Beiträge von CaptGeo

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
March 21-27, 2011

WEATHER: Once again things were looking great both in the daytime and at night. Of course it cooled off just a bit at the tail end of the week, right after we had put the quilt away, but not so much that we really needed it. We did have some cloud cover move in at the end of the week as well, some high cover that never threatened rain, but did manage to fool some of the spring breakers into thinking they would not get burned!
WATER: On both the Pacific side and the Cortez side of the Cape the swells were small and the winds light. The only real determination that needed to be made was where you thought you could find the fish. On the Pacific side the water was green out to 8 miles, then lightened up so that by the time you were at either the San Jaime or the Golden Gate Banks the water was a beautiful blue, the color you expect to get in the summer with 80 degree water, only this water was just 68-70 degrees. The green water closer to shore was between 64-66 degrees. To the south of us the cold green water plumed and spread out from the 1,000 fathom line to 20 miles south of there. Inside the 1,000 fathom line the water was a bit warmer at 69-70 degrees, but still off-color. Most of the boats ended up trying for the blue water on the Pacific side, either that or going up to the Punta Gorda area and dealing with the off-color water.
BAIT: Getting good bait was still a chore for the guys who catch it and often unless you were one of the first boats to your regular supplier you ended up with a mix of good and not so good baits (at $3 each). Some Caballito, a few Mackerel, a few Mullet, some grunts and look-downs and a few jacks. Sardinas were a bit tough to get as well most days and $25 did not get you very many.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Early in the week there was a short lived Striped Marlin bite on the Pacific side just to the east of the San Jaime Bank, but it was over almost before it started and boats that went to the area hoping to find the fish again the next day did not fare well. If you were one of the lucky boats there the day the bite happened you might have gotten to release between three and four Striped Marlin out of 6 bites. Sad to say, but 3 years ago I would not have even needed to mention that, boats were getting double digit releases every day back then. On the bright side, the cool water did bring in more sightings of Swordfish, and there were several nice ones caught early in the week. I know of one that weighed almost 200 pounds and another that was just over 300 pounds. More were seen but refused to eat.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin were almost a bright spot for us this week, and they did end up being the pot of gold for a few boats as we had a couple of schools show up at the south end of the San Jaime Bank as well as right on top. Most of the fish were footballs but we did have a few boats that got into fish that averaged 30 pounds with an occasional one to 50 pounds. Then there were the schools where you could see the fish breaking the surface all around but would not bite a thing. And then there were the disappointments as you went to an area, worked it hard for several hours with no luck, left to check out another school only to hear on the radio an hour later that the bite had finally turned on back where you had just been! Sorry bout that, but mother nature has a way of keeping us humble, doesn't she?
DORADO: I only saw a couple of Dorado flags this week. Those fish must have been lost and it was natures way of weeding out the gene pool.
WAHOO: We just came off of the full moon but I did not hear of any Wahoo in the last week. Cold water? Who know the reason but the fish were not biting, at least that I heard of.
INSHORE: Still the way to go this past week for most anglers, you were guaranteed action if you decided to fish along the beach. With the catch ranging from Sierra to Yellowtail to Snappers to Grouper and Trigger fish there was always something to bend a rod. Combine that with the fact that it is less expensive and it was no wonder most of the Pangas were busy this week! The fishing was good enough that Sierra and Yellow tail were being caught from the beach on the Pacific side! Most of the Sierra were between 3 and 6 pounds and while there were not many larger than that, there were plenty of them to be caught. Both the Cortez side and the Pacific side of the Cape had good results for these toothy little guys, and Sardinas were the best bet for getting bit, but hootchies in green or yellow worked as well. For the Snapper, throwing a live bait in among the rocks worked, but sometimes all you could do was keep your fingers crossed and hopped they would bit as sometimes they were really picky. The Yellowtail ranged in size from firecracker 5 pound fish to very nice 30-35 pound rod benders. Live bait and iron slabs or butterfly jigs were all working well.
FISH RECEIPE: Using leftover white meat fish (I prefer Wahoo but any white meat will do), flake or crumble it up until you have at least 2 cups. Cook up 1 ½ cups of sushi rice and let cool. Mince 1 tablespoon of fresh dill, mix with ¼ cup of mayo, then mix it all together, salt and pepper to taste. This is a very nice, cool side dish in small amounts, or a great entree if you have plenty of leftover fish.
NOTES: While the offshore fishing was slow, the up-tick in the Yellowfin bite was a sign of things to come (I say that with my fingers crossed!). Swordfish are the ultimate billfish, and are not common anywhere for sport fishermen, so having them show up here is a bit special. There is always a chance that you will be the lucky angler next time out. If I was just looking for action this past week, I would have definitely gone inshore on a Panga. Plenty of action, fish that are good to eat and the trips are short, only 5 hours. On another note, the whales are beginning to head back north and we are seeing fewer each trip. This weeks report was written to the music of Chuck Allen Floyd on his first studio release “Tonight an Angle Fell”. Thanks to Allen Bailey for the great music, and others I will be using in the weeks to come! Until next week, tight lines!

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
March 13-20, 2011

WEATHER: I don't think it is possible for weather to become any better than we have had this week. Sunny skies with just a few clouds this weekend, daytime highs in the high 80's, nighttime lows in the high 60's and light winds. Great stuff!
WATER: Surface conditions once again were perfect for fishing with small swells and almost no wind for most of the time, just enough to keep you cool in the middle of the day. We had a plume of cool water running just offshore on the Pacific side that extended to the southeast of us to past the 95 spot. This water was 66 to 64 degrees. On either side of that cool water it warmed up quickly. On the satellite shot for the 18th we saw a flare of warm 80 degree water just to the east of the Cabrillo Seamount and what appeared to be a wide temperature break running from the northwest to the southeast from the Gorda Banks to the seamount with the warmer water to the east. On the Pacific the cool plume ran across the Golden Gate Bank then to the inside of the San Jaime Bank leaving the San Jaime in water that was 69-70 degrees, and the water to the west of there warmed to 72 degrees.
BAIT: The full moon made getting good bait a bit tough but there was some Caballito to be found, just not very many. Some Mackerel were in a few live wells, but not much, and Sardinas were hard to come by. Normal prices were $3 each for the larger baits and $25 for whatever Sardinas you could get.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The only area that seemed to have any consistent action on Marlin this week was outside the 1150 to the Seamount and along the 1,000 fathom curve there. Most boats were spotting several fish each day, with several getting to throw bait on five or more fish, but the best catch result I heard was 4 releases for 5 fish thrown at. Strangely, it was either a long run out there, of a longer stay close to home as a few boats were able to find an occasional Marlin just off the beach on the Cortez side. There were no concentrations of bait except for squid offshore, and that may be what is causing the slow fishing, not enough bait around to bring the fish in.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were some Porpoise pods found this week that held fish, and they were scattered all around with the best concentration in the usual areas such as just to the south of the San Jaime and 30 miles to the south of the Cape. The fish were footballs, but at least there were some out there. The first boats on the scene did well, as is normal with tuna, and limits were possible in the right school. Most boats were not lucky enough to be the first one there but were still able to scratch out enough fish to make the anglers happy. As these were small fish, feathers and small cedar plugs worked well.
DORADO: There were a few scattered Dorado found by the boats going offshore for Striped Marlin, and they were all found in the warmer water. There were a couple of large fish at 30 pounds, but the rest were in the 15 pound class. They were definitely incidental fish as there were no schools and no followers with the ones hooked up.
WAHOO: What Hoo? Strange, but true. I thought the full moon would really get the bite on for the Wahoo but it just didn't happen. There were a couple of fish caught that I heard of, but since I did not see them or hear about them from the primary involved, they were just rumors to me.
INSHORE: Inshore seemed the way to go this week if you wanted action. Sierra were still biting well with most of the action occurring on the Cortez side of the Cape up around the Cabo Real beach. Most of the fish were 4 to 7 pounds and Sardinas were the key to good results. On the Pacific side there were some really nice Yellowtail to 35 pounds up past the lighthouse, but you had to work to find the fish as they were following the small bait balls in 150-200 feet of water. A good trip would result in five or so of these great fighters. There were also some Snapper and Grouper in there to liven things up. Most of the Yellowtail were taken on yo-yo'ing slabs or butterfly jigs, but there were a few taken on live bait.
NOTES: It’s not wide open by any means even though some of the booths around the Marina will tell you that it is. Go out with a good attitude and your fingers crossed, plenty of beer in the cooler and some good friends and you will have fun, and just might get dinner and a trophy. That is all you can really expect right now, but that’s not a bad thing. Meanwhile, listen to some good music and plan your trip! This week’s report was written to the sounds of Alison Krauss & Union Station on their 2002 CD “Live”. Until next week, tight lines!

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

March 7-13, 2011

Weather: Warm again! All right, our morning lows have been in the mid to high 60's, this morning it was 68 degrees as we drove to the marina. Our daytime highs have been warm as well, getting into the high 80's. It's starting to feel like Cabo again as we have had sunny skies all week long and this beautiful weather!

Water: The swells have been small on both sides of the Cape and the wind has been light so there has been excellent surface conditions this past week. The only problem has been the water temperature. On both sides of the Cape the water has been below 70 degrees, around 68 degrees for the most part. It has been slightly warmer up toward the Punta Gorda area on the Cortez side, and we did see an area of 72 degree water for a little while around the 1150 as well, but things are constantly changing. The water on the Pacific side has been pretty green most of the week and we had the small tsunami swell (2 feet) on Friday that some of the guys are saying caused a bit more off-colored water along the beach as well.

Bait: No change in the bait availability. Caballito, a few Mackerel and a scattering of misc. other large baits could be bought at $3 each and if you were quick and lucky you could get a scoop of Sardinas for $25.

FISHING

Billfish: Striped Marlin are still mostly a non-event for us, unlike a few years ago. Boats are still finding fish around the 95 spot to the 1150 and out past there, but they are not biting very well. A lucky boat would get four fish released this week while most of the boats were lucky to see four fish, let alone get one of them to bite. Rigged dead bait seemed to work better than live bait, and one of the reasons may be the large number of squid in the area. You can see them on the depth finder and they are 9-15 inches long, perfect food and easy for the Marlin to feed on. There have been a few scattered fish found elsewhere, but no concentrations.

Yellowfin Tuna: The few Yellowfin tuna that have been found have mostly been smaller fish in the 20 pound class or smaller. There were reports early in the week of a few schools of fish that were a bit larger, averaging 40 pounds, but they appear to have moved out of the area. Most of the dependable action has been in the Punta Gorda, Gorda Banks area with Sardinas as bait. Even then the bite has been fairly slow. Of course there are always exception in any type of fishing, and there was one day last week, Thursday I think, where 6 boats headed south to try and find the porpoise so they could get Tuna and one of them got lucky, ending up with over 20 fish while the other boats skunked out. That's fishing, but it sounds to me as if that boat won't be getting any radio calls about found fish from any of his buddies in the near future!

Dorado: Repeat of last week with a few flags were flying, but just like last week they were mostly for smaller fish caught by boats fishing right along the beach for Sierra. If you stomped on them they might have been stretched to 21 inches and weigh 3 pounds, sigh. There were a few exceptions as some fish in the 20 pound class were caught in the warmer water where the Striped Marlin were found.

Wahoo: The warmer water areas did deliver a few offshore Wahoo this week, in the same area where the Striped Marlin and Dorado were found. Anyone see a pattern here yet?

Inshore: On again, off again, Finnegan? One day great and the next day the fish had moved on, the day after that they were right off the beach in front of the house. Really no rhyme or reason that we could see other than the movement of the bait. Some Yellowtail to 20 pounds up the Pacific coast and a couple of fish to 35 pounds right off the arch in the afternoon (not legal to fish there anymore, got to move fast if the marines show up). The Sierra were really moving around and a few cruisers gave up on the inshore fish as they were not showing up consistently enough, but the Pangas were doing all right. Once in a while a school of larger fish would be found, fish that averaged 6-7 pounds instead of 3-4 pounds. Snapper bit occasionally as well, but as there were mostly just larger baits available what most folks got to see was their baits being bounced around like a volleyball by the fish. Maybe larger Sardinas? Of course then the problem becomes one of casting a light bait like that far enough.

Weeks Fish Recipe: Really simple and really good! Take any white meat fillet, dip in beaten eggs, roll in mashed potato flakes mixed with a bit of dried oregano, quick fry in avocado oil, place on rice or pasta already cooked and top with a healthy serving of grated Parmesan cheese while still hot, then a bit of marinara sauce! A veal Parmesan made with fish!

Notes: The Tsunami was the big news for the week in our town, and our greatest sympathy for the Japanese, suffering the quake, then the Tsunami and now the reactor problems. The only effect we had from the Tsunami was a raising and lowering of the mean water level a foot each way from each of the four waves that passed. Oh, and of course the Port Captain closing the Port until 10:30, half an hour before the first wave was to appear, then opening it only for outgoing vessels so they would not had a problem with the surge inside the Marina. I can't understand why he waited so long for that, and then of course the port remained closed for the rest of the day. The beach was also closed for the entire day. What? Yep, no one was allowed on the beaches so the resort pools and the grass around them were packed with tourists all day long, even after the tsunami swells had passed. Just a little economic hit for fishing charters that could have gone out in the afternoon and the water taxis, and the beach bars, etc. Oh well.......This weeks music is Dick Dale on his 1993 High Tone Records release “Tribal Thunder”. Until next week, tight lines!

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

February 28-March 6, 2011

Weather: Our weather is a cycle, cold, warm, cold again. This week it warmed back up and our coldest morning was only 61 degrees while the daytime highs have been in the high 80's, once in a while touching 90 degrees. There were no clouds this week and plenty of sunshine!

Water: The water, just like the weather, changes every week! Where we had very cool water on the Pacific side last week it has warmed up to 71 degrees, and gotten a bit less green. On the Cortez side of the cape it has warmed just a bit as well so that we are now seeing blue water almost everywhere, but 68 degrees inside the 1,000 fathom line. Once you are at the line, outside the 1150 area it warms up to 72 degrees. Surface conditions have been great with small swells and light winds all week, not glassy but perfect for fishing.

Bait: No change in the bait availability. Caballito, a few Mackerel and a scattering of misc. other large baits could be bought at $3 each and if you were quick and lucky you could get a scoop of Sardinas for $25.

FISHING

Billfish: Last weeks fishing was decent for Striped Marlin, but it dropped just a bit this week as the fish moved farther offshore following that 72 degree water. Fish were found at a distance of 35 miles to the east, but not in large concentrations. A lucky boat might have had two hook-ups out of four or five fish seen, most boats were happy to have seen a couple of Marlin to throw bait to. There were still some scattered fish up the Sea of Cortez around the Punta Gorda area as well as the Gorda Banks, but nothing to base a trip on. Boats that went to the Pacific side to look for Marlin did not have a great deal of luck but there were still a couple of fish caught. On a nice note, there was a big Swordfish reported being caught not far out from the lighthouse Friday morning. It was said to be in the range of 300-400 pounds, a very nice, rare fish for our area.

