FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
November 10-16, 2008
WEATHER: Yep, we have settled into our comfort zone! Last week saw the temps drop as low as 70 degrees at night and not rise higher than 90 degrees during the day, and the humidity was down as well! Sunny skies and light winds were the norm.
WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape lived up to its name this week, as the swells were only 3-5 feet with an occasional day of light chop. At the end of the week it was almost glassy at times. The water temperatures ranged from 81 degrees at the tip of the Cape and to the west in a band that ran across the San Jaime Bank, to 80 degrees just to the north on the Golden Gate Bank and closer to shore. South of the 1,000-fathom line the temperature dropped to 79 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water was glassy all week with swells at 1-3 feet and water temperatures that were consistently in the 81-82 degree range, with the slightly higher area alongside the cooler 79-degree water at the 1,000-fathom line just to the south of the 95 spot.
BAIT: Getting bait in the morning at the end of the week was chancy as the full moon made it difficult for the bait boats to catch Caballito, but they had some as well as a few small jacks to choose from. Most boats were able to get a few baits and then made more on their own once they were at the Golden Gate Bank, there were plenty of Mackerel there.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Still fish of the week, the Golden Gate Bank was the site of multiple Striped Marlin releases for every boat that fished there. A bad day was a release of only 5 fish, and most boats were doing double-digit numbers. We had clients who are charter boat owner/captains themselves on the east coast who released 10 fish on Saturday and they said all of the fish were nice sized with the smallest at around 150-pounds, most of them were in the 180-pound class. The bait was balled up all across the area, and while most of the boats stayed on the high spot, some of the more successful ones looked for balls of bait away from the crowds.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There was scattered Yellowfin action this week, but I did not hear of any big fish caught. Most of the fish I heard about and I saw were in the 30-40 pound class and the schools were reported from all over the area, no concentration in any one spot. In addition, the schools were moving fairly rapidly, there one day and gone the next. 20 to 30 miles to the south in the cooler water and outside the San Jaime and Golden Gate were reported to be good areas this week, and a few boats reported fast moving schools just 5 miles out during the middle of the week. Lures were the way to go on all these fish since they were moving along at a fairly rapid rate, and spreader bars, cedar plugs and daisy chains got the action going.
DORADO: The bite remained light again, but there were still plenty of fish out there if you were in the right area. The San Jaime Bank and just to the south of it delivered up to 9 fish in a day for clients of ours who were looking for Tuna, and other boats were finding 4 or 5 fish per trip as well.
WAHOO: Full moon and calm waters helped boats that wanted Wahoo. A few very nice fish were reported from open ocean waters while looking for other species, and I had a few anglers tell me that the action for these speed demons was fair at the Inman Banks area up around Punta Gorda, but the fish were in the 30-pound class.
INSHORE: I saw a very nice #30 Rooster caught and released by a boat fishing just off the beach in front of the Pedregal on Friday, and a few of the Panga Captains I talked to said that the action in that area had been pretty consistent on fish averaging 15 pounds. With our calm waters, many of the Pangas were venturing off shore after Dorado and Marlin.
NOTES: Since I have been hearing the sound of four or five off-road buggies racing along the streets all morning as they prepare for the Baja 1000 next week, I had a slightly different style of music playing, some good country music! The Best Of Waylon Jennings got me in the mood to type this report, now I am ready for some football and cold ones. Oh, that's after taking the dog to the beach for some swim time and having a good Sunday morning breakfast. I also have some yard work that I need to do, but that might wait until tomorrow! Until next week, tight lines!