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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 21, 2025
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Oct 27, 2008; 10:51AM - 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
October 20-26, 2008
WEATHER: Once again we had great weather here in Cabo. Our morning lows were in the high 70’s and the daytime highs in the low 90’s, just a bit warmer than last week but very nice overall. We had mostly sunny skies this week with no rain and light winds.
WATER: Both the Pacific side and the Cortez side of the Cape had slight swells at 1-3 feet on the average for most days, with the winds light and variable at 5-10 knots. There were a few times during the later part of the week on the Cortez side when the winds picked u from the north strong enough to kick the swells up to 4-6 feet with a very short distance between them, making it very uncomfortable for the boats fishing live bait on the outer Gorda Banks and northward, but these winds were short lived and within three hours the seas had calmed down.
BAIT: Due to the Bisbee Black and Blue Tournament there was a light demand for the normal Caballito and Mackerel, but they were available at the usual $3 per bait. Sardinas were in great demand in order to catch the small Yellowfin Tuna and Bonita used for live bait on the big fish, and the price went up accordingly. We spent $100 per day for three scoops or Sardinas each day, and on the first two days almost ˝ of them were dead when delivered, sigh. Anyway, you could get bait here at the marina but it was pricey, a lot of the charter boats picked up 10 baits before leaving and caught anything else they needed while out on the charter.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin were there in abundance if you were fishing either on the Golden Gate Bank or just to the inside of there. We had groups this week that were doing double-digit fish every day, between 12 and 15 Striped Marlin releases per day, and a few that were in the two or three per day range. If you were in the right place at the right time with the right equipment the fishing was outstanding. Live bait was the key for the large numbers, and finding the bait balls was the most important thing of all. As far as the Blue Marlin and Black Marlin were concerned, the catch numbers from the Bisbee tournament speak for them selves. 141 boats, fishing three days makes for 423 fishing days. Catching two fish over 300 pounds means one decent fish per 212 days effort. This year you may as well have gone to Florida looking for big blue and Black Marlin, the results were dismal, unless of course you were the boat that was across the board in the jackpots and caught a 313 pound Marlin on the last day. In that case you were not complaining about taking home a check for over 2 million dollars. Sigh.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were more Yellowfin caught for bait for the Bisbee tournament than between all the charter boats combined. Having 60 boats all tossing out cut Sardinas and live chum in a very small area tended to concentrate the bait and the Tuna. Yellowfin to 15 pounds were caught in decent numbers every morning right in the middle of the bait along the drop-off. Farther offshore there were fish showing amongst the Dolphin, and they were ranging in size from 20 to 120 pounds. Smaller lures than most of the boats were pulling, I mean lures from 6 to 10 inches in length and in darker colors resulted in decent numbers, but live bait dropped in front of the moving schools resulted in the larger fish.
DORADO: There were plenty of Dorado out there this week and most of them were pretty close to home. The area between the Cape and Los Arcos on the Pacific side put out the largest numbers of fish, but the average size was down a bit from last week, with 10 pounds being the average size. There were still many fish in the 25-35 pound class, but there were very large numbers of smaller fish as well. That bodes well for the next month as these fish can gain as much as 5 pounds per month in weight.
WAHOO: The waning moon resulted in fewer Wahoo bites than last week, but there were still a few decent fish caught as incidentals during the tournament. I saw several fish in the 60-pound class being brought in from tournament boats. Most of these fish were caught while fishing offshore and were not in any concentrations.
INSHORE: There were some small Roosterfish to 15 pounds with the average around 8 pounds caught this week. Live Mackerel were the main bait used and most of the fish came from fairly close to home, between the Hacienda Hotel and the Chileno Bay. Most of the Pangas were concentrated on the Dorado bite instead of the traditional inshore species.
NOTES: The Black and Blue Tournament this week was a big disappointment with only two qualifying fish weighed. I heard a lot of comments that the lack of success combined with the tight economy might mean a definite drop in the number of participants next year. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with the economy.
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Oct 20, 2008; 11:01AM - 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
October 13-19, 2008
WEATHER: The week started with morning temperatures in the mid 70’s and ended with the temps in the high 70’s, a slight warming over the course of the week. Daytimes saw a slightly larger change with daytime temps up to the high 90’s, but with low humidity compared to last month. We had mostly sunny skies this week with no rain at all.
WATER: The water on both sides of the cape was a little bumpy at the start of the week but by this weekend things had gotten really nice. On the Pacific side we had a slight swell at 2-4 feet and a slight chop early in the mornings and late in the afternoons while on the Cortez side the water remained almost flat with swells at 1-3 feet and spaced far apart. Once you got north past the Punta Gorda, Los Frailles area the wind kicked in a bit and there was some chop on the water, but close to home it was like a lake. Water temperatures on the Cortez side were in the 86-87 degree range almost everywhere and on the Pacific side the water was a fairly even 85 degrees except for just below and to the west of the San Jaime Bank where it dropped to 82 degrees.
