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| Around 10% of the world's total fish species can be found just within the Great Barrier Reef. |
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| Starfish can re-grow their arms. In fact, a single arm can regenerate a whole body. |
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| Starfish do not have blood. Their blood is actually filtered sea water. |
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| Starfish don't have brains. Special cells on their skin gather information about their surroundings |
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| Not all animals with the word fish in their names count as fish. |
| Though their names may suggest otherwise, cuttlefish, starfish, and jellyfish aren’t actually fish. Generally-speaking, fishes must have skulls, gills, and fins. Surprisingly, though, not all fishes have proper spines. |
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| In three decades, the world's oceans will contain more discarded plastic than fish when measured by weight, researchers say. |
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| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Just how man species of fish are there? |
| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Even Catfish are finicky |
| Taste Buds ? Catfish have a more refined sense of flavor than humans. Our 10,000 taste buds may seem like a lot, but catfish can have as many as 175,000. This helps them find the exact location of their next meal. |
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| A bit of Humor |
| My brother has 2 German Shepherds named Rolex and Timex. You guessed it they are Watch Dogs. |
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From Jan 01, 1999 To Sep 22, 2025
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Apr 28, 2008; 12:20PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
April 21-27, 2008
WEATHER: I guess that I probably don’t say this enough, but I have to let you know that this is just about my favorite time of the year for the weather. We have had morning lows in the mid to high 60’s and our daytime highs have just reached the low 90’s. The week began with mostly cloudy skies on Monday and on Tuesday afternoon they started to break up. The wind was kicking in a bit early in the week as well. The clouds brought no rain and after they were gone the winds were very light, just enough to put a light chop on the water in the afternoon. The week ended on a very nice note with clear and sunny skies and light winds.
WATER: The Pacific side of the Cape had swells at 3-5 feet but spaced well apart. On the Cortez side south of the Punta Gorda area things were nice with swells at 1-3 feet. On the Pacific early in the week and up past Punta Gorda the winds kicked it up a notch and the water was choppy. On the Pacific side the water temperatures were lower than on the Cortez side with 69-71 degree water almost everywhere. The temperature break was a straight line north to south off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. East of the break the water warmed to 75 degrees and out at the Cabrillo Seamount late in the week we had some water as warm as 82 degrees for a day or so.
BAIT: This was a tough week to get bait; the bait boats were working hard at snagging Caballito right at the mouth of the marina and were not having a lot of luck. I heard of quite a few instances of bait boats charging as much as $5 per bait. That is high, but not bad if it is the right bait, but the fish definitely preferred Mackerel, and the Caballito are not in very good shape after being snagged. In other words, bait was scarce this week, and expensive.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Once again there were plenty of Marlin out there but the bite was still off. There were plenty of squid in the area and the Marlin were stuffed. A few boats were doing all right on Mackerel (a scarce bait this week) and a few fish were caught on Caballito, but the majority of fish were hooked on artificial lures. The Striped Marlin were all over the place from a mile off the arch to 5 miles off of Gray Rock, you had no problem finding fish, but they were not very hungry. On the Billfish side of things, I heard that several weeks ago there were three or four large Blue Marlin, one in the #800 and a couple on the 500-600 pound class caught right out front when these small football Yellowfin first showed up. I didn’t hear of them at the time, but was told of them yesterday by a very reputable Captain.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Yellowfin Tuna were the fish of the week, at least at the beginning of the week, and are also the “rant” fish of the week. At the start of the week, under the cloudy skies, hordes of football size fish, from 8 to 20 pounds showed up jut off the beach from 2-5 miles from the arch. All the tuna you wanted were available and everyone limited out on fish. On Wednesday the Purse Seiners started to show up. On Wednesday there were 6 boats out there, on Thursday there were 9 boats, on Friday and Saturday there were 13 boats, at least 8 of which were super Seiners over 200 feet long and with spotting helicopters n the decks. They were fishing these tuna just 2 miles off the beach. The marines went out and stopped two of the boats and chased them away, but said that the others all had permits to fish there. These fish have hold that can carry 1,500 TONS of fish. Needless to say, at the end of the week a good day on the water resulted in a dozen or fewer tuna for the sport fleet. There were the occasional nice fish; the largest I heard of was a double on fish in the #70 class.
DORADO: The warm water has resulted in an increase in the numbers of Dorado being caught. Most boats are getting a fish or two a day; on Saturday we caught four Dorado between 12-18 pounds. They are in the same area as the tuna and marlin, right in among the Seiners. A live Caballito dropped back after a hook-up resulted in at least one of our fish, the others bit on bright colored lures.
