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From Jan 01, 1999 To Jun 27, 2004
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Dec 23, 2002; 10:00AM - Cabo Fishing Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
Capt George Landrum
Fly Hooker Sportfishing
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 16-22, 2002
WEATHER: Sunny skies at the beginning of the week turned into overcast starting Friday
afternoon but with no rain here in Cabo. You could see it coming down in the mountains though.
We have maintained the same temperatures as last week with the morning lows in the 60 area and
daytime highs up to 90 at times. We did have some pretty windy days, Tuesday and Wednesday,
but the winds tapered off when the clouds started to move in. (Silver Bells)
WATER: The water on the Pacific side was choppy almost all week and on Tuesday and
Wednesday it was downright rough. More than a few boats came in early because of that. The
water on the Sea of Cortez side has been much better but the fishing there has not been as good
for some reason. Our surface temperatures have been in the 75-76 region this week, warming up
just a bit from what we saw last week This temperature has extended out to 40+ miles in all
directions except south, and there it warms up a degree at a distance of around 20 miles. (Joy To
The World)
BAIT: Mostly Mackerel this week with reports of some Sardinas. Larger baits at the normal $2
each and Sardinas reported at $25 a scoop. (O Little Town Of Bethlehem)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The full moon and Striped Marlin fishing do not go together well here in Cabo so the
catch rate was down this week. A few boats were finding one or two Striped Marlin that were
hungry but most of the fleets were lucky to see a Marlin. The Blues are gone (but there will
always be one that doesn’t realize the water is too cold!) but there have been a few Sailfish still
around. The Marlin and Sailfish that have been caught have mostly been fooled with slow trolled
live bait and very few have been caught on lures or found tailing. (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Scattered football 5-15 pound fish in the blind on the Pacific side through
Thursday then that dropped off. No reports this week of anything much larger than 25 pounds
nor were there any reported found with porpoise. The Pacific football size fish bit on cedar plugs
and dark colored feathers and a few anglers told me they had luck on them by dropping iron after
hooking up on the troll. (Winter Wonderland)
DORADO: Most of the Dorado found this week were fish in the 12-25 pound class. A few were
caught up to 50 pounds and most of the fish were found either under floating debris (the larger
fish) or in the blind close to shore. Live bait worked wonders on the larger fish and most of the
smaller ones were hooked on lures pulled for Striped Marlin or Tuna. Most boats were finding
two to five fish to put in the box. (Jingle Bells)
WAHOO: The Wahoo flags I saw this week were flown for inshore Sierra. That’s it folks!
(Silent Night)
INSHORE: Some nice Roosterfish and reports of a scattered Yellowtail or two. There had been
steady action on the smaller Dorado as well as the Bonita and Skipjack but all that pretty much
disappeared as of Wednesday and the appearance of the green water caused by the winds. The
rest of the week the Pangas worked a bit further offshore looking for Dorado, but not with a lot
of luck, at least from the anglers reports I received. (Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas)
NOTES: This has not been an outstanding week for fishing , but at least the weather has been
warmer than up north! people are always asking me when is the best time to come to Cabo to fish
for certain species. All I can do is tell them generalities based on past catch records, there is no
way to predict how the fishing is going to be. What it comes down to is this; “You will NOT
catch a fish if you are sitting on the beach sipping a cervesa!”. No guarantees of fish, enjoy
being on the water and keep your fingers crossed, remember that the worst day of fishing is better
than the best day in an office!. This weeks report was written to the Christmas music from the
CD “Merry Christmas From Alaska”, a CD produced in 1999 to help raise funds to benefit the
Children’s Hospital in Providence, Alaska. Produced by Nightworks Records and in our hands
thanks to our good friends and clients Tim and Jill Lawrence! “Felize Navidad” from George,
Mary, Juan and Manuel! |
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Dec 21, 2002; 09:55PM - Trout are biting at Irvine Lake California
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Category: California Southern
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Author Name: just me
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Author E-mail: me again
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Report Description:
The trout are biting at Lake Irvine in California again. I fished with Louis Aguilar from around 9 am to closing on the lake which is about 4 pm. We managed to get our limit trolling Yo zuri Slavko Bugs and yo zuri emperor minnows along with Louis favorite lure the cd 5 in rainbow trout pattern. I managed 5 trout on the slavko bugs and 1 on the emperor minnow also in rainbow trout pattern. I learned that we should have been throwing some spoons that day as the fish were biting them anywhere we had gotten bit that day. Oh well we did fine and I recommend the lake to anyone who just likes to get out and wet a line. Fishing is great and after speaking with someone at a local tackle shop I learned that the fish are biting on roostertails if thrown once bitten on the troll. Good luck if you get out.....Steve |
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Dec 16, 2002; 12:05PM - 'Fly Hooker Daily Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
FLY HOOKER FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 9, 2002
http://www.flyhooker.com
Today is the third of three for our friend David Reese and pals Mike and James. After the
action on the Dorado yesterday they were hoping for a repeat, but it was not to be. They
returned to the same area but this time the whole day was a boat ride. They saw no Marlin or
Dorado today. We sure are glad they managed to get 100 pounds of fillets on the first two days!
Thanks David, we look forward to seeing you again sometime in April!
FLY HOOKER FISH REPORT FOR 10 DECEMBER, 2002
Today was booked by Dennis Bracken for himself and five friends. He had originally wanted
five days with us but we were only able to give him three, so for the last two days he fished
another boat. Well, he was not able to figure out how to call us once he arrived and even though
he knew where the boat was, he booked another boat for today. We found this out this morning
as he and his group passed by the gate to E Dock on their way to the other boat. Wish we had
known as we turned down other charters for him and could have gotten a trip for today.
FLY HOOKER FISH REPORT FOR 11 DECEMBER, 2002
Dennis Bracken and his group showed up at 7:10 this morning, a bit the worse for wear after
last night. Juan said they slept most of the day. Juan and Manuel worked the area off of the Los
Arcos and Juan said they had one Marlin eat a live bait tossed in front of it, but the fish got the
bait, not the hook. That was all the action for the day.