Yellowfin Tuna: In a repeat of last weeks action there were still Yellowfin Tuna to be found in the Gorda Banks, Inman Banks, Punta Gorda area. Most of them were still small fish at 10-20 pounds but there were several fish to 50 pounds caught as well. Just like last week the kite fishing worked on the larger fish and a few boats also caught some of the nice ones using down-riggers with large Sardinas. Surface drifting fly-lined Sardinas was the best method for catching fish, but mostly footballs. Farther offshore there were scattered schools of fish found, but you had to be the firs tor second boat n them, either that or stay until everyone else had given up! There were a couple of fish reported in the 100-150 pound class but I did not see them. With the water moving the fish were moving as well and schools were found scattered along the temperature break at the 1,000 fathom line on both sides of the Cape, outside the 1150 and south of the San Jaime.

Dorado: A few flags were flying this week, but just like last week they were mostly for smaller fish caught by boats fishing right along the beach for Sierra. If you stomped on them they might have been stretched to 21 inches and weigh 3 pounds, sigh.

Wahoo: New moon and I had no reports of Wahoo this week, but I am sure there were some caught somewhere, most likely around the Punta Gorda area.

Inshore: Well, just when we thought the inshore fishing had gone wide open, it started to shut down. Early in the week things were good with plenty of Sierra and good numbers of Yellowtail showing up in the fish boxes. At the end of the week we had clients who were lucky to come back with Trigger fish and a few Sierra. It may be the change in water temperature, while not large, was too abrupt and they moved overnight, or it could be something else. Whatever, the inshore bite really dropped off late in the week. There were some Roosterfish still biting and a few of them were nice fish to 25 pounds, with most in the 10-12 pound class, and there were Bonito as well. Many of the Pangas ran all the way to San Jose to try and get in on the Yellowfin action, but it was a long run up and back for just a few fish. Hopefully as the water change settles down the bite will come back on!

Notes: Quilt back off the bed! Still not going to tempt fate by putting it away, but the warmer evenings have not required it. There are still plenty of Whales to be seen out there, but not for long. Normally we have them here from Christmas through Easter, so if you want to smell one up close and personal, get out there now! Spring break is starting and the town is filling up in the evenings, the beach during the day. Folks everywhere walking, shopping and sightseeing. If you are coming down and plan on eating out at one of the more popular places, reservations are a very good idea. I am still looking for full or part time work here, and have a good crew for deliveries up and down the coast, so if you know of anyone looking for a Captain, let them know I am available, please! My music choice for this week was Leo Kottke from his 1987 RCA release “A Shout Toward Noon”. I also was wowed while watching TV this week by a blues singer from Britain named “Adele”, first I had heard of her, guess I have been out of the loop as she has been around for a few years, but man o man, what a great voice! Until next week, tight lines!

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

February 21-27, 2011

Weather: Well, the cold front finally hit us, and you thought you had all the fun! No, no sledding or snowmen, but it sure felt like it! We had nighttime lows in the mid 50's and when combined with heavy and steady winds at the end of the week it felt like it was going to freeze. We had daytime highs in the mid and occasionally high 70's along with mostly sunny skies. The wind started around Wednesday and at first was only in the late afternoon, but began progressively earlier as the week went on. On Saturday night-Sunday morning it did not stop and all of us snuggled up in our snowsuits and muck-lucks.

Water: Well. Things change week to week and this week the water cooled off quite a bit. Checking the charts, and looking at the temp gauges on the boat the warmest water I could find at the end of the week was 69 degrees! For the most part the water on the Pacific side was cold and green, averaging 65 degrees and dropping to 62 degrees up around the Golden Gate Bank. That was problematic though as the wind brought the seas up so large than no one was going that direction. With the wind from the northwest, even going due south brought rough water so most of the boats were heading out at 150 degrees on a more northerly route from here. The calmer water was closer to shore, and the warmer water was around the Gorda Banks as well. Green water wrapped around from the Pacific side and came across the 95 spot, but all other areas on the Cortez side had blue water, just nothing warm.

Bait: Caballito, a few Mackerel and a scattering of misc. other large baits could be bought at $3 each and if you were quick and lucky you could get a scoop of Sardinas for $25.

FISHING

Billfish: The 1150 was the place to be for Striped Marlin this week as a concentration was found in the area. Boats were able to throw bait on 6 to 8 fish per trip and some of them were hungry. A good day was two releases but most boats were able to get at least one if they stayed and worked the area. The bite was associated with the tide as most of the action was occurring in the afternoon along with the high tide. The bite was later every day. There were also fish found in the Vinorama area past Punta Gorda and around the Gorda Banks. Almost all the fish were caught on live bait with lures bringing them into the pattern and once in a while getting a quick bite without a hook-up.

Yellowfin Tuna: Right place at the right time was once again the word of the week. Fish were found outside the 1,000 fathom line to the southeast and east as well as on the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks. Those outside were associated with Porpoise and if you found the right school, and were one of the first three or so boats there, you had no problem getting limits of five fish per person. If you were one of the late boats you scratched a bit, but were still able to get fish in the box. Most of these fish were in the 10-18 pound class. Closer to home at the Gorda Banks Sardinas were the key to getting bit. Chumming with Sardinas while drifting brought the fish up, but getting a good catch on the footballs required small diameter flouro-carbon leader and small hooks. These fish were footballs at 10-15 pounds but there were larger fish in the area. Using a kite and flying a Sardine at least 75 yards away from the boat resulted in quite a few fish to 70 pounds.

Dorado: There were a few Dorado caught this week and I saw one boat that was flying two flags, but for the most part these were small fish found close to shore by boats fishing for Sierra. There was one nice fish I saw that might have pushed 50 pounds, and it was caught in the warm water on top of the Gorda Banks.

Wahoo: One fish I saw myself went 90 pounds, sure would have liked to have had a chunk of that meat! Once again caught in the warm water at the Gorda Banks, there were reports of some boats getting as many as four Wahoo in a trip this week. But you had to be early for the numbers, getting there before the rest of the boats. Fish were also found around Punta Gorda and the Inman Banks.

Inshore: Sierra were once again the inshore fish of the week for Pangas fishing out of Cabo, while the boats out of San Jose were doing better on the football Yellowfin. Sierra are schooling fish so if you started out with nice size fish you stuck with the school. If all you were getting were peanuts, you moved and looked for the larger ones. It was not a problem for most of the boats to get as many Sierra as they wanted. But getting the larger fish took some work. There were also Roosterfish to 15 pounds as well as some decent snapper to 25 pounds. Sardinas were the key to the larger Sierra and using the large ones as well as Caballito made for good catches. The smaller Sierra were no problem to catch on swimming plugs and hootchies.

Notes: Just as we took the quilt off of the bed we were hit with a cold front. Maybe it was our fault for taking the quilt off, tempting mother nature to prove how wrong we were! At least the fishing is improving a bit, thanks for that bit of goodness cause the cold weather certainly is no fun for us. Then again, it's all relative, right? Still lots of whales out there, the golf courses are in great shape and the city has not run out of Pacifico or tequila! If you are looking for a quick and easy fish recipe try one of our delivery favorites. When were are taking a boat to or from California we don't feel like spending a lot of time in the galley, so quick and easy is the name of the game. Get a white meat fillet (we like dorado or wahoo), give each side a light coat of mustard, pop it into the microwave for a couple of minutes and there you go! A bit of instant rice or mashed taters and you have a 5 minute meal that is good for you and tasty as well. My music for this week was an album I have not listened to in a long time “Tropico”, a 1978 A & M release by Gato Barbieri. Until next week, tight lines!

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

February 14-20, 2011

Weather: We had great weather this week with the daytime highs in the high 80's and the nighttime lows in the mid 70's. Mostly sunny skies with just light breezes from the east mostly, with the winds shifting and coming from the northwest at a fairly brisk pace at the end of the week.

Water: Surface conditions on both the Pacific side and the Sea of Cortez were great this week with the exception of the last day of the week as the wind started to blow in the night and the water chopped up on the Pacific side. On the Cortez side the water was calm with swells at their normal 1-3 feet and afternoon breezes from the east causing a very light chop mid-week. The big change from last week was in the water temperatures. On the Pacific side from the Cape to the San Jaime there was a temperature break of about 3 degrees with the water to the south warmer at 70 degrees and the water to the north a cooler 67 degrees. The exact same situation occurred up at Punta Gorda in the Vinorama area with the northern water just a degree cooler at 66 degrees. There was a warm spot that popped up on Saturday at the 1150 that registered 77 degrees and a few boats that became aware went in that direction to check it out but it had spread out and disappeared by late afternoon.

Bait: Caballito, a few Mackerel and a scattering of misc. other large baits could be bought at $3 each and if you were quick and lucky you could get a scoop of Sardinas for $25.

FISHING

Billfish: Well, I don't know if it is because of the full moon or not, but there seems to be a few more Marlin biting this past week that we have had for the weeks prior. We had clients that were seeing fish every day, and hooking up to them, but only about half of those hooked up were making it to the boat for a release. Our best day of fishing this week on Marlin was two fish released for two hooked up. One of them was a very decent estimated #160 Striped Marlin, the other the usual #110. Both fish were caught on slow trolled dead bait, and both were within 10 miles of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. This area seems to have had the majority of fish spotted this week, but they are still not very hungry. A few Swordfish were seen on the surface as well, but boats trying to drop bait down for them were having an issue with strong sub-surface currents and could not get the baits deep enough, finding some Thresher Sharks instead. There were also a large number of juvenile Mako Sharks out there, this cool water seems to be when they show up. Most of them were in the 15-40 pound class and they could be seen jumping and flipping out of the water on occasion.

Yellowfin Tuna: The Yellowfin Tuna bite had been decent if you were in the right place at the right time. The problem was that getting those two things at the same time seemed to be pretty much a crap-shoot. A lot of boats were able to find Porpoise that were holding great meter marks of Tuna, but could not get a bite to save their lives. Some of these pods of fish were within a few miles of the beach, others were over 30+ miles offshore. There seemed to be a decent bite to the north on the Sea of Cortez off of San Jose, and some of the fish were a decent 30 pounds, but for the most part the fish that were found were footballs of 10-18 pounds, and a decent catch was a few fish per boat. Those that were lucky enough to draw the lottery numbers were able to limit out on these fish, but as I said, there was no guarantee at all!

Dorado: There were a few more Dorado flags this week, but almost all of them were very small fish, less than 6 pounds. They were caught by boats working inshore for Sierra, as there were always lots of red flags, as well as release flags underneath. Unfortunately we did see a large number of these small fish leave the docks in bags being carried by the crews.

Wahoo: Full moon, guess what? Yep, almost no Wahoo to speak of, although I did hear of a few fish to 30 pounds caught up off the Punta Gorda area early in the week.

Inshore: It seems as if the Sierra have moved up the Pacific coast just a little bit. During the middle of the week a few Pangas were crying that they could not find any, but others were reporting good results just past Migraino. The same situation occurred for the Yellowtail as the bite dropped off on them as well as they continued to move around. Right place, right time and fish that averaged 15 pounds and went up to 30 pounds were bending rods, if you were not lucky then your wrists and arms hurt from yo-yo'ing for hours on small spots of fish. A few nice Pargo and other snapper were caught in the rocks and there was a scattering of other species such as Needle fish, bonito and grouper. The best live baits were Sardinas for the Sierra, rigged on a very light bite wire, and Caballito for the Pargo and grouper.

Notes: Thank goodness it has warmed up! We were able to take the quilt off of the bed. Our house guest for the past two weeks, Sandy West, has returned to South Dakota, stay warm Sandy! There are plenty of whales out there, I was standing at the first tee box at Cabo Real Golf Course on Saturday (starter) and saw a full breach offshore that threw up a splash larger than the 60' sport fisherman that was watching her! While Sandy was here we went out to eat at Maro's Shrimp house (reservations suggested, they are VERY popular) and had five jumbo shrimp and a New York Strip. We all agreed that the New York was one of the best we have ever had! Way to go Maro! We had some Wahoo left early in the week from the chunk we received from the 70 pound fish last week and Mary fixed it with a marinade of Vidalia Onion dressing, sauteed in a skillet. Wow! THE LEFTOVERS WERE GREAT AS WELL! The music for this week is a bit of a throwback for me, back to my jazzy days, a little bit of mellowness with John Klemmer on the Tenor Sax on his 1979 RCA release “Nexus One (for Trane)”
Track #1, Mr. P.C., and #4, Impressions, were written by John Coltrane. Until next week, have a great time and tight lines!

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

January 31-February 6, 2011

Weather: I know that no one to the north is going to have much sympathy for us this week, but man, it has been cold here! Our early morning lows have been down to 48 degrees here in Cabo and a reported 43 degrees in San Jose. Combine that with strong winds on Thursday and Friday and we were freezing! Our daytime highs just touched 70 degrees those same days, but earlier and later in the week everything was about 8 degrees warmer.

Water: Lets start with surface conditions. We have had large swells all week long and when the wind started to blow on Wednesday afternoon we also had big whitecaps. While not unsafe, it was uncomfortable for most people. The wind has dies down now and the storms to the far north that pushed the swells up have passed so it looks like things are returning to normal. We are supposed to see the beginning of reduced swells, and spaced farther apart starting today. No for the temperature. On the Pacific side if you happened to travel to the finger banks you would have found 61 degree, green water. Between the inside of the Golden Gate Bank, the San Jaime and and the 95 Spot the water was cleaner than elsewhere and a bit warmer as well at 69 degrees. There were two warm spots of 71 degree water just off the lighthouse on the pacific side and just over the 1150 on the Cortez side of the Cape.

Bait: Caballito and Mullet were available at $3 per bait. There were decent sized Sardinas available as well if you were one of the first out, and they were $25 a scoop.

FISHING

Billfish: Well, things got a bit better but they still are not up to the nubers we had become used too. A few boats were getting bit by Striped Marlin this week, and some of them were able to release two a day, but most of the boats had a hard time finding any Marlin at all, and if they did something would go wrong, a reel freeze up, line break or the hook get thrown. The best action was on live bait and the best area was the warm spots off of the lighthouse and on the 1150. Some fish were being seen elsewhere, but not in any numbers, the listed places supplied the best chance this past week of getting hooked up.

Yellowfin Tuna: This weeks Tuna section is not much different than last weeks in the fact that it was a long run for most boats to get to the fish, still the best chances were 30 miles or more to the southwest. Most of the fish found were in the 15-25 pound class but there were a few that were over 100 pounds. The problem this week was the water conditions. Getting that far out was not a problem, but coming home was a really rough ride, and the water conditions made it tough to find the porpoise that the Tuna were associated with. There were small scattered schools elsewhere, mostly football sized fish, and these gave some of the anglers a bit of meat to take with them, but still nothing consistent. As the water calms down the fishing for Yellowfin should improve.