WAHOO: There were a few Wahoo caught, again in the warm water out front, but not many of them. Average size was reported at 25 pounds.
INSHORE: The warmer water resulted in fewer Yellowtail being caught this week, but an increase in the numbers of Roosterfish. The Roosterfish are still on the small side with an average weight of around 5 pounds. Live bait was tough to come by so while the Caballito were large, there were not many of them and the ones anglers used were getting pounded hard by the Roosters. Most of the hook-ups were a result of luck, as the baits were much too large for the fish. The Sierra bite has dropped off as a result of the warmer water but the Pargo and grouper bite has become better. With the Tuna so close to shore, many of the Pangas were targeting them, and they had good luck.
NOTES: The Tuna Seiners had everyone up in arms, especially late in the afternoons when they started to set nets around the few sports fishermen that stayed out. I had thought that they were not allowed by law to fish any closer than 20 miles form the beach, and not at all within the Sea of Cortez, but I must have misunderstood the rules. Anyway, I overheard more than one local crew complain and talk about doing something, but since the Marines are letting them fish, it must be legal (right?). If we saw these numbers between one and 6 miles off of the beach, imagine how many more are just beyond the horizon. If these boats continue to fish right in front of Cabo, look for the numbers of all species caught by the local sport fishing fleet to drop off quickly. I remember what just 2 of these boats did to the fishery on top of the Gorda Banks six years ago; it took four years for the fishery there to recover. The Pangas and fishermen out of San Jose ended up ganging together and throwing rebar anchors into the middle of the Seiners nets while they were fishing and powering out, ripping their nets up. Until next week, keep your fingers crossed!
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Apr 21, 2008; 01:31PM - Gordo Banks Panga report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: eric
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Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
April 20, 2008
Anglers -
As the weather steadily warms, the ocean currents are also changing and the migration of Gray and Humpback whales are now heading north towards their summer feeding grounds. Average water temperature throughout the region are now ranging from 69 or 70 on the Pacific to as high as 77 degrees in areas towards the Sea of Cortez. Supplies of live mackerel have been limited, some days anglers encountered schools of these baitfish on the fishing grounds, but that was not a guarantee. Sardinas were now congregated around the Puerto Los Cabos rock jetties. The majority of sportfishing fleets are now concentrating efforts in the direction of the warmer water, from Chileno to Vinorama.
The main area for striped marlin activity in recent days was from the Gordo Banks , Desteladera to Vinorama. Most hook ups were on live bait and for anglers that did not have the bait they reported that it was not easy to entice the fish into striking the lures. Even with bait the marlin at times just were not interested, though scores of the stripers were seen free jumping and tailing on the surface. The billfish were averaging 100 to 150 pounds.
Yellowfin tuna action became more scattered this past week, schools had moved within several miles offshore of Chileno, but this bite slowed, turning to black skipjack and now the few tuna that are being found are once again further offshore, sometimes associated with porpoise, but often just found by blind strikes.
With the warmer water temperatures a few more dorado are appearing in the daily fish counts, but the water has also been off colored, as currents clean up more we expect to see increased activity from these colorful prized gamefish. Most of the dorado that are now being found have been by trolling lures and are ranging in sizes up to 25 pounds.
Sierra action highlighted the inshore options, very good numbers of these fish were found from Westin Regina to Chileno. Live sardinas accounted for most of the action, though casting jigs, rapalas and hoochies also were working. The average sized sierra was two or three pounds, but many fish weighing over five pounds were also accounted for. A handful of small sized roosterfish were also being encountered off these same stretches of beaches.
Yellowtail snapper are biting on the shallow rocky reef areas, typically in water depths of fifty feet or less, striking on sardinas and weighing up eight pounds. Off the deeper rock piles it has been the Mexican bonito that have continued to dominate the action, only an occasional amberjack, huachinango or cabrilla mixed in.
Surf fishermen reported that the area around La Playita and the Estuary produced a handful of nice sized halibut weighed up 25 pounds, the anglers were using mullet and sardinas for bait.
The combined panga fleet launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 47 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
9 striped marlin, 92 pargo (combined species), 124 Mexican bonito, 9 amberjack,
18 cabrilla, 16 yellowfin tuna, 7 dorado, 15 roosterfish and 212 sierra.
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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Apr 21, 2008; 11:54AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
April 14-20, 2008
WEATHER: Once again we have had a week of sun and fun here in Cabo. This time of year the spring break crowd is gone, the number of cruise ships calling at our port is down and the temperature has started to climb. Not too high, just into the low 90’s during the day and the low 70’s at night, but that’s just perfect for me! With this kind of weather a lot of our friends have returned from the cold north while many of the winter residents have gone home to prepare for spring back there. Just a very nice time of the year!
