CaptGeo - 9-17-2012 at 07:33 AM
FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
Sept 10 - 16, 2012
WEATHER: This time of year we can expect occasionally rough conditions since it is our storm season. We always hope for some rain, not too much mind
you, but hope the storms pass far enough away that the winds stay down and the seas are fishable. This week we had Tropical Storm Kristy form up to
the south and pass to the west. This formation brought us some rain, in fairly light amounts here in Cabo and it was light enough that the ground
absorbed it, maybe ½ inch total. I heard that the weather and rain was much worse in the San Jose area though. We had mostly cloudy skies this week,
but a couple of sunny days early on and our temperatures stayed in the mid to high 90's during the day and dropped to the low 80's at night with high
humidity most of the time. The best weather was offshore where you got a breeze!
WATER: Let me preface this section by letting you know that the Cabo San Lucas Marina was closed on Friday due to the large surf conditions caused
by Tropical Storm Kristy. It was also closed Thursday afternoon, and probably should have been closed Thursday morning, these swells were 12-15 feet
and causing some extra large surf. Walking the beach was not safe nor was taking any boat close to the beach. At the end of the week the water on
the Cortez side of the Cape was green with run-off but warm, the charts showed 89 degrees in front of San Jose and a large plume of dirty water
extending out from there, across the Gorda Banks and out to the 1150 spot and the 1,000 fathom line. In front of Cabo it was 87 degrees and dirty
water, but not as bad as around San Jose. If you went around the Cape into the Pacific side at the end of the week you found 85-86 degree water that
was clean, at least between the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks and shore. Swells during the passing of Tropical Storm Kristy kicked up the shore
very hard and there were spume lines extending across the entire Cape up to three miles offshore. At the end of the week the swells had subsided to
2-4 feet in all areas with just a light wind on the Pacific side.
BAIT: Caballito were available early in the week for $3 each and there were frozen horse ballyhoo for the same price.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Sailfish were the billfish of the week as the warm water really seemed to set them on a feeding frenzy. Last week we were having pods of
them coming into the lures and making the c-ckpits a picture of frenzy as lures were attacked left and right. These beautiful fish averaged 90 pounds
with a few going as large as 130 pounds, Not all that bit were hooked up of course, but most boats managed to get two or three releases per trip.
Not the numbers you see elsewhere, but very good for our area. Strip baits (tuna belly) dropped back to the fish that came in on the lures worked
better than anything else to get them hooked up, better than live bait, which is strange for some of these guys to get their heads around. The
Striped Marlin that were caught were mostly hooked on live bait, and the local fishermen are very used to that and have this fishing method down to a
science. There were reports of a few Blue Marlin early in the week before the storm passed, but nothing since then. Almost all the billfish action
in our area happened on the Pacific side of the Cape.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I heard that early in the week there were some very nice Yellowfin to 200 pounds caught at the Gorda Banks and that has gotten
everyone's pulse pounding. The Gorda Banks are well known as a large Tuna area, if they are around, and it is almost always a live bait fishery. In
the rest of our local ocean most of the tuna were found with porpoise and were football fish, in the 5 to 12 pound class with a few 18 to 25 pound
fish mixed in. The Purse Seiners really made their presence known and felt last week, but hopefully the foul weather forced them away and we will
have a few weeks of decent Tuna fishing before they re-appear. After the storm passed a few boats went out and found that the Tuna were still around,
getting decent results fishing on the Pacific side 2 miles off the beach.
DORADO: Once again fish of the week as they often are this time of year, Dorado are still out there in decent numbers. At the beginning of the week
almost anyone could limit out on small Dorado that were between 5 and 10 pounds with a few to 15 pounds tossed in, but the larger fish were a bit
harder to find. If you could find some floating debris your chance improved dramaticly, as they did if you were able to find frigate birds working.
Working bright lures at slightly higher speeds than normal really caught their attention, then working the area hard with live bait brought in some
decent fish. Almost all the Dorado action here in Cabo happened on the Pacific side within 5 miles of the beach.
INSHORE: Strong and variable currents at the beginning of the week and dirty water at the end of the week made inshore fishing problematic at best.
A few Snapper and Grouper were found on the Pacific side as well as the occasional Roosterfish but almost all the Pangas were working a bit farther
offshore in order to catch the easily found Dorado and Bonita.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe!
NOTES: My music this morning was the sound of my fingers going tickity-tack on the keyboard, but in my head I was hearing the sounds of a reel going
off! It looks as if we might have some decent weather this coming week so the chances of it happening are pretty darn good! It is said that
imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so it's nice to know that there is another report out there that is flattering mine! It's off to the beach
for the Sunday trip, and let me toss out a good morning to Mark and Char, we look forward to you guys getting down here! Keep the music going, and
until next week, tight lines!