Dorado: I would pretty much give up on Dorado for the next few months. If any are caught they will be stray fish, the water is just too darn cold to hold them!

Wahoo: What hoo?

Inshore: The big swells made for uncomfortable inshore fishing this week, but at least there was some action taking place. While not there in great numbers, it was not uncommon for a boat to get a dozen or more Sierra ranging in size from three to six pounds. Toss in an occasional Yellowtail, a few bonito and once in a while an Amberjack and the action was steady, if not real fast. The best action seemed to be on live Sardinas, and if you did not have any the action became spotty. Fishing for these inshore fish took place on the Pacific side to the south of the lighthouse and all along the beaches on the Cortez side. The large swells kept most of the boats from going any farther up the Pacific coast.

Notes: My toes are cold and blue, even with socks on, so my music selection for the week was also the blues. Johnny Winter and B.B. King mixed it up for me this morning and kept me going as I sit here sipping my coffee and tapping my fingers. We still have whales out there folks, as I stood on the first tee at Cabo Real yesterday I saw one just off the beach in full breach mode, she must have jumped and cleared the water at least 5 times, really awesome to watch. Well, until next week, tight lines, and keep warm! By the way, if you are icefishing, what is the limit on cubes, and what is the limit on blocks?

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

January 24-30. 2011

Weather: It was a cool week here in Cabo as clouds moved in early in the week, and with them came a breeze from the north. Our daytime highs were in the mid 70's on Tuesday and Wednesday, raising to the high 70's and once touching 80 degrees later in the week. The clouds stayed around for several days then went away so it warmed up again. Our nights were cool, in the low 60's for the most part, but getting down to the high 50's once or twice, definitely sweater and coat weather for us that live here.

Water: The water close to home is 68-70 degrees, we needed to go almost 30 miles to the south to find water that warmed up to 72 degrees most days this week. With the cloud cover we had, it was difficult to get a good sea surface temperature shot, and that made planning a trip more dependent on other captains water reports than normal. We were also seeing bands of algae bloom water almost everywhere, but particularly outside the 1,000 fathom line. There would be a ¼ to ½ mile wide band of red water, then blue water, then red again. There were also instances of this occurring closer to shore on both sides of the cape. Early in the week surface conditions were choppy due to the northerly winds, but not uncomfortably so, for the most part the seas were smooth with just a bit of wind riffle on them, no real whitecaps.

Bait: Caballito and Mullet were available at $3 per bait. There were decent sized Sardinas available as well if you were one of the first out, and they were $25 a scoop.

FISHING

Billfish: I hate to say it, but our Striped Marlin season, which we have been hoping would improve, is beginning to look like a bust. Normally by this time of year the bait has reached at least the Finger Banks, a good 50 miles to the north, and we would be seeing action on the Golden Gate Bank, but so far there has been nothing there. It looks as if the past four years were an anomaly and are not going to repeat soon. On the positive side, we still have Striped Marlin, just not in the numbers we had been getting used to. Instead of almost being able to guarantee a fish during a trip, the hook-up ratio has begun to be around 10%, quite a difference. There was a report of a local fleet boat hooking up to a small Blue Marlin this week, and also reports of several Swordfish being caught.

Yellowfin Tuna: Long runs for a small chance at medium sized fish were reported by captains that tried for Yellowfin this week. A few of the private boats reported runs as far as 70+ miles out. Going that far out occasionally resulted in fish to 50 pounds, but it was not a sure thing, and that sure is a long way to go on a guess, or a wing and a prayer as it may be. There were scattered pods of Dolphin found between 5 and 18 miles out on both the southern and southwestern directions, but not all of them held fish, and sometimes when they did the fish just would not bite. When a bit did occur, it was usually on a cedar plug in natural color, or small dark colored hootchies.

Dorado: Dorado are becoming scarce as the water becomes cooler. There are still a few being caught, not no numbers of them. A great catch this past week would have been two fish, most boats were lucky if they got one. My guess on the success ratio for Dorado this week would be maybe 5%. Most of the ones that were found were found either very close to the beach on the Cortez side or 30+ miles to the south.

Wahoo: While Wahoo are never really a common fish, this past week they were practically a rumor, just a word to say as no one really found any. That is except for one of the fleet boats! One of the charter guys managed to land a monster Wahoo that was reported to be 130 pounds. I did not see the fish myself, but it was a cousin of a Captains I know and trust, so there is a pretty good chance the report is true. Word was that the fish was caught only 12 miles off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side while looking for Tuna.

Inshore: For some reason even the inshore bite was off this week, and boats that had been doing well on the “go-to” Sierra were having a difficult time getting more than a dozen fish in the boat. The key to getting even that many was reported to be live Sardinas, as the rapalla style swimming plugs and hootchies were just not working very well. A few of the Pangas tried way up the beach on the Pacific side and reported the algae bloom had brushed the shore line 20+ miles in that direction as well. For the boats staying closer to home, an occasional Yellowtail, and lots of small Bonita provided the bulk of the action, Roosterfish were noticeably absent close to home, but there were reports of a few decent sized fish showing up in the surf around Palmilla Point.

Notes: I am just getting over a cold, thank goodness it waited and did not get me until I was back from Oklahoma! I hate riding on airplanes, a girl the next row over was sniffling and sneezing the whole trip, and I am sure that is where I got it. Oh, well, feeling better now, I just wish the fishing was following in my footsteps, that would mean it would be getting better as well. On a positive note, there are plenty of whales out thee, the Medano Beach is in wonderful shape and the swells coming in are small, the water perfect for swimming! Remember, you can't catch anything if you sit in a beach chair all day! My music this week was a mix, one song, “Mary Had A Little Lamb”, by Stevie Ray Vaughn has been on my mind all week as a driving song, and of course I missed one of my favorite musicians in concert this week at the University of Washington, Mark O'Conner, so I listened once again to his Warner Bros. release “Heros”! Until next week, tight lines!

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT

Capt. George Landrum

Fly Hooker Sportfishing

http://www.flyhooker.com

gmlandrum@hotmail.com

January 17-23. 2011

Weather: Cabo has been having typical winter weather as our nights have been in the 60 degree range, from 57 degrees to 64 degrees early in the morning, and the daytime highs ranging from 78 degrees to 86 degrees. It sure beats what I am experiencing here in OKC where we are seeing a range from 19 degrees to 56 degrees!

Water: Water temperatures have been between 68 and 71 degrees wherever you went this week. The slightly cooler water was closer to shore on both the Pacific side and the Cortez side. Once you reached the Banks on the Pacific side, or past the 1,000 fathom line to the south or the Cortez side the temperature went up to 70-71 degrees. Conditions on both sides were decent for fishing, without anyone getting blown out, but the swells were a bit larger on the Pacific side.

Bait: Caballito and Mullet were available at $3 per bait. There were decent sized Sardinas available as well if you were one of the fist out, and they were $25 a scoop.

FISHING

Billfish: Striped Marlin action was still extremely slow this past week, I don't know if it will pick up soon or not, but we all have our fingers crossed that whatever the reason for the slow action, it will correct itself soon. On the positive side, there are a few fish out there, and at least some of them are willing to bite if you get a bait in front of them. The fish that have been seen have been scattered around, from the inshore water on the Pacific side to the offshore water on the Cortez, and everywhere between. I believe that this means that the bait has been scattered as well because normally we will find concentrations of Marlin where the bait is at. No such luck on either count for us the past couple of months though, except for a few scattered days. On another positive note, there was a small Blue Marlin reported earlier in the week, one that was estimated at #180, so there is a chance at something else if you get lucky! Even with the scarcity of Marlin right now, the chances are 10% of getting a release on one, better than most places I know of!

Yellowfin Tuna: The tuna bite has been off and on again, one day here, the next day there, and occasionally nowhere! At the end of the week there were fish found at approximately 15 miles to the southwest, outside the 1,000 fathom curve below the San Jaime Bank. Not a lot of fish, but at least the boats that found them early got into some decent action. The fish have not been large, mostly footballs, but some in the 30 pound class have been mixed in there as well. Dark colored feathers have worked, but the best lures have been cedar plugs.

Dorado: With the cool water the Dorado have packed their bags and moved south. A few of them could not find their luggage and got hungry, so we did see a couple of flags this week.

Wahoo: Most of the Wahoo got free tickets to travel to warmer climes, getting discounts on seats by buying in bulk. That's my story and I am sticking to it. Only three of these speedsters were caught this week that I heard of, and all of them were early in the week when the full moon was up. All the other “Wahoo” flags I saw were for Sierra.

Inshore: Roosterfish close to the beach on the Pacific side past the lighthouse early in the week, as well as off the beach on the north side of Chileano on the Cortez side provided action. Also early in the week there was a good Amberjack bite off of almost all the points. The most common inshore catch was Sierra, and the bite was good on them for the boats that targeted these fish. Small hootchiesand “rapalla” style swimming plugs did well, but the best action occurred for the boats that were able to get Sardinas for bait early in the morning. A scattering of Yellowtail to ten pounds rounded up the inshore action this week.

Notes: I am in Oklahoma City visiting the family right now, and have been here since Thursday. Thanks to my wonderful wife I have been kept updated on the fishing action and what has been going on around town. The music for this report was the sound of my mom, dad and sis talking and cooking breakfast in the kitchen. Until next week, give your family a hug and enjoy your time with them! Tight lines!

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

January 10-16, 2011

Weather: We have continued the cool weather as our daytime highs have been in the low 80's and the early morning, dark outside lows have been down to 57 degrees. Cold, but not too bad, on my trip back to Cabo it was 38 degrees in Guerrero Negro in the morning! We had clear skies with just a light wind from the northwest except for the 12th and 13th when we had some clouds and no wind.

Water: We had cool 68 degree water close to shore on the Cortez side and warmer 70 degree water offshore of there to start the week. On the Pacific side it was an average of 70 degrees until you got outside of the San Jaime Banks, then it dropped to 66 degrees. At the end of the week the warmer water from the south moved up and it was 70 degrees across the board almost as far as the boats could go, with the exception of a plume of 68 degree water that pushed down from the northeast and ran from the 1150 spot to the Cabrillo Seamount.

Bait: Bait was difficult to get this week as the bait boats don't seem to be able to find anything to catch. In order to get ten decent bait many boats had to go to three or four bait catchers, and still ended up with a few grunts or look-downs in the tank. Regardless of the types of bait, the boats still wanted $3 per bait. There appear to be better and more bait available in San Jose, but there is a territory dispute going on and the local guys are not letting the San Jose guys come here to sell, sigh. And of course they are not willing to go up there to get any, sigh. And it is an hour run for us to get up there, then an hour run back, sigh.

FISHING

Billfish: Let's see, a private 10 boat tournament for Striped Marlin and on the first day only one was caught. That one was caught close to home. Tell's the story of our marlin bite for the week. There are a few being seen but not many of them will bite. This has to be the slowest Marlin action I have seen in years.

Yellowfin Tuna: There were scattered fish, just as we had last week. Sometimes we could fins them out past the 1,000 fathom line to the south, other times just four miles off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. The key was to be the first boat to find the fish, then you had a chance. If you were not the first boat then your chances were really lowered. None of the fish this week were large fish, the biggest I heard of was 35 pounds. Most of them were in the 12-20 pound class with an occasional school found that averaged 20 pounds. Many of the boats were flying tuna flags for Bonito. There were plenty of them around due to the cooler water. Average size for them was 4-5 pounds with an occasional school of 15-20 pound fish. Working yo-yo's over the rock piles around Punta Gorda kicked out some Yellowfin but the majority of fish caught there, as on the Pacific coastline, were Bonito averaging 15 pounds.

Dorado: Once in a while a fish in the 10-12 pound class was caught, bu these appeared to be stray fish, and were found close to the beach. There were no concentrations found this week, not even under floating debris. Cold water normally equals slow Dorado fishing and that is what we are seeing now. Give us another couple of weeks and Dorado will almost completely disappear.

Wahoo: Just like last week, as usual this time of year, lots of Wahoo flags flying everywhere and people get excited. Then they are educated about “Mexican Wahoo” Lots of sierra, but nothing really big, mostly 2-5 lbs.

Halibut: Just joking!!

Inshore: On one day, off the next, or maybe it was just a matter of the right place at the right time, but the Sierra bite was either wide open or non-existent. Personally, I think the schools were moving around really fast and if you could not find them in one spot, you had to cruise the beach fast in order to find out where they were. Once you got into them, limits were easy to get, but the fish were small at 2-5 pounds. Just like last week, the offshore fishing was slow so there were a lot of large boats working the shoreline for Sierra as well just to give their clients a chance to put some fish on the table. The Yellowtail bite was fair, with fish that are small by northern standards but decent by ours at an average of 12 pounds. A few Grouper and Amberjack rounded up the inshore catch reports except for an abundance of Bonito!

Notes: Lots of Whales out there!! A few of the restaurants are advertising “Marlin Tostados”. Please let them know, when you see those signs, that you will not eat there due to the marlin being on the menu! Thanks!

If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM. 140 pesos per person per day, 290 pesos for weekly and 540 pesos for a yearly. Unless of course you buy them on Friday, that guy doesn't add a surcharge.

My music for the day is the sound of the pre-game show turned up loud in the living room. No one has any belief in the Seahawks! Come on, let's show them!!! Go Hawks!
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

Jan 3rd to Jan 9th 2011

Weather: Well we are starting off the year with another cold snap. Started to get warm again for few days with the weather patterns coming up from the south and bringing in the warmer weather. Afternoon temperatures in the hi 80's. Very cloudy for a few days, thought it was going to rain, but this is the desert, it went around us as usual. The cloud cover kept us warm. Yesterday the wind started blowing all day long and beat the heck out of my tomato plants. Personally I didn't notice much after 2:30. Was kind of busy with the biggest upset in the NFL. (YEAH!!!) I promise not to make this a Seahawk brag report. This morning, all is calm, and cold. Back to 57 degrees at 6AM on the dock. The satellite shots show clear cool skies for the rest of the week.

Water: Pretty much 70 degree water all around us, with the cooler 65 water up towards Finger Banks. The warmer weather patterns that came up from the south pushed the cooler waters north. The guys were reporting blue water, but you had to go out 35 – 40 miles to find or stay close to home.

Bait: Mackerel, Caballito and assorted and sundry other larger baits were the normal $3 per bait. There were some Sardinas at the usual $25 per scoop.

