FISHING WITH ARTIFICIAL LURES GETTING
THE BEST ACTION ON STRIPED MARLIN

June 13, 2004, Capt. George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

It’s warming back up at Cabo San Lucas and that’s a good thing. Our coldest water at the end of the week was on the Pacific side up toward the Golden Gate Bank where we had water in the 67 degree range. Drop down toward the San Jaime Banks and it warmed up to 70 degrees and on the Jaime itself the temperature was up to 72 degrees. The water on the Sea of Cortez has also warmed up and we were getting readings as high as 81 degrees just a mile off the beach. This warm water has followed the coast down and extends out around three miles at the warmest and then gets in the 78 degree range out around the 95 and 1150 spots. Farther out from Cabo San Lucas it drops a bit more to 73 degrees. Due to the strong winds, the water on the Pacific side and the Cortez side off shore early in the week was uncomfortable with lots of chop along with some big swells. Later in the week things mellowed out a lot.

BAIT: Small caballito at $2 per bait, some Mullet at $2 per bait and some Sardinas at $20 per bucket.

CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING:

BILLFISH: Lots of striped marlin out there, just a bit difficult to get some of them to eat! The best results have been on lures this week. Early on the fish were off the outer Gorda Banks about two miles and as the warm water came toward Cabo San Lucas the fish followed. At the end of the week there was good action and good numbers of fish from one mile off shore to the 95 and 1150 spots. Most Cabo San Lucas boats had shots at multiple fish during the day and few of them came in without any flags flying. There were Marlin found on the Pacific side as well, just not in the same numbers. I am starting to get reports of some Blue Marlin coming into the spreads and hopefully this will continue as well!

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Again it was a slow week for yellowfin tuna at Cabo San Lucas. I did see a lot of white flags flying, but when I went to talk to the Captains and anglers I could see that there were Marlin on the flags. Just to confuse us I suppose. The few fish that were caught were found to the south of the San Jaime Banks, in the open and without any Porpoise around. A friend of mine reported seeing lots of Tuna on his depth sounder out 2 miles from Cabo San Lucas on the Cortez side but they were deep and would not come up. He said that is why there are three Purse Seiners anchored off the Beach here, they are waiting for the fish to come up. Or maybe they are here on vacation?

DORADO: There were a few more dorado flags flying this week at Cabo San Lucas than there were last week and that is to be expected as the water warms up. We still do not have any great numbers of them but the size is getting better. It appeared as if around 20% of the Cabo San Lucas boats out this week were able to get a Dorado or two, and they were being found all over the place, no particular area held more or bigger fish. I take that back, the larger fish were off shore while there were smaller fish found in close. Marlin lures worked well, but that may be because that is what most boats were running!

WAHOO: Again just a few fish. Hopefully with the warmer water and the moon changing the bite will pick up.

INSHORE: The rooster fish have reappeared on the Pacific beaches and there have been jack crevalle mixed in as well. The Roosters seem to be following the warm water as it creeps north. Most of the fish have been in the 20 pound class with a few larger ones in the mix. There were a couple of days when pargo were biting off of the Lighthouse in close to the rocks. Of course, live bait was the key on all these fish, Mullet for the Roosterfish and sardina for the Pargo. A friend caught the largest yellowtail of the year so far at Cabo San Lucas, on live bait off of the arch, a nice 33 pound fish.

NOTES: It is starting to look like summer at Cabo San Lucas. The water is warming up, the Dorado, Roosterfish and Blue Marlin are beginning to come in and the water is starting to calm down. Fingers are crossed that the trend continues.

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JUNE 8, 2004:

This trip was a split share and unfortunately one couple was very ill from the beginning. Juan and his brother kept the Fly Hooker close to shore on the way up the Sea of Cortez in order to avoid the large swell and the chop farther out, and they were headed toward the Outer Gorda Bank. That is where the action has been on the Striped Marlin. The father and son half of the charter were fine, and gave the couple some Dramamine at the beginning of the trip. The problem with that is if is not in you for longer than 15 minutes, it does not have a chance to help you! They managed to get to the Outer Gorda Bank, just 2 miles from where the fish were, and then it became too much for the couple. Father and son were not very happy, but the couple was on a honeymoon so there was some sympathy there. Juan had the boat back at the slip at 12:30 with no flags flying.

CABO SAN LUCAS FISH REPORT FOR JUNE 9, 2004:

Another split charter, this time with two couples and a single guy. Don was the single guy, and he was first at the boat this morning. The wind died down a bit last night so we were hoping that the water had mellowed out as well. As things turned out, they had mellowed out quite a bit and everyone was fine. Don was the only one to get any action though, as he was standing next to the rod when a Striped Marlin of about #130 jumped on the lure. Juan said that there were two other fish that hit at the same time, but only this one hooked up. Don fought the fish for 30 minutes and planned to release it, but when it got close to the boat it was discovered that the fish had been hooked through one eye and would have been shark food if released. They spotted several other fish during the trip but could not get any of them to eat. They fished the same area, outside the Outer Gorda Bank, and Juan said that it looked as if the fish were slowly moving our way with the warmer water. I hope so! Thanks guys, I wish everyone had a chance to get a Marlin, but that is the way it goes sometimes!