WATER: We have had light afternoon breezes for the first part of the week changing into light morning breezes later in the week, but nothing heavy enough to cause problems out on the water. A prevailing northwesterly direction has meant that the water on the Sea of Cortez has been very nice with only slight swells and wind chop while the Pacific side of the Cape has had slight swells and mostly slightly choppy conditions. Water temperature on the Pacific side has remained cooler than on the Cortez side with that wrap around the Cape from the east I mentioned last week still happening. Offshore on the Pacific side it has been 67-69 degrees while closer to the beach, say 4-5 miles off the beach and 10 miles to the north the warmer 74-degree water has prevailed. Of course the cooler water has meant green conditions and on the Golden Gate Bank reports were of very green conditions. On the Sea of Cortez we have had consistent 74-75 degree water across all the areas with just a slight tinge to it.
BAIT: There were many more Caballito available this past week than there were Mackerel, and they were both the normal $2 per bait. I did not hear anything about Sardinas.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: You didn’t have to go far this week to find Striped Marlin, but you had to have the right bait and a good amount of luck to catch one! Early in the week the bite was good up at the Punta Gorda area later in the afternoon and there were not many fish in our area, but on Wednesday the suddenly showed up in large numbers. It was not uncommon to spot pods of three to fifteen fish less than four miles form the arch, and often within a mile or less. The problem was that the fish were not very interested in Caballito, and that was the bait most common from the bait boats. Mackerel was preferred by the Marlin that were hungry. Being off the feed was probably due to them feeding all night during the full moon phase (tonight is the full moon). What they have been feeding on also had an effect! There were balls of 12-inch squid everywhere, and almost every species of fish caught this week was stuffed with them. Captains and anglers who were on top of their game and lucky enough to get a fish to the boat were ready with a bait net to catch any fresh squid spilled from the Marlins mouth, and some of them were lucky enough to be on top of one of the squid balls when the marlin forced them to the surface, managing to net a few live ones to toss out. Guaranteed catch if that happened! But, alas, for the most part boats were lucky to catch one marlin after throwing bait to dozens of lazing fish.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The tuna bite in our area dropped off again although a few boats were able to get into small pods of porpoise that were holding then. The tuna that were caught were not large ones; most of them were in the 10-15 pound range. A good catch this past week would have been four or five tuna. Most of them were found to the south at a distance of 10 miles and more, a few more were found around the 1150 area. Red and orange colored lures in the smaller sizes sort of imitated the squid they were feeding on.
DORADO: Once again the numbers of Dorado slowly increased over the numbers caught last week. It seemed that about 20% of the boats were flying a yellow flag or two when they returned this week. Most of the fish were found in the same areas as the Striped Marlin and they were also stuffed on squid. One nice thing is that the average size has been fair, not a lot of the little slipper size (5-8 pounds) were caught, most of the fish were around 12-15 pounds.
WAHOO: What Hoo once again, and I was surprised since we are in a full moon phase. Maybe the water just has to warm up a bit more?
INSHORE: There were reports from the anglers and Captains of large numbers of small Roosterfish once again just off the beach on the Pacific side between the arch and the lighthouse. These fish have been pounding small Caballito and the boats often had to return for more bait. The size was small with an average of 5 pounds, but a few larger ones, to about 15 pounds, were caught in the same area every day. I had an angler tie into a very large Sierra on Tuesday in this area. He fought the fish on line around 15 pounds in strength and said the Sierra would have weighed about 20 pounds (this is an experienced angler and Captain saying this). Of course when I told them that it might have been a possible line class world record they were mad they had filleted the fish! There have been some nice Pargo in the 20-30 pound class start to show off of the rocky points and live bait slow trolled deep has been the key for the larger ones. Adding to the excitement of fishing this way is the possibility of hooking up to some of the 30-40 pound Yellowtail that are still around. There are still many of the smaller ones, but as I said last week, not in the numbers we had been seeing. Even with the inshore action being good, many of the Pangas are targeting Marlin since they are so close right now.
NOTES: My golf game continues to improve; I am now consistently breaking 100. Don’t laugh, that is quite an improvement for me! I am looking forward to fishing this coming week; I just hope things keep popping out there! This weeks report was written to the sound of my dog snoring in the background, she had a hard day at the beach this morning! Until next week, tight lines!