FLY HOOKER FISH REPORT FOR 12 DECEMBER, 2002
Dennis Bracken had his brother come down to see me yesterday afternoon and cancel todays
trip but we were able to put together two of our repeat clients who were in town and wanted to
fish. Mike Henstra is vacationing with his wife, her sister and her mother so he said he would be
happy to share a boat with Mike and Teresa rather than go shopping. Juan and Manuel went 25
miles to the south looking for a band of warm water that is approaching but found nothing once
they got there, it was on the way back when they got a strike and that was a nice 35 pound
Wahoo that Teresa got to reel in. Good dinner material!
FLY HOOKER FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 13, 2002
Today was a payback to our webmaster for all his effort in building and maintaining our
website. Hats off to Mr. Phil Orr! Myself, Phil, and our friends Leon and Robert were supposed
to go and Phil had also invited a couple of the guys he works with at the golf course. Robert
missed the boat as he ended up waiting somewhere else for us and he had a cooler of chicken and
ribs! Thank goodness Leon showed up with six box lunches! One of the guys invited by Phil
showed up, Miguel, and this was his first time to go fishing. We decided to try deep dropping
some live bait off the lighthouse at the beginning of the trip and worked that for about an hour
and a half with no response from the fish except for one bait getting scarred and taking a lot of
line but not getting eaten. Then we went in and fished the area off the beach between the
lighthouse and Punta San Cristobal (Los Arcos) for Sierra. Miguel got one to the boat and Phil
farmed one. The action shut down and we headed offshore looking for something larger. Not
until the tail end of the trip did we find anything except the large Black Porpoise, and as we were
returning to the marina we hooked up a Dorado right outside the lighthouse, where we began the
morning deep dropping live bait! It was a nice fish about 20-25 pounds and delivered up some
good fillets!
FLY HOOKER FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 14, 2002
Our new friends Sonny and Randy fished our boat today. They went out on another boat
yesterday with friend Gary but Gary instructed the Captain to return after three hours out, he
didn’t want to get that far away from town. They caught a Dorado yesterday and would like to
catch some more of them today, but Gary is going to stay ashore and they invited me to go along.
We wanted to be sure to get fish in the boat for them and started out by working the are off the
beach between the lighthouse and San Cristobal for about an hour, picking up two Sierra of about
4 pounds each. When the action had been slow for about a half hour I suggested that we head
offshore to look for something larger. We worked the deep water for several hours until we saw
a Marlin free jumping about a half mile away. Another boat spotted it too and were there before
we were. In the same are there were a couple of Frigate birds circling around way up high so we
decided to try and slow troll the area with live baits. About 30 minutes after starting to slow troll
there was action on Randy’s bait. It zipped out line a few times and there was a big swirl behind
it. Juan had the rod in hand, ready to set the hook when the rod on Sonny’s side dipped a little
and the line started to sing off of that reel. Both of these baits were ones that had been trolled on
top of the water, not the one on the planer. I set the hook on the fish that had hit Sonny’s rod and
the fight was on! Lots of jumps were done by the Marlin as he made a big circle. Sonny tired real
quick and Randy got on the fish as it completed the circle and swam towards the boat. Randy
thought the fish had come off so Manuel goosed the engines and there the Marlin was, not more
than 20 feet away, still hooked up. Juan was able to grab the leader for a second before the fish
realized what was going on but it pulled out of his grip almost immediately. Another series of
jumps took place and the rod switched hands several times before Sonny took the last up and got
the fish close enough to the boat for Juan to try and grab it. it was not easy because the fish had
just a little stumpy bill that projected maybe an inch past it’s lower jaw. The fish was hooked in
the corner of the jaw and the hook was easy to remove. The fish was tagged and released,
swimming slowly away, tired but in good shape. After a round of High-Fives another bait was
put out as more rigs were readied. less than three minutes later the one boat that was out got
eaten by a nice 25 pound bull Dorado! After the Marlin action this one was easy and Randy had it
to the boat pretty quickly. We tried again but had no more action and there was no action as we
trolled for the last hour. Not a bad day though, and I hope we have this good of action
tomorrow!
FLY HOOKER FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 15, 2002
Today and tomorrow we have Larry Quinn and his adult son Trey as our anglers. Larry
booked two days fishing as a birthday present for Trey. They were kind enough to be willing to
share the boat today with our friends from Bend, Oregon, Mike and Teresa. Since it is a birthday
gift for Trey, he is supposed to get first fish and the guys tried hard but had little luck. They did
have a Marlin rap one of the lures and had another one hook up just long enough to pull line for a
few seconds, but nothing was hooked solid. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!
Until Next Week, Tight Lines from George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew |
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Dec 16, 2002; 12:02PM - Cabo Fishing Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
CAPT. GEORGE LANDRUM
“FLY HOOKER” SPORTFISHING
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT DECEMBER 9-15, 2002
WEATHER: Keeping cool in Cabo! I check my outside thermometer every morning and on
Saturday it showed 55 degrees! Sweater, long pants and socks were my dress for the morning!
Our daytime highs have been a comfortable 85-88 degrees with a slight breeze. The desert is now
blooming from all the rain we received during the Thanksgiving weekend so a drive out there is a
nice thing to do. We have not had any rain since then but we did have quite a bit of cloud cover
in the early part of the week. (Deck The Halls)
WATER: The surface temperatures continue to drop as we go through the transition from
summer water to winter water. This week the highest I found was around 79 degrees. Most of
the water around the Cape has been in the low 70’s but there has been a bit warmer water from
25-30 miles to the south. The surface conditions have been great with small swells at the
beginning of the week, getting larger as the week ended but with plenty of space between them
and no wind chop on top of it. (1st Nowell)
BAIT: Almost the only thing you could find this week was Mackerel in the 8-10” range, a bit
small but they worked well. There were only a few Caballito and I have no idea if there were any
Sardinas or not. The bait was the normal $2 each. (Shepherd’s Night Watch)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The only species around right now is Striped Marlin as the water has become too
cool to be comfortable for Blue Marlin. There were not a lot of fish found this week but a few
lucky boats were able to hook one or two and get them to the boat. Most boats were lucky if
they were able to get one to toss bait to, the fish were scattered out and not staying on the surface
very long. Most of the fish that were caught were found while deep dropping live bait off of
Punta San Cristobal and Golden Gate Banks or while slow trolling live baits in the same areas.