BAIT: Caballito and Mullet were available at the normal $3 each but on a few days they were a bit harder to get. Boats going up the Pacific side were stopping at the Golden Gate Bank to make bait as there were some small, scattered schools of Mackerel down deep.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: There were still plenty of Striped Marlin at the Golden Gate Bank but as the days went along the bite dropped off. Early in the week boats were releasing five or six fish on a geed day but by the end of the week a two fish day was a good one. The fish were still there, you could see them on the depth sounder and on the surface, but they were not biting as well. Farther to the north at the Finger Bank, the same situation was occurring, but there the difference was in the baits available. At the Finger Bank the Marlin were feeding on Sardinas, and would often just ignore a Mackerel or Caballito because they were so focused on the small fish. On the big fish front, there were quite a few medium sized Blue and Black marlin released, with the majority of them being Blue Marlin in the 200-250 pound class. The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament, held over three days, had only one qualifying marlin caught, a #415 Black that ended up taking all the jackpots for the three days as well as the big fish prize, a nice total of over $500,000 u.s. Saturday was the first day of the two-day little Bisbee tournament, with only 20 something boats entered? With the #415 Black being caught on the Outer Gorda Bank on live bait, every boat in this tournament was there fishing the same way. There were two fish weighed in on Saturday, the largest was a #385 Black. The other fish did not quite make the grade, weighing in at a short #295, five pounds shy. The winning fish on Sunday was a #514 Black ,same area, same method.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: This was almost a repeat of last weeks results with most of the fish caught being found to the south of the San Jaime Banks among Porpoise pods. The first boats on the fish did well with catches ranging from 6 to 10 fish with an average weight of 20 pounds, the larger fish going 30 pounds. If you were the third or fourth boat on the scene you might get one or two fish, if you were later than that you were out of luck. There was one very nice fish caught this week during the Los Cabos Tournament, a Yellowfin weighing in at 181 pounds, but I could not get the information on where or how it was caught.
DORADO: The number of Dorado being caught this week fluctuated day to day, but overall the numbers are down a little bit unless you went far up the Pacific side. The passing of Hurricane Norbert did was quite a bit of debris into the water, but the inshore current changed and at a movement of 2 knots, pushed the debris to the north and out to the west. Locally the best bite has been on the Pacific side from 2 to 4 miles off the beach. Finding feeding Frigate birds in that area was a sure indicator of Dorado and slow trolling live baits under the birds, or pulling lures in the area usually resulted in hooking up, with the fish averaging 12 pounds. I did hookup one nice Dorado this week, in the 50-pound class, but it got away after charging the boat like a Marlin. The largest Dorado caught during the Los Cabos Tournament was 57 pounds.
WAHOO: I heard good things this week about Wahoo up around the Punta Gorda and Inman Banks, with quite a few of the local Pangas getting one or two fish in the 40 pound class each day. They were getting good results on swimming plugs like Rapallas and Marauders, and there were a few large fish hooked up as well. The largest Wahoo brought in during the Los Cabos Tournament weighed in at 44 pounds.
INSHORE: Almost every Panga captain I talked to this week was working off the beach for Dorado and Striped Marlin. Only one went and fished the beach and he told me that the Roosterfish bite was off, releasing only three small fish outside of the Westin Hotel on the Cortez side.
NOTES: This is the Bisbee Black and Blue Tournament week so there will be a lot of pressure on the fish, and if this last weeks results are any indicator, you will probably be able to walk from boat to boat on the Outer Gorda Bank. My golf game is not improving, so after having been semi-retired for the past year and driving my wife nuts, I am ready to get back to full time work. If anyone out there has a full time Captain position that needs filled (preferably here in Cabo or San Jose) drop me an e-mail with a phone number and I’ll give you a call. Until next week, tight lines!
Just heard the biggest fish came in late at over 800#'s
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Oct 13, 2008; 12:03PM - 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
October 6-12, 2008
WEATHER: This was an interesting week on the weather front as we had a scare from Hurricane Norbert and were keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Odile. Norbert ended up passing well to the north, bringing only several days of cloudy skies, gusty winds and a little bit of rain. Oh, and some big swells! Odile looks as if she is going to dissipate well to the south and west of us and should not effect us in any way. As expected, although several days early, the temperature dropped and the humidity dropped as well. This morning on the way to the golf course we had a reading of 74 degrees, at least 10 degrees less than anytime in the past four months! The skies were sunny and the weather perfect.
WATER: The end of the week saw the Port Captain close the port for Friday and Saturday due to the effects of Hurricane Norbert. Prior to that the Pacific side was seeing small swells at 3-5 feet with winds from the northwest at 5-10 knots, the Cortez side had swells at 1-3 feet with slight winds, variable in direction and speed. Hurricane Norbert pushed the swells to 10-12 feet for Friday, and winds gusted to 30 knots on Friday and Saturday. The Port Captain opened the port at 7:00 am Sunday. Water temperatures on the Cortez side of the Cape were in the 86 degree range on average, and on the Pacific side out to the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks it averaged 85 degrees with a 2 degree drop outside, to the west and to the north, of those banks.
