WEEKLY ROUNDUP BY FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING

Oct. 25-31, 2004, Capt. George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas sportfishing results, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

We are still experiencing the cooling weather as Cabo San Lucas night time lows have been in the low 70s and the day time highs have been in the mid 80s. I love this time of year! This week we had overcast skies and actually experienced a bit of rain as clouds moved through the area. The rain took all the dust off the plants and buildings and really greened up the desert! At the end of the week it cleared up for a couple of days and now it looks like we might have more cloudy days coming at us. That is a good thing, really!

There was not much change this week in the warm water and cool water borders, just the slight variance you might expect from normal tidal action and currents.

There was still a band of warm water just off the shore on the Cortez side of Cabo San Lucas and it extended out to the San Jaime Banks on the Pacific side an up the coast there as well. Farther out, at a distance of around 15 miles the water began to cool off a bit and was a little off color. Warm water in the band was in the 84-85 degree range while the coldest water in the area was a seemingly frigid 75 degrees. Cabo San Lucas surface conditions were great all week as what wind we had was slight and only gave the surface a slight chop on top of the small 2-3 foot swells.

The usual $2 per bait and almost all of it was Caballito. There were Sardinas available as well at $20 a scoop.

There were still some Blue and black marlin being hooked up this week and it was not uncommon for boats to have a shot at several Striped Marlin and Sailfish as well.

The Black and Blue Marlin seemed to be more concentrated on the Cortez side of Cabo San Lucas and were found in the warm water band.

The Pacific side was holding the Sailfish and the concentrations of Striped Marlin.

Good luck was had on the Pacific side from Cabo Falso to the Golden Gate area from 1 mile to 5 miles off the shoreline. Trolled lures in petrolero, blue/pink/silver and green/black worked well for the Blue Marlin, live bait (small tunas) for the Black Marlin and small brightly colored lures and Caballito for the Striped Marlin and Sailfish.

There was no change in the status of the yellowfin tuna this week, the same areas and same conditions as the previous week still held. Almost all the Yellowfin reported this week were caught as bait for the tournament fishermen and by Pangas working the same areas. These areas were just off the light house on the Pacific side, on the ledge there, and just off the beach in 200 feet of water on the Cortez side in front of the Hacienda Del Mar Resort and Gray Rock. Chumming with live Sardines brought up the fish and they were almost all footballs between 8 and 15 pounds. We sure hope that the bigger fish show up this week as we are all looking forward to the Tuna Tournament on Thursday and Friday.

Dorado were once again fish of the week, smaller lures in bright colors, live Caballito and Sardinas were the keys to getting a cooler full of dorado, and most boats that were working for them had no problem.

I guess the pressure had no effect, unlike my thoughts for last week (I thought that the pressure was less because of the Marlin tournaments) as almost every boat that seriously tried for them was able to get plenty of fish in the box. The fish were concentrated near shore, feeding on the abundant bait on the Pacific side of the Cape. Quite a few fish were found on the Cortez side as well, again near the shore. Any floating object was worth checking out, from dead seals (an amazing number of nice sized Dorado came off of one found inside the Golden Gate Banks) to bits of trash floating in the water, almost everything held a fish or two.

Not quite as many Wahoo were caught as there were last week and it may have to do with the moon phase (or maybe not, I always get in trouble trying to figure these fish out). Still, there were orange flags flying every day so fish were being found. Most of them came while boats were fishing for the Dorado and Yellowfin Tuna, so there was no concentrated effort for them. I am sure that has someone specifically targeted them they would have had success.

The next big Cabo San Lucas fishing tournament is the last of the year and there is going to be a large number of boats entered. The Tuna Tournament has been a blast so far every year and I hope this year is the same. This week was a bit of a rest for most of us as there was only one tournament, the "For Pete's Sake" charity tournament. The fishing has been great, the bookings filling up and I am almost ready for a vacation (don't I wish!).

FLY HOOKER DAILY CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING RESULTS:

Fish count for the week (four boats): Striped Marlin, 2 fish released (#120, #130); Sailfish: 2 fish released (#40, #45); Dorado: 27 fish kept, a whole lot released (#12-#35); Yellowfin Tuna: 5 fish kept (#10-#20).

"FLY HOOKER" FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 25, 2004:

Ed and Paula Weis are fishing with us again today and on Wednesday. Juan and Manuel were up and ready for the fishing and headed out toward the inside of the Golden Gate Bank area on the Pacific side. The water has been just a bit cooler there and there have been Striped Marlin and Dorado scattered everywhere. Right off the bat at 8 am they had all four lines hook up with small Sailfish, and ended up getting two of them to the boat for tagging and releases. Later on Ed fought a Striped Marlin to the boat for another tag and release and Paula watched while he enjoyed the fight. There were Dorado in the area also and they ended up with four of them in the fish box.

"FLY HOOKER" FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 27, 2004:

Ed and Paula were out again and it was almost a repeat of the first day of fishing except there were no Sailfish today. Ed fought a Marlin to the boat for a good tag and release and they got into some Dorado again, boating a few nice ones and releasing some small fish. Ed really liked the idea of fishing every other day; it gave him a chance to rest up between the fish!

"FLY HOOKER" FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 28, 2004:

Aaron and Jerry fished with Manuel and Mauricio today (Juan took the day off). Heading up the Pacific side once again, they were the second boat to a dead Seal found floating in the water about three miles off shore inside the Golden Gate Bank. Being the second boat meant that they had the best shot and all the Dorado the dead Seal had attracted and they had a blast, boating 8 big Dorado, all between 25 and 40 pounds. They lost several others after fighting them for a while, and they had one fish just jump off after taking a live bait. When they finally left the Seal, there were over thirty boats trying to work the area, and the ones that arrived late had no luck at all. A Marlin appeared during the trip and struck twice at the lures but did not hook up, and they tossed bait at another fish found tailing, but the fish would not eat. A Wahoo struck a trolled lure and took off with the hooks, lure and some leader after cutting through the monofilament leader almost at the strike. Good fishing and great action added up for a really fine trip. Thanks guys, and we hope you decide to do it again on Saturday.

"FLY HOOKER" FISH REPORT FOR OCTOBER 29, 2004:

Rob Powers and his buddy Craig fished with us for the first of two days booked. They will be fishing again on Sunday. They really had a blast as Juan and Manuel were able to get them into some steady action with Dorado and Yellowfin Tuna. Fishing 20 miles up on the Pacific side they were almost the only boat in the area. In the morning they had gotten some Sardinas for bait and while in the area to the north they saw some boils from Tuna feeding. Chumming with the Sardinas they were able to get them to come to the boat and ended up with five of them, between 10 and 20 pounds in size. The action continued as Dorado came into the area as well and while not all the fish were large ones they were able to pick and choose the ones they kept. They ended up with 8 male Dorado between 15 and 40 pounds in the fish box and released five smaller female fish. A good time was had and now Craig needs to go out and buy a cooler as Rob's will be filled up! Let's hope the action continues on Sunday!