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Apr 14, 2008; 12:33PM - Gordo Banks Panga report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: eric
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Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
April 13, 2008
Anglers -
We are now officially into the spring season, clocks have been sprung forward one hour, days are becoming increasing longer and ocean water temperatures are on a warming trend. Offshore fishing action moved closer to shore in recent days, as the gamefish were following the bait supply and cleaner currents that moved within only a couple of miles of the shoreline. Moderate crowds of vacationers are enjoying sunny days, with high temperatures reaching the mid to upper 80s. All around local tourism is substantially lower than normal for this time of year, all we can do is hope the economy improves soon.
Just a few days ago fleets were traveling some 20 miles offshore to find striped marlin and yellowfin tuna action. Early this week conditions rapidly changed, clean blue water moved close to shore in the areas from Cabo San Lucas to Chileno and both yellowfin tuna and marlin were found in substantial numbers. Concentrations of mackerel were schooling in this same region, striped marlin were found as close as one mile to shore in some instances, feeding on the balled up bait schools, charter boats were reporting multiple landings of stripers in the 100 to 150 pound class on a regular basis. Anglers had best success casting baits into the feeding marlin, but also there was a fair percentage of marlin being hooked into on trolled lures. Wednesday was particular wide open, every boat in the vicinity was telling stories of all the marlin they either seen feeding or were hooked up with. Tuna were striking on trolled lures, medium sized feathers, cedar plugs and rapalas, blind strikes, not associated with porpoise, once the schools were encountered, typically 3 to 4 miles from shore, multiple strikes were common. Mid week there were some high wind swells to deal with and this did slow down the tuna action. Marlin were actually found closer to the shore in more protected waters. Most of the yellowfin landed were weighing 10 to 16 pounds, though some fish to 40 or 50 pounds were reported, particularly on larger lures that were being trolled for marlin. A handful of scattered reports of dorado were reported, fish ranging up to 30 pounds, striking on the same marlin or tuna type lures. Water temperatures have varied from 64 degrees on the Pacific to as high as 72 to 74 degrees in the direction of the Sea of Cortez.
Other action included sierra and roosterfish along the shoreline, trolling various baits worked best for this action, the majority of these fish were in the 2 to 7 pound range.
A few of the juvenile sized yellowtail were still taken off the shallow rock piles and to the north of Punta Gorda there were hungry schools of Mexican bonito providing fast and furious action. Limited reports for amberjack, cabrilla and huachinago (red snapper), though some quality fish were accounted for on yo-yo jigs, the key was finding an area that was not dominated by the bonito.
The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos area reported sending out approximately 55 charters for the week, with anglers having a fish count of:
7 dorado, 74 yellowfin tuna, 34 striped marlin, 17 yellowtail, 13 amberjack, 34 red snapper, 164 sierra, 15 roosterfish and 266 Mexican bonito.
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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Apr 14, 2008; 12:10PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
April 7-13, 2008
WEATHER: The weather continues to slowly warm up as our nighttime lows have been in the high 60’s and our daytime highs have been in the high 80’s. There have been very few clouds in the skies this past week, just scattered around here and there for the most part. No rain has been seen to fall anywhere near us. Sun block of at least SPF-35 has been a necessity.
WATER: It appears that the California current has become weaker as the warm water on the Cortez side of the Cape has started to come across into the Pacific side over the week. The cooler water in the current has been forced offshore, outside the San Jaime Bank it is a cool 68-69 degrees while on the bank and up to the shoreline it is a warmer 73-74 degrees. On the Cortez side of the Cape we have mostly warm water in the 74-75 degree range. Surface conditions have been great this past week with small swells and very little wind.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin are re-appearing in large numbers now as the water has warmed up to their preferred 74 degree range, but they are not biting all that well. That is not to say there are no fish being caught; it just means that as far as the percentage of fish caught to fish seen, well, that is a low number. The positive side of this is that there are large numbers of fish being seen on the surface, small groups of three or four and larger groups that number up to fifteen fish. Most boats have been releasing two or three Marlin per trip, but throwing bait to forty or so fish in order to get those numbers. The area around the 95 spot has been holding large numbers of Striped Marlin, as has the area around the 1150.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We had a wide-open bite on the football size fish this week as a large school moved to within 4 miles of the bay early in the week. Boats were getting 20-30 fish each before tiring and going on to fish for Marlin. These fish were averaging 8-10 pounds each with a few in the 20-pound class. They were biting anything you put in the water, but the larger fish were eating live bait dropped in front of the moving schools. Any boats that went out at 150 degrees ran into these fish on Monday and Tuesday, as the week went on the fish moved to the west. There were other scattered schools found, but with the bite so good close to home not many boats went much farther to look for larger ones.