BAIT: Caballito and Mullet were available at the normal $3 each but on a few days they were a bit harder to get. Boats going up the Pacific side were stopping at the Golden Gate Bank to make bait as there were some small, scattered schools of Mackerel down deep.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The beginning of the week saw a continuation of the hot Striped Marlin bite we had been having at the Golden Gate and the Finger Banks. As I write this we are waiting to see if the storm conditions caused the fish to move off as we have several boats out fishing today. Our fingers are crossed that the port being closed for several days, and the lack of rain in our immediate area will have given the fish a break and they will be ready to eat when our clients get to the grounds. There were a few more Blue Marlin caught early in the week before the weather moved in, but none of them were large ones according to what I heard, most of them were in the 200-250 pound class. Almost all the action on billfish this week occurred on the Pacific side with the exception of a few Blue Marlin up around the Punta Gorda area.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Early in the week reports were coming in about a few nice schools of Yellowfin Tuna to 50 pounds outside of the San Jaime Banks, and to the south of the Banks. There were a few fish caught by the first boats on the scene at the Golden Gate Bank as well. We will have to wait and see if these fish remain in the area after having the fishing shut down for several days.
DORADO: Once again there were still some decent Dorado to be found with the average size a bit smaller than expected at 12 pounds, but the number of fish was down as well. Most boats were happy to get three to five fish per trip; the exceptional catch may have been 10 fish if the anglers were lucky enough to get into a school of fish. There is a decent chance that the rains from Hurricane Norbert, as it passed across land to the north, may have washed out a lot of debris from the arroyos and we may have some decent concentrations of Dorado under this floating debris in the coming week. The California current should bring this debris into our area in three or four days.
WAHOO: My fingers are crossed that the full moon will bring on the Wahoo bite, but for right now it is wait and see. Hurricane Norbert may have had an effect on these sensitive fish.
INSHORE: Early in the week the inshore action was decent with small Roosterfish to 15 pounds and an occasional 40-50 pound fish being caught on the Cortez side of the Cape. Bottom fishing was poor so most of the Pangas were working several miles off of the beach for Dorado and Marlin.
NOTES: It looks like the beginning of a decent fall fishery here in Cabo, as long as the rough weather stays away! The water temperatures are perfect, the water is blue and the fish are out there. With the drop in our air temperatures and the humidity things are downright decent in town and on the water! Until next week, Tight Lines!
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Oct 6, 2008; 03:39PM - 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
September 29-October 5, 2008
WEATHER: It seems to be cooling a little bit every day, maybe a degree less in the morning every other day. As of this morning our low was 80 degrees, down from 84 last week. This week was mostly sunny with lows of 80 degrees and daytime highs of right around 96-97 degrees.
WATER: Surface conditions on both sides of the Cape remained the same as last week. The water everywhere was almost glassy on a few days with the Pacific side having small swells at 1-3 feet with gentle winds from the northwest. On the Cortez side it was just flat with a bit of wind ripple. Water temperatures on the Cortez side up around Punta Gorda were in the 87-88-degree range while just off the arch and on the Pacific side of the cape the water was a little cooler at 85-86 degrees. Outside of the San Jaime Bank the water dropped to 83-84 degrees. It was blue water everywhere you went.
BAIT: Caballito and Mullet were available at the normal $3 each but on a few days they were a bit harder to get. Boats going up the Pacific side were stopping at the Golden Gate Bank to make bait as there were some small, scattered schools of Mackerel down deep.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: One of our clients this week ended up fighting a Blue Marlin for 4 ˝ hours before getting the tail-wrapped fish to the boat. It came in on a short rigger lure and the guys dropped a live bait back to it, thinking it was a Striped Marlin. The battle took place on a fairly light bait rod and since the fish died, they took it to the weigh station. It was a nice Blue of 376 pounds! There were a few others caught this week as well, but the big noise around the docks has been the influx of Striped Marlin. Last week it was looking real good but you had to go 50 miles for double digits, this week the Golden Gate Bank started to turn on and the run was much shorter. Boats working the Pacific side between the lighthouse and the inside of the Golden Gate were hooking two or three fish per trip while trolling and casting to tailing fish or fish raised on the lures. Boats working the Golden Gate were dropping bait deep and drifting across the high spot or running to birds dropping down on fish. The problem with running to the birds was the large numbers of whales and dolphin. The Gate was producing double digit catches with one boat getting a three-day total of 33 Striped Marlin as well as several sailfish. The Finger Bank really started popping this week as well, but the fish were not right at the finger, instead the concentration seemed to be five or six miles to the north, just around the flats at the wrist. Talk about double digit fishing, one of the fleet boats reported releasing 45 Striped Marlin in one day! I hope it keeps up for a while.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: There were some Tuna out there but they were scattered. Most of the action on larger fish switched directions with the area around the Cabrillo Seamount on the Cortez side producing fish in the 50-60 pound class for a few boats that checked the area out. The Pacific side outside of the San Jaime Bank still produced fish in the 15-40 pound class under pods of dolphin. In both areas live bait produced the larger fish with small dark colored lures working on the smaller fish. When the fish became shy and the bite slowed, switching out to small pink hootchies tied directly to the line, let out 150-200 feet and jigged with sharp pulses while slow trolling worked.