FISHING

Billfish: Same as last week. Although I did hear of a few small blue marlin released this past week. In the 150 to 200 lb range. This past week was probably the slowest for Striped Marlin that I have seen in some time. There were fish out there, but for some reason, perhaps the cold water, they did not want to bite. A few boats were able to get a released fish or two, but they were few and far between. For the most part, seeing the fish was the best anglers were able to do.
Salmon: haha not really

Yellowfin Tuna: Tuna fishing did not change in the past week, it was still a hit-or-miss proposition as the fish moved a lot. But the ones they did find were on the Pacific side. If you did make the 35-40 mile run to find the blue water, then you had to find them, they were footballs and mixed with bonita. The blue waters closer to shore held bigger 20-30 lb yellowfin, but you had to fight with lots more boats to get any. First boat on the school got lots, as more boats showed up, they only got a few .Then there is always the guy that has to run through the middle of the school to get one fish and break up the bite for everyone.

Dorado: We are almost ready to hang it up as far as trying to target Dorado this new year. There are still fish out there as many boats have shown this week, but there are no consistent concentrations to be found. That is not to say there are none out there, a few boats came in with great catches this week, some with four of five fish to 30 pounds, some with just a couple, but most of the boats did not get any at all. Near the beach on the Cortez side, or out with the porpoise were both areas that had some Dorado, and one boat found a floating log at the 1,000 fathom line outside the 1150 area that held a nice concentration of fish, but it was gone the next day.

Wahoo: As usual this time of year, lots of Wahoo flags flying everywhere and people get excited. Then they are educated about “Mexican Wahoo” Lots of sierra, but nothing really big, mostly 2-5 lbs.

Inshore: Lots of sierra biting inshore and always the go to if the yellowtail and amberjack aren't biting. Even some of the cruisers are stopping for sierra, just to make sure their clients catch something! I asked about what's biting up around Gordo Banks and I was told Sierra, sierra, sierra. The San Jose boats are all coming down here for the better bite in the Pacific.

Notes: Happy Ending Bar is getting cleaned up by employees and tourists alike.
Saturday, Jan 15th at 3:30PM, there will be a memorial Service for long time Cabo resident and fish chick “Little” Carol Chriss who left us this past ChristmasThe boat Winner 7 will be taking her son out to spread ashes. Mike is planning on have his Catamaran over there also for everyone who wants to join in. Celebration of Life at Baja Cantina afterwards.

If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM. 140 pesos per person per day, 290 pesos for weekly and 540 pesos for a yearly. Unless of course you buy them on Friday, that guy doesn't add a surcharge.

My music for today is Tawny snoring at my feet, but only half asleep, she knows it's beach day!
And yes this is Mary writing the report. George is on a delivery and will be back tomorrow!
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

December 27, 2010-January 2, 2011

Weather: Happy new year everyone! While we didn't have any snow here, it sure felt like it for a few days. I am used to WARM weather, and when it drops below 60 degrees I have to put on socks, long pants and a sweater. We had lows this week just below 60 degrees and the day warmed up to the high 80's (if you were standing in the sun with no wind). Partly cloudy skies if you were a pessimist, mostly sunny if you were an optimist, and beautiful if it was snowing back home!

Water: Talk about cold water! At the end of the week that plume of cool water we had running down the Pacific coastline had dropped in temperature yet again and we had lows of 65 degrees from the shoreline out to the San Jaime Banks. As you went west the water slowly warmed to 72 degrees, but that was 30 miles to the west of the banks! This cold water plume extended to the south 40 miles. On the edges of this plume the water was green. On the Cortez side, and due south of Cabo, the water was a fairly consistent 72 degrees from the shoreline to as far out as you wanted to go. It did cool down to 70 degrees up around the East Cape. Surface conditions all around were great, with just a bit of chop on the Pacific side, except for Saturday. On Saturday the New Year come in with easterly winds which formed some good size swells coming into the bay as well as a bit of chop, all from the wrong direction!

Bait: Mackerel, Caballito and assorted and sundry other larger baits were the normal $3 per bait. There were some Sardinas at the usual $25 per scoop.

FISHING

Billfish: This past week was probably the slowest for Striped Marlin that I have seen in some time. There were fish out there, but for some reason, perhaps the cold water, they did not want to bite. A few boats were able to get a released fish or two, but they were few and far between. For the most part, seeing the fish was the best anglers were able to do. Most of the fish were seen in the cold water on the Pacific side, or just along the temperature break on the east side of the cold water plume.

Yellowfin Tuna: Tuna fishing did not change in the past week, it was still a hit-or-miss proposition as the fish moved a lot. The most consistent action was close to shore between the Palmilla resort and the Inman Bank for boats that slow trolled live bait or chummed with Sardinas. Catching two or three fish to 35 pounds was not unheard of but most of the fish were slightly smaller. There seemed to be slightly larger fish closer to Cabo, but greater numbers at the Inman. The use of flouro-carbon leader really made a difference, and the smaller in diameter you went the better chances you had of getting bit, as well as losing the fish, so it was a bit of a trade-off. Offshore, finding the white-bellied porpoise was key, as there were very few fish found that were not associated with them. If you were one of the first boats to the porpoise you had a decent chance of getting bit on fish to 70 pounds (most of them much smaller), if the porpoise held fish, and many did not. One of the largest groups of porpoise we have seen in a very long time showed up mid-week 30 miles to the south. There were porpoise to the horizon, and a mix of Yellowfin with them, bigger fish in one spot, smaller fish in another.

Dorado: We are almost ready to hang it up as far as trying to target Dorado this new year. There are still fish out there as many boats have shown this week, but there are no consistent concentrations to be found. That is not to say there are none out there, a few boats came in with great catches this week, some with four of five fish to 30 pounds, some with just a couple, but most of the boats did not get any at all. Near the beach on the Cortez side, or out with the porpoise were both areas that had some Dorado, and one boat found a floating log at the 1,000 fathom line outside the 1150 area that held a nice concentration of fish, but it was gone the next day.

Wahoo: No Wahoo were seen or reported to me this week, but there are always a few out there.

Inshore: It was Sierra that got the “fish of the week” award from me this new years week as large numbers were found by Pangas working the beach on the Pacific side up around Migraino. These fish were not large but they were there in large numbers. Hootchies, silver spoons and small rapalla style lures worked well. But live Sardinas with short wire leader worked best of all. Many shore fishermen got into these fish as well! In other areas a few Amberjack as well as a few Yellowtail provided action, and just off the beach some very nice sized Jack Crevalle (to 35 pounds) and Bonito provided excitement. Pangas working the San Jose area reported decent action on Yellowfin tune as stated above.

Notes: The burning down of the “Happy Endings” bar deposited a large amount of soot and ash on the boats moored in our Marina. Slightly acidic, if the boats are not washed fairly soon this ash, mixed with early morning dew, will stain the gel-coat of the boats. If you are an absentee owner and do not have a full or part time crew to take care of your vessel, contact me. General Marine Enterprises offers a wide variety of services for owners like you. Contact me at gmlandrum@hotmail.com

If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM.

My music for the New Year is Marc Cohn on his 2008 release “Join The Parade”, and my favorite song is “Walking in Memphis”.
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

December 20-26, 2010

Weather: No, no snow from Santa even though to us who have lived in the tropics for so long felt as if it was going to happen any minute as we had a few mornings where it was just below 60 degrees. I am layered up as I sit here on the keyboard, and am debating with myself about taking our retriever on her Sunday beach walk. Our daytime highs were in the mid 80's, which was nice, but I still got a bit chilled when the wind blew. We had that happen for a few days early in the week, nothing strong, but enough to ruffle up the water.

Water: The cool green water we had last week in front of us has continued on through this week, but the currents have caused it to form a large plume as cool as 68 degrees and running along the Pacific coast and continuing on in a southeasterly direction at least 50 miles once past us. The water on either side of this cool plume has been as warm as 75 degrees and blue. Surface conditions this week were excellent as the winds that plagued us last week finally let up.

Bait: Bait was a bit of a problem to get at times this week. It may have been due to the holiday atmosphere as the bait boats were not going out early, instead content to catch a few fish for their regular clients then returning home. There were small Caballito here in Cabo, if you wanted larger ones, or more bait than just a few you had to make the run up to San Jose. Prices were normal at $3 per bait, but I hate paying that for “look-downs” and 5” Caballito.

FISHING

Billfish: Striped Marlin were an on one day, off the next, then on again event this week. Just before the water turned the bite was great with plenty of fish being seen in the Migraino are on the Pacific side, then overnight the water turned over and became cool and green. Poof, they were gone. Two days later they were back but would not bite. Next day gone again, but appeared 5 miles off the lighthouse and were biting well. Sigh, why is it so hard to figure out what something with such a small brain is going to do? When the bite was on the boats that had the right bait were getting three or four releases, others with the wrong bait might get one or two bites. One day rigged ballyhoo worked well, the next day they would not touch anything except 10” Caballito. Almost all the action took place on the Pacific side of the Cape.

Yellowfin Tuna: Again, this was a very on-off fishery this week as the schools moved constantly. One day they were 4 miles off the beach to the south, then next day 25 miles out and the following day over on the Pacific side just inside the San Jaime Bank. I did not hear of any large fish but there were decent fish to 35 pounds caught. If you were in them at the right time all the lines would go off and you could limit out fairly quickly. It also helped if you were one of the first boats there! We had one client who only caught one small football size fish his first day, but went again two days later and got tired of reeling them in.

Dorado: The cool water has really shut down the Dorado bite even though a few fish are still being caught. They are being found in the warmer water but the number of fish is down quite a bit. The size has averaged 12 pounds with a few fish larger and smaller. The area around Punta Gorda and San Jose seems to be holding more fish than elsewhere, but the warm water to the southwest of the Cape has it's share as well.

Wahoo: No Wahoo were seen or reported to me this week, but there are always a few out there.

Inshore: It seems as if Sierra were almost the only fish to be found in numbers this week as the Pangas concentrated on the beach areas on the Pacific side. The boats fishing the Cortez side did well on a variety of fish, from Dorado to small Yellowfin and little Roosters as as well as a variety of less wanted fish like Lady fish, Needle fish and Skipjack. Chumming with Sardinas brought on this action in the Palmilla and Inman areas.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM.

Jean-Luc Ponty was my music selection for this week as his electric and classic violin playing on the 1982 Atlantic Records “Mystical Adventures” caught my ear once again. Until next week, tight lines!
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

December 13-19, 2010

Weather: Almost Christmas and still no snow, what is going on? Oh well, I guess with daytime temps in the mid 80's and nights around the low 60's we won't be seeing much of that white stuff anytime soon. Breaks my heart (not!). We had mostly sunny skies this week and starting on Monday we experienced quite a bit of wind, most of it coming from the northwest. On Saturday it swung a bit and came from the east then died off and now it is nice and calm.

Water: All week long we have had a small area of cold water right in front of Cabo. The water has been 68 degrees while everywhere else it has been 71 degrees. The only other area of cold water we have seen is to the west of the San Jaime Bank where it was also 68 degrees. This cold water in front of us has also been off-color with a lot of green. The Pacific side of the Cape has continued to have good blue water while on the Cortez side up to the north, around the east cape, it has started to become greenish as well. When the wind started to blow on Tuesday the Pacific side became very rough and hard to fish. Most boats stayed to the south and the Cortez side of the Cape.

Bait: Caballito, Mackerel and Mullet were all available at the usual $3 each. There were a few Sardinas in San Jose at $25 a scoop.

FISHING

Billfish: We still are not seeing the numbers of Striped Marlin we expected, but we may have been spoiled with the success of the past several years. I don't know if it is a current issue, a bait issue or a commercial fishing issue, but they just have not been there in great numbers. We are still seeing fish, and they are still not biting well though. Most boats are seeing several dozen per trip but are lucky if they hook up one or two. And, surprisingly, there are still big fish around. We had clients fish on Thursday who found the Pacific side too rough, and the target was Striped Marlin. They turned to the Cortez side and ended up with a Black Marlin of #450 instead. It was a 40 minute fight for Bill Cook.

Yellowfin Tuna: While there were not a lot of Tuna caught this week, the boats that did get into them did very well, limiting out on fish that ranged from football to school size. Most of the action occurred to the south of Cabo or out to the west. Of course the problem was the water conditions. The winds we had made the swells large, sometimes 7-9 feet and there was chop on it, a lot of chop. The type of conditions I sometimes describe as a field of sheep. Anyway, there were fish out there, and they were biting steadily, but you had to be strong. Some of the Yellowfin went 50 pounds but the average was 20 pounds.

Dorado: Once again scarce, the numbers continue to drop as the water cools down. Fish were still found, and occasionally a boat found a small school and caught limits on fish to 15 pounds, but that was not the norm. Most boats were lucky to get a Dorado strike, and the success ratio was around 15 percent. Close to the beach on the Cortez side and just off of San Jose close to the beach were the best areas. Fish were found close to the beach on the Pacific side, but the water was rough most of the week.

Wahoo: No Wahoo were seen or reported to me this week, but there are always a few out there.

Inshore: Sierra are still the inshore stars, and are likely to continue to be so until the Yellowtail show in greater numbers. Right now you are able to get your fill of Sierra using either Sardinas, small rapallas or hootchies, but the sizes are not much larger than 6 pounds. There are still firecracker Yellowtail showing up and the Amberjack are biting, but no large fish, just in the 10-15 pound class. A few of the Pangas are getting into some Snapper to 10 pounds in the rocks, but the swells and winds have made that a “sometime” event.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM.

Music this week was a variety of Christmas songs as I wrote this and Mary baked cookies! Merry Christmas, I hope Santa is good to you!
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

December 6-12, 2010

Weather: It all remains the same as our nighttime lows remain in the low 60's and the daytime highs in the high 80's. Mostly clear skies and no rain. Almost boring except that we love the “no snow” for Christmas effect!

Water: The water everywhere we could get to on a day charter was 75-75 degrees. Way out to the west, past our range the temperature break had moved to more than 50 miles offshore and there it dropped to 72 degrees. At the end of the week there was a band of warm 77 degree water running from just off of Punta Gorda and southward toward the 1,000 fathom line, and there was a large spot of 78 degree water 30 miles to the south of the Cape.

Bait: Caballito and Mackerel were both available as live bait this week at $3 each. There were fewer Sardinas around our area but reports were that they were still available in San Jose for the boats that wanted to make the 1 hour run up there.

FISHING

Billfish: Last week I said that maybe the moon phase was what was turning the Striped Marlin off their feed. I may have been wrong (wouldn't be the first time) as even as we come out of the new moon phase the continue to keep their mouths shut. We are still seeing them out there every day, and every day there are a few caught, but there has been no real success stories. A very lucky boat may get one or two releases, but that is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Of course this means spending a lot of unproductive, boring time focusing in one area, an area where you know there are fish, and hoping that they suddenly go on the feed for a few minutes, or traveling constantly hoping to come across a new batch of fish that are hungry. Either way, Marlin fishing this past week has been fairly unproductive and boring.