They have been averaging about 110 pounds with a few fish reaching the #140 class. (Festival of
7 Lights)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I did not see nor did I hear of any boats finding Yellowfin Tuna this week,
but I did see a few boats flying Tuna flags. I checked with the anglers from one of them and
found that they had caught Skipjack Tuna that the crew had flown flags for because they wanted
to be able to fly something. The others may have found Yellowfin, you never know, but I heard
no word. (O X’mas Tree)
DORADO: Even the Dorado bite was a bit slow this week as most boats were very lucky to get
three or four fish, and most came in with just one or two. Slow trolling live bait or pulling
brightly colored lures in the 9” range were what seemed to work. Most of the action took place
on the Pacific side of the point and in the same areas as the Striped Marlin were found. The
basics worked well, find the bait and work the area. Hook up one Dorado then toss a live bait out
behind it as it comes in, there might just be another one or two following it. (Away in a
Manger/Island X’mas)
WAHOO: A few Wahoo were caught this week and they seemed to prefer dark colored lures.
Most of them were in the 30-40 pound range and there was no concentration to them, the catches
were reported from a wide area. (Morning Glory)
INSHORE: Most of the inshore action took place on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and
Punta San Cristobal. This area is where a school of Sierra has been working the beach and the
best action was in water between 15 and 60 feet deep. The fish were biting on small hootchies
and Rapalas in bright colors, the favorite being orange/red and the fish ranged from 3 to 7 pounds.
The average catch was two to 6 fish before the bite stopped, around 9 am. A bit farther out, in
water from 60-150 feet, there were a few schools of Dorado found and a few boats found some
Amberjack and Snapper on the bottom around the rocks. (We Three Kings/Santa Fe X’mas)
NOTES: We are in the transition from warm summer waters to cooler winter water and the
fishing has shown it. The action has not been hot and heavy but most days there was some fish to
be found. Checking my log book for last year the same thing was going on. We can look
forward to some continued Dorado action and the Striped Marlin should become more numerous
and the football and school Tuna should show up very soon. This weeks report was written to
the sound of music for the holidays by one of my favorite artists, Ottmar Liebert. The CD is
“Poets & Angels”, a 1990 Higher Octave release. |
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Dec 9, 2002; 10:43AM - 'Fly Hooker Daily Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 2, 2002
http://www.flyhooker.com
Returning client Roy Tull is here with his friend David for a few days and today is their fishing
day. And that is what it was, a fishing day, not a catching day. Roy said it was a good day to be
on the water and that the fish got lucky. Juan and Manuel again worked the Pacific side of the
Cape out to a distance of about 10 miles, and up the coast about 15 miles but found no fish that
were willing to bite. In a few days Roy and David will be fishing for one day on the East Cape. I
sure hope you guys have better luck up there! Let me know when you return, ok? Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 3 DECEMBER, 2002
Our friend Harry Hudson is here with his friend Nolan for four days of fishing with us. Nolan
has never caught a Marlin and that is to be the target for all the days on the water. They would
like to be able to catch a Dorado each day so they have fresh fish for dinner, other than that, the
target is to be Marlin! Juan and Manuel took the boat 10 miles out from the lighthouse on the
Pacific side and worked their way up the coast. It was raining a bit in the morning but by about
9am it cleared off and at 9:30 they got a Dorado in the boat, dinner in the box! Around a half
hour later Manuel spotted a Marlin on the surface and ran the boat over to him to toss a bait. As
he slowed the boat down the lures sunk and instead of eating the bait he ate the lure on the bridge
rod! Nolan made pretty short work of him, getting him to the boat in about 15 minutes, then the
continued the search, but got nothing else for the day.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 4 DECEMBER, 2002
Fishing started about 12 miles straight out today and then Juan and Manuel worked the boat up
the coast the same distance as yesterday. Today it was Harry’s turn to catch fish and he got to
reel in dinner, but that was all. Juan said that they had one Marlin strike that did not hook up. I
sure hope things get better tomorrow!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 5 DECEMBER, 2002
Juan called me at 5:30 this morning to let me know he was sick (something he ate) and would
not be coming to work so it was me and Manuel on the boat today. Harry and Nolan invited our
friend Chewy to go along. He is 19 and has never been on a boat before but is always asking
about the clients fishing trips. Manuel let me know that the bite had been good off of Los Arcos
yesterday so that is where we started for. We got an early start and were one of the first boats to
the area. I marked no bait on the depth sounder and saw only a few Porpoise on the surface and
no birds at all. We actually put the lines in the water shortly before Los Arcos just in case the fish
had moved and I continued past Los Arcos in case they may have headed that way. With no signs
of life there and the Golden Gate Banks being only 7 miles away, I decided to go and check that
area out. Once we got to the Banks, there was only one other boat there, I spotted a couple of
Frigate Birds working and big splashes underneath them. Big Yellowfin Tuna, in the 150-200
pound class were feeding on small bait. We tried for an hour to get them to eat something,
anything, but had no luck with lures or live bait. Eventually a few more boats arrived and we
tried deep dropping live bait for about a half hour with no results. I headed back to the Los Arcos
area and when we got there I realized that is where I should have stayed as it must have been a
tide associated bite. One boat was fighting a Marlin and just before we got to him we had a strike
on the bridge rod. I did not see the fish, only the splash but Manuel said it was a big Dorado.