DORADO: There are still decent numbers of Dorado out there but it was not the fish of the week this week, instead the title went to Striped Marlin. The bite slowed on Dorado and the size seems to have dropped a bit as well with the average fish coming in at 12 pounds. There are still fish of 30 and 40 pounds being caught, but not in the numbers of the last few weeks. Another possible reason for the lower catches might be the Marlin action, with most boats concentrating on these fish. There was decent action on the Cortez side for Dorado as well with good reports coming from boats working the Punta Gorda area, fish averaging 15 pounds with four or five fish per trip.
WAHOO: I heard of one or two incidental fish being caught this week, but with the full moon coming on the 14th the bite right around then should be better.
INSHORE: Roosterfish action was still to be had if you were in the right place, at the right time, with the right bait. This week that meant the beach off of La Laguna on the Cortez side, right at the start of the drop off of high tide, and using live mullet. A few boats reported fish to 60 pounds with a lot of medium 20-35 pound fish as well. The best report I heard from one boat was 11 releases in a trip. Other inshore action was sparse as most of the Pangas worked off the beach for Dorado and Striped Marlin.
NOTES: I found a new best place to go for shrimp tacos, only 15 pesos each, but if I tell everybody it will get ruined, but if you ask me politely I’ll tell you. I am going on a two night trip up the Cortez at the start of the week, snorkeling and diving, but I will be listening on the radio to boats fishing in the area and will let you know what I hear next week. Until then, tight lines!
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Sep 29, 2008; 10:05AM - 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
September 22-28, 2008
WEATHER Hot and humid were the words to describe this week. Our daytime temperatures were in the high 90’s with 80% humidity and nighttime lows in the mid 80’s and no change in humidity. Mostly sunny skies this week, even on Saturday when we had a short downpour of rain the sun was shining!
WATER: The water everywhere was almost glassy on a few days with the Pacific side having small swells at 1-3 feet with gentle winds from the northwest. On the Cortez side it was just flat with a bit of wind ripple. Water temperatures on the Cortez side up around Punta Gorda were in the 88-degree range while just off the arch and on the Pacific side of the cape the water was a little cooler at 84-85 degrees. It was blue water everywhere you went.
BAIT: Caballito and Mullet were available at the normal $3 each but on a few days they were a bit harder to get. Boats going up the Pacific side were stopping at the Golden Gate Bank to make bait as there were some small, scattered schools of Mackerel down deep.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite has turned on, at least if you are willing to travel 50 miles to get to the fish. Realize that if you do this, the boat will likely charge a fuel premium for the trip. The Finger Bank turned on this weekend with several boats reporting multiple numbers of fish there. Captain Tony Nungary on “Tony’s Machine” had 17 releases in 2 hours while fishing a private tournament and Captain Jay Bush reported 22 releases but spending a bit more time in the area. Reportedly the fish were not feeding on bait balls but were being hooked on trolled lures and on dropped back baits. If this action continues we may have a repeat of the awesome action of last year. The Golden Gate Bank also had good action on Striped Marlin, but not quite the numbers of the Finger Bank as most boats working the southern edge were getting bit on deep dropped live baits, not covering much of the water but working around the deep bait balls, dropping, drifting across for 15 minutes then pulling the baits up, running back up-current and dropping again.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The Tuna action this week was considerably slower than last week. According to Mike Tumbrillo, the owner of the 31’ Bertram “Renegade Mike”, his crew searched several days but were not able to find the big fish that had made an appearance last week. There were schools of fish in the 30-40 pound class to the west of the San Jaime Bank as well as 30 miles to the southwest, but the big boys were absent. Boats willing to go the distance did fairly well, averaging 2 to 10 fish per trip. Cedar plugs and green or dark colored lures run close to the boat worked well, with a few of the larger fish biting on live bait dropped back after a trolled lure hook-up.
DORADO Once again, just like last week, Dorado were the fish of the week. While not everyone caught their limit this week and there were a couple of slow days, the numbers were still good and the average size of the fish was decent. Most of the fish were found on the Pacific side of the cape but the reason was most of the boats headed that way looking for Tuna and Marlin, the Dorado were not the target for most of the boats this week. Reports from the few boats that went north on the Sea of Cortez were that the Dorado were there as well but you had to find the concentrations. A few boats did this by fast trolling lures until getting a strike, then chumming in the school with chopped up skipjack.