Yellowfin Tuna: Yellowfin Tuna continued to be the offshore fish of the week as schools of football and a bit larger fish move in and out of our area. Sometimes as close as 4 miles out and sometimes as far as 25 miles out, they have provided fairly consistent action for fish up to 35 pounds but averaging 15 pounds. Consistent action is one thing, but consistent location is another. These fish have been moving, and moving quickly so the area that produced in the morning may not be the area they are at in the afternoon. This has made for some frustrating days, but when you do get into the fish, it has been great. Along with the football fish have been some that have gone as large as 100 pounds, but they have been far fewer than the smaller fish.

Dorado: Dorado were scarce this past week with only a few boats coming in flying multiple flags, and those have been for fish that have averaged 12 pounds. A few larger fish have been found in the offshore waters, but the majority have been found close to the beach and they have been the smaller fish. Not as many as there were a while ago, to paraphrase a song, they are still available for those who are willing to work for them and think they have the luck.

Wahoo: Among 10 boats fishing a small local tournament for tuna and Wahoo, only one small fish of 12 pounds was brought to the scale. Several days before,friends of ours caught one of 80 pounds, and the day of the tournament another friend lost 7 fish in a row due to leader being bitten through. This shows me there are still fish out there, but preparation is the key to success on these fish. Wire leader, shallower water and either high speed artificial lures or rigged bait slow trolled is what seems to work, at least last week.

Inshore: Sierra have taken over the show for the inshore fishing, but some Yellowtail are beginning to show up as well. While not large, the Sierra have been there in numbers and it was not a problem for most boats to limit out on them quickly. The Yellowtail were a bit larger, but still on the small side at an average of 6 to 8 pounds. Anglers from up north would call them “firecrackers” but they still eat good and fight well if the tackle is matched to their size. A few Amberjack as well as good numbers of Bonito and Skipjack have rounded up the most common inshore catch last week.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM.

My music this week was Boz Scaggs on his 1994 Virgin Records release “Some Changes”, still one of my favorites!
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

November 29-December 5, 2010

Weather: Maybe things have stabilized as our temperatures this past week were the same as the week before. Or morning lows were in the low 60's while the afternoon highs reached the low 90's. Still no rain, but we did have a couple of days with some light cloud cover.

Water: This week showed no change in where the temperature break was but we did have an overall drop in the water temperature by several degrees. At the end of the week we had a solid 75-76 degrees (79-80 degrees last week) everywhere you looked except for the Pacific side out past the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks. Once you got about 5 miles past them, the water temps dropped to 67-68 degrees instead of the 70-71 degrees from last week. That cooler water also had a slight green tinge to it, but not so bad that we did not fish there.

Bait: Caballito and Mullet with an occasional scoop of Sardinas pretty much covered the bases for live bait this week. The normal $3 each for the larger baits and $25 a scoop for Sardinas. There has been some brined and frozen ballyhoo at a rather expensive $4 each in the large “horse” size.

FISHING

Billfish: The lowering in the water temps seems to have brought more Striped Marlin into the area, but the moon phase (maybe) has had the effect of keeping their mouths from opening on most bait and lures. Boats are seeing several dozen fish a day but are lucky to get three or four bites, releasing one or two fish a day. Almost all the action has been on the Pacific side of the Cape just off the beach near drop-offs that concentrate what bait has been out there. There have been plenty of fish offshore as well, but not concentrated in any one area. The lowering temps have pretty much shut off the Blue and Black Marlin bite, but there are always a few fish around, even though I did not hear of any caught this week.

Yellowfin Tuna: As my friend Mike says, football season is here! There have been quite a few scattered schools of football size Yellowfin Tuna this week, with the fish ranging in size from 8 to 25 pounds and a few larger fish to 80 pounds on the outside of the schools. While much more common than they have been, it is still not wide open by any means, but when you do get into the fish there are multiple hook-ups. Hootchies, Sardinas, cedar plugs and small feather have all worked well. The fish have been found from near the shore to 30 miles off the beach and most of them have been to the south and west. Larger fish have been found near the temperature break outside the 1,000 fathom line to the west of us.

Dorado: Cooling water slowed down the Dorado bite for us close to home, but reports from the Punta Gorda area have been that the fishing for Dorado in their area has picked up, and all the way to the East Cape, even though the water is cool, the fishing has been fair to good for these great eating fish. In our area, the water near shore on the Cortez side has produced some decent fish to 25 pounds, and the same depth of water on the Pacific side has produced a few more fish, but in smaller sizes.

Wahoo: I thought that the Wahoo bite was over, but the past two days seemed to have proved me wrong as friends of mine caught 6 yesterday and 2 the day before. Working near shore and trolling slow with rigged dead baits they have been catching Wahoo ranging in size from 25 to 40 pounds. Other boats have been getting one or two here and there, but the fish are still around.

Inshore: A repeat of last week, small Roosterfish, the occasional Yellowtail, some decent Sierra and an occasional Amberjack rounded up the normal inshore catch this week. A few Pangas got into some grouper and snapper, and a few focused on the Dorado, but the mainstay was small Roosters and Sierra. Both sides of the Cape produced, but the Sierra were more concentrated on the Pacific side. The numbers of Yellowfin Tuna have proven to be a big draw and quite a few Pangas are venturing a bit farther offshore in search of the fish.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM.

As a change of pace I treated myself to some history in my music choice this week. A 2002 RCA release of Jimmy Rodgers music titled “Country Legends, Jimmy Rodgers” caught my eye on the shelf, and the early country blues and yodeling got my toes tapping this morning.
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

November 22-28, 2010

Weather: The temperatures are still dropping week by week as our “winter” approaches. Most of you will laugh, but it has been a very chilly (for us) 63 degrees in the mornings and evenings, requiring windbreakers or light sweaters. It's funny to see all our visitors running around in shorts and t-shirts while we are shivering! We had a little bit of breeze this week, mostly from the northwest, but nor a real strong wind. Our daytime highs got up in the low 90's and we had mostly sunny skies.

Water: At the end of the week we had a solid 79-80 degrees everywhere you looked except for the Pacific side out past the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks. Once you got about 5 miles past them, the water temps dropped to 70-71 degrees. That cooler water also had a slight green tinge to it, but not so bad that we did not fish there.

Bait: Bait has been a big issue for the past few weeks as there has not been very much of it available, at least the good stuff. The full moon made catching Caballito difficult, the area has not had many Mackerel show up yet so the majority of bait available has been very small Caballito, a few Mullet and green jacks. There have been some Sardinas available up in San Jose.

FISHING

Billfish: The 80 degree water we have had this week has still provided a few Blue and Black Marlin to give anglers a fight, but I did not hear of any that were larger than #250. These fish were caught on the Cortez side around the 1150 and the outer Gorda Banks. There have been plenty of Striped Marlin around, but they have not been in the mood to bite. Boats have been seeing between 4 and 20 per day and most of the time have had just looky-loos where the fish follow a lure or bait for a while then take off. The best catches I have seen have been two fish per trip with an occasional Dorado or Tuna tossed into the box. Most of the fish have been on the Pacific side, within 5 miles of the beach. I think the main problem has been the moon phase as we are just coming off of the full moon.

Yellowfin Tuna: On again, off again, close to shore then 30 miles out, there was no way to predict where you would fins the Tuna this week with the exception of the Inman and Gorda Banks, and even they were iffy as sometimes the fish were there but would not bite. For the most part, boats did not get into any numbers of fish, but there were a couple of exceptions. We had one boat in the middle of the week come to the dock with four Tuna flags flying and each of the fish was over 70 pounds. He found those fish in porpoise out at the temperature break outside of the Golden Gate Bank, but the weather that day was too choppy for most of the boats and anglers.

Dorado: Once again we did not see any large numbers of Dorado with a couple of exceptions. A few boats did come in flying multiple flags and after asking the crew what they had done, I found that two of the boats had found a large piece of wood and had a great time loading up with limits of fish that averaged 15 pounds. A couple of the boats had managed to find small schools of little fish averaging 10 pounds just off the beach between the Gray Rock area and the Palmilla point and had kept one fish in the water while chunking for the others, once again reaching near limits for their anglers. These were the exceptions though, as most of the boats felt lucky to get one or two fish during a full day trip.

Wahoo: As a result of being on the back side of the moon, the Wahoo bite we had been experiencing dropped off quite a bit. There were still fish out there, but not in the numbers we had been seeing for the past two weeks. Fish that were caught were found between the Arch and San Jose close to the beach in 300-400 feet of water with a few fish in a lot closer. Most of the fish were smaller than last weeks, averaging 25 pounds.

Inshore: Small Roosterfish, and occasional Yellowtail, some decent Sierra and an occasional Amberjack rounded up the normal inshore catch this week. A few Pangas got into some grouper and snapper, and a few focused on the Dorado, but the mainstay was small Roosters and Sierra. Both sides of the Cape produced, but the Sierra were more concentrated on the Pacific side.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM.

My music for this weeks report was deep in the back of my shelf. I pulled out a tape of Pat Macdonald and Barbara K. from 1986 playing as “Timbuk 3” on the album titled “ Greeting From Timbuk 3”, a Columbia Records release. Until next week, tight lines!
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

November 15-21, 2010

Weather: It is cooling down now, and it seems to be happening a little bit faster than last year. Our morning lows have been down to 65 degrees while the daytime highs have been as high as the mid 90's, quite a bit of variation. This week we had mostly sunny skies and no rain.

Water: Our surface temperatures were great this week with the average on the Sea of Cortez at 80 degrees almost everywhere you looked. On the Pacific side there was a band of warm water running up the beach and about two miles out that was 78 degrees, and farther out it dropped to 73-74 degrees. The San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks were 74 degrees.

Bait: Caballito this week ranged from decent size to fish only 6” long, and the bait guys still want $3 each. Still no mackerel available, but hopefully there will be some soon. I know that the bait boats in San Jose are still getting Sardinas, but don't know what the cost is.

FISHING

Billfish: The largest Marlin I heard of this week was Black that was caught around the 1150 area and weighed in over 500 pounds. There were a few other Blacks and Blues caught, but I did not hear of any large ones, mostly small fish in the 200-250 class. The good news was the numbers of Striped Marlin that were found on the Pacific side of the Cape. Most of them were found just on the edge of that warm water band I mentioned earlier, about two miles or so from shore. Early in the week they were fairly close to home, around the Los Arcos area, as the week went on they slowly moved to the north and as of Saturday were being found outside of Los Migrianos. Boats checking on the Golden Gate and Finger Banks have reported that there is still no concentrations of bait on those humps although there are some areas that have small schools. The lack of mackerel for bait has hindered anglers abilities to hook up, but even so, a good day has meant releasing two to four fish, and a great day has been up to six Striped Marlin releases.

Yellowfin Tuna: The bite on Yellowfin Tuna has been an on-off event this past week. One day they are in one area, the next day the same area is as dead as can be. Pods of Dolphin holding Tuna have been found everywhere this week, and the most consistent area has been a slice of water from directly south of us to just to the south of the San Jaime Banks. This area also encompasses a strong temperature break/current line that keeps moving around. There have been some nice fish taken from these schools, up to #150, but most of them have been in the 20 pound class. There are still fish being found in the San Jose area as well, and boats working the humps there have been doing well using Sardinas as chum and live bait.

Dorado: Not the fish of the week for several weeks now, the numbers continue to be low and the fish small, with an average size of only 10 pounds. There have been decent concentrations of them on the Cortez side of the Cape close to the beach, and Gray rock up to Palmilla has been providing action on these smaller fish. Some boats have been coming in with limits of these, with an occasional fish to 20 pounds. On the Pacific side the fish have been a bit larger on average, but there have been fewer of them.

Wahoo: For a lot of the fishermen this week Wahoo have been the highlight of the trip. If they managed to get out early they had a really good chance to get one of these speedsters. There have been more Wahoo caught in the past two weeks than I have seen in years, and the fish are decent size. We had one client that went out in the morning and was back at 10:30 with one #50 and one #25 pound as well as a Dorado. Some boats have been getting three or four fish a day, but almost all the action has been early morning. Dark colored lures, swimming plugs and live mackerel scad have been the good stuff to use, and the mackerel scad (chilwillies) have been the key to larger fish. Most of the action has taken place along the coast in the Sea of Cortez.

Inshore: Inshore fishing has been a repeat of the past months action as once again as Roosterfish in the petite size with an occasional fish to 35 pounds, Lady fish, decent sized Sierra, small Yellowfin, Bonito, Skip jack, occasional Snapper and Grouper along with a patchwork of Dorado and Striped Marlin made up most of the inshore catch. Most of the effort took place on the Pacific side of the Cape and for shear numbers, Sierra were the fish of the week inshore.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM.

Fleetwood Mac's “Rumors” album was my pick of the day for listening while writing this report so I am in the mood to take Mary and Tawny for a walk on the beach now! Until next week, tight lines!
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

November 8-14, 2010

Weather: I just keeps getting better and better. What can I say? With our morning low this week at 68 degrees and our daytime highs in the low 90's it could only be better if we had a little bit of rain every other day. Anyway, it's been great! We only had a little bit of wind the other evening that did not last long and mostly sunny skies every day.

Water: The interesting thing on the water this week was the way the currents affected the distribution on the Pacific side. First, on the Cortez side of the Cape the water was almost a uniform 80 degrees on the surface with small seas and only afternoon chop when the wind blew hard enough. On the Pacific side the currents have really moved things around. In the middle of the week we had two troughs of cold water running north-south, the first one inside the San Jaime and off of the beach where the water dropped to 73 degrees, with 75-76 degree water on either side. The second was just to the west where there was a two degree difference with a three mile wide band of 73 degree water was pinned between 78 degree water, about 8 miles to the west of the Jaime Banks. By the end of the week everything had warmed up a couple of degrees and tightened up, mocing a bit closer to shore.

Bait: Caballito were available at $3 each as were mullet. There were small Sardinas as well at around $30 a scoop. Still no Mackerel available from the bait boats, but a couple of the larger boats have brought a few down from Mag Bay, so perhaps they are on their way in our direction.

FISHING

Billfish: With tournament time over for the year, as far as the big fish are concerned, there has been little direct pressure on the Blue and Black Marlin, therefor the ones that have been caught have been incidental catches. There are still a few Black Marlin out there, mostly up in the San Jose and Punta Gorda flats. A scattering of reported hook-up on Blue Marlin have been made as well with a few brought to the docks, but the largest I heard of was about #300. The big event of the week has been the re-appearence of the Striped Marlin on the Pacific side. While there has been no big balls of bait piled up, there have been small spots of bait on the Golden Gate Bank and along the self off of the Los Arcos area and the lighthouse. Some boats have been doing well, with up to four Striped Marlin a day by finding these bait balls on the depth sounder and dropping live bait on them. It would probbaly be a better catch rate if we could match the bait, but not yet. Also, in the afternoons the Marlin have been chasing the remainder of the bait to the surface and the diving birds have been resulting in clouds of smoke as captains gun the boats to the action, hoping to get a bait in there before the fish dissapear again. While frustrating at times, some boats have been getting four to 6 Striped Marlin a day this way.

