of the week for my report, Saturday, had slow Bill fishing results for us with just one Sailfish coming into the pattern for three boats, and one large hook being straightened out by an unidentified very large fish. As soon as the water cleans up things should get better as early in the week most of the billfish action took place pretty close to shore on the Pacific side.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again early in the week was better fishing as most boats were coming in with limits of Yellowfin that ranged from 12 to 30 pounds with a few to 80 pounds in the mix. Most of the small fish were found close to the beach, sometimes in the open and not associated with and Dolphin. Most of the larger fish were found farther offshore and were under Dolphin. In both instances the best bites were had on small lures from 3-5 inches in length and pink in color. Most likely the reason was the number of squid in the water, almost every fish we caught was choked with squid this size, so it made perfect sense to "match the hatch". The largest fish of all were caught by boats that were flying a kite to get the lures away from the boat and in clean water.
DORADO: While the Tuna fishing at the beginning of the week was impressive, Dorado regained their title of fish of the week as I do not think there was a boat our there that did not have a chance to come in with limits, and most of the fish found were good size at 12-25 pounds. A few larger fish snuck in as I did see one at least 50 pound fish brought to the dock and there were others in the 30-40 pound class as well. Early in the week the water close to the beach on the Pacific side held most of the fish for us but at the end of the week everything had changed due to the run-off from the storm. The bite dropped off severely on Saturday, the best result I saw was three fish of about 15 pounds each. With Miriam dropping good amounts of water to the north of us it might suddenly switch right back on as we get floating debris that is washed out of the arroyos coming into our area. If this happens, and the water has a chance to clean up the fishing might just be fantastic.
WAHOO: Full moon was the 28th so we expected good results on Wahoo, and considering the number of days that there were to fish and the condition of the water the results were pretty darn good. Most of our clients had a shot at least, but with Wahoo you can never be sure, baits chopped in half, lure skirts sliced and mono-filament leader cut as if with a knife were the most common signs we saw of the presence of these fish. We did have one client that managed two Wahoo of about 40 pounds on two separate days, and he was fishing rigged ballyhoo on circle hooks. The leader was frayed but the hook lodged in the corner of the Wahoos mouth and they were able to bring the fish to the boat without getting cut off.
INSHORE: Strong currents and dirty water once again had an effect on the inshore bottom action and the numbers of Roosterfish available had dropped off. Many if not most of the Pangas were working just off the beach for Dorado and a few ventured offshore for Tuna and Marlin once the winds had died down.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe!
NOTES: OK, my music of the week was Professor Longhair on his CD "New Orleans Piano", a 1989 Atlantic records release. Brought to me by our friend Ed, this is the best piano music I have listened to in a very long time. My favorite cut is #14, "Longhair's Blues-Rhumba", talk about getting you moving your feet, wow! Hopefully we have good weather this week and the fishing returns to what it was before this last storm came through. I would also like to thank everyone who let me know that someone else based in Cabo is using my format, I already knew, and it is a bit of a compliment, just as long as they don't plagiarize, whats there to do about it. Until next week, tight lines!