FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
March 13-20, 2011
WEATHER: I don't think it is possible for weather to become any better than we have had this week. Sunny skies with just a few clouds this weekend, daytime highs in the high 80's, nighttime lows in the high 60's and light winds. Great stuff!
WATER: Surface conditions once again were perfect for fishing with small swells and almost no wind for most of the time, just enough to keep you cool in the middle of the day. We had a plume of cool water running just offshore on the Pacific side that extended to the southeast of us to past the 95 spot. This water was 66 to 64 degrees. On either side of that cool water it warmed up quickly. On the satellite shot for the 18th we saw a flare of warm 80 degree water just to the east of the Cabrillo Seamount and what appeared to be a wide temperature break running from the northwest to the southeast from the Gorda Banks to the seamount with the warmer water to the east. On the Pacific the cool plume ran across the Golden Gate Bank then to the inside of the San Jaime Bank leaving the San Jaime in water that was 69-70 degrees, and the water to the west of there warmed to 72 degrees.
BAIT: The full moon made getting good bait a bit tough but there was some Caballito to be found, just not very many. Some Mackerel were in a few live wells, but not much, and Sardinas were hard to come by. Normal prices were $3 each for the larger baits and $25 for whatever Sardinas you could get.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The only area that seemed to have any consistent action on Marlin this week was outside the 1150 to the Seamount and along the 1,000 fathom curve there. Most boats were spotting several fish each day, with several getting to throw bait on five or more fish, but the best catch result I heard was 4 releases for 5 fish thrown at. Strangely, it was either a long run out there, of a longer stay close to home as a few boats were able to find an occasional Marlin just off the beach on the Cortez side. There were no concentrations of bait except for squid offshore, and that may be what is causing the slow fishing, not enough bait around to bring the fish in.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were some Porpoise pods found this week that held fish, and they were scattered all around with the best concentration in the usual areas such as just to the south of the San Jaime and 30 miles to the south of the Cape. The fish were footballs, but at least there were some out there. The first boats on the scene did well, as is normal with tuna, and limits were possible in the right school. Most boats were not lucky enough to be the first one there but were still able to scratch out enough fish to make the anglers happy. As these were small fish, feathers and small cedar plugs worked well.
DORADO: There were a few scattered Dorado found by the boats going offshore for Striped Marlin, and they were all found in the warmer water. There were a couple of large fish at 30 pounds, but the rest were in the 15 pound class. They were definitely incidental fish as there were no schools and no followers with the ones hooked up.
WAHOO:What Hoo? Strange, but true. I thought the full moon would really get the bite on for the Wahoo but it just didn't happen. There were a couple of fish caught that I heard of, but since I did not see them or hear about them from the primary involved, they were just rumors to me.
INSHORE: Inshore seemed the way to go this week if you wanted action. Sierra were still biting well with most of the action occurring on the Cortez side of the Cape up around the Cabo Real beach. Most of the fish were 4 to 7 pounds and Sardinas were the key to good results. On the Pacific side there were some really nice Yellowtail to 35 pounds up past the lighthouse, but you had to work to find the fish as they were following the small bait balls in 150-200 feet of water. A good trip would result in five or so of these great fighters. There were also some Snapper and Grouper in there to liven things up. Most of the Yellowtail were taken on yo-yo'ing slabs or butterfly jigs, but there were a few taken on live bait.
NOTES: Its not wide open by any means even though some of the booths around the Marina will tell you that it is. Go out with a good attitude and your fingers crossed, plenty of beer in the cooler and some good friends and you will have fun, and just might get dinner and a trophy. That is all you can really expect right now, but thats not a bad thing. Meanwhile, listen to some good music and plan your trip! This weeks report was written to the sounds of Alison Krauss & Union Station on their 2002 CD Live. Until next week, tight lines!
Gordo Banks Panga Report
March 20, 2011
Anglers
Spring time is now officially here and the weather is on a warming trend
accordingly. Moderate crowds of vacationers are enjoying clear sunny skies with
high temperatures reaching into the mid 80s. Winds have diminished and anglers
found excellent ocean conditions, minimal swells with water temperatures
averaging 69 to 72 degrees.
Supplies of sardinas are holding up, these baitfish were found schooling in
various locations along the shoreline, though they were more abundant north of
Punta Gorda, near Vinorama. There has been a lack of larger baitfish, no
mackerel or caballito to speak of. Red crabs have been found on the San Jose del
Cabo fishing grounds and are being used as bait for red snapper (pargo and
huachinango).
Throughout the month of March anglers found that the most consistent fishing
action was closer to shore. Working the various rock piles with yo-yo jigs and
sardinas produced a mix bag of pargo, yellowtail, amberjack, bonito, cabrilla,
triggerfish and others. While trolling the inshore beach stretches there was
good action for sierra, jack crevalle and roosterfish. Not too many larger sized
fish, most of the fish caught were under ten pounds, but there were a handful of
yellowtail accounted for that were in the 30 pound class and some quality
huachinango (red snapper) up to 10 pounds, at times these true Pacific red
snapper were being found near the surface feeding the abundant pelagic red
crabs.
Yellowfin tuna counts were minimal, on occasions tuna were seen feeding and
breezing the surface on the Gordo and Iman Banks, but only an sporadic fish was
being hooked, very shy, preferring to feed on the available food source on the
fishing grounds, most notably the red crabs. The yellowfin that were being
landed weighed in the 15 to 30 pounds class. At this same time frame last year
there was an abundance of giant squid in the region and anglers were having some
success using the strip squid as bait for tuna in the 50 to 90 pound range. We
have not heard of any giant squid in local waters at this time, even though
conditions seem favorable to attract them.
Quite a few wahoo were reportedly seen free swimming around in small groups,
often close to the shore, a bit strange compared to their normal habitat. Not
many of these wahoo were hooked into, they just were not very interest in any
offerings, the few that were accounted for were on various cut or whole baits.
One wahoo weighing close to 70 pounds was taken from a panga on a trolled lure
near the Gordo Banks and the other wahoo that were accounted for were of good
size.
Striped marlin action was spread out, no large concentrations of fish, the lack
of bigger baitfish has not helped this situation. The local panga fleets were
occasionally hooking into stripers while drift fishing with sardinas for tuna
and other species. The marlin that were accounted for weighed in the 70 to 130
pound range. Some striped marlin were also found in the blue water by blind
strikes while trolling lures. With water conditions now stabilizing and on a
warming trend we expect the offshore surface action to improve significantly in
the coming weeks.
Despite continuing news reports of cartel issues near Mexican border towns and
on the mainland there have been no incidents at all reported from the Los Cabos
area and this region remains a very safe travel destination.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out
approximately 80 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
6 striped marlin, 10 dorado, 13 yellowfin tuna, 28 bonito, 315 sierra, 34
roosterfish, 24 yellowtail, 26 jack crevalle, 468 pargo,17 cabrilla, 4 wahoo, 6
hammerhead shark, 4 dogtooth snapper and 12 amberjack.
Good Fishing, Eric
GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Eric Brictson
Owner/Operator
800 4081199
Los Cabos 1421147
ericgordobanks@yahoo.com
www.gordobanks.com
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