WAHOO I did not hear of any Wahoo this week, but I am sure there were a few caught.
INSHORE: Captain Victor on the Panga “Santi” reported that there were still Roosterfish to be found on the stretch of beach between the arch and the Pedregal. His clients released two fish of about 25-pounds each along with several smaller one during the middle of the week. Most of the Pangas were fishing just off the beach for some of the large numbers of Dorado, and they were doing very well. Bottom fishing was reported as being a bit off with the majority of fish caught being triggerfish.
NOTES: If you are interested in fishing with any of the Captains or boats mentioned above, feel free to drop us a line, we will be happy to set you up for a trip. Meanwhile, if you like good guitar playing, see if you can find the song “Not One Bad Thought” by Tony Joe White with Mark Knopfler. I bought a disc with the radio version and the extended version and was blown away by the playing. Well, until next week, tight lines!
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Sep 22, 2008; 04:25PM - 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
September 21, 2008
Anglers –
After the passing of Tropical Storm Lowell the weather conditions have been relatively calm, with the exception of a windy front from the south that brought some heavy rainfall to the Cabo San Lucas on Tuesday morning, but the moisture did not make it to San Jose del Cabo, only the gusty southern wind. Overall the area had pristine conditions this past week, cooler fall like climate, the parched dry desert scenery has quickly turned into lush green tropical landscape. Hurricane season is not quite over with, but everyone is hoping that the region will be spared of any direct hits, the rainfall that has fallen was much needed and especially nice that it has come without high disastrous winds. Crowds of tourists were light, as is expected at this time, but in another few weeks the influx of visiting anglers will increase as they arrive for the popular fall season.
After being shut down most of last week due to rainy and choppy ocean conditions sportfishing fleets were back in action starting on Friday and through the weekend. The action seemed to pick right back up to how it had been just before the storm. Lots of dorado and yellowfin tuna being found throughout the region, but particularly on the fishing grounds from Punta Gorda to the Iman Bank. Sardinas continued to be in good supply and this is what the most consistent action was coming on, either slow trolling with live bait or drift fishing over the structure. Dorado were mostly smaller schooling size fish of 5 to 10 pounds, but then again there were some larger bulls to over 20 pounds found mixed in. Same thing for the yellowfin tuna, most of the fish now being caught are football sized, 8 to 15 pounds, but now and then some larger grade fish up to 40 pounds were encountered, all in the same area, just a matter of being in the right spot at the correct time. One panga based out of La Playita fought a monster yellowfin for several hours that was estimated to weigh close to 250 pounds, but the battle ended after the rod broke and the line parted at the same time. Of course there were skipjack and some needlefish mixed in the same areas where tuna and dorado were found, always a nuisance when you are targeting the preferred species.
Not much in the way of billfish in the Gordo Banks area, a few sailfish and striped marlin reported, but the better marlin action was reported off of Chileno to outside of Cabo San Lucas. Also there was not a whole lot of activity being found close to shore or off the bottom, it was mainly the tuna and dorado that provided the consistent bite.
At least one wahoo was also accounted for by local San Jose del Cabo resident John Schibel, he hooked into the 25 pound fish while using a yo-yo jig on the Iman Bank, this was a nice bonus to go along with his limits of dorado and yellowfin tuna.
The combined panga fleets launching from the La Playita / Puerto Los Cabos Marina area sent out approximately 39 charters for the shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 sailfish, 1 striped marlin, 5 hammerhead shark, 1 wahoo, 3 amberjack, 13 pargo, 380 dorado and 188 yellowfin tuna.
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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Sep 22, 2008; 10:16AM - 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
September 15-21, 2008
WEATHER Monday morning was a rude awakening with thunder crashing, lightning flash’s scaring my cats and the dog and the sound of heavy rain. Thank goodness it only lasted about two hours, but in those two hours we had about two inches of rain here in town. Friends coming into town were amazed as this was a localized storm, with only light sprinkles two miles away. We have had mostly clear skies since then. With all the steady light rain the week before and little sand and dirt washed into the streets it was a bit disturbing to see what a quick heavy rain could do, now there is a lot of sand and dust in the streets. One good thing that happened is that the cool air stayed with us. Our mornings have been averaging in the mid to high 70’s and it was not until late in the week that our afternoon highs became greater than 90 degrees.
WATER: While the swells on the Pacific side remained a bit on the large size early in the week at 4-6 feet, they became smaller as the week wore on. As of Sunday they were averaging 3-5 feet in the large sets, enough for you to know that it was not flat! On the Cortez side things were considerably calmer with swells at 1-3 feet. The water temperature on the Cortez side remained a slight bit higher than the Pacific at 85 degrees on the average. On the Pacific side the areas inside of the banks averaged 82-83 degrees with a one-degree drop outside of the banks. The water remained a very nice blue everywhere.