About five boats were working a very small area and suddenly two Frigate Birds swooped down
and there were a pair of Striped Marlin under them! They were only about 50 yards in front of us
and by the time Manuel got a bait hooked up to toss they were just off the bow and went down.
Norman said that if he had a very long handled tag stick he could have free-tagged him! No luck
for us there and as we continued towards the Marina we saw a monster concentration of boats off
of the lighthouse. Lots of Frigates working and boats zooming here and there showed that they
were trying to get some Tuna in amongst the Porpoise but we saw no one hooking up. There
were at least 50 boats in there! We made it back to the Marina with no flags but at least Manuel
and Juan have a target for tomorrow!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 6, 2002
Juan was feeling better today so the worked the boat as crew. Manuel had decided to spend the
day working the area off of Los Arcos and Harry and Nolan were all for it. They spent all day
and saw lots of bait and lots of Porpoise, but never got a strike. Harry said that he and Nolan
thought about going somewhere else but that every time they started to say something the bait
boiled to the surface and the area looked so fishy they changed their minds! Well, it was not a
very productive four days of fishing for the guys, but Nolan did get his first Marlin! Both Harry
and Nolan are fishermen and they acknowledged that sometimes you strike out, hopefully next
time their luck will be better. Until then, Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 7, 2002
For today and the next two days we have our good friend David Reese fishing aboard the “Fly
Hooker” and he is here on a “Guy’s” vacation with his friends Mike Shane and James Fu. We
promised David’s wife Peggy that we would try and keep the guy’s out of trouble! Today Juan
and Manuel tried once again to fish the area off of Los Arcos, on the Pacific side. There is just so
much bait there and so much going on that it is hard to keep away. You just KNOW that with all
that bait there has to be some predators around the area! Well, at about 9am to 10am they did
have two Marlin hook-ups, but they both came unbuttoned. The first fish they thought they were
going to have a good chance at but no...it threw the hook after a few minutes. The other fish was
just a strike and quick pull before it came off. They have decided that no matter how good it
looks there they are going to try somewhere else tomorrow! We will keep our fingers crossed for
them.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 8, 2002
The second day of fishing for David, Mike and James was a lot better than yesterday’s trip! No
Marlin strikes today, but that may be because they went elsewhere in the morning. Today was
Manuels day off and we had Chino working the deck. Juan pointed the bow of the boat to the
south as they left San Lucas Bay and ran out about 9 miles than began to troll. At a distance of
16 miles they saw a boat stopped and went over to check him out. The boat had found a piece of
wood floating in the water and was hooking up around it, getting some nice Dorado. It turned
out to be a good thing that David had purchased 20 baits instead of the usual 10 pieces! The live
bait turned the Dorado on and Mike and James had a blast! Dave was the beer server and coach
most of the time, but when they had six fish hooked at one time he had to step in and assist.
About four or five fish were lost due to tangled lines that broke but they ended up with 10
Dorado, a limit for five people (including Chino and Juan). It was not until they were down to
two live baits that Dave told them to start using chunks, otherwise they were going to run out.
With a limit of Dorado in the box they started to look for Marlin or Wahoo or Tuna, but there
was no other action. The Dorado, weighing between 15 and 30 pounds, filleted out to 83 pounds
of meat and Dave decided to have it vacume packed and frozen to take home. Tomorrow
anything goes, and hopefuly they will come across a Marlin willing to eat!
Until next week, Tight Lines!
George, Mary, Juan, and Manuel , the “Fly Hooker” crew! |
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Dec 9, 2002; 10:39AM - Cabo Fishing Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
CAPT. GEORGE LANDRUM
“FLY HOOKER” SPORTFISHING
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT DECEMBER 2-8, 2002
WEATHER: It’s starting to get a bit cooler here in Cabo so we know that its winter time! Our
morning lows have been in the 60-63 degree range while our daytime highs have been in the mid
80’s. Early in the week we had mostly cloudy skies as we had a front move over us and on
Tuesday we got some rain in the morning and the afternoon. After the rain last week you should
see the desert out there, green as can be and the flowers just shooting out! Right now we have
clear skies and light winds from the NNW for the mornings at around 5-7mph with it picking up
to around 12-15mph in the late afternoon. (Trade Winds)
WATER: Just as our air temperatures have cooled a bit, so has the water temperature. Last
week we were looking at surface temps in the 80-81 degree range out front and now we have
them in the 78 degree range. Looking at the area in the larger sense we are not seeing the 80-81
degree water unless you go up past Golden Gate Banks or at least 35 miles to the SE. Within a
15 mile radius of Cabo it is an even 78 degrees. 25 miles to the southwest we have a finger of
cold water moving in from the Pacific that is showing temps of 75 degrees with a well defined
edge. There have been no swells to speak of and the surface conditions have been great. Most
mornings there has been just a light wind riffle and in the afternoons just a light chop on fairly flat
seas. Good blue water everywhere you go! (Oceans Apart)
BAIT: There were some Mackerel early in the week and now it is mostly Caballito. The
normal price of $2 per bait. I have not asked for nor have I heard if there are any Sardinas
available. (Holding Back The Years)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Not too surprisingly with the lowering surface temperatures the number of Blue
Marlin being found has dropped considerably. There were a few at the beginning of the week and
almost none at all over the weekend. The main Billfish for the week was Striped Marlin, a
situation likely to continue now until next summer. Just because they are the most numerous
though does not mean that they are out there in great numbers. Most boats have been able to find
at least one or two a day and a few lucky ones have been able to catch up to three a day, judging
by the flags I have seen flying on boats coming in. Most of the fish were being found on the
Pacific side and were pretty evenly mixed with about half coming from the area to the south of the
Jaime Banks and the other half coming out of the area between the lighthouse and Los Arcos, out
between three and ten miles. The average size is down a bit with most of them in the 100-120
pound range and the bite has been mostly on live bait. Boats have been finding them just as you
usually look for Dorado, spotting Frigate Birds working then racing over to toss a live bait under
them. (Blue Universe)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Very few Yellowfin were caught this week although on Thursday if you
had been out at the lighthouse on the Pacific side you would have thought that the bite was wide
open! There was a giant group of Porpoise working the area and clouds of Frigates working
them. The action attracted about 50 boats that were tossing live bait right and left, dropping bait
down hopeing to get bit and pulling every lure known to man in the hope of a Tuna bite. Any
time the Frigates would re-form and start feeding again there would be a race with around a