DORADO: There continued to be a few fish caught this week and as the water warms up more we should expect to be seeing more Dorado. I had a report of a boat up at Los Barillas catching 27 Dorado after finding a dead seal and that is the type of thing that may begin to happen here. Not that we kill seals, but this time of year we begin to find kelp fronds and trash in the water that hold large numbers of Dorado.
WAHOO: What Hoo once again.
INSHORE: The numbers of small Yellowtail being caught has lowered this week, weather because they have moved on to water more in keeping with their preferred temperature or because they became fished out, I don’t know. But instead of filling coolers with these small 5-8 pound fish, boats are getting just three or four per trip. What has a lot of anglers excited is the number of Roosterfish that have been showing up just outside of the arch. There have been mornings when 20 fish have been caught and released by one boat, but the fish have been small with an average size of 5 pounds. Little guys, but when you use light tackle they are a blast to catch! The Sierra bite has fallen off a bit as well and with the smooth water conditions and the Yellowfin Tuna being close, a lot of the Panga fishermen have been going out for the Tuna.
NOTES: Maybe I’ll try this thing I’ve been trying to get to use next year, it does not look like I will get to use this technique anytime soon, sigh. Anyway, we had great fishing this week and I hope it continues, with the numbers of Striped Marlin we are seeing if they start biting it will be awesome. This weeks report was written to the music of John Lee Hooker on the 2006 Virgin Records release “Best Of Friends”. Until next week, tight lines!
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Apr 7, 2008; 05:42PM - Gordo Banks Panga Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: eric
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Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
April 6, 2008
Anglers -
As we enter the first full month of the spring season the Southern Baja California region has yet to change their clocks one hour forward for daylight savings time, it appears strange to see the sun high in the sky by 7 a.m., this situation will change this coming weekend, it always seems to feel like more of a dramatic change when waiting an extra month to spring forward. Weather conditions are ideal, highs into the low to mid 80s, not so chilly in the early morning and north winds are gradually becoming less dominant. Anglers are patiently waiting during this transition period as warmer currents slowly push back into the area, bringing with them the sought after pelagic gamefish.
Striped marlin action improved substantially this past week throughout the region, as scores of stripers are being spotted free jumping and tailing on the surface. One of the hot spots in recent days was from the Gordo Banks towards Desteladera, anywhere from 5 to 15 miles offshore. Charters targeting billfish were accounting for one to three fish per boat on an average, the majority of strikes came on mackerel, with a smaller percentage being hooked up on lures. Sizes were healthy, 100 to 150 pounds, with a few specimens even larger.
Yellowfin tuna continued to be found 15 to 30 miles offshore, sometimes with fast moving schools of porpoise, but at other times they were by blind strikes on lures, cedar plugs and feathers were both productive. Most of the tuna were under fifteen pounds, though there were reports of a couple of larger yellowfin accounted for that weighed into the triple digits. Dorado counts also jumped in recent days, as water temperatures up to 72 degrees were found on the outside. On Tuesday several boats reported encountering a dead whale carcass that was holding schools of dorado to thirty pounds, though the fish proved to be finicky at times and had a preference for live mackerel only. There were a scattering on dorado that also hooked into while trolling with lures on the marlin and tuna grounds.
The local panga fleets had been concentrating their efforts nearby off Palmilla Point for several weeks, this is where there had been big concentrations of yellowtail, mainly juvenile sized, with a few larger fish mixed in, anyway this action came to a standstill at the start of the week, even the bonito that had been schooling with the jacks appeared to have moved on, only the giant squid remained. Trolling along the inshore stretches of beaches produced sierra and roosterfish, most of these fish were striking on sardinas or rapalas and weighing five pounds or less.
Panga Charters are once again heading north to the Iman Bank, where catches have been dominated by Mexican bonito, yo-yo jigs, rapalas and sardinas are all catching fish. Also off the bottom rock piles there has been limited numbers or pargo, cabrilla and amberjack.
Whale watching season is winding down, the mammals are still being spotted daily, but numbers are significantly less, as the humpbacks and grays start their migration back north.
Be aware that in recent days the Mexican Navy has routinely been conducting on the water inspections of sportfishing charter boats, particularly having a vendetta against the pangas, make sure you have a valid fishing license, also boat owners need to be diligent about having all of their paper work and safety equipment in order. You would like to believe that any regulation problems could be taken care of back at the docks before the boats even launched, tourism is already slow in recent months and to have a heavily armed Navy Patrol vessel rapidly approach you while you on a relaxing fishing excursion can definitely be a bit nerve wracking to say the least.
The combined panga charter fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 64 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
9 striped marlin, 33 giant squid, 28 dorado, 27 yellowfin tuna, 27 pargo, 9 cabrilla, 13 amberjack, 126 yellowtail, 285 Mexican bonito, 134 sierra and 56 roosterfish.
