FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum

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

Cabo Fish Report
June 16 – 23, 2015

SYNOPSIS: Ah, the ebb and flow of fishing! The fishing at the start of the report period was good and getting better by the day for all species. Anglers were looking forward to the two day Pelagic tournament on Thursday and Friday. Looking forward to something does not make it happen though and the winds kicked up, the bite went off and disappointment set in. Then it got better again and now continues to improve. If you want Roosterfish, Tuna or Marlin it is a great time to come and fish! Details on all this below.

WEATHER: I am very happy to say that this has been the best June so far when it comes to comfort. I have been here a while and having nighttime lows in the low 70’s and daytime highs in the high 90’s with a slight breeze (most of the time) is about as good as it gets. We did have the wind show up starting on Thursday and it blew very hard on Friday and Saturday, slowly tapering off on Sunday. The strong wind did several things, none of them good. Personally, it kicked an allergy into high gear and I was miserable for four days, but for those who tried to fish offshore, going to the Tuna, it made the trip almost impossible. Those who did make it got beat up pretty good. Even with the wind we had sunny skies, and there were plenty of sunburns to go around.

WATER: Early in the week we were seeing warm water, and blue water, in front of the Cape. As the week progressed, cooler green water intruded from the Pacific side and at the end of the week water that had been in the 79-80 degree range had decreased to 72 degrees and become green. This discolored band of water extended out about 13 miles and worked it’s way up the coast to San Jose. Outside the 13 miles line it warmed quickly to 78-79 degrees and was much cleaner. I was surprised to see this cold water come in as all the charts are showing the surface current coming past us from the east to the west, so this cold water must be a result of a strong sub-surface flow. At the tail end of the week surface conditions became extremely choppy and uncomfortable. A slight increase in swell size combined with a wind that switched and came from the southwest instead of the northwest resulted in many short trips, and made getting out 40+ miles to where the Tuna had been almost impossible for most of the boats. At the end of the week we still had the cool water in front but the surface conditions had improves greatly and boats were again searching offshore for Tuna and Marlin.

BAIT: There were three types of bait available this week, Caballito in all sizes, the small flat fish known locally as “tortillas” but we call “Moonfish”, about the size of your hand and silver, plus some “Lisa”, also known as Yellowtail Mullet. All these were $3 each and there were frozen Ballyhoo as well at the same price.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: We started this reporting period with great news as the Striped Marlin bite had started to bust wide open and then the wind came. I don’t know the reasons, don’t have an inkling really about the reason why, but when the wind came the bite dropped off severely. Boats were still spotting fish but they ha closed mouths. My guess is that maybe 20% of the boats were able to get a Marlin hooked up and to the boat for release. At the end of the week it had improved a bit, the Striped Marlin were biting, but more out of curiosity it seemed as most of the bites were short ones, a chew and release strategy on the part of the fish. A few did mistime their efforts and were rewarded with a hook in the mouth so boats were coming in flying flags, but I was seeing one Marlin flag per boat at the end of the week instead of three to six per boat I saw at the start of the period. Of course it all depends on being in the right place at the right time, but the top release boat for the Pelagic tournament had a reported total of 13 releases for two days of fishing. There were reports and confirmed catches of Blue Marlin as well, most of them under #300, but still great excitement. I have not heard of any Black Marlin yet, the water may still be a bit warm, but a few Sailfish were caught and that normally bodes well for warmer water. Most of the Marlin fishing effort occurred within five miles of the beach as the southerly winds pushed the bait to the beach and the offshore waters were rough for half the week.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: We started this period with a bang as reports of big fish getting closer became more frequent, and we did see some nice ones between 60 and 200 pounds hit the docks. When the winds started blowing the chance to get to these fish became almost nil for most of the boats, and it was not until Sunday that conditions returned to normal. Then it was a search to fish the fish again. There were Tuna found as close as 13 miles and as far out as 40 miles and they were in a range of sizes. We finally had the football fish show up (8-15 pounds), some boats got school size fish between 20 and 50 pounds and there were a few fish in the 60-200 pound class brought in as well. The largest Tuna in the Pelagic tournament was just under 150 pounds. I am still waiting for some Sashimi!

DORADO: Most of the Dorado for the reporting period were smaller fish running from 5 to 12 pounds and they were a scattered catch, mostly found within several miles of the beach. While not here in numbers yet, it is a good sign of things to come. The largest Dorado caught during the Pelagic tournament was 42 pounds.

WAHOO: There are still a few Wahoo out there, but not in numbers like we had been seeing. With the 1st quarter moon Wednesday, the time from then to the full moon might show us a few more fish, at least our fingers are crossed that it happens that way! During the Pelagic tournament the largest weighed Wahoo was 22 pounds, but there were reports of larger fish from non-tournament boats.

INSHORE: Roosterfish! Last week the Roosters were from 5 to 15 pounds, but this week the larger fish showed up and there were plenty of fish between 20 to 60 pounds being released each day. Working just outside the breakers on the Pacific side and slow trolling live mullet produced plenty of bites from these great fighting fish. They were there following the bait, and there were large schools of mullet in the area. Thanks to all of you who released your Roosterfish, there are much better eating fish out there and releasing them goes a long way to keeping our fishery healthy! Besides Roosterfish, there were large schools of Jack Crevalle to 35 pounds cruising around, and many cruisers tool a break during the heavy winds offshore to come in and relax with a few of these strong rod benders. Scattered snapper and grouper as well as great numbers of Skipjack round out our inshore fish this week.

NOTES: The Pelagic two day “Triple Crown” fishing tournament had a good turnout this year, but was once again marred by controversy. A few fights almost broke out, and for reasons I am still not clear about, the 22 pound Wahoo ended up taking a lot more money than the 42 pound Dorado. I did not talk to anyone who was clear on why that decision was made, and most were upset. I did hear at least four teams who said they would not be entering it again. Come on Pelagic, you have a great product and a great reputation, please explain what was going through your minds on this one.

I am going to start posting the report on Mondays instead of on Sundays from now on as we seem to be having more trips on the weekends and I like having the best information possible to share with you. The more anglers who get out, the better my information is. The fishing pressure is still light, so if you want to get on the water there is plenty of room! I offer fishing charters for people with any type of experience on the water at reasonable rates, and service is the name of the game to me!

My music of the week is Moody Blues (in honor of the Pelagic tournament) and their CD titled “The Best Of The Moody Blues”.

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.

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

If you want to get the report every week, go to my blog at www.captgeo.wordpress.com and sign up! No spam, I do not share your e-mail and you can un-subscribe at any time!

Meanwhile, Tight lines!

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