MARLIN FISHING WAS MOSTLY AROUND THE 95 SPOT

Jan. 31-Feb. 6, 2005, Capt. George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico Fishing:

Just as was the case last week, the fishing action on Billfish took place around the 95 spot, at least that was where the big concentration was. There were fish found closer to shore as well and also up the coast to outside the Gorda Banks. A few fish were caught by dropping live bait and drifting, but it seemed that more were caught on lures than live bait. One of the favorite colors this week was a Mackerel Green with cream undersides. Most of the fish were averaging 110 pounds, but there were fish up to 180 caught. A friend of mine got one that size that had a bill curved like a hook! A good fishing day produced three or four shots at a Marlin with at least one solid hook up and a great day was going four for four on them.

Yellowfin tuna continue to be out quite a ways from Cabo San Lucas with the main areas being between 20 and 35 miles to the south and southeast. They have been associated with Porpoise and most of the fish have been between 15 and 35 pounds. Trolling dark colored feathers and Cedar Plugs resulted in most of the hook ups, but chumming with Sardinas once you found the fish made for some light tackle excitement as long as the wind was not blowing too hard.

The dorado (mahi-mahi) fishing at Cabo San Lucas was still off but there were times when you could do well. Most of the fish were found up toward the Gorda Banks area and the ranged in size from little shakers, 5-8 pounds, to nice fish in the 15-30 pound class. Dark colored lures worked on them as I know from personal experience.

Saturday we had three marlin strikes, all on the Mackerel/Cream outrigger lure and five Dorado strikes, and all on a Purple/Black outrigger lure. Dropping back a live bait after a hook up resulted in more fish being hooked.

There were more wahoo caught this week at Cabo San Lucas than last week and a few of them were nice size, in the 70 pound class. Dark colored lures were what most of them hit on but there was no concentration of fish; it was a matter of luck. The warmer water on the Cortez side of the Cape held the fish.

Sierra, Sierra, sierra, those are the Cabo San Lucas inshore fish of the week. The Pacific side of the coast has been going off from the lighthouse up to Migrino on fish from three to six pounds. Small green hoochies live Sardinas and small Rapalas have all been working well, just don't forget to use wire leader!

This week Cabo San Lucas had a lot of rain! On Friday afternoon the clouds rolled in and it started raining. With the rain came wind. On Saturday it was kicking out of the northwest in the morning and switched to the east southeast in the afternoon. The rest of the week was nice, partly cloudy with highs in the low 80s.

The fishing water at Cabo San Lucas was beautiful most of the week except for Saturday, when swells appeared out of nowhere. We all wondered if there was a Hurricane somewhere close! The water on the Pacific side has remained cool, in the 67-70 degree range with the warmer water within 5 miles of shore. On the Cortez side of the Cape the near shore water was the colder stuff with water out to 5 miles in the 70-71 degree range. Once past the five mile area it warmed to 72-74 degrees with a few spots up to 75 degrees.

Mackerel was the bait of the week as is usually the case this time of year. They could be obtained at the normal price of $2 per bait. There were also some Sardinas as well, but they were a bit pricey at $20 for a sparse bucket.

Lots of Whales were present this week at Cabo San Lucas, breaching mammals everywhere! Both Humpbacks and Gray Whales have been giving us lots of excitement.