BAIT: Almost all the bigger baits this week were Caballito and Mullet at the normal $3 per bait. The Sardinas were a bit harder to come by, according to some of the bait boats that was due to the water temperatures.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: I said in the last report that it was beginning to look good for the Striped Marlin fishing and this week proved it to me. We had a client fishing on Saturday who released 11 Striped Marlin and lost a Sailfish in the vicinity of the Golden Gate Banks. Not only that, but he also kept 7 nice Dorado while releasing many more. Most boats were getting at least one or two Marlin releases per day this week. Most of these fish were a result of throwing live bait at tailing fish, but a few were caught on lures being pulled for Dorado. There were also a couple of very decent days of Blue Marlin fishing. Wednesday captains on the fleet boats reported hooking up with at least three nice Blues while a private boat reported releasing one as well. Most of the Blue Marlin action occurred between the 95 spot and the south end of the San Jaime Banks.
YELLOWFIN TUNA While the Tuna action this week was not hot and heavy, there were some nice fish found. One of my friends, while fishing on his boat, “Private Reserve”, hooked a double header while working a Frigate bird. The first fish took the #50 class reel into the deep backing; the second fish didn’t do much at first. The first fish ended up being a nice 50-pound Yellowfin. After landing it he picked up the rod on the second fish and after a one-hour fight he managed to boat a very nice #175 Yellowfin (and he was nice enough to give me a chunk for sashimi, thanks Tiff!). There were boats that managed to get into schools during the week, but the runs were normally at least 30 miles as the concentrations that were found were outside of the banks on the Pacific side.
DORADO Absolutely no doubt about it, Dorado were the fish of the week. If you were not getting your limit this week, or at least catching all you wanted to catch, you were in the wrong place! The correct place to be was anywhere within 10 miles of the shore on both the Cortez side and the Pacific side, with the better concentrations on the Pacific side. Slow trolling live bait, working Frigate birds or trolling 6-8 inch brightly colored lures all worked well on fish that averaged 15 pounds. Almost everyone (with the exception of a few greedy crews) were releasing anything under 10 pounds, and still limiting out.
WAHOO There were a couple of nice Wahoo to 60 pounds caught this week, but I did not hear of any large numbers. The fish that I know about were caught on the Pacific side by boats fishing for Dorado.
INSHORE: There was some decent Roosterfish this week with fish that ranged to 30 pounds, but not any large numbers on fish that size. The Cortez side of the Cape had the best fishing for bottom fish such as snapper and grouper, but there were no large numbers of anything except triggerfish. With the nice water we had, most of the Pangas were working outside for Dorado and Marlin, and doing quite well with them.
NOTES: Maybe I should start playing virtual golf, as my game is not improving at all. Or better yet, maybe I should start fishing more, especially since the fishing is so good right now! Once again my thanks to Tiff on the “Private Reserve” for the excellent Yellowfin fillet, that was perfect! Until next week, listen to some Moody Blues or Pink Floyd and relax!
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Sep 15, 2008; 11:17AM - 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
September 8-14, 2008
WEATHER The weather was the big item of the week. Starting the week off was a movement of storm cells over the top of us from the mainland. These cells had plenty of thunder and lightning with them, to the point that the Port Captain closed the marina on Monday and Tuesday. The positive aspect of this was the fact that the rain was light and fairly steady, the type of rain that will soak into the desert instead of running off into the arroyos. Just as these storm cells moved out the feeder band of Tropical Storm (late Tropical Depression) Lowell moved in with winds steady at 30 mph with gusts to 45 mph and more light rains. This kept the port closed through Wednesday, and it did not open again until mid morning Thursday, too late for most of the charters as they had already cancelled trips for the day. With the movement of weather through the area the daytime temperatures dropped as well as the nighttime temps. Our nights ended up being a beautiful 72-75 degrees at the end of the week while the daytime highs did not get much more than 87 degrees, and with low humidity at that. Everyone has been saying how it feels like the middle of October this week!
WATER: Naturally the water was too rough for fishing until Thursday but the weather we experienced cooled off the surface temperatures a bit, as well as what we had on land. On the Pacific side the water was almost a steady 84 degrees with a little cooler areas near shore. On the Cortez side of the Cape it was averaging 86 degrees, overall down about 2 degrees from before the beginning of the week. The swells remained from the southwest until Friday when they began returning to their normal northwest direction. On the Pacific they were 6-8 feet when the port opened on Thursday but had dropped to 3-5 feet over the weekend. On the Cortez side they were averaging 2 feet less. With the light and steady rains we did not have much in the way of debris wash out of the arroyos but the water was a bit discolored close to the arroyos on both the Pacific and Cortez side on Thursday, clearing up by the weekend.