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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Apr 7, 2008; 10:21AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
March 31-April 6, 2008
WEATHER: The weather has continued to make a believer of me in Cabo being the perfect place to live this time of year. Our daytime highs have been in the low 90’s and our nighttime lows in the mid to low 60’s. We had mostly sunny skies this week and for the most part, light winds. There were a couple of days in the middle of the week where the wind blew strongly from the west, but it was for only a day or two.
WATER: Water temperatures on the Cortez side of the Cape have continued to rise slowly; we had as warm as 75 degrees at the end of the week across the 95 spot. There is still a plume of cool 67-degree water coming across the tip of the Cape from the Pacific side. Both sides of the Cape experienced bouncy conditions on Friday and Saturday when the wind shifted and came from the west, but it settled right down. Water clarity had been an issue on the Pacific side close to shore but that has cleared up a bit, however the farther to the north you went the greener the water became. The blue water has remained south of us at a distance of at least 25 miles. Even the warm water across the 95 spot has been slightly green in color.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The good news is that the Striped Marlin bite has continued to improve; it was better this week than last week. That may be due to the warmer water we are experiencing, but for whatever the reason, we are happy. Along with the improved bite is the fact that the fish have moved closer to us, in the warmer water across the 95 spot, which translates into shorter runs to the Marlin. They seem to be a bit larger on average than we have seen lately as well. I did not hear of any other species of billfish this week, but I am sure there were some strikes on larger ones.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The football size Yellowfin continue to provide action but they have been a little harder to find for many of the boats. 25 to 30 miles to the south has continued to be the most prolific area for these fish and the first boats to the schools are doing well with an average catch rate of 10-12 fish per boat. Anglers arriving a little late have not been shut out, but it has been a slow pick for them with an average of four or five fish per boat. There were rumors floating around in the middle of the week of a private boat finding a school of fish averaging 80 pounds, but I was not able to confirm any information on that.
DORADO: The warm water continued to produce fish that averaged 12 pounds with a few in the 20-30 pound class, but there were no large numbers from that area. Almost everyone got a fish or two though. There was one day when a couple of boats found a patch of kelp to the inside of the San Jaime bank and loaded up on Dorado that averaged 15 pounds, they worked it hard with cut bait and kept radio silence until they were done. They looked for it again the next day but it had drifted off and could not be found again.
WAHOO: What Hoo?
INSHORE: Firecracker Yellowtail continued to provide plenty of action for inshore anglers this week with the fish averaging 5 pounds. Sierra were in the same areas and while the fishing was not red-hot for them, the bite was still decent with anglers catching as many as they wanted. Roosterfish were also mixed in with the Yellowtail and Sierra. They were small ones at an average of 5 pounds, but provided good action on light tackle, and a variety in the catch. White Bonita rounded out the inshore action with fish from 5 to 12 pounds. All of these fish were found in water less than 100 feet deep, close to the shoreline on the Pacific side.
NOTES: I did not manage to get out and try the thing I mentioned last week, perhaps I will get a chance this week. If I do, I’ll fill you in on the results. The bite continues to improve in our area and our hope is that the trend continues. Whale sightings are down as the migration is almost over. On Saturday we saw only two, a mother and baby Humpback headed north on the Pacific side. Let me take a second here for some blatant advertising. The Shrimp House is back!! Shrimp and bulldogs! On Hidalgo Street. Right now the sign says El Patio, but Maro is getting that changed This weeks report was written to the sounds of U2 on their 1987 Island Records release “The Joshua Tree”. Until next week, Tight Lines!
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Mar 31, 2008; 01:28PM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
March 24-30, 2008
WEATHER: Wow, did we ever have great weather this week! I was telling my wife yesterday as we were driving out of town that I wish it was like this every day, then she reminded me that if it was, there would be too many people living here! Guess that’s right, I mean it was 11 am and it was a beautiful 77 degrees out there, and only 67 when we got up in the morning. We had lightly scattered clouds all week and this wonderful weather. Sure am glad I was here this week!
