FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
July 23-29, 2007
WEATHER: I love it when we have daytime temps in the mid 90's, we get to sweat and clean out our systems. When we add a light breeze in the evenings as the temperature drops to the mid and low 80's it means that things are just about perfect here in Cabo. I know that these temperatures a too hot for a lot of people, and we did have the humidity raise up a bit this week, but it sure beats 112 degrees, and I don't care it that is a "dry" heat or not, that is just too damn hot for me. I guess what I am trying to say is that things were just about perfect this week considering that we are in a summer weather pattern. We did have Tropical Storm Delilah pass to the southwest mid-week and she brought a scattering of rain to us on Wednesday along with some winds that decreased the temperatures but for the most part she was a "non-event", but a warning of what might happen during the next several months.
WATER: As far as the basics are concerned we had storm swells at the middle and end of the week from Tropical Storm Delilah, large enough that there were high surf warnings out at all the hotels and resorts on both sides of the Cape. The wind combined with the swells were enough to convince the Port Captains office to close the Marina to departures after 7:30 AM on Wednesday, a lot of boats returned very early due to seasick clients. The storm came up from the south and pushed warm water with it. Early in the week prior to the storms arrival we were seeing offshore temperatures in the low 70's, on Thursday we has a steady 79 and over across the board. At the end of the week the California current re-asserted itself and we had temperatures in the mid 70's along the Pacific coast and as far up the Sea Of Cortez as Punta Gorda, and extending up to 10 miles off the beach on the Pacific side and 3 miles on the Cortez side.
BAIT: There were plenty of Mackerel and Caballito available this week as well as Mullet and Sardinas. The Mullet and Sardinas were difficult to get at the beginning for the week and of course on Wednesday there was no bait available, at least fresh caught bait, the water was just too rough for the guys to catch bat. At the end of the week there were bait balls all over the place, both up close to the beach and far offshore. Prices were the normal $2 per large baits and $25 per scoop of Sardinas.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin action was close to the beach on the Cortez side for moat of the week with most of the action happening place in the cool water within three miles of the coast. There were groups of fish tailing on the surface, occasionally as many as 7 or 8 fish together, and there were also lots of sleepers on the surface. Farther offshore the water was warmer and there were not the numbers of fish to be found. There were a few Blue Marlin reported and this was expected as the offshore water warmed up. Hopefully we will start seeing some good numbers of these fish as the warming continues and spreads. Also, there were Sailfish reported. These are not as common in our area as they are in many parts of Mexico, but here they are also an indication of warming water and a precursor to good Dorado fishing!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I keep hoping for the Tuna fishing to improve and this week there were a few days when almost every boat that went out returned with Tuna flags flying. Unfortunately most of these fish were only footballs in the 6-12 pound class, very few larger fish were found. Most of the action occurred wither 5 miles off of Chileno beach early in the week, 12 to 18 miles south of the Cape during mid week or at the San Jaime bank at the end of the week. Sounds like they are traveling, yes? As is often the case with the football fish, the best results were had with small re hootchies or dark colored feathers, slow trolled while being "jigged" among the porpoise.
DORADO: A few boats really did well on Dorado this week but most of the guys were lucky to get a fish or two. The clue was to find something floating on the surface or slow troll live bait in the area where Frigate birds were seen to be working. Most of the fish were in the 12-20 pound class with a few stretching the springs on the scales to 45 pounds. The best action was prior to the storm, early in the week, on the Cortez side of the Cape, but I believe that things will pick up really fast now that there is more warm water in the area.
WAHOO: We are just coming up on the full moon on the 29th and I am surprised that I have not heard of more Wahoo being caught. There were a few fish reported, but not in any numbers or from one particular area.
INSHORE: Inshore action was good for Roosterfish early in the week but the rough conditions as a result of Tropical Storm Delilah really had the inshore bite drop off. While it has been a few days since the storm passed, it nor until just now that the swells have died down enough to make the fishing comfortable close to the beach again.
NOTES: I am going to be very busy the next few weeks so I will have more "hands-on" report information in the next couple of reports. I really like that, it makes for better first hand information and also allows me to do an informal check on the "b.s." factor of information I receive. Until next week, please take a few minutes to check out the following link, especially if you like fishing here!
http://www.billfish.org/new/NewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=60