Cabo Bite Report

[CaptGeo]

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
June 18-24, 2012

WEATHER: The only sure thing about our weather is how quickly it can change. Yesterday morning at 4:30 it was 81 degrees and 40% humidity with light winds, this morning it is 70 degrees with 88% humidity and breezy. This time of year it happens often, but is still unsettling as there is no way to predict what we are going to see just a few days in the future. We had scattered clouds this week but no rain, as normal. We sure could use some though.
WATER: Still in transition from spring to summer water conditions, we keep hoping that it will settle down into the summer pattern, but mother nature is fickle and keeps changing her mind. The water out in front of Cabo remained cool at 64-65 degrees. On Friday it was 65 in front of the marina, but by the time we were 12 miles offshore it had risen 12 degrees to 77, and had changed from very green to almost clear with a light green tinge. When we returned at the end of the day the water in front had risen to 68 degrees but remained green. At the end of the week the warm water that had been offshore had been pushed to the east and it was not until you got east of a line south of the Gorda Banks that the water warmed up much. The good thing was the clarity of the water. The cold water that wrapped around was actually clearer than the warmer water.
BAIT: Caballito and Mullet were available at the normal $3 per bait and there were plenty of green Jacks if you wanted them.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: As it is in most areas of the world, our marlin fishing this week was once again an exercise in patience. While we consider the fishing we had this past week as slow compared to what we are used to, it was what most areas consider normal. A few boats did manage to get into a group of fish that would bite, with the most I heard of from one boat was five releases, the normal, or average experience was a few fish to throw a bait at, a couple in the lures and perhaps one or two bites. Not bad, but of course we get spoiled because when the bite is on, our arms get tired! The fish were actually in two different areas this week. The most productive, and with the calmest seas was the Punta Gorda to Los Frailles stretch out to 6 miles. Quite a few fish were seen and the hook-up ratio was decent. The only issue with fishing this area is the distance, two hours to get there and two hours back. Closer to home there were fish found in the stretch of water between the 95 spot and the 1150, just not as many fish as to the north, but still the chance was decent. We did have a one day showing on Thursday of a concentration of Striped Marlin just off of the lighthouse on the Pacific, but they had moved off by Friday.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Finally there were some Yellowfin caught close to home this week. No great numbers were reported, I heard of several boats getting between three and five fish, and no large sizes either, most of them were between 8 and 18 pounds. These fish were caught in the open and were not associated with porpoise, they were blind strikes. The area between the Arch and Chileno Bay out from two to four miles had these fish scattered about. Cedar plugs and feathers did the work to get hook ups. I did hear of a few nice sized fish found off of Los Frailles, but they were quite a ways offshore, that's a really long run for a charter boat, but the fish were reported to be nice size, up to 100 pounds.
DORADO: I'm not really sure why, but most of the Dorado found this week were on the Cortez side in the cool water from the Arch to Chileno Bay, the same area that the Yellowfin were found. None of the fish were large, and there were no great numbers, but almost all the boats that fished the area returned with at least one, sometimes more, flags flying.
WAHOO: I haven't seen one of these fish in quite a while, and did not hear of any caught this past week.
INSHORE: Still slow, the bite on Yellowtail was almost non-existent, the Sierra bite slowed way down as well. The positive note for Sierra was the size increased by quite a bit with many of the fish being caught being larger, in the 8-12 pound class. Add in an occasional Grouper to 25 pounds, a few Roosterfish to 40 pounds, an Amberjack once in a while and a few Snook being reported and there was something to catch for almost everyone.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe!
NOTES: Now the G20 is over and our visitor numbers are returning to normal, if only the fishing would! Not great, but not bad, there was a decent chance of hooking up on every trip, but no one expected to get into a wide open bite on any one species, and no one did. A steady catch on scattered fish was the experience of the week, but hopefully as we get further into summer the fishing will improve. For now, just have a great time on the water and be patient! Until next week, tight lines!