BAIT: Almost all the bigger baits this week were Caballito and Mullet at the normal $3 per bait. There were Sardinas available from a couple of boats locally but everyone had them up toward Palmilla. The price here was a bit higher than to the north as the boats here were charging $30 a bucket while it was only $25 a bucket up north.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin continued to bite even though the water remained in the 84-degree range. It did not take much of a search on Friday to find the fish, they were still holding in the same area as last week, mostly on the Pacific side closer to shore, most within 7 miles of the beach. There was a concentration of fish on the Golden Gate Bank; that bodes well for next week as well. There was a scattering of Sailfish in the catches as well, and they were from the same areas. The Blue Marlin did not appear at the end of the week, hopefully they will start to show in numbers soon.
YELLOWFIN TUNA On Thursday and Friday there were reports of Yellowfin to 60 pounds being caught to the west side of the San Jaime Banks, but few fish reported from other areas.
DORADO Still mostly being caught on the Pacific side, the Dorado have been striking well on medium sized lures in brighter colors. Live bait dropped back behind a troll hooked fish resulted in many doubles on fish that averages 15 pounds with a few in the 40-pound class. Spotting the Frigate birds swooping on flying fish was the key to steady action on Dorado after the storms.
WAHOO I did not hear of any reports of Wahoo after the storms this week.
INSHORE: The swells kicked up by the storms made inshore fishing very iffy, most of the Pangas preferred to go out 5 miles or so for Dorado. A few of the Pangas that worked inside on the Cortez side reported decent action on Roosterfish to 35 pounds, nothing hot and heavy but steady fishing with live Mullet and Caballito.
NOTES: The desert is going to be beautiful after the nice rain we just had and hopefully I will get a chance to check it out this week. Until next week, tight lines!
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Sep 8, 2008; 01:36PM - 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
September 1-7, 2008
WEATHER Talk about warm, this week we had the early morning temperatures in the low to mid 80’s, on Sunday morning I saw 86 degrees on the thermometer. Our daytime highs have been up there as well, mostly in the high 90’s and we have had very little wind. Partly cloudy skies have kept it from getting unbearable and it looks as though the clouds may continue as we get some remote banding from a storm expected to pass well to the south of us this week.
WATER: The air is hot and so is the water. On the Cortez side of the Cape the water has been a pretty even 86-88 degrees. On the Pacific side from the shore to around 10 miles out it has been from 82-84 degrees and farther out it has been between 85-88 degrees. We had some big swells mid-week but they had died out at the end of the week, however, we might se a few more big ones due to the storm to the south. With the wind very light most of the time there has been just a bit of a chop on the water. Mid-week we had a couple of breezy days on the Pacific side close to shore, but once you got away from the shoreline by three or four miles it calmed down.
BAIT: Almost all the bigger baits this week were Caballito and Mullet at the normal $3 per bait. There were Sardinas available from a couple of boats locally but everyone had them up toward Palmilla. The price here was a bit higher than to the north as the boats here were charging $30 a bucket while it was only $25 a bucket up north.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin continued to bite this week, surprising everyone since the water is so warm. The Sailfish showed up as well, not in the numbers as on the mainland but everyone had shots at multiple fish this week. I did not hear of anyone getting hooked up to big Blue or Black Marlin this week. Most of the Marlin action took place in the band of cooler water along the shoreline on the Pacific side while the Sailfish were in the warmer water just outside. Live bait got the most attention form the striped Marlin this week, but you had to be quick or the Dorado would take the bait before the Stripers got a chance to chew.
YELLOWFIN TUNA We had good Tuna action this week on fish that ranged between 15 and 150 pounds. Most of the fish were between 30 and 50 pounds but the same schools were delivering #150 fish on drop-back baits or deep drifted live baits. The school fish were hitting almost everything, feathers to Blue Marlin lures worked but the best action was on the smaller lures in the 4-6 inch size. A few boats loaded their clients with Tuna in the smaller size range by chumming heavily with sardines while in the Porpoise, then drifting with sardines on small hooks with a small piece of lead several feet above the hook. The Majority of Tuna action took place along the warm-cold water boundary on the Pacific side, around 12-18 miles offshore. I don’t know how much longer it will last because a couple of Tuna Seiners showed up on Saturday.
DORADO Definitely the fish of the week, Dorado made a strong showing in our area. From the Punta Gorda area all the way around the Cape to the Todo Santos area on the Pacific the fish were chewing on anything put in the water. Like I said above about the Marlin, there were Dorado taking live bait away from the stripers. Covering the water while trolling at 9 knots located the fish, then dropping back live bait or casting flies to fish following the one hooked on the troll resulted in steady, exciting action. Most of the fish were in the 12-15 pound class but occasional fish ran to 50 pounds.
WAHOO Wahoo made a showing this week offshore around the San Jaime and Golden Gate banks as well as in the open water. They were not large fish on average, just around 30 pounds, but at least they were there!