Yellowfin Tuna: There were still some nice Tuna caught this week but I did not see anything over 180 pounds hit the dock in the afternoons. Most of the fish were slightly larger than footballs at 25-30 pounds, with a few larger to 80 pounds, but at the end of the week I also saw some that were more the size of footballs and less, down to three or four pounds. All these fish have been scattered in the open ocean with some concentrated just to the west of the San Jaime and more concentrated in the Inman and Gorda Banks areas, but the larger fish I have seen were all from porpoise, and quite a ways offshore. Boats fishing the areas to the north up in the San Jose area have been doing all right using live Sardinas as chum then fly-lining a hooked bait, this has been the favored method for the fish to 30 pounds.

Dorado: These were still a dissapointment as we saw no really large fish hit the dock. I heard of one nice one that weighed 50+ pounds, but for the most part the fish have been less than 10 pounds, and most of them have been caught near-shore on the Pacific side.

Wahoo: The Wahoo bite took off this week with some boats bringing in six per trip. The best time was at gray light in the morning, and using dark colored lures and swimming plugs worked for artificial lures. Some boats were rigging ballyhoo inside a hollow head lure and pulling them in the spread and were doing well with them, but the best catch came from boats using live bait. The bait was Mackerel Scad, and you had to be out at first light to get them, and you had to catch your own, they are not available from the bait boats. Slow trolling these treats resulted in giant blow-ups as the Wahoo tried to eat them, and the occasional surprise Yellowfin Tuna as well. On the Cortes side, between Gray Rock and the Inman Bank, all in the shallow, 300 foot or less water was the best place to be for these speedsters.

Inshore: Roosterfish in the petite size with an occasional fish to 35 pounds, Lady fish, decent sized Sierra, small Yellowfin, Bonito, Skip jack, occasional Snapper and Grouper along with a patchwork of Dorado and Striped Marlin made up most of the inshore catch this week. Boats that had Sardinas also did great playing with needle fish to 4 feet, something kids really like to do and they are great fun on ultra-light gear. Most of the effort took place on the Pacific side of the Cape and for shear numbers, Sierra were the fish of the week inshore.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM.

It has been a nice, quiet morning, so my music selection matched the mood. Nora Jones on her 2002 Capitol Records/Blue Notes release”Come Away With Me” fit perfectly!
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

November 1-7, 2010

Weather: Our wonderful weather continued this week with lows in the low 70's and most of the days in the high 80's with the exception of Friday, when we had 98 degrees in the center of town. For the most part the wind was mild, the two day of the Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot tournament, Thursday and Friday. We had the wind switch almost 180 degrees and come from the southeast instead of the normal northwest, and it blew at a pretty good clip.

Water: Surface conditions on both the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific side were great all week long, with the exception of Thursday and Friday when the wind changed direction. On those days were were seeing steady whitecaps and rollers, the Port Captain closed the port to small craft traffic on Thursday afternoon when a water taxi rolled over in the surf at Medano beach, thankfully no one was hurt. The rest of the week we had normal northwest winds at 8-12 knots, causing light chop on the Pacific side and almost nothing on the Cortez side of the Cape. At the end of the week we had an intrusion of cool 77 degree water pushing our way from the south, and coming at us just to the east of Cabo, between Cabo and San Jose. This intrusion has caused the warm water there into a small band of 80-81 degree water between the shoreline and the 95 Spot and the 1150. Just on top of the Cabrillo Seamount has been a warm spot of 84 degree water and it is now being pushed to the east. From Cabo San Lucas to 15 miles west of the San Jaime Banks, and to the south of there has been warm water at 81-82 degrees. North of the San Jaime, across the Golden Gate Bank and up the coast to the Finger Bank the water has been 75-77 degrees.

Bait: Caballito were available at $3 each as were mullet. There were small Sardinas as well at around $30 a scoop.

FISHING

Billfish: We were seeing a few more Striped Marlin beginning to show up in the catch reports this week. Not everyone was able to get one on the end of their line, but the success ratio seemed a bit higher than the last two weeks. This may be due to the slightly cooler water we are seeing now, much more preferred by the Stripey than the warm 80+ degree water. The bite was off on Blue and Black Marlin and probably for the same reason, cooler water, but also because there was so much attention and effort placed on Yellowfin Tuna this week.

Yellowfin Tuna: As I thought last week, the amount and size of the Yellowfin Tuna we had been seeing resulted in a great Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot Tournament. I was surprised, as were many people, that there was only one fish weighed over 200 pounds, after seeing several 300 pound fish come in last week, but there were reports of very large fish being broken off. Most of the fish seemed to come from one of two area. Our usual cow tuna grounds this time of year is the outer Gorda Bank, and it continued to deserve its reputation as there were quite a few qualifying fish from there, but the number of boats and the small area, combined in the switch in wind direction made the success ratio a bit smaller than most boats would have liked. The other are that produced well was the temperature break to the west of the San Jaime Banks. There were scattered Porpoise pods all over the place, instead of finding just one or two to work, many boats were finding six or seven pods a day to check out. As usual, the big fish were caught on a mix of methods with live bait on down-riggers working well, live bait and artificials under kites working on the shy fish and lures getting the ones that were not so shy. The largest fish of the tournament was #208, there were two fish in the #180 class, around five or six fish in the 150-140 pound class and uncountable fish in the #100 category. It got the point very quickly that if your fish did not eyeball out at over 100 pounds you could not weigh it, there were plenty of larger fish to get up to the stage.

Dorado: Dorado were a big disappointment this week as there were no large fish caught. The Tuna Tournament had a side jackpot for the largest Dorado or Wahoo of the tournament, the fish had to be over 30 pounds. There were no Dorado entered! The fleet boats did well on Dorado, but mostly fish that averaged 12 pounds, and most of them were found on the Pacific side along the coast.

Wahoo: There were a few nice Wahoo brought in this week, and the winner of the side jackpot at the tuna tournament weighed in at a very respectable 58 pounds! Most of the fish brought in were in the 25-30 pound range and were found along the edges of the banks.

Inshore: Roosterfish in the petite size, Lady fish, decent sized Sierra, small Yellowfin, Bonito, Skip jack, occasional Snapper and Grouper along with a patchwork of Dorado and Striped Marlin made up most of the inshore catch this week. Most of the effort took place on the Pacific side of the Cape and for shear numbers, Sierra were the fish of the week inshore.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos the day before! No one has change for your US $100 at 6AM.

No music for me today, I have a cold or allergy, stuffed sinus and headache so the sound I am hearing are the tip-tip-typing of my fingers on the keyboard. Next week, ok!
If you can't wait until Monday, the blog is updated on Sundays! Available only at
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

October 18-24, 2010

Weather: Once again you could not have asked for more perfect weather as our morning lows were in the low 70's and the daytime highs in the mid to high 80's. The humidity was low, the bugs were almost gone, the sun was shining and the water was warm. It really does not get much better than this!

Water: On the Sea of Cortez we had 83 degree water from the shore out to a distance of about 10 miles then it started to drop to 79 degrees. The surface conditions were great with very small swells and little wind. On the Pacific side the wind was fairly constant from the northwest, but not strong enough to make it impossible to fish, just uncomfortable for a lot of people. The warm water from the Sea of Cortez started to wrap around the Cape and extended itself out to the southern edge of the San Jaime Bank at the end of the week. The near-shore water was a cool 78 degrees while out a distance of 30+ miles it dripped to 75 degrees.

Bait: Caballito were available at $3 each as were mullet. There were small Sardinas as well at around $30 a scoop.

FISHING

Billfish: Marlin remained the talk of the town as the 30th annual Bisbee's Black and Blue tournament too place Wednesday through Friday. There were 8 marlin over 300 pounds brought to the weigh scale on the first day of the tournament with the largest being 599 pounds. Actually there were 9 fish brought in, but the largest one, a 800 pound Blue Marlin was 10 minutes late and did not qualify. Overall for the 103 boats fishing, there were 74 fish reported caught with 13 Black Marlin, 32 Blue Marlin, 28 Striped Marlin and one Sailfish. This is just for the tournament and does not count fish caught by charter boats not involved. With 0.73 fish per boat it was slow the last two days, but the average size was very good. Most of the fish were caught on the Sea of Cortez side as the conditions for large fish were more favorable there.

Yellowfin Tuna: Seeing the big Yellowfin Tuna blowing up on small bait fish was not an uncommon sight this week and several of the large fish were brought in. The largest I heard of was one that weighed right around 388 pounds, caught by a boat fishing for big Marlin in the tournament. There were quite a few fish in the 30-40 pound class brought to the docks by the charter boats, and most of these were caught due south of the Cape, fairly close to shore.

Dorado: The charter fleets continued to do well on Dorado just to the south and on the Pacific side of the Cape with an average of three fish per boat, and some limiting out with fish that averaged 12 pounds. An occasional fish went to 40 pounds, but not quite as many as there were last week.

Wahoo: I did not hear of as many Wahoo this week, but it may have been because of the number of boats fishing for Marlin. With the full moon though, and the large number of boats working the Gorda Banks and the flats off of Punta Gorda, not having many Wahoo hook-ups was a surprise.

Inshore: For the third week in a row, this week was a repeat of the last week for the inshore fishing. Roosterfish to 40 pounds, some nice sized Sierra and a scattering of Snapper were reported from the Pacific shoreline this week. The Roosterfish were caught on live bait and the schools have been fairly large. The Snapper have been tight into the rocks, but our small swells have made it easier than normal to get in there and toss a live bait. Most of the Pangas have been focusing slightly offshore fishing for the Dorado.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos!

This week I decided to go western as a friend brought me some down home Texas music! One of my favorites was Hayes Carll on his CD “Little Rock” Until next week, tight lines!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

October 11-17, 2010

Weather: What a beautiful week we had! As is usual for this month of the year, the weather changed for us and the temperature dropped what felt was five degrees. With no storms on the horizon and just a light breeze we had great weather. Our daytime highs were in the high 80's to low 90's and our nighttime lows were in the mid 70's.

Water: On the Sea of Cortez side we had 86 degree water all along the coast out to a distance of about 5 miles, then it dropped a degree to 85 degrees. On the Pacific side it was mostly 82 degrees between the Jaime Bank, the Golden Gate Bank and the shore. Outside the banks the water dropped to 78 degrees. There was a bump, a bit of a swell, on the Pacific side while the Cortez side had almost pool table flat water with maybe 1-2 feet of swell, spaced far apart.

Bait: Caballito were the most common baits to be had from the boats this week and were the usual $3 each. The bait barge had some as well as some Sardinas. With the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament just happening and the little and big Bisbee tournaments the Sardinas have been the bait of choice in order to catch the smaller Tuna for bait.

FISHING

Billfish: The first day of the Los Cabos Tournament was Wednesday and two big fish were brought to the weigh station. The largest was a Black Marlin that was reported to have been caught in the vicinity of the Gorda Banks and weighed in at 713 pounds. The second was a Blue Marlin that weighed in around 650 pounds. The last day of the tournament had three marlin over 400 pounds brought to the weigh station. The first day of the little Bisbee tournament was Saturday and a several nice fish were brought in as well. Next week I should have an update on the big Bisbee tournament as I will be captaining a boat for that one and will have the radio on full time! There were still plenty of Striped Marlin being found out there with most of the action happening on the Pacific side up around the Golden Gate. While the action is nor red hot, there has been a fairly steady bite on fish with most boats getting a shot or two a day, and a few getting multiple releases.

Yellowfin Tuna: Yellowfin Tuna action remained steady for boats fishing for the football fish up to 20 pounds in size, particularly around the Gray Rock area and the Santa Maria area during the tournament days. With that many boats chumming with Sardinas the fish are attracted to the area. There were a lot of Bonita and Skipjack as well. The area off of Palmilla has been producing some decent fish to 30 pounds for boats using Sardinas as bait. The largest Tuna of the Los Cabos tournament was 209 pounds and was caught by a friend of ours, who will not give any details about where or how, except to say the fight took two hours, and by the way, was caught on a Panga!

Dorado: The charter fleet did very well on Dorado this week but I was surprised that the largest Dorado caught during the Los Cabos Tournament by a tournament boat was only 31 pounds. I saw much larger fish being brought in by the charter fleet, some of the fish must have been at least 50 pounds. Perhaps it is the areas that were being fished because most of the big Dorado, and the large numbers came from the near-shore area on the Pacific side.

Wahoo: There were plenty of Wahoo reported this week and some boats were able to get multiple fish in the box, but you had to leave early for the first bite. Working the bottom contour around the 300 foot line with lures on wire leaders or rigged ballyhoo at first light seemed to work well for several boats that concentrated on these fish this week. The fish ranged between 30 and 50 pounds. In the offshore areas the fish seemed to average a bit larger but there was no concentrations to be found, the fish were sporadic.

Inshore: This week was a repeat of the last week for the inshore fishing. Roosterfish to 40 pounds, some nice sized Sierra and a scattering of Snapper were reported from the Pacific shoreline this week. The Roosterfish were caught on live bait and the schools have been fairly large. The Snapper have been tight into the rocks, but our small swells have made it easier than normal to get in there and toss a live bait. Most of the Pangas have been focusing slightly offshore fishing for the Dorado.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos!

My music choice for this week was a new favorite of mine, Jack Johnson, and his CD “On and On” has been playing and re-playing in my truck and at home. It is a 2003 Universal records release. Until next week, tight lines!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

October 4-10, 2010

Weather: With no storms on the horizon it was a hot and humid week. Our daytime highs were again in the mid 90's and the nights dropped down as low as 81 degrees. Sunny skies and just a bit of wind in the afternoons.

Water: Water temperatures have remained warm with the Sea of Cortez reading 85-87 degrees almost everywhere inside of the 1,000 fathom line, and just a degree or two cooler outside of there. On the Pacific side at the end of the week there was a very strong demarcation between the warm, 86 degree water from the Cortez side and the slightly cooler 81-83 degree water to the west, with the line running from the beach inside of the Golden Gate Banks almost due south well past 30 miles from the Cape. Surface conditions have been good with small swells and just a bit of wind in the afternoons on the Cortez side and slightly more wind and slightly larger swells on the Pacific, perfect fishing conditions!

Bait: Bait has been a little easier to get, but there is still a lot of junk mixed in and the cost per bait has gone up without being actually said, as you now are lucky to get 7-8 baits for the $30 U.S. where you used to get 10. Bait boats say that they don't have enough after you have given them the money, and they no longer include ice in the deal. Frustrating to everyone, so a lot of boats are saying we will fish lures only and catch our own bait if we find some.

