CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT
Capt. George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
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!