CLOUDY WEATHER AND NORTH WINDS AS GOOD MARLIN FISHING CONTINUES

Jan. 15-21, 2007, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, George Landrum, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Mexico vacationers looking forward to sunny skies were disappointed as the only sunny days we had at Cabo San Lucas all week was Saturday after 2 p.m. and Sunday. With the clouds came enough rain to everything wet. In a few weeks the desert in southern Baja California will be blooming and everything will be green. Cabo San Lucas fishing area air temperatures were in the mid-70s while the nighttime lows were around the mid to low-60s.

The wind on the fishing grounds was more northerly than usual, so if you were fishing on this side of Punta Cristobal on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas the sea surface conditions were not bad. North of there it got choppy and sloppy.

The same held true for fishing conditions on the Sea of Cortez side once you got up to the Punta Gorda area.

Cabo San Lucas fishing water temperatures were a fairly steady at 71 to 72 degrees, with the exception of a warm eddy just to the south and west of the San Jaime Bank, there the water warmed up to 74 degrees. North of the Jaime Bank, to the west of the Golden Gate Bank, the fishing water cooled off to 68 to 69 degrees. As is normal, the cool water was off color while the warmer water had a nice blue to it.

Live bait available at the Cabo San Lucas marina this week was 75 percent mackerel. As the water temperature continues to cool, there will be a change to almost all mackerel. Sardina bait was available off of Punta Palmilla at the usual $20 per scoop.

Cabo San Lucas striped marlin fishing has remained excellent, as the fish moved closer. The bite is still at the Golden Gate Bank and Cabo boats drifting bait on top are still hooking up. Choppy conditions have brought a lot of fish to the surface and now there are tailing fish everywhere.

Fishing reports from a few private boats that have been fishing the entire day out on the water are that the fish are very active just shoreward of the Golden Gate. I sent a half day on the water Friday and had tailing fish all over the place at the Punta Cristobal area and they were being very active and hungry as well. There were fishing reports of one small blue marlin of about 200 pounds caught this week from the Punta Cristobal area.

The dorado bite continued this week. Cabo San Lucas fishing boats working close to the beach on the Pacific side had the best results. Most of the dorado were in the 15-pound class but there was an occasional boat that hit a pocket of bigger fish in the 40-pound class. With the choppy conditions it was more difficult to spot floating debris, but dorado numbers were still very good.

There were a few yellowfin tuna caught this week but they were far from shore, almost 35 miles to the west in the warm water edge off of the San Jaime Bank.

There were a couple of wahoo caught this week, but most of the red flags that I saw as wahoo flags turned out to be for sierra.

The sierra bite has started to turn on finally as the inshore fishing water has continued to cool around the tip of Baja. There has also been a fair bite on pargo in close at the rocky points. Getting right up in the rocks and tossing out live bait has resulted in hookups for almost everyone, but the choppy conditions have made it a thrill ride as well.

A sight I will never forget is coming up on what appeared to be a floating mass of kelp, only to find that it was a vast school of Humboldt giant squid, all of them at least 3 feet long. They were on the surface and what I thought was kelp were their tentacles and fins breaking the water as they fed on pelagic red crab.

There are whales everywhere out there right now in these Mexican waters, both gray whales and humpbacks seen on every trip.