WATER: The winds from the northwest were on again, off again this week as they kicked up for three days during the middle of the week. This resulted in rough conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape and in the Sea of Cortez offshore. Along with the wind came a strong push from the California current, bringing water along the Pacific coast as cold as 61 degrees. On the charts it looks like a finger cupped around the Cape, pointing toward the east. The warmer water, in the 71-degree range at the end of the week, was outside the 1,000-fathom line again. Earlier in the week it warmed up to 75 degrees in a warm eddy that spun across from the west to the east, then went beyond our immediate area. The water between Cabo and the 1150 and north of that line has been a consistent 71-72 degrees while the water on the Pacific side offshore has been a much cooler 67 degrees.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite picked up this week, not red hot by any means but much better than it has been. Most of the fish were found outside the 1,000-fathom line and in the warmer water on the Cortez side. Most of these fish were on the surface and caught on live bait, but a few were attracted by lures and bit on drop-back live bait or were hungry enough to eat the lures. My guess is that the average was a fish for every other boat, with a few boats managing to hook up and release two or three per day. One nice thing I heard early in the week was of a Black Marlin reported to be in the 400 –pound range being caught by one of the fleet boats while they were fishing for football Tuna outside the 1,000-fathom line. That was reported as happening on Tuesday. A few more Swordfish were sighted as well, but there were none reported hooked up that I heard about.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Football Yellowfin in the 6-15 pound class continued to be the fish of the week as almost everyone willing to get out 30 miles was able to get limits, some more than limits. It usually did not take long as the fish were very hungry and multiple hook-ups were the norm, as three or four lines would get hit at the same time. Boats with just one client aboard went to pulling only one or two lines. The fish slowly moved to the east over the course of the week and the best bite was between 180 and 210 degrees during the start of the week and between 170 and 140 degrees at the end of the week. A few boats were able to get into slightly larger fish averaging 30 pounds at the end of the week, but rough offshore conditions made keeping sight of the Dolphin pods hard to do.
DORADO: There were a few more Dorado caught this week than last week, probably due to the eddy of warm water that passed our way. Most of the Dorado were caught in the warm water as boats fished for Tuna. Average size was around 15 pounds but a few boats caught doubles on fish in the 30-pound class.
WAHOO: What Hoo?
INSHORE: The rough water on the Pacific side combined with cold green conditions that started early in the week meant the inshore fishing was not very good this past week. That is not to say there were not fish caught, but the numbers were down from what we had been experiencing. The Sierra bite was spotty; a good trip resulted in a half-dozen or so to 10 pounds with the average size around 6 pounds. There were Pargo found in the rocks at the points and still a few decent Yellowtail were found.
NOTES: I don’t know if the warming of the water is a trend that is going to continue, but I sure hope it does. It seems that the water getting warmer means better fishing for us. I am going to get out this week and give a few things I have been working on a try; I’ll let you know next week if they work out. Until then, try and keep a smile on your face, things could always be worse. This weeks report was written to the music of my dog snoring in the background after a long morning at the beach! Tight Lines!
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Mar 24, 2008; 11:57AM - Cabo Bite Report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: George Landrum
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FLY HOOKER SPORTFISHING
Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
Cabo Fish Report
March 17-23, 2008
WEATHER: The weather has been going back and forth from cool to warm and it seems to change about every 5 days or so. This past week it was cool at the beginning and warm toward the end. At the end of the week our nighttime lows were in the mid 60’s and our daytime highs reached 91. Earlier in the week everything was 10 degrees cooler and there was wind and partly cloudy skies. Thankfully, the wind died down to nothing on Thursday and there were just light breezes over the Easter weekend.
WATER: Water conditions remained less than perfect on the Pacific side at the beginning of the week with strong winds from the northwest pushing up swells to 6 feet with lots of whitecaps on top. Also during that time frame the Cortez side was rougher than is normal with winds from the North not really pushing up swells but bringing on a lot of chop. At the end of the week things had really settled down, the wind quit blowing on Thursday and the swells relented on the Pacific side, becoming 2-3 feet with no chop, and conditions almost glassy on the Cortez side. On Sunday afternoon the wind again started to pick up from the Northwest and the Pacific side started to kick up a bit. Water temperatures were much warmer due south of the Cape much of the week with a band of warm water out past the 25 mile line, wandering between there and 30 miles out. This water was in the 70-70.5 degree range and was pretty clean and blue. I made a run out to the southern side of San Jaime on Friday and while I read mostly 68 degrees to the south, as soon as I approached within 5 miles the water dropped to 64 degrees and turned very green. I overheard other Captains mention that the water out past the 95 spot was also cool, but a bit cleaner, but with no fish to be found.