FISHING

Billfish: First off, there was no confirmation from anyone about the reported 1,200 pound Marlin last week, just someone starting rumors it looks like, no pictures or anyone claiming the fish. That being said, there are still plenty of big Blue and Black Marlin out there as many boats are getting multiple shots per day on fish in the #300 pound class in the Sea of Cortez, and a few bites on the Pacific side as well. There are Striped Marlin showing scattered along the temperature break, but they are not real hungry, and there were a lot of them reported around the Cabrillo Seamount mid-week.

Yellowfin Tuna: Yellowfin action has been fairly steady with fish being found every day, some of the nice fish in the 100 pound class. There was a patch of them mid-week just 10 miles from the arch to the south along the temperature break, but those fish have moved on. There are still reports of cows on the Gorda Banks and some decent fish on the Inman, but most boats have been prospecting around the 1,000 fathom line with fair success for fish to 150 pounds, but most have been smaller at 25-35 pounds. Almost all of the fish have been associated with the spotted and white bellied Dolphin.

Dorado: Still the fish of the week as almost eery boat that tried to target them was able to limit out, and some of them caught well over their limit. One boat was caught recently by the marines with a cooler of filleted Dorado, which is a federal violation in itself, and after counting the fillets it was found that they were well over the limit. Trying to claim that some of the fish were for the Captain and mate, they were in turn told that if they Captain and mate were keeping fish they also needed fishing licenses. The fun never ends here! Most of the Dorado were found on the Pacific side of the Cape and the average size remained good at 12 pounds, a little down from last week but still decent. Finding something floating in the water really helped, and produced come of the larger fish as well.

Wahoo: Still sporadic, there are Wahoo but not in any concentrations. Most of the fish caught were incidental fish hooked while searching for Tuna or Marlin.

Inshore: Roosterfish to 40 pounds, some nice sized Sierra and a scattering of Snapper were reported from the Pacific shoreline this week. The Sierra are showing early, and the meat was reported to be full of worms, perhaps because of the warm water. The Roosterfish were caught on live bait and the schools have been fairly large. The Snapper have been tight into the rocks, but our small swells have made it easier than normal to get in there and toss a live bait. Most of the Pangas have been focusing slightly offshore fishing for the Dorado.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos!

Once again my great thanks to the guys from Jersey and Virginia, Ed, Gene, Herman and Kent for the new music! Today's report was written to the music off of the CD set “Time Out, featuring Take Five, the Dave Brubeck Quartet”, the Legacy Edition with recordings from 1959, released in 2009 by Columbia Records. Until next week, tight lines!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

Sept. 27- Oct. 3, 2010

Weather: We had mostly clear skies this week with plenty of sun. That meant of course that it was hot as well, and of course at this time of year it was also humid. Our daytime highs were in the mid to high 90's but one afternoon we saw 104 degrees. Nights were hot as well with the lows only down in the low 80's.

Water: With no storms in the area the water has remained perfect for the fishermen, small swells, just a bit of wind on top most of the time. Water temperatures on the Pacific side have been 80-81 degrees and on the Cortez side between 86-90 degrees. 91 reported at the 1150!

Bait: We are still having a bit of a problem with bait availability as the bait guys have not been getting a lot of Caballito, but they have been able to get plenty of other stuff like green jacks and Mullet. There have been some, just some, Sardinas available from San Jose. The small swells this week have made it easier to net these baits.

FISHING

Billfish: The water warmed right back up and with it came the big Marlin. Last Sunday a Blue Marlin was weighed in at #780, and just yesterday (Saturday) there was a reported #1,200 brought in, also a Blue Marlin. That last fish has not been confirmed by me as I just heard about it yesterday in the evening. There have been plenty of nice fish in the 200-300 pound class caught as well, and there have been Striped Marlin found on the Pacific side in the slightly cooler water.

Yellowfin Tuna: There was also little change in the Yellowfin Tuna action as compared with last week. The fish have been found in all the usual places, the Outer Gorda Bank, the Inman Bank, the 1,000 fathom line in the Cortez side, 40 miles to the south, south of the San Jaime Bank and just the other day we had a brief showing of decent fish just 5 miles off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. Most of the fish have been footballs but the school that showed off of the lighthouse had fish to 120 pounds, and the banks have been producing occasional fish that size and larger. Almost all of the larger fish on the banks have been caught on live bait while around half the fish found offshore in Porpoise have been lure-caught fish.

Dorado: Once again Dorado were the fish of the week and the size has stayed decent with an average of 18 pounds and lots of fish in the 30-35 pound class. We had one angler land a bull Dorado that was over 50 pounds, possibly as large as 60 pound on Wednesday, along with several others in the 30 pound class, and they released plenty more. Most boats were able to get limits of these fish without trying too hard, and most of them were found on the Pacific side of the Cape.

Wahoo: A few fish were reported this week, but the bite remained sporadic. The fish that were caught were either on high spots or found offshore while looking for Tuna.

Inshore: Most of the inshore action this week consisted of Roosterfish and Jack Crevalle with an occasional Snapper or Grouper. Most of the reason was the Pangas were fishing near-shore instead of on the beach as usual due to the numbers of Dorado to be found and the flat water conditions. Working water from 100 feet deep to water five miles from the beach almost every Panga out there was able to limit out if they wanted.

Notes: If you are getting your own fishing licenses, you must have pesos!!! The people that sell the licenses around the marina can no longer take dollars from anyone. Get pesos!

Once again my great thanks to the guys from Jersey and Virginia, Ed, Gene, Herman and Kent for the new music! Today's report was written to the music off of the CD “God and Guns”, a compilation of Lynyrd Skynyrd music, released in 2007 by Roadrunner Records. Until next week, tight lines!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

Sept. 20-26, 2010

Weather: We had a late developing tropical storm hit us on Tuesday. On Monday it was just an area of disturbed weather, then quickly became a depression, then by the evening had become Tropical Storm Georgette, with winds gusting to 45 mph. It passed a bit to the east of us, between us and San Jose with winds to 40 mph and about 3 inches of rain over 24 hours. The rain was nice to get, not too much but enough that as of yesterday there was green all over the desert as the grass started to sprout and the cactus started to bloom. As a result of the storm, the air temperature dropped by about 5 – 10 degrees with our daytime highs in the mid 80's and the nighttime lows in the mid to high 70's. At least for the first few days, then it started to creep up again. The rest of the week was partly cloudy with an occasional little spit of moisture, nothing you could call rain and just barely noticiable.

Water: The wind and swells resulting from the late developing Tropical Storm Georgette caused the Port Captain to close the port on Tuesday, and for good reason. It re-opened Wednesday just after daylight, and by then the swells had almost dissapeared but there was still an occasional bit of wind. The churning of the water along with the overcast that came along caused the water temperatures to drop an average of 5 degrees. The Sea of Cortes showed 80 to 83 degrees, starting from the Cape and working northward while the Pacific side had a cold band of 75 degree water from the lighthouse to the southwest, and outside of that, atop the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks the water warmed a bit to 80 degrees, and just a few miles farther west the water warmed again to 82 degrees.

Bait: The full moon has resulted in a lack of Caballito, and the water temperature has meant few Mackerel, if any. Instead there has been Green Jacks, Look-Downs and Mullet. Sardinas have been available if you are one of the first boats to San Jose, and you have to beat the local boats there. These baits are being brought down from the East Cape so if you are late, all you get are dead ones good for chum.

FISHING

Billfish: The cooling water temperature has resulted in more Striped Marlin being caught, particularly on the Pacific side. Blue and Black Marlin are still being found on the Cortez side but not as many as we had a few weeks ago. I am not sure if this is a result of the water temperature of from the moon phase, but there are still some decent fish out there as one of the smaller local boats proved early in the week when the scaled a Blue Marlin at almost #500. Lures caught allmost all of the billfish this week, but a few Striped Marlin were hungry enough to eat the Green Jacks. Many of the boats found themselves catching small Bollito for the first hour of the day in order to have decent baits.

Yellowfin Tuna: There was little change in the Yellowfin report this week as there are still occasional larger fish to 150 pounds being found on the Cortez side aroung the outer Gorda Banks and the 1150 area. Elsewhere, such as the Inman Banks and south of the San Jaime Banks there have been football size Yellowfin associated with Porpoise, and an occasional fish to 40 – 100 pounds with them. Just off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side there have been very small Yellowfin, bait size fish found by the Pangas.

Dorado: Dorado were the fish of the week and the size has slowly grown over the past few weeks. Most of the fish caught this last week were in the 15-20 pound range with a few in the larger class at 35 pounds. Most boats were able to get limits of these fish if they tried hard, and most of them were found on the Pacific side of the Cape.

Wahoo: The bite on Wahoo dropped off locally, but it may be due to the fluctuation in water temperature. There were still fish being caught, but not every day as we had happen the week before. This past week the bite was about ½ of what we had just recently seen, perhaps it will pick up as the water re-adjusts.

Inshore: Inshore was a repeat of last week, with the exception of the Snapper bite, the large swells caused by Tropical Storm Georgette mads getting into the rocks difficult for most of the week. There were Roosterfish, lots of small Skip-jack tuna and baby Yellowfin Tuna as well as loads of small Dorado that supplied most of the action for the Pangas this past week. As well as the usual inshore fish, there were a few nice Black Marlin hooked by Pangas slow trolling live bait for bigger Dorado, so there was always the chance of being surprised!

Notes:
Just recently it came to our attention you can now buy fishing licenses online. Some Spanish required...won't let me buy quantities, as it looks like you can only buy one at a time. I only played on the website for a few minutes this morning, look great for those yearly licenses!!!
https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/
Once again my great thanks to the guys from Jersey and Virginia, Ed, Gene, Herman and Kent for the new music! Today's report was written to the music off of the CD “Centerfield”, a 25th anniversary edition of John Fogerty music, released in 2010 by Geffen Records. Until next week, tight lines!
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

Sept. 13-19, 2010

Weather: Still hot, even though it is cooler on the gauge as the lack of wind and the high humidity makes it seem so much warmer. Our nighttime lows have been in the low 80's while the daytime highs have reached as high as 103 degrees. No rain, and little cloud cover, slight breezes, high humidity, welcome to my sauna!

Water: Still no Tropical Storms in our area, but we have had some slightly larger than normal swells this week. Nothing too big, but they have tossed up some surf on the south facing beaches. Water temperatures on the Cortez side of the Cape have been pretty steady at 86-87 degrees inside the 1,000 fathom line, and at the end of the week we could see the approach of a spot of very warm 90 degree water coming over the Cabrillo Seamount. On the Pacific side the warm water at 86 degrees wrapped around the Cape and came up to the outside (west) of the San Jaime Bank. Inside that area on the Pacific the water was a bit cooler at 82-83 degrees. A bit of breeze in the mornings early in the week had a small amount of chop on the water, and later in the week the winds died and the water was almost glassy all day.

Bait: Caballito and Mullet were readily available at the normal $3 per bait, and I heard that there were some Sardinas as well in San Jose.

FISHING

Billfish: Marlin seem to have made almost everyone happy this week. Almost every boat has been releasing one fish per day, some more than that. Most of the fish have been Striped Marlin, but there have been a lot of small Blue Marlin caught as well, fish between 180 to 280 pounds, and a few larger fish to 500 pounds. Many of the fish have been found on the Pacific side of the Cape with the effort being most intense for the Blue Marlin between 10 miles off the lighthouse to the ridge between the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks. The Golden Gate and the area off of Los Arcos have been producing most of the Striped Marlin, but many more have been sighted and had bait tossed at them than have been hooked up!

Yellowfin Tuna: Still nothing consistent on the Tuna, one day there are plenty, the next they are gone. Of course, if you are the one in the right place at the right time it seems there are no end to them. The problem of course, is finding them in the first place. South of the San Jaime Ban, just to the west of the Golden Gate, 40 miles to the south of the Cape, out at the Cabrillo Seamount, the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks have all produced fish this week, and there has been an occasional toad of over 200 pounds. They have been the exception however, most of the fish found have been between football size to school fish, between 8 and 20 pounds for the most part.

Dorado: Once again we had a good Dorado bite this week. There were plenty of fish, but they were not large ones, yet. Average size was 10 pounds with a few in the #30 class, but they were readily available. Fly rod action on these guys was great, catch and release until your arms dropped off, and the excitement of having one of the big ones show up in the chum line made for some great action. The key was bait, lots of it if using sardinas. You could catch a Dorado, keep it in the water and have the school follow for a long time. Toss in a few sardinas from time to time, or some small chunks of Bonita or skip jack and go to town. Most of the action was once again on the Pacific side within 5 miles of the beach. There were scattered larger fish offshore.

Wahoo: I don't know what happened, maybe the moon beginning to go full, but the Wahoo went on the bite this past week. We had one group who hooked multiple fish each day three days in a row, landing at least one a day. The largest was right around 60 pounds and they lost a larger one that day as well, the others were around 35 pounds. Other boats reported getting bit as well, but the main concentration seemed to be on the Pacific side about 8 miles south of the lighthouse. There were reports from the normal areas as well, the banks and along the rocky points, but the action did not seem to be as hot and heavy.

Inshore: Inshore fishing was a repeat of last weeks as there were Roosterfish, some decent Snapper, lots of small Skip-jack tuna and baby Yellowfin Tuna as well as loads of small Dorado that supplied most of the action for the Pangas this past week. As well as the usual inshore fish, there were a few nice Black Marlin hooked by Pangas slow trolling live bait for bigger Dorado, so there was always the chance of being surprised!

Notes: Recently the Mexican government placed restrictions on the amount of U.S. Dollars individuals and businesses may deposit in a bank account. Due to this restriction, many stores, such as Cost-Co, will no longer accept more than $100 U.S., and you must spend at least 80% in the store. No more going in and buying a case of beer with a big bill and getting a good exchange rate! Now you really need to pay attention about the fishing licenses. Due to Mexican government restrictions the license guys will no longer accept U.S. Dollars, you must pay in pesos at the dock, and no, they do not usually have small change! The cost for a daily license is $140 pesos, a weekly is $290 pesos. If you book an all-inclusive charter, like us, your licenses waiting for you at the dock, they do the work, you just have to supply the names for the licenses in advance.
Just recently it came to our attention you can now buy fishing licenses online. Some Spanish required...won't let me buy quantities, as it looks like you can only buy one at a time. I only played on the website for a few minutes this morning, look great for those yearly licenses!!!
https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/
My great thanks to the guys from Jersey and Virginia, Ed, Gene, Herman and Kent for the new music! They were nice enough to bring me a nice assortment of new CD's. Today's report was written to the music off of the CD “Vintage Bluegrass Essentials”, a 2009 Rural Rhythm Records release.
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

Sept. 6-12, 2010

Weather: It started to cool a little this week. We still had hot weather but our lows went to the low 80's instead of the mid 80's and the highs dropped a few degrees as well. We had partly cloudy skies most of the week and that had something to do with it, of course.

