FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
September 1-7, 2008
WEATHER Talk about warm, this week we had the early morning temperatures in the low to mid 80's, on Sunday morning I saw 86 degrees on the thermometer. Our daytime highs have been up there as well, mostly in the high 90's and we have had very little wind. Partly cloudy skies have kept it from getting unbearable and it looks as though the clouds may continue as we get some remote banding from a storm expected to pass well to the south of us this week.
WATER: The air is hot and so is the water. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water has been a pretty even 86-88 degrees. On the Pacific side from the shore to around 10 miles out it has been from 82-84 degrees and farther out it has been between 85-88 degrees. We had some big swells mid-week but they had died out at the end of the week, however, we might se a few more big ones due to the storm to the south. With the wind very light most of the time there has been just a bit of a chop on the water. Mid-week we had a couple of breezy days on the Pacific side close to shore, but once you got away from the shoreline by three or four miles it calmed down.
BAIT: Almost all the bigger baits this week were Caballito and Mullet at the normal $3 per bait. There were Sardinas available from a couple of boats locally but everyone had them up toward Palmilla. The price here was a bit higher than to the north as the boats here were charging $30 a bucket while it was only $25 a bucket up north.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin continued to bite this week, surprising everyone since the water is so warm. The Sailfish showed up as well, not in the numbers as on the mainland but everyone had shots at multiple fish this week. I did not hear of anyone getting hooked up to big Blue or Black Marlin this week. Most of the Marlin action took place in the band of cooler water along the shoreline on the Pacific side while the Sailfish were in the warmer water just outside. Live bait got the most attention form the striped Marlin this week, but you had to be quick or the Dorado would take the bait before the Stripers got a chance to chew.
YELLOWFIN TUNA We had good Tuna action this week on fish that ranged between 15 and 150 pounds. Most of the fish were between 30 and 50 pounds but the same schools were delivering #150 fish on drop-back baits or deep drifted live baits. The school fish were hitting almost everything, feathers to Blue Marlin lures worked but the best action was on the smaller lures in the 4-6 inch size. A few boats loaded their clients with Tuna in the smaller size range by chumming heavily with sardines while in the Porpoise, then drifting with sardines on small hooks with a small piece of lead several feet above the hook. The Majority of Tuna action took place along the warm-cold water boundary on the Pacific side, around 12-18 miles offshore. I don't know how much longer it will last because a couple of Tuna Seiners showed up on Saturday.
DORADO Definitely the fish of the week, Dorado made a strong showing in our area. From the Punta Gorda area all the way around the Cape to the Todo Santos area on the Pacific the fish were chewing on anything put in the water. Like I said above about the Marlin, there were Dorado taking live bait away from the stripers. Covering the water while trolling at 9 knots located the fish, then dropping back live bait or casting flies to fish following the one hooked on the troll resulted in steady, exciting action. Most of the fish were in the 12-15 pound class but occasional fish ran to 50 pounds.
WAHOO Wahoo made a showing this week offshore around the San Jaime and Golden Gate banks as well as in the open water. They were not large fish on average, just around 30 pounds, but at least they were there!
INSHORE: Large swells made inshore fishing a bit uncomfortable during the middle of the week, but boats that targeted them did well on Roosterfish averaging 15-25 pounds. Slow trolled Mullet and Sardines worked for the Roosters. Most of the Pangas were doing well on Dorado and we had one friend get a $150 pound Tuna while fishing on a Panga, as well as others to #50 and plenty of Dorado.
NOTES: I still didn't get into the hills, maybe next week! Instead, I golfed four days straight. It looks as if I need lessons if I am going to improve. I should have been out on the water more, it is a lot cooler out there and the fishing is red-hot right now. Until next week, tight lines!