BAIT: Mackerel was easily available at the usual $2 per bait and there were also Caballito at the same price.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There were very few Marlin caught this week and the ones that were caught were found due south, in the warmer water among the Dolphin, I think the hook-up ratio was probably in the 10% range once again. Just as happened the week before, there were a few Swordfish sighted and fished for, but I did not hear of any coming in to the dock.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again the football size fish were found anywhere from 170 degrees to 220 degrees off of the cape. The distance varied from 32 miles to 38 miles, but very few fish were found any closer than that. All of the fish were associated with the white-bellied Dolphin; if you found a pod of them the chances were good that there were fish with them. The average size was 12 pounds with a few fish going to 20 pounds and a few in the 8-pound range. Best lures were cedar plugs and dark colored feathers. Multiple hook-ups were not uncommon and most boats later in the week were able to catch as many as they wanted. I heard of one boat that got into fish just a little bit bigger at a reported 25-pound average while fishing a bit farther east, just to the south of the Cabrilla Seamount, but there was no confirmation on that. The full moon we are going through right now may be helping our tuna catch.
DORADO: Once again there were a few Dorado caught, but most of them were very small. A few boats reported finding patches of kelp while looking for Tuna, and some to these patches held Dorado and small Yellowfin as well as a few Yellowtail.
WAHOO: Wahoo are in the same category this week as Dorado, with the red flags seen flying but I believe they were all for Sierra!
INSHORE: The bite on small Yellowtail continued this week with many more of them being taken off of the lighthouse on the Pacific side. A surprise for most anglers was the chance to get bit by large Humboldt squid. The squid were concentrated off of the arch, right in front of town, and on Friday they had moved even closer, with boats fishing for them within 200 yards of the Marina entrance. Sierra continue to provide action for those fishing just outside the breakers on both sides of the Cape, but the action seemed better on the Pacific side.
NOTES: It’s a long run out to the Tuna, and they are not big fish, but at least there is action in that area, plus the chance to come across a Marlin or Swordfish as well as a patch of kelp. The Tuna have been keeping anglers happy and with the Humboldt squid right in front there is no reason for anyone to have gone home empty handed later in the week. The Whales are slowly moving back to the north, we saw only three of them on Friday. If the water warms up a bit things should start to take off, our fingers are crossed for better action in the future. My golf game is better; I am consistently scoring below 100 now with no mulligans. Maybe by the time I’m 90 I will break 90! Until next week, Tight Lines!
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Mar 17, 2008; 05:32PM - Gordo banks Panga report
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Category: Mexico Cabo San Lucas
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Author Name: Eric
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Gordo Banks Pangas
San Jose del Cabo
March 16, 2008
Anglers -
Similar story this past week, quite a few tourists in town, though with money being tight due to the poor economy, people are watching their money, not spending as they normally might during good times. Not many anglers are in town, perhaps because of substandard fish reports in recent weeks. Weather has been great, almost perfect, cool early in the morning, with clear warm sunny skies reaching into the upper 70s on most days. Winds have not been such a factor from the north, but still have been unpredictable, at times out of the west, then north, east, before switching from the south. Water temperatures are ranging from 66 to 72 degrees, warmest currents found some 30 miles plus offshore.
Action for striped marlin in March often slows down as conditions are not stable and the fish seem to be more scattered, but we do expect the bite to improve soon as the weather continues to warm as the days gradually become longer. Marlin are being spotted throughout the zone, but are not aggressively attacking any baits or lures, this sometimes occurs when they are feeding on squid which are concentrated in deeper waters. There was a swordfish reportedly landed on Wednesday some 25 to 30 miles off of San Jose del Cabo, did not hear how large it was.
Yellowfin tuna has been the main species found further offshore, anywhere from 25 to 40 miles out, traveling with porpoise, most of these tuna are averaging 10 to 20 pounds and are still out of range for the average cruiser charter and until they come closer the panga fleets will most likely not be involved.
Inshore trolling for sierra, roosterfish and other jacks has been hit or miss, better reports came from the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, off of San Jose del Cabo and to the north there just has not been much activity being reported at all. It is truly a shame that commercial pangueros were able to get away with setting their gill nets in the areas from La Fortuna north to Los Frailes, this is an area where local official inspectors turn their heads and never seem to enforce the law.
Early in the week there was some very good action found off of Palmilla Point, mainly for small fire cracker sized yellowtail up to 6 or 8 pounds, also mixed in were Mexican bonito, amberjack and an occasional cabrilla or grouper. Anglers had success while using a combination of yo-yo jigs, rapalas and sardinas. By mid week this bite slowed almost to a standstill and fleets were once again heading north to the Iman or San Luis areas to see what they could find, this is where the bonito had been dominating the bite and where red snapper have been holding deep feeding on red crabs, showing little interest in other offerings.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 37 charters for the week with anglers reporting a fish count of:
106 Mexican bonito, 24 yellowfin tuna, 215 yellowtail, 32 amberjack, 19 huachinango (red snapper), 31 sierra and 16 cabrilla.
Good fishing, Eric
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