Water: We had no tropical storms pass us this week so the swells were not as large as last week. That said, there was some wind every day in the afternoon that kicked up some chop. Mostly later in the week, and it came from the southwest for the most part, but it was there and made the trip home if you fished the Cortez side a bit uncomfortable. In the very early morning there was a bit of wind on the Pacific side almost every day, but it went away fairly quickly. The water on the Cortez side of the Cape seemed to stay right around 84-85 degrees in our area, and up to 88 degrees in the east cape area. On the Pacific side we had a cold water upwelling from the lighthouse, out to the San Jaime Bank and to the shore just inside the Golden Gate Bank. Cold water is relative of course and this was 74-75 degrees. It was cold compared to the surrounding water which remained in the 80-81 degree range.

Bait: Caballito and Mullet were readily available at the normal $3 per bait, and I heard that there were some Sardinas as well in San Jose.

FISHING

Billfish: Not quite as hot as it was last week, there are still plenty of Billfish to be found. Striped Marlin have made a showing on the Pacific side around the Golden Gate Bank, and the San Jaime Bank as well as the 95 spot and the 1150 have been producing a few Blue Marlin every day. The Gorda Banks, as usual, are providing anglers with some action on Black Marlin, and these fish are also being found at the high spots as well as off of the points. Most of the action on both Black and Striped Marlin has been on live bait, and while the Blues seem to go after lures better than live bait, that may just be because more boats pull plastic for them.

Yellowfin Tuna: On again off again is the story on Tuna this past week. If you were in the right place at just the right time it was very good fishing on fish to 35 pounds with an occasional bruiser to 200 pounds. But if you did not have the luck all you ended up with was a long boat ride. Mostly it was the first boats on the fish that had good luck, and at the normal Tuna spots, south of the San Jaime, 30 miles south of the Cape, outside the 1150, the Cabrillo Seamount and the Gorda Banks. The bigger fish seemed to come on the live bait dropped back after the first hook-up, with a few on lures. Those that were late to the party might have managed to get a few football fish into the boat, but the key was to be first on the scene.

Dorado: We still had a good Dorado bite, but not as good as the week before. Most boats were able to get at least one nice fish in the box, and the good guys were letting the small fish, under 8 pounds, go back to grow up. The bad guys were killing everything they caught, and some of them came in with way over the legal limit of the small fish. Most of the action took place on the Pacific side of the Cape, with almost all of the small fish being found close to shore and the larger fish at least 5 miles out.

Wahoo: Once again I did not hear of any Wahoo bite going on, but did hear of a few scattered fish being caught.

Inshore: Roosterfish, some decent Snapper, lots of small Skip-jack tuna and baby Yellowfin Tuna and loads of small Dorado supplied most of the action for the Pangas this past week. As well as the usual inshore fish, there were a few nice Black Marlin hooked by Pangas slow trolling live bait for bigger Dorado, so there was always the chance of being surprised!

Notes: While not as hot as last week, the fishing has remained very good, and we are hoping it continues. Our fingers remain crossed about the weather, this is normally the time of year when storms start up to the south of us, but looking at the weather pictures this morning I see nothing forming up. So..., until next week, tight lines!
Just came to our attention you can now buy fishing licenses online. Some Spanish required...won't let me buy quantities, as it looks like you can only buy one at a time. I only played on the website for a mew minutes this morning, look great for those yearly licenses!!! Thanks David for the website
https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

August 22-29, 2010

Weather: We had partly cloudy skies this week as we waited to see what Hurricane Frank was going to deliver for us. Fortunately it downgraded to a tropical depression well to the west and south of us and while we had clouds and swells from it, there was not much affect other than the clouds. Our daytime highs were in the high 90's and did reach just over 100 degrees several days. Our nights were warm as well with lows in the mid 80's. We received some spotty rain early in the week, once again just enough to mess up the windshields on the cars.

Water: The warm water remained with us as we had an average surface temperature of 84 degrees on both sides of the Cape anywhere you went. The water did drop down to 80 degrees well to the south of the 1,000 fathom line. The news this week was the size of the swells kicked up by Hurricane Frank. They were large enough that the Port Captain kept the Port closed until it was light enough to see well on Friday, but these were storm swells and spaced well apart. They were still large enough to get the beach bars wet inside when a big set came in.

Bait: Bait was still tough to get, at least good bait was. There were some Caballito but the bait guys were really proud of them, enough so that on a trip I went on this week we were only able to get 7 baits, and it still cost $30.

FISHING

Billfish: Some Sailfish have been showing up for the past several weeks as the water has gotten warmer. Most of them have been found on the Cortez side around the 95 and 1150 areas by boats working those same areas for Blue Marlin. There have also been quite a few Striped Marlin in the same areas, strange since the water is so warm there. As far as the big fish are concerned, the Blacks are still out there as several in the 400 pound class have been caught this week at both the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks, mostly by boats hoping for a large Tuna. The same areas have been producing quite a few small Blue Marlin in the #200 class as well. These fish are probably feeding on the small football size Yellowfin that have been in the area. Offshore has been producing some nice Blue Marlin for boats willing to put in the time and effort, but most of the action has been on the Cortes side between the 95 and 1150.

Yellowfin Tuna: Yellowfin Tuna remained consistent with last weeks report as there were still some Quality fish in the #100+ class being found in the San Jose area between the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks, but most of them have been smaller, ranging in size from 15 to 30 pounds. These same size fish have been found elsewhere as well, with fish showing from the south by the 1,000 fathom line to the San Jaime Banks area. While that action has not been wide open, everyone who has gone looking for them seems to have been able to catch a few. There were some decent fish over #100 found in small pods of porpoise to the southwest of the 95 spot several days this week, and there were even more fish in the 60-80 pound class as well so it is looking better for the larger Tuna this year.

Dorado: I fished the Pacific side for Dorado this week as a guest of a client and we released three Dorado under 10 pounds and kept four fish of about 12 pounds. All these were found close to shore, within 2 miles of the beach and were caught up around the Migraino area. I had reports of larger scattered fish being found offshore, but there was nothing solid or consistent reported.

Wahoo: A scattering of Wahoo were reported this week and strangely enough the best area seemed to be just along the drop off in front of Cabo San Lucas Bay and just to the north of the arch, between there and the lighthouse. Dark lures trolled while cruising out or back home seemed to do the trick, you just had to go about 10-13 knots instead of normal trolling speed of 8 knots or cruising speed of 18 knots. The fish averaged 40 pounds and while not every boat got bit, those that put in the time had some action as a reward.

Inshore: Still the large swells! Roosterfish action was down once again due to the storm swells but quite a few Pangas made the run to the Gorda Banks to fish for Tuna or stayed out in front working the water for Dorado.

Notes: We got lucky and avoided anything from Hurricane Frank, now keep those fingers crossed! If our weather holds we should see some great fishing coming up as the moon wanes. Once again, this weeks report was written to the music of Jack Johnson on his album “Sleep Through The Static”. Until next week, tight lines!
Just came to our attention you can now buy fishing licenses online. Some Spanish required...won't let me buy quantities, as it looks like you can only buy one at a time. I only played on the website for a mew minutes this morning, look great for those yearly licenses!!! Thanks David for the website
https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

August 16-22, 2010

Weather: Once again we had a little rain during the week, but this time it was just enough to spot the windshields, just enough that it turned to mud when you tried the wipers out. Like last week, the rain occurred on Thursday. While that was all we had here in town, fishermen reported quite a few clouds dropping the wet stuff offshore the same day, and during both day around Thursday you could see it coming down in the mountains. That said, the rest of the week was mostly sunny with daytime highs in the mid 90's and nighttime lows in the mid to low 80's. As we approach the end of August everyone is surprised, but happy, that we have had no close calls with storms yet. They bring much needed rain, but sometimes too much in a short time, and can really mess up the fishing for a few days.

Water: We had a big change over the past week as the water started to really warm up. On the Cortez side of the Cape you will find 85 degree water everywhere until you get south of latitude 22.4, then it drops to 80 degrees. On the Pacific side the 85 degree water drops a degree to 84, but goes across both the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks. Just to the west and to the north of those two banks the temperature drops to 80 degrees. We have had some weather in the mainland that affected us this week, causing large swells and strong winds on Tuesday, both coming from the east-northeast and making the seas too rough to fish in the afternoon. That was a one day event, but we still have some large swells from the west that have made near-shore fishing on the Pacific side uncomfortable.

Bait: The full moon made getting good bait hard this week. For our normal $30 we are getting trash fish with just a couple of decent Mullet or Caballito, and then only getting 8 baits instead of 10. The large swells made Sardinas unavailable for at least half of the week.

FISHING

Billfish: The Marlin are still out there as one of our friends released a Black Marlin estimated at +500 pounds earlier in the week while working the temperature break to the south. Striped Marlin have made a re-appearance at the Golden Gate and surrounding areas as most boats have been coming in with at least two releases per day, and some of them more than a half-dozen per day. Live bait tossed at the tailers has been the key, but if the bait balls form on the bank like they have before things could really take off. Elsewhere the fish have been scattered out. Black Marlin in the small size have been found near shore between Cabo and the Los Frailles area, averaging 150-200 pounds, Blue Marlin in the same size range have been found on a regular basis, with a few in the #300 class just a few mile farther out and have been concentrated to the north of the temperature break.

Yellowfin Tuna: There are still some Quality fish in the #100+ class being found in the San Jose area between the Gorda Banks and the Inman Banks, but most of them have been smaller, ranging in size from 15 to 30 pounds. These same size fish have been found elsewhere as well, with fish showing from the south by the 1,000 fathom line to the San Jaime Banks area. While that action has not been wide open, everyone who has gone looking for them seems to have been able to catch a few.

Dorado: On the Pacific side the Dorado action just started to open up good with a lot of fish being found within 5 miles of the beach and larger fish being found a bit farther offshore. We had one boat of clients this week who released two Striped Marlin and then proceeded to land three Dorado, one #50, one #35 and one #15 fish. The fish are scattered all over the place, but finding one usually means there are more close by!

Wahoo: There were a few nice Wahoo this week, mostly caught by boats working close to the beach or at the Gorda and Inman Banks. With an average of 30 pounds, they were not large, but were a nice surprise for those fishing for Tuna and Dorado.

Inshore: The large swells we experienced made getting right on the beach difficult so the Roosterfish action was down a bit, but there were Dorado to take their place just a short way out.

Notes: We have been watching the formation of tropical depressions to the south of us this week. Now that the water has warmed up to 85 degrees the chance of one of them heading our direction increases. Our fingers are crossed for just some rain, and we are watching TS Frank right now. Keeping our fingers crossed, until next week, Tight Lines! This report was written while listing to a mix of Jack Johnson sounds!
Just came to our attention you can now buy fishing licenses online. Some Spanish required...won't let me buy quantities, as it looks like you can only buy one at a time. I only played on the website for a mew minutes this morning, look great for those yearly licenses!!! Thanks David for the website
https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
http://www.flyhooker.com
gmlandrum@hotmail.com

August 9-15, 2010

Weather: For the majority of the week we had daytime highs in the mid to high 90's while the nighttime lows were in the mid 80's. Our change in the weather came at the end of the week when we had a lot of cloud cover move in and this morning (Sunday) our temperature gauge showed 77 degrees, 10 degrees cooler than the same time yesterday. Not only was it cooler, but when I stepped outside I thought we had a water pipe break on the roof. After a bit more checking it appeared that the clouds dropped some rain on us, about ½ inch, and the plants loved it!

Water: Surface conditions on the Pacific side were a little rougher at the end of the week than during the beginning as the clouds were preceded by wind, quite a few people thought the Pacific was an E-ticket ride on Friday. It was better on the Cortez side of the Cape as far as the surface conditions went, and the water averaged several degrees warmer as well with most of the area showing 82 degrees, plus or minus a degrees or two. I was fishing on Thursday and the warmest I saw was 84.4 degrees. On the Pacific the water close to the beach was cooler at 73-75 degrees, but the farther offshore your went the warmer it became, up to 80 degrees in a few areas.

Bait: Caballito and Mullet were available at $3 per bait.

FISHING

Billfish: I was amazed upon returning from our 10 day vacation to hear about the numbers of Blue and Black Marlin that were being caught. There were still Striped Marlin around, but as normal with these warmer waters, they were not present in large numbers. Certain areas, such as the 1150 and the Gorda Banks, were producing multiple bites for every boat every day on Blues and Blacks that seemed to average 200 pounds, but the larger ones were in the 400-500 pound class. Lures were working great, and dropping back live bait produced quite a few fish as well, but unless the boat was prepared for the larger Marlin with 80 to 100 pound class drop-backs, the fight was bound to last a long time. These Blues and Blacks fight a lot harder than Striped Marlin, and the #30 class drop-back gear used for them made getting a Blue or Black to the boat problematic for most visiting anglers. These fish were actually being found just about everywhere, they were close to the beach as well as at the high spots.

Yellowfin Tuna: We had clients out this week who boated on Yellowfin Tuna at #147 that was caught on a lure, the same boat caught one two days before on a kite bait that weighed #180, and our friend Mike landed on the same size. While these were nice fish, they were not averaged size. Most of the Yellowfin that were caught were in the 12-20 pound class. All the fish, at least the larger ones, were found with Porpoise on the Cortez side from the Cabrillo Seamount and to the southwest of there along the 1,000 fathom line. There was a decent concentration of the smaller Yellowfin at the Lighthouse on the Pacific side for several days early in the week that were not associated with Porpoise and the Pangas really hit them hard, averaging 8-10 fish per boat.

Dorado: For some reason the number of Dorado dropped off a bit this week. The best catch by our clients this week on Dorado was 8 fish, with only one of them over 20 pounds. Most of the smaller fish were close to home, just outside the bay. The larger fish were scattered, but a few boats were able to get two or three over 20 pounds each trip.

Wahoo: I did not hear of a lot of Wahoo caught this week, but I know there were some because I saw one that probably weighed about 45 pounds being brought in to the weigh station. There were scattered bites offshore when boats were fishing for Marlin and Tuna, I don't know if there were any concentrations of fish inshore.

Inshore: Roosterfish action along the beach was good this week with the average size 20 pounds. Quite a bit of difference from the 3 pound average we have in the cooler waters! A few real “Bubbas”, fish over 60 pounds, were caught as well with the largest I heard of just over 80 pounds. Working the beach areas in 80-100 feet of water while slow trolling live Mullet was the best method this week for the larger fish. Some Snapper were caught in the rock piles and quite a few of the Pangas were going for the football Yellowfin at the lighthouse while they were there.

Notes: Having been gone for 10 days it only took a couple of days to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully the fishing continues to improve (although I don't know how it can get much better, maybe if the Dorado really take off!) and the storms stay away. I don't mind the bits of rain, but keep the wind away! Until next week, tight lines!
Just came to our attention you can now buy fishing licenses online. Some Spanish required...won't let me buy quantities, as it looks like you can only buy one at a time. I only played on the website for a mew minutes this morning, look great for those yearly licenses!!! Thanks David for the website
https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/