dozen of the closet boats running full throttle into the middle of the mess, tossing out bait as the
slid to a stop. I only heard of one boat getting a Tuna out of it! The same day I was up at the
Golden Gate Banks earlier and there were Tuna in the 100-200 pound class feeding on very small
baits, Manuel said they were Bullito (sp?). We worked them for a while until other boats showed
up and the fish went down. The few other fish that were found this week were footballs,
unassociated with any Porpoise. They were caught on feathers pulled for Dorado. (Dream
Catcher)
DORADO: It seemed the key to getting numbers of Dorado this week was to find some
floating debris. If you did, and there were not too many boats working it at the time, you stood a
good chance of picking up a limit. Most of the fish caught under debris were caught on live bait
or chunks. If you wee not one of the first few boats there, and if you were not getting bit on
fly-lined baits, it sometimes helped to rig them with a 2-4 ounce lead about 5 feet away and let
them down around 60 feet. There were a few scattered fish found within 3 miles of the shore and
they were most often spotted under working Frigate birds. Best lures were 6” feathers in bright
colors with some of the larger Dorado going for 12 inch plastics in rainbow hues. (Feelin’
Alright)
WAHOO: There were some Wahoo caught this week and I heard of a few in the 80-90 pound
class. Most of the fish I heard of were found off the coast on the Pacific side while boats were
working for Dorado and Striped Marlin. There were a couple caught at the Jaime Banks that
were over 60 pounds but most of the fish were in the 30-40 pound range. Best lures were Braid
Marauders in purple/black and chromed jet heads of at least 6 ounces with dark skirts. (Midnight
Swim)
INSHORE: While not seeing them myself, I heard reports of a halfway decent bite on Roosterfish
on the Cortez side of the Cape, with one boat getting a fish in the 50 pound class and getting a lot
in the 15-20 pound size. There are Sierra showing up as well and they are 3-5 pounds average.
The Roosterfish were hitting live Mullet and the Sierras were biting on Clark spoons and on small
Rapalas. I have also heard reports of a few Yellowtail being found as well. Most of the Pangas
have been focusing on Dorado since there have been a few nice sized fish within their reach.
(Dipsea Trail)
NOTES: While the weather and the water were very nice this past week, the fishing has been
just average. A fair selection to be found, but nothing in any great quantities. It may have
something to do with the new moon on Wednesday, but things should start to pick up real soon.
The Whales are starting to show up in force and have been sighted on every trip this week. This
weeks report was written to the music of one of my favorite guitarists (I have a lot of them!)
Craig Chaquico on his 1997 Higher Octave Music Inc. release “Once in a Blue Universe”. On
this album he is joined with artists such as Richard Elliot, John Klemmer, Dave Koz, Douglas
Spotted Eagle, 3rd Force and Peter White. As you can tell, this is a great Jazz and Rock mix! |
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Dec 2, 2002; 09:57AM - Fly Hooker Daily Fishing Reports
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 25 NOVEMBER 2002
Rick Harris is in town again on a short notice vacation and today he went fishing aboard the
“Fly Hooker” with a friend of the family, Kyle. Juan and Manuel took the boat up the Pacific side
and worked the area about three miles offshore of the Margarita/Los Arcos area and had a lot of
fun with Dorado. Rick only wanted to keep a little bit for dinner so they started releasing fish. A
total of 8 large Dorado gave them a lot of jumps and lots of fight and they were back at the
Marina by 12:30! Thanks Rick, we look forward to seeing you again next year!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 26 NOVEMBER 2002
Walt Ehnat and his grown sons Tom and Marty were our anglers today. This is their third day
of fishing on this vacation and they had a blast! Well, everyone except Marty. He crawled out of
the cabin when the boat got back in at noon and wanted to know when we were leaving! A little
bit of the old “Tequila Flu”! Well Walt pretty much took it easy since it wasn’t too long ago that
he had a triple bypass so it was up to Tom to do most of the fishing. Juan and Manuel were able
to keep him busy by hooking up 9 Dorado, 2 Yellowfin and letting him fight an estimated 310
pound Blue Marlin for over an hour before tagging and releasing it! I sure hope the fishing stays
this good.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 28 NOVEMBER 2002
It clouded up last night and this morning, just after the boat left the Marina with John and Ray
aboard for a half day of fishing, the skies opened up and it poured! This was the first time for
John and Ray to do any kind of fishing and one of them had a very worried wife. About mid day
we were able to calm her down with the report that the guys were catching fish, were not seasick
and would be coming in on time. Manuel and Edgar went back to the Pacific side, up off of Los
Arcos and caught 7 Dorado and 2 Yellowfin Tuna.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 29 NOVEMBER, 2002
Brothers Zach and Brian Eastman are fishing today and tomorrow and they really want to
catch a Marlin. We had our fingers crossed when they left this morning. Juan and Manuel went
back to the Pacific side and were able to get 4 Dorado in the boat but no Marlin. They did have
strikes from 4 Striped Marlin and saw lots of them on the surface and jumping but were not able
to get a hook to stick in any of them. Hopefully tomorrow!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 30 NOVEMBER 2002
The second day of fishing for Zach and Brian was not as eventful as yesterday. Juan and
Manuel returned to the same area as yesterday but the fish had moved on. Today they didn’t even
see a Marlin and they only caught one Dorado.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR DECEMBER 1, 2002
Zach Eastman decided to give it one more try and Brian decided that he wanted to do the Sand
Dunes ATV excursion. Zach invited me to go along and I was happy to get the chance. Lines
went in the water outside the lighthouse on the Pacific side and for the next three hours we had a
boat ride as we worked our way up the coast toward the Golden Gate Banks. About three miles
short of the Banks Juan spotted a turtle in the water and as we passed by him we had a very large
Bull Dorado come and grab the long rigger lure. The fish didn’t stick and we worked the area for
a little bit with no luck. We even dragged a live bait by the turtle, hoping that there were more
Dorado under it. When we got to the banks there were 12 boats there and all of them were
trolling, with no luck. At about the same time everyone stopped trolling and dropped down live
bait. We gave it a shot for about a half hour but with no luck. We were told that the bite had
been early using the deep dropped bait. Lots of bait balls, schools of Mackerel on the depth
finder, but no interested Marlin. It was not until we were almost all the way back, just about 4
miles off of Los Arcos, that we finally had a Marlin strike. The fish grabbed the shotgun lure but
did not hook up. I dropped back a live bait and we saw the Marlin come in and grab it. I ended
up farming the fish! He ran with it for a few second, stopped to eat it then ran again. I set the
hook on the second run and I guess I didn’t wait ling enough because I had good solid weight for
a few seconds then could feel the hook pull loose. That was our only shot of the day and I blew
it! Again, I’m sorry Zach! Our fingers are crossed that next time will be better. Until then, Tight
Lines!
