FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
June 30-July 6, 2008
WEATHER Definitely in summer mode here as we have had our first touch of storm season. We had the cloud cover and some scattered rain from the passing of several systems well to the south of us late in the week, and it was enough for the Port Captain to close the port on Friday. He opened us up later on in the morning after it became apparent that there were no dangerous swells with the wind and rain, but it was enough to really mess up the fishing operations for the day. Our highs during the days have been in the mid to high 90's with fairly heavy humidity, the evenings have been a bit cooler with a bit of a light breeze, bringing the temperatures down to the low 80's.
WATER: The passing of storms to the south, along with the southeasterly winds that came with them resulted in confused seas offshore to the south. Our normal southern current flow met with the wind swells from the storm systems and the result was pretty choppy, but not dangerous, surface conditions. Water on the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape was between 79-82 degrees while on the Pacific side it dropped to 75-79 degrees. The water at the San Jaime Banks and to the north of there was off color and green, there was a plume of green tinged water flowing along the shore and to the south of the Cape, extending out about 30 miles. Due south of the San Jaime the water was a good blue color and on the Cortez side the triangle formed between the 1150, 95 Spot and the Cabrilla Seamount was blue as well. The water up to 5 miles offshore on the Cortez side was green tinged.
BAIT: Caballito were readily available early in the week at the new price of $3 per bait, later in the week they were difficult to get due to the weather conditions. I did not hear of any Mackerel or Sardinas being sold.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: It was a spotty week for Striped Marlin, a few boats were able to get releases on one or two fish each, but many boats had trouble finding fish that were willing to eat. The best results were had along the color change to the south of us, and artificial lures seemed to do a bit better than the live Caballito did. There were reports of a few Blue Marlin being seen in the patterns up toward the Punta Gorda area, but I did not hear of any being caught by our boats in Cabo.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were Yellowfin found this week but I am not telling anyone where. A few fish were up to 150 pounds and most of them were in the 30-40 pound class and they were not too far away, but last time I wrote about where they were we had a visit from tuna seiners. Maybe its just bad luck, but it is enough that there are some being caught again. Not all boats were able to get into the fish, but those that were in the right place at the right time did pretty well.
DORADO The warm water on the Cortez side and south of the San Jaime Banks has brought the Dorado bite back on. I think that the storms to the south of us may have pushed up some of these fish along with the warmer water. My fingers are crossed that these nice Dorado continue our way, it is a nice change of pace!
WAHOO: There were a few Wahoo in the 40-50 pound class reported being caught, but I had no luck with them myself. The warm water offshore on the Cortez side of the Cape delivered a few scattered incidental fish for lucky anglers.
INSHORE: The Sierra and Yellowtail bite fell off the charts with the influx of warmer water, but there were still a few being found. The good news is that the Grouper are starting to bite and decent fish in the 10-20 pound class are being found over rock piles in 200-250 feet of water. Cut bait and live Caballito have been working well, and a few hardy souls willing to do the work of yo-yoing at that depth have done well also.
NOTES: Best fishing this week was from Pangas for the Grouper, but there were good Tuna caught by those anglers lucky to be in the right place at the right time. I hope that this week sees a continuation of the good fishing inshore and an increase in the offshore Dorado catch as well as the appearance of more Blue Marlin in our area. Until next week, keep your lines tight and check out "Cowboy Boots and Bathing Suits" by Jerry Jeff Walker!