FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
Feb 18-24, 2008
WEATHER: We had a few clouds in the sky this week, but not enough to call it cloudy, just enough to make things cool. Our daytime highs were in the low 80's and the nighttime lows were in the high 50's. Light winds on shore kept things nice and comfortable while at sea on the Pacific side things were a little bumpy as the winds were from the northwest and kicked up a light chop.
WATER: The wind died down this week so surface conditions were much better on both the Pacific and the Cortez sides of the Cape. On the Pacific swells were 3-5 feet with a light chop while the Cortez had swells at 1-3 feet with almost no chop in the morning and offshore chop in the afternoons. Water temperatures on the Pacific side were warmer, almost averaging 68 degrees up to 10 miles offshore and out a bit farther it dropped to 67 degrees. The water close to shore, in the warmer area, was very green, almost brown in some areas. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was 64-65 degrees out to 4 miles from the shore and farther than that, across the Gorda Bank and the 1150 spot the water warmed up to 69 degrees. There is a plume of cool, off-colored water running south from the Cape, but the water out 5 miles to the south side of the 1,000-fathom line warmed to 71 degrees. While the warm water was on both sides of the Cape, the only really blue water was on the Pacific side out past the San Jaime Bank.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price. There were Sardinas up around Chileno Bay at $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: About the only thing I have to say for the past weeks bill fishing is that it was almost non-existent. Not that there weren't people out trying, it's just that the few fish that were found were not interested in eating. The full moon may have had something to do with it perhaps, it's been know to have an effect, but it's not really an explanation of why the fish have mostly disappeared. Perhaps the much cooler than normal water has something to do with it as well? One bright spot is that the green, cool water has brought about more sightings of Swordfish, but I have not heard of anyone actually hooking one up in a legal sort of way, but a few guys did hook fish by snagging them, then proceeded to loose them after several hours of fighting time. These Swordfish have been seen in the cool water plume running directly south from the Cape.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: No change this week from last week on the Tuna situation. There are still only football fish being found out there, and most of them have been between 18 to 30 miles to the south. Boats working westward past the banks were not doing well with only an occasional pod of porpoise showing, and few of them holding fish. Once again red hootchies were the best bet for these fish as most of the stomach contents were found to be red crab.
DORADO: I did not hear of any Dorado being caught this week, and saw no new yellow flags flying. I am sure there were a few, but no reports were heard by me.
WAHOO: Once again I didn't hear of any Wahoo this week. The flags you see flying are for "Mexican Wahoo", or better known as sierra.
INSHORE: Just like last week, with the exception of more small Yellowtail being caught by guys pulling small swimming plugs for Sierra. Mexican Wahoo, also known as Sierra, have been the mainstay of the Panga fleet this week with most boats able to get at least a half-dozen or more. Yellowtail action dropped off again, it seems to be a "good one week, slow the next" type of fishery. Snapper fishing has again improved and there are a few more grouper being found by those targeting bottom fish. The usual smaller Roosterfish to 5 pounds, some small barracuda and Bonita have rounded out the catches inshore.
NOTES: Well, the nice weather continued for this past week as we had hoped, but the fishing has been very "off", compared to the usual activity we get this time of year. The best bet has been fishing inshore; a lot of trips have been saved by targeting Sierra after six hours of looking for Marlin and Tuna. Fishing inshore also gets you up close to the whales, and that is always a lot of fun. This weeks report was written to the music of Boz Scaggs on his 1994 Virgin Records release, "Some Changes". Until next week, Tight Lines!