FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum

E-mail: george@flyhooker.com – www.flyhooker.com – captgeo.wordpress.com/

Cabo Fish Report
March 23, 2015 – March 29, 2015

WEATHER: Once again the weather could not have been better! It did start to get a bit on the warm side late in the week and we had temperatures reach 93 degrees on Saturday, but the early morning hours were almost always in the high 60’s. Of course it was sunny and we saw very few clouds. We did have a few days where the winds picked up to around 15 knots in the afternoon, but most of the early mornings were tickled with very light breezes.

WATER: There is no predicting what we will wake up to every day when it comes to the conditions on the ocean. Last week is not a good indicator of what is to come it appears, and that is just not normal. We usually see a progression, steady and slow, as the water warms or cools. Not this year though. I have been hoping for more cool water to bring down the bait and the Marlin offshore and the Sierra and Yellowtail inshore, but instead we have seen the water warm up. Difficult for me to understand since we have had strong currents from the northwest that should have brought in the cooler water. Instead, this week we saw the near-shore waters on the Pacific side warm up to 74 degrees while the water at the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks was a warm 75 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape it was even warmer with the near-shore and offshore waters at 75-76 degrees. Well, I guess I do understand it a little bit since we have had swells (4-6 feet) coming from the southerly directions this week, and last week the warmer water was to the south and the currents were not as strong. The clarity of the water was fair with an occasional patch of clean blue water, but for the most part, particular inshore, the water was a bit cloudy, perhaps due to the churning of the surf.

BAIT: With the warmer water the Mackerel became very scarce so most of the bait was either Caballito or Green Jacks, with a mix of misc. fish as well. Normal price at $3 per bait and there were frozen local (from La Paz) Ballyhoo at $3 per piece. If you traveled up to San Jose and were early or called ahead to one of the bait boats, you might, just might, have been able to get some Sardinas as well.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin remain elusive as the bait is not here. If the bait (mackerel) had moved into the area there would be plenty of Marlin, at least that is what past experience tells us. I have it on good sources that there are plenty of Marlin and bait up by Mag Bay (on the Pacific side) but we are seeing few fish here. My guess is that about 10% of the boats are getting a Marlin (those who are looking for them). Since the bite has been slow, most of the boats are looking for either Dorado or Tuna offshore or fishing near the beach for bottom-fish or Sierra and Yellowtail. The few Marlin that were found were hungrier than they appeared last week, but the numbers are just not there to make it a good bite, despite what some business have posted to the public. Maybe if they told the truth people would not book a boat? Anyway, it all comes down to the fact that you most definitely will not catch one while sitting on the beach drinking a beer!

YELLOWFIN TUNA: I did not see any Yellowfin this week but have heard that they were popping up occasionally on the high spots up by Punta Gorda. The bite was reported as sporadic on fish from 12 to 30 pounds, most of them caught on drifted Sardinas. A couple of boats reported finding a few spots of tuna with no indicators such as birds or porpoise while fishing to the southwest about 15 miles, but without the indicators the schools were very difficult to find and then follow. These fish were on blind strikes and were again the smaller sizes we call footballs, from 6 to 15 pounds. Those boats that did find them reported getting two or three fish then losing the schools.

DORADO: The Dorado bite has been very inconsistent, good here one day, good there the next and nowhere to be found on the third day, sigh. There were a few nice fish in the 20-30 pound class caught by lucky anglers, but most of them were between 8 and 12 pounds, and the success ratio was decent but not great at around 25-30%. It was good to throw a live bait out when you hooked up on the troll since quite a few of the boats that caught Dorado came in with two by doing exactly that.

WAHOO: These fish were the surprise of the week since there were more of them that we usually see this time of year (normally none!). The warm water has to have something to do with that. The fact that we have a waxing moon may have helped as well. I did not see any large Wahoo hit the docks, but most of the fish were around 12 to 15 pounds. Many more were hooked than were caught, and the ones that were caught in our area were boated by anglers trolling small swimming plugs on wire leader for Sierra.

INSHORE: Good one week, slow the next, this season I have given up trying to predict where the fish are going to be or even what kind will be there. I know the Sierra bite has come to a screaming halt with the better catches being 6 to 10 fish per boat but most of the boats were lucky to get one or two. As we expected, the Snapper bite dropped off once we got away from the full moon, but perhaps it will improve this next week as we will see another full moon on the 4th. There have been a few Amberjack and Jack Crevalle and these fish put up a good fight on light gear and the Amberjack are great to eat. There have also been some Pompano caught, one again great eating. The swells and the surf made fishing close in a bit touchy, and also caused the water to become silted and murky, but once in 50 feet of water everything was fine.

NOTES: Whales are still being seen every day, and in good numbers! Spring break is in full swing so I avoid going to the beach due to the crowds, and with Semana Santa coming up (Easter week is a major holiday in Mexico, and those who can, head to the beach) I will be staying home more often than not.

The information I use in these reports are obtained in many different ways, some from personal experience, some from my clients and Captains who are out every day, and some from on-line subscription services such as Fish-Track, BuoyWeather and SurfZone as well as HurricaneZone. I, and only I, am responsible for any errors made, as I sift all this information and compile it.

Once again, I will be posting my Music Of The Week every report. This is music that I have either just discovered and want to share (it may be a band or album you are already familiar with, but new to me) or one of my old favorites I have just “re-discovered”. In any event, take a moment to check it out, you may find a new favorite!

This weeks Music of the Week is the 1973 Verve Records release “Compact Jazz – Charlie Parker”. Guest artists on the album are Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, John Lewis and Max Roach. Great music! I am putting all my 600+ CD’s on the computer and keep coming across old favorites like this, and am happy to share my interest with you.

Thank you very much for checking out my report, and if you would like, check out www.flyhooker.com, I have just re-vamped the web site and you may like it. Still under development, but there will be new photos, articles, tips and techniques every week starting next month.

Meanwhile, Tight lines!
And as always, George writes this report
and posts to the blog on Sunday morning. So if you
can’t wait, click the “FOLLOW” on the top of the blog
page! You will know whenever something new is posted!

http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
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E-mail: george@flyhooker.com – www.flyhooker.com – captgeo.wordpress.com/
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