LOCAL FISHING WATERS COOLING WITH SUNNY SKIES

Nov. 8-14, 2004, Capt. George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas offshore water continues to cool, and while we still have a warm water band wrapping around the Cape we have had the average temperature drop by three degrees. Within 15 miles of Cabo San Lucas on both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez the water has remained 79-80 degrees. Immediately to the south out about 10 miles there is a pocket of warmer water at 82 degrees and on the Cortez side up past the Gorda Banks it starts to cool off to the 78 degree level. Surface conditions on the Pacific have been great all week for morning fishing but the wind has been starting to kick up a bit in the early afternoon giving us a bit of wind chop on top of the 2 to 4 foot swells. The Sea of Cortez has remained fairly calm as far as surface conditions go.

The first part of the week had us experiencing mostly sunny skies and fall temperatures cool for Cabo San Lucas. We did not have any evenings where we dropped to 60 degrees like last week, but our night time lows stayed down around the low 70s and high 60s. Daytime highs were in the high 80s on land with a cooling effect when you were on the water. Toward the end of the week clouds moved in and while we still had plenty of sun, the sunsets became even more spectacular.

Caballito are still the most available Cabo San Lucas bait this week but I did see a few Mackerel showing up in a few bait tanks. The normal $2 per bait remains except for Sardinas, and if they are available they have been going for the usual $20 per scoop.

While the Blue and Black Marlin bite has dropped off, the Striped Marlin have started to return to Cabo San Lucas and take up their rightful place as our most common Billfish.

The Striped Marlin are being found in small groups, with three areas holding fish for a few days this week. Early in the week there was a group just off the lighthouse on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, about 5 miles off shore. At the end of the week there was another group about 12 miles out at 160 degrees. Smaller groups of fish were found just offshore, about three miles, on the Cortez side both during the middle and the end of the week. Luck always takes a part in fishing for billfish and those Cabo San Lucas anglers that had it this week were able to catch and release as many as three Striped Marlin per trip. Live bait worked the best, both tossed at tailing fish and slow trolled through the areas that had the concentrations.

There are still some Sailfish being caught around Cabo San Lucas, but not in the same numbers as they were being found the last two weeks.

The Yellowfin Tuna finally showed up close to home! There were not any giants caught this week but there were nice fish in the 40-80 pound class brought, and plenty of fish in the 10-20 pound range as well. The fish were found from the Golden Gate Banks to just off of the Arches as the end of the week and they were associated with the Porpoise. Cedar plugs were the ticket for the football fish and live bait dropped deep appeared to account for most of the larger ones. A number of fish were caught on hoochies in dark colors as well, but the cedar plugs seemed to out catch them. Spotting Frigate birds working was the key to finding the Porpoise, and they were the key to finding the Tuna.

There were scattered fish found close to shore on both the Cortez and Pacific sides of Cabo San Lucas, but there seemed to be more fish on the Pacific side. There was no need to go offshore as most of the fish were found within two miles of Cabo San Lucas, and a lot of them considerably less. The fish averaged 12 pounds with a few of them in the 20 pound range. Farther off shore there were scattered Dorado and if you were able to find something floating in the water there were nice fish in the 25-40 pound class around it. A friend was the first to a small piece of wood that he was able to get limits of Dorado in the 30 pound range from, and then a Striped Marlin as well. Later boats had no luck, but there were other floating objects found during the week by other Cabo San Lucas fishing boats as well.

There was no real Cabo San Lucas Wahoo bite this week, sad to say, but it appears that as the week progressed things started to pick up a bit, so perhaps this coming week will start producing more of these sought after fish. The Wahoo that did hit the decks this week were found fairly near shore, mostly in water around 50 fathoms deep. The sizes ranged from 20 to 40 pounds.

Dorado and Tuna were the target of the inshore panga fishermen this week. Most of the action was concentrated just off of the beach down past Gray Rock, out in about 30 fathoms of water. Chumming with Sardinas brought in football Yellowfin, Skipjack and Bonita as well as lots of needlefish. Small Dorado showed up after a while and there was an occasional Wahoo appearing and cutting off hooks. Late in the week as the Porpoise came closer to Cabo San Lucas there were Panga fishermen out working the Yellowfin and doing well. The traditional inshore fish such as Sierra, Roosterfish, Jacks and Snapper have been shy this week.

I know that the Tuna are appearing in numbers because on Saturday a Super Seiner appeared in front of Cabo San Lucas and just drifted around for the day. When you have a mile of net stacked on the deck and a helicopter for spotting fish on the bow, you are not here for fun and partying. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that they leave the fish alone close to us and that no more of them show up for a while.