Until Next Week, Tight Lines form George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew!
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://www.flyhooker.com
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Dec 2, 2002; 09:52AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
CAPT. GEORGE LANDRUM
“FLY HOOKER” SPORTFISHING
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT NOVEMBER 25-DECEMBER 1, 2002
WEATHER: Our week started out very nice with the nighttime lows in the high 60’s and the
daytime highs in the mid to low 90’s. On Wednesday we began to get clouds moving in strong
and checking the weather maps found the Pineapple Express had moved right over us. We have
had cloudy skies and showers everyday since then but it is clearing up now. No really heavy
gullywashing downpours, just enough to mess up the streets and wash trash into the Marina. The
cloud cover has caused the temps to drop and we are now seeing low 60’s to mid-high 70’s. The
desert is going to be beautiful in a week! (Tropical Legs)
WATER: Both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez were calm all week long but there was some
pretty choppy conditions on Wednesday as the front moved over us. The inshore water dirtied up
on Thursday due to the rain but out past a mile it gets blue again. Our water temps have lowered
a bit as well with water outside the Cape reading in the 80-81 degree range. Our warm water is
now on the Pacific side but the temp breaks are far, far away. (Amazon)
BAIT: Most of the bait available this week were small 8-10” Mackerel and the price was the
usual $2 per bait. A few Caballito were in the bait boat tanks as well. I have no knowledge of
Sardina availability. (Magic In Your Eyes)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: What a strange week! I was not expecting much in the way of Marlin but I was
surprised. There were still Blues and a few Blacks being caught this week, and a lot of Striped
Marlin being sighted and caught. Toss in a mix of Sailfish and just about every billfish we have
available here in Cabo was around this week. Naturally the Striped Marlin were the most
common, and most boats were able to get at least a couple of them hooked up. Live bait was the
ticket and most of the fish were spotted tailing. For lures, anything in Dorado colors seemed to
work well on all the Billfish, likely because there are so many of them around right now. Most of
the bite has been on the Pacific side, up in the Los Arcos area from 2 miles to 10 miles offshore,
and including the Golden Gate Banks. (Calypso Getaway)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Tuna bite dropped off a lot this week and almost all of the fish I have
seen or heard about have been footballs to 20 pounds. There have been a few schoolies in the
25-35 pound range as well but no large fish. The fish have not been associated with Porpoise,
most of the strikes have been in the blind while fishing for Dorado. 6” feathers and hard plastic
lures in smaller sizes worked well with no specific color mentioned by anyone. Due to the effort
put in this week Dorado, most of the Yellowfin found were caught within 5 miles of the Pacific
coast. (Dr. Macumba)
DORADO: Last week I said that it looked like the Dorado bite was going to keep getting better
and it has. The average size is up to around 20 pounds and there has been plenty of them around.
Most of the boats were working the Pacific side up to 10 miles offshore. A lot of the action was
within 2 miles of the beach and the boats were pretty concentrated in there. The key was finding
Frigate birds working and getting in a pass on them with the lures. If you hooked up, drop back
some live baits and wait for the action. Most boats were able to meet the 2 Dorado per angler
limit without a problem early in the morning, then went in search of other species. (Angelina)
WAHOO: I saw a few Wahoo flags this week but when I talked to the anglers I found that most
of them had been flown by boats that had found some nice sized Sierra inshore. I am sure there
were some Wahoo caught but don’t know the where’s or what’s this week. (Long Ago And Far
Away)
INSHORE: Up until Wednesday there was some fair fishing for Sierra and a few small
Roosterfish inshore, and there was good action on the smaller Tunas, the Skipjack and Bonita.
Most of the Pangas were concentrating on the Dorado bite and after Wednesday’s weather
change, the water inshore became too murky for anything but the Dorado search. (Heart String)
NOTES: If anyone reading these reports has questions about fishing in Cabo or just Saltwater
fishing in general, feel free to check the “Ask The Captain” section at www.flyhooker.com , my
homepage. I have just gotten the bugs worked out and will be answering questions each morning.
