FOUR MARLIN PER DAY AVERAGE FOR THE CABO
SAN LUCAS SPORTFISHING CHARTER BOAT FLY HOOKER

Feb. 21-27, 2005, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

I fished three days this week for a total of 12 striped marlin released. The Marlin concentration that had been 24 miles off shore to the east last week continued to move to the east at about 5 miles per day, following the warm water edge the first piled up on. At the end of the week the fish were 50 miles out, just past the Cabrillo Seamount, and Captains were saying that if clients wanted to get into the hot Marlin action they were going to have to start doing overnight trips! There were still some Marlin closer to Cabo San Lucas in the warm water break to the south, but not in the great concentration the farther edge had provided. That concentration of Marlin provided some great action for the boats able to get there and stay for the tide change, with boats able to release 4-9 fish a trip. Some of the striped marlin were small fish, in the 40 pound class, but most of them were 120-140 pounds. We were able to get the full range with Marlin at #40 up to #180. Unless the currents change and bring the concentration back, we will be looking at the scattered fish closer to home this coming week. Lure colors that worked were the full range, but surprisingly the heaviest overcast day, Friday, the fish preferred bright colors and we had great luck with neon green and red/yellow.

There are yellowfin tuna beginning to show but they are still not here in great concentration or close to home. I saw several good schools breaking water mixed in with Dolphin and Marlin this week, but they were concentrating on the food and would not look at a lure or the live bait we had. If we had Sardines it may have made a difference. The fish were running between football sizes to #60, and there were a few boats able to get into fish to #80. Up past the Gorda Banks, out toward the Cabrillo Seamount, 25-35 miles to the south and out past the San Jaime Banks in the Pacific were where most of the schools were found. There were a few fish found in closer to home but not in any numbers. I saw a lot of white Tuna flags flying at the end of the week but upon talking with the anglers from some of the boats, the fish the flags were flying for were Skipjack Tuna, at least for the most part.

There are still some dorado (mahi-mahi) out there, but the fish that were close to shore have moved on, the water is pretty cool. Most of the Dorado have been coming from the temperature break to the south, and a few boats were able to get hooked up to 4 or 5 fish per trip. The sizes are not large with the average 15 pounds, but there have been a few fish in the 30 pound class. This is pretty much the average size for this time of year.

Just as was the case last week, a few Wahoo were reported this week but there were no large amounts of them found, nor any large concentration of fish.

The inshore Sierra bite slowed a bit this week, but that does not mean that they are not out there. It just means that you are not going out and loading the cooler in a couple of hours! It may take a bit longer than that, perhaps all day now. Inshore, there is still a decent bite on Pargo, Grouper and a few Amberjack for boats bottom fishing. There are a few Yellowtail beginning to show up and of course there are loads of Skipjack close to shore, ranging up to 12 pounds in size.

Whales, Dolphin and Turtles continue to keep everyone entranced until the fish bite. Surface conditions are great.

Cabo San Lucas had clouds move over the area Thursday night and started to get a bit of sprinkles coming down. On Friday it was cloudy all day and as heavy concentrations moved over us they let down a light rain every few hours. There was no wind to speak of with the rain so the fishing conditions on the water remained good. The rest of the week was partly cloudy to sunny and our highs were in the high 70s and the lows in the low 60s.

Surface conditions on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas were a bit lumpy for fishing this week and there was enough of a breeze most days to make it a little choppy as well, but most charter fishing boats did not feel that as the water on the Pacific side was in the 68-69 degree range at the end of the week, at least out to the Golden Gate and San Jaime Banks areas. It warmed up just a degree or so past the banks. On the Cortez side of Cabo San Lucas there was warmer fishing water to be found but you still had to get past the cold water that wrapped around the Cape. 10 miles to the south there was a temperature break that stayed there all week long and at the end of the week it had started to concentrate some fish. Out farther on the Cortez side the water warmed to 72 degrees, but you had to go a ways to get there, at least at the end of the week. There was still some lump on the water as the swells were at 2-4 feet, but there was almost no wind until Saturday, and then just in the afternoon.

Mackerel was the bait of the week with the price at the normal $2 per bait. Sardines were not available here and were difficult to get even up in San Jose.