INSHORE: Large swells made inshore fishing a bit uncomfortable during the middle of the week, but boats that targeted them did well on Roosterfish averaging 15-25 pounds. Slow trolled Mullet and Sardines worked for the Roosters. Most of the Pangas were doing well on Dorado and we had one friend get a $150 pound Tuna while fishing on a Panga, as well as others to #50 and plenty of Dorado.
NOTES: I still didn’t get into the hills, maybe next week! Instead, I golfed four days straight. It looks as if I need lessons if I am going to improve. I should have been out on the water more, it is a lot cooler out there and the fishing is red-hot right now. Until next week, tight lines!
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Sep 1, 2008; 11:16AM - 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
August 25-31, 2008
WEATHER We ended last week with high winds and the port closed on Sunday but at 10 AM Monday the port Captain decided conditions were safe enough to allow the fleet to go out. Of course that was too late for many of the boats as clients were not willing to wait at the dock for four hours on the “possibility” that he would open it up. Anyway, the weather cleared and for the remainder of the week we had partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies with winds from the northwest at 10-15 knots. We had some rain on Saturday, just a light sprinkle here in town but out on the Pacific side about the San Jaime area it dumped for an hour then rained very heavily for another hour. At the end of the week, Sunday, we had mostly sunny skies with light winds. Our average daytime high was 94 degrees and our average nighttime low was 81 degrees.
WATER: As I mentioned in the weather section, the Port Captain closed the port until 10 AM Monday and upon going to sea it was found that on the Pacific side the seas were at 3-5 feet with winds between 10 and 15 knots while on the Cortez side the seas were 1-3 feet with winds at 5-10 knots. This remained the same almost all week; finally on Friday the Pacific side became even calmer with swells at 2-3 feet and the wind dropping to 5-10 knots. The rain at the end of last week resulted in off-color water conditions just off the beach on the Sea of Cortez but did not seem to affect inshore water on the Pacific side. Water temperatures on the surface dropped a bit due to the cloudy conditions and we had much more fishable temps on the Cortez side with an average of 84 degrees with the water blue. On the Pacific side the water inside of the San Jaime and Golden Gate Banks was 80-82 degrees and blue.
BAIT: Bait this week was Caballito with a few Mullet for those that wanted them. The big bait price was $3 per bait. Some Sardinas were available up toward San Jose later in the week at $25 per scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin bite continued this week with most of the action taking place within 5 miles of the beach on the Pacific side between the lighthouse and the inside of the Golden Gate Bank. Live bait tossed at tailing fish worked on about 40% of the fish seen and a few others were caught on trolled lures. There were plenty of Sailfish to be found as well, we had one client who was covered up with all five lines going off at once on Tuesday, resulting in the release of three fish and the loss of two. The Sailfish were also just off the beach, there seemed to be a good concentration of bait in the area. There were reports of a few nice Blue Marlin this week but they were not biting hot and heavy. I heard of several fish in the 250 pound class being released from the area of the 95 Spot and the 1150 and I am sure there were a few from the Gorda Banks as well.
YELLOWFIN TUNA The Tuna stayed around after the passing of the storm and most boats were able to do well if they stayed on the fish. On a few days it was scratch as scratch can to get bites, but on Saturday when the rain came on hard the fish came to the surface and bit hard for two hours. Most of the fish were in the 25-40 pound class with a few fish reaching 60 pounds. Earlier in the week the bite occurred closer to shore among the porpoise and those fish were both smaller, with quite a few footballs, and larger, with a few fish in the 80-pound class. Lures, especially small feather in dark colors worked on the football fish, and live bait worked on the larger fish.
DORADO Last week I was hoping that the storm would was debris into the water and improve the Dorado catch, but the debris did not happen. The Dorado catch, howev3er, turned on by itself and this week Dorado were fish of the week. Almost any boat that wanted to was able to get limits for their clients (federal limit of two per angler per day) and most of the fish were in the 10-20 pound class. There were some nicer fish caught as well as we had client who caught several nice bull Dorado in the 50-pound class. As with the billfish, most of the Dorado action took place on the Pacific side within 5 miles of the beach, but there were several days during the week when the action was hot and heavy just off the beach on the Cortez side up around the Palmilla area and other rocky points.
WAHOO Our just passed new moon may have had something to do with the lack of Wahoo this week, perhaps next week they will make a showing!
INSHORE: The inshore fishing on the Cortez side was very poor this week due to the discolored water, but slowly improved toward the end of the week. On the Pacific side most of the Pangas were fishing for Dorado and Tuna since it was a fishery very close to shore.
NOTES: Well, I was going to go to the hills this weekend but have come down with some sort of cold/sinus infection and did not do it. No golf either. Oh well, there’s always another day, knock on wood. I have gotten a lot of reading done and managed to get several articles written before deadline. I guess that’s one nice thing about being at home a lot. This week’s music was a mix of acoustic guitar from my computer library, just the right stuff for my mood today! Until next week, watch some football and keep a line tight!
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