To all those anglers who have fished with us and have tagged and released a Marlin using the
“Billfish Foundation” tags we provide, I am sorry to say that the Foundation has changed their
policy concerning the issuance of free release certificates. Here is a quote from them: “Yes, it is
a new policy. We generate through the Release Certificate Program 10,000 to 12,000 certificates
a year, all for free. It just got too expensive not to do something. The new policy is $25
introductory membership offer where all certificates are then free, along with the rest of the
premiums, or, $20 a certificate. There was really no way to give the heads-up to captains and
fleets, there are just too many.” So, if you want the certificate you are going to have to pay for it,
but hey, it’s not a lot of money and it goes to a very good program! This weeks report was
written to the music of one of my favorite songwriter/guitarists, Earl Klugh on the 1991 “Blue
Note” Capitol release, “The Best Of Earl Klugh”. |
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Nov 25, 2002; 12:19PM - Fly Hooker Daily Fishing Reports
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 18 NOVEMBER 2002
Our local friends Don and Cathy Cole booked the “Fly Hooker” today to go fishing with their
pastor Mike and his wife and Kathy’s brother Bob and his wife. Some fish for dinner and perhaps
a chance to fight a Marlin were all they were looking for but instead they had a boat ride. It was
enjoyable, and they did say that watching the Porpoise was very nice but since there was only one
Tuna strike (didn’t hook up) they had a lot of time to just rest and eat. Don and Bob are going
again on Sunday so we hope the action improves by then. This is the first trip on our boat where
Don got skunked, I sure hope it doesn’t happen again!!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 19 NOVEMBER 2002
Raul and Dave Hernandez and their friend Harvey are fishing with us today through the 23rd
and I thought about just combining all the days into one report but nah, never mind, I would
probably forget something then. They are from Texas, the Dallas area and are usually found out
fishing for Catfish and Striped Bass. They wanted to catch big fish and decided that Cabo was the
place to go. Sometime during the 5 days of fishing they would like to be able to each fight a
Marlin, that is the ultimate goal. Of course, any fish at all is great and the larger the better! Well,
Juan and Manuel decided to go up the Pacific coast again. They were lines in outside the light
house and had a triple strike on Dorado, getting one to the boat. They continued up the coast
almost 25 miles and had no action at all. Returning, they hooked into three more Dorado in the
same area where they hooked up this morning and this time they managed to get two of the fish
into the boat. Some very nice fillets were taken over to the smokehouse and you know they are
going to enjoy eating them when they get home! Tomorrow the plan is to go south and see if
there are any Marlin out there. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for these guys, they are so nice
they deserve to get lots of fish! Until tomorrow, Tight Lines!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 20 NOVEMBER 2002
Juan and Manuel took off with Dave, Raul and Harvey this morning and headed south from the
lighthouse. They worked their way out 18 miles without spotting any Striped Marlin. They did
pick up one Dorado on the way out and one on the way back, both fairly close to the lighthouse
area. Enough Dorado they said, lets go for Marlin tomorrow! Fingers crossed.
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 21 NOVEMBER, 2002
Today was Juan’s day off and Abulito worked as deckhand. Manuel decided to try the 95 spot
without success and then they worked up towards the 1150, again with no luck. A friend
contacted him on the radio and said that they had some luck deep dropping live bait off of the
ledge at the lighthouse so they gave that a shot for an hour and a half with no luck. Dave, Raul
and Harvey are getting antsy, they only have two more days to get their billfish. Our fingers and
toes are crossed!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 22 NOVEMBER 2002
High tide was early this morning and Juan and Manuel decided that they should try the deep
drop of the lighthouse first thing, working the tide change. Finally some action! Dave caught a
Sailfish of about 80 pounds and a Dorado as well while both Raul and Harvey had Marlin grab
their baits but were unable to get them hooked up very well. They did get some jumps out of
their Marlin but the hooks were thrown. They also got strikes from Wahoo but were not able to
get them hooked up either. Tomorrow they are going to leave a little bit earlier because the bite
happened early today. They had gone through the 12 baits they had bought by 11 am so
tomorrow they are going to buy a few more! Fingers, toes and eyes crossed for their Marlin!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 23 NOVEMBER 2002
Today was the last day of fishing for Raul, Dave and Harvey and they went out to repeat the
action they had yesterday. It was not the same, but both Raul and Harry got to fight and release a
Sailfish while working the bottom with live bait. Dave was the designated photographer since he
had gotten his fish yesterday, and he did a fine job of it as was shown by the results played back
when they returned. They also hooked up to four big Skipjack Tuna and Dave got to fight a
Stingray estimated at 25-30 pounds that took a liking to his live bait. The guys had a great time
and were happy that they managed to get a billfish each. Thanks go out to Raul and Dave and
Harry for being a great bunch to be with! Looking forward to either 2003 or 2004!
“FLY HOOKER” FISH REPORT FOR 24 NOVEMBER 2002
Don Cole and his brother-in-law Bob were our anglers today and they invited me to go along
with them. When we left this morning we were hoping to not have a repeat of Mondays outing
when they got skunked! Thankfully we found fish, but it was a morning bite for sure. Don said
that he would rather catch fish for the table than catch trophy fish so Juan directed the boat up the
Pacific coast and we fished less than two miles offshore between Margaritas and Migrainos. Bob
was first up in the chair and the first strike was on the bridge rod, a nice Dorado of about 20
pounds. It took only a few minutes to coach Bob on the proper technique and the fish was gaffed
and in the box shortly thereafter. The next fish was about 15 minutes later at 8am and it was a
slightly smaller Dorado, one about 15 pounds. Don made short work of that fish and we
continued to work the area, along with about 10 other boats, but without any further luck. At
around 9:30 Juan had us working under a Frigate bird and was getting frustrated when we could
not get a bite. He gunned the engines and it may have been the increase in speed, but a big Bull
Dorado jumped on a lure and Bob was off to the races again. This fish took a lot of line and after
the lines were cleared we dropped a bait way back there and managed to hook up another
Dorado, this one a big female that Don got to fight. Both of these fish, estimated at between 30
and 35 pounds, ended up in the fish box! We did have another Dorado strike at around 11 am, a
big Bull that struck the short line, but it failed to hook up well. We returned to the dock with
Don’s cooler filled with zip-locked fillets and with both Don and Bob with smiles on their faces!
