FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING

Captain George Landrum

gmlandrum@hotmail.com www.flyhooker.com http://captgeo.wordpress.com/

Cabo Fish Report

March 18 – 31, 2016

SYNOPSIS: This will be a short report as not a lot has changed over the past two weeks. The water is cooling, there have been some football tuna, a few Striped Marlin, scattered Yellowtail, Sierra and small Roosterfish.

WEATHER: This morning it was 63 degrees and windy at 15 knots from the northwest with higher gusts. This made it feel colder than it was and then the sun broke out! Our average high for the week was 83 degrees and our low average was 63 degrees. We had some very windy conditions during the middle of last week and at the end of this week, between it was nice with plenty of sun.

WATER: The water has continued to cool down, last week the Pacific side was showing 71-72 degrees, this week we are seeing69-70 degrees in the same locations. These temperatures have extended to about 15 miles offshore on both the Pacific side and the Cortez side of the Cape. Outside the 15 mile range it warms to 72-73 degrees. Currents are strong from the northwest, as has been the wind. This combination has resulted in large swells with plenty of chop on the Pacific side at the end of both last week and this week, while the water on the Cortez side within 10 miles of the beach has been much smoother.

BAIT: The usual variety for this time of year is Mackerel, Green Jacks and a few Caballito and that is what we are seeing now. I have still not heard of any Sardinas being available locally. Bait has been the normal $3 each and a lot of the bait boats are carrying frozen Ballyhoo and squid slabs for sale as well.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Striped Marlin fishing has been just a bit better than during the last report, I believe the success percentage to be between 20-25% for boats targeting them. The bite (or what there was of it) had been just outside the beach area on the Pacific side last reporting period, at the tail end of this period the fish seemed to have moved up the Sea of Cortez to the San Jose Canyon area. That may have been because the rough conditions on the Pacific side forced most of the boats to fish the Canyon area, it is hard to be sure. The Marlin that were found were picky fish and it was difficult to convince them to eat a live or dead bait. Small hooks and very light leaders gave an improved chance of hooking up, but decreased the chance of getting them to the boat. These fish would eat an unrigged bait with no problem, so it was exasperating!

YELLOWFIN TUNA: Last week we finally had some Yellowfin in the area. Boats headed out to the San Jaime Banks and reported finding schools of 8-20 pound fish near, but not among, the pods of porpoise. Light leaders and pink or red hootchies were the ticket to getting bit and boats were coming in with 4 to 15 fish per trip, the earlier boats to the action getting the best results. As the wind started picking up the conditions worsened and by two days ago few boats were trying to get out there, so the fish may still be in the area. We will find out once the wind dies off and we have a chance to get to the Banks. Other than that, the action on Yellowfin was very slow and scattered over the normal areas such as the Gorda Banks (a few fish) and the Punta Gorda area high spots. In those locations the best results were had using chunk bait dropped into a chum trail but many boats reported Sea Lions being a real issue.

DORADO: I had clients who released a little five pound Dorado this week, but that was the only one I heard of!

WAHOO: I didn’t hear of any Wahoo being caught this past reporting period. The cool water may be the issue, or the wrong time of the year, or the moon phase, or we have not been wearing the right shirts, who knows?

INSHORE: Even inshore fishing was slow this period. There was scattered action on Sierra, a few Yellowtail were brought in, some Amberjacks, small Roosterfish, small grouper and snapper as well as some small sharks. As you can see, not a lot of any one species, you could not be sure what you were going to catch!

NOTES:

If you are planning on booking a fishing trip soon (or later in the year), contact me to see what I can set you up with. 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 a single song by Joe Bonamassa, “Drive” off of his new studio release. Check it out with a search on YouTube!

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 time I update, 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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