Until Next Week, Tight Lines form George, Mary, Juan and Manuel, the “Fly Hooker” Crew!
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://www.flyhooker.com
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Nov 25, 2002; 12:16PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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Author E-mail: gmlandrum@hotmail.com
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Report Description:
CAPT. GEORGE LANDRUM
“FLY HOOKER” SPORTFISHING
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
http://www.flyhooker.com
CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT NOVEMBER 18-24, 2002
WEATHER: This week the weather cooled a bit, seems as if we are approaching an autumn
kind of situation. Our nighttime lows have been in the low 60’s while our daytime highs have
reached the mid 90’s with a bit of humidity at times. The skies have been partly cloudy for the
most part and we have had no rain this past week. The weathermen say that we can expect some
thundershowers this coming week, but I’ll believe it when I hear/see it! (Theme For A Rainy
Day)
WATER: Surface conditions have been very good on both the Sea of Cortez and the pacific side
this week. Weak winds from the northwest have ensured good conditions all week long and the
most difficult situations we have had to deal with have been the tide changes concurrent with the
full moon. Water temps have been the same as last week with the exception that the cool band of
water coming down from the northern Sea of Cortez has gotten closer. Everything else has
stayed about the same. There have been distinct temperature breaks to the west of both the San
Jaime and the Golden Gate banks, and the breaks have been pretty severe, but the distances have
been too far for most of the fleet boats here in Cabo. We are looking at 50-70 miles out and a
temp change of 5 degrees in a mile distance. (Take You There)
BAIT: Most of the bait we found this week has been small Mackerel, the 8-10 inch size. There
have been some Caballito and both species have been the usual $2 per bait. With a bit of
bargaining you can get 12 for $20. There are still some Sardines at the usual $20-25 per small
scoop. (Jamaican Winds)
FISHING:
BILLFISH: This week has been a bit strange for Billfish. We have been seeing a lot of Sailfish
caught early in the morning along with a few Striped Marlin being hooked up. Normally the
abundance of Sailfish corresponds with a very strong Dorado bite, but this week it seems that the
Sails have stood ground on their own. Most of these fish have been found close to shore in the
same areas that the Dorado frequent, and most of them have been caught on live bait. That
average size has been 70 pounds, no minnow for sure but just a little shy of the 120 pound Striped
Marlin people are looking for. These fish (the Striped Marlin) have been caught in the same areas
but are also being found on the 95 spot and in areas further to the south. There have been a few
late season Blue Marlin hooked up, but not many of them have been landed. Best baits for the
Sailfish have been the small live Mackerel, best for the Striped Marlin have been the same baits
plus any Caballito. The Blue marlin have been fooled by artificial lures this week, and mostly by
ones in darker colors. (Mobimientos Del Alma)
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This full moon seems to be a bit different. Usually we see an up-swing in
the Yellowfin Tuna during the full moon but this week there actually seemed to be a drop. The
fish that were found were footballs and they all were associated with either Porpoise or floating
debris. Most of the favorite spots were in the current lines at either 12 miles or 25 miles to the
south. These fish were still fun to catch and there were plenty of them around if you were in the
right spot at the right time. 6” cedar plugs were a hands down favorite, followed by 6” feathers in
Guacamaya or Petrolero. (She Never Said Why)
DORADO: Thank goodness for most of the boats that there were Dorado around this week. If
not for these great fish, many of the boats would not be flying any flags at all. The Dorado were
running from 15 to 25 pounds on the average and most of them were found by trolling artificial
then switching to live bait once the schools were located. Our fish this week seemed to show a
preference for the Pacific side of the Cape, and most of them were only a short distance from the
shore. (Kissin’ On The Beach)
WAHOO: There were a few nice fish caught this week and I suspect it had a lot to do with the
full moon. They averaged 35 pounds and some of them were caught on live bait while deep
dropping live Mackerel for the Striped Marlin. I heard stories aplenty from anglers about the
number of baits they brought up that had either been cut in half or stolen altogether. (Trailer hook
hidden in the tail!?) (Every Moment With You)
INSHORE: The inshore fishing this week was almost a mirror of last weeks escapades. Most of
the small boat fleet was focused on slow trolling live Caballito or Mackerel in the hope of finding
a Dorado or a Striped Marlin. There were reports of small Yellowtail and Roosterfish, but I did
find out that the bite for those small gear tackle busters, the “Skipjack”, was wide open.
(Midnight In San Juan)
NOTES: Those of you with whom we have tagged and released fish using the “Billfish
Foundation” tags during the past 3 months, you need to be aware that things have changed just a
bit. When last we ordered the tags (two months ago) there was supposed to be the option of
having a release certificate mailed to you stating the date, location, angler, boat, species,
estimated size and fighting time. This certificate was supposed to be at no charge to you as the
angler. Well, the “Billfish Foundation” is a non-profit organization dependent solely on donations
from anglers in order to keep its self afloat. It’s purpose has been to educate anglers about
species sustainability, and the collection of more accurate fish data to better understand the
reproduction and growth cycles of the Billfish. According to the foundation, there has been a
lack of financial support, they claim it is due to the economic situation in the U.S., and due to the
climbing expenses they have been forced to begin charging for the release certificates. As a
non-member there is a charge of $20 per certificate but if you decide to become a 1 year member
at the special introduction rate of $25, all certificates are free. If you are confused, just go to their
website and check them out. They said there were too many charter boats and organizations to
be able to notify everyone in advance. Guess that is why I had to find out by my clients e-mailing
me to ask why they were getting a charge for certificates. Sigh, I guess it’s not just a Mexican
thing after all! This weeks report was written to the sounds of Earl Klugh and his guitar on the
1991 Warner Brothers CD release “Midnight in San Juan” |
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