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Yesterday a few of the crew from different boats decided to leave Casa De Campo for a day on the beach in the town of La Romana. Sometimes ya just gotta get off the boat. We went to a local beach in La Romana for some local flavor and culture. It was packed. The beach is not the nicest but there are lots of food shacks and cheap cold beer. We all bellied up to a table on the beach in front of one of the food shacks. The food was great. We all got to pick out our own fish. They served them whole and fried. It was outstanding. Appearently one of the mates thought it was so good that he ate the eyes out of his fish and a few others. (The fish eye eating is not the animal cruelty) I was doing good till I was asked to try some cold, sweet, bean, slurry. It is served here as a desert. It was pureed beans with a ton of sugar and served cold. I swear the beans had been already eaten once before. You are suppose to drink the vile mixture. I took a mouth full and thought I would puke. It was really disgusting. I will try anything once and sometimes even give it a second chance. But that vile stuff wont ever near my lips again.
Public beach at La Romana

After a few hours and a few more beers, we had our local driver take us home. We did not get far from the beach when we spotted a group of men all gathered around and holding roosters in the village........................................................ For those of you that are card carrying members of PETA or are chicken lovers, Stop reading here............................................... As for the rest of you that are still reading, I do not condone what I am about to write about. But I never miss a chance to get some local culture. Besides, it is legal and part of the culture here. Once again this place oozes with culture. We got out of the van and confirmed our suspicions. The men were readying to roosters for a cock fight. Our driver gave the older guy whom seemed to be in charge two pint bottles of rum and asked if we could all watch. The old man said no problem. There was much posturing and antics as the roosters were prepared for the duel. There was also lots of trash talk. One did not have to understand spanish to capture the jist of the conversations. This was not a big arena or even a court yard. It was just a bunch of local guys doing what they do each weekend in the Dominican republic. Again I do not condone cock fighting. But I damn sure had no power to stop it. So we watched. It was pretty brutal. The cocks are fitted with sharpened extra long spurs. They are waxed and taped on over the cocks existing spur on the inside of its leg. The prep takes a long time. Each side checks the others rooster to ensure that the match will not be unfair because the spurs were attached in a manner that would give one an advantage over the other. Much like two boxers have their managers check the bindings on the gloves of their opponent. I really think that the time and posturing is more so that the group of men gathered to watch, can get more rum into them and possibly bet more pesos as time ticked on. The rosters are then thrown into a 8x8 cinder block holding area and they go at it till only one is left standing.I WILL not go into the details. The White one fought with lots of heart, but he ended up on a dinner plate somewhere. The brown rooster was carried off as a hero by its owners along with a pocket full of pesos. I have seen these fights before, but the rest of the guys had not. They all left there a bit more culturally enlightened. Like it or not it is the local tradition and culture.

Below is a short video clip from before the actual cockfight. NO you sick freaks I did not post the video of the fight. I just clipped a segment from before the fight when they prepared the rosters.

Also below are a few shots from when I was back home. I took the kids out with my buddy Kurt diving and spearing Hogfish.]]> no_email@example.com (CaptEd) http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=876#876 http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=875#875
When ever the boss is not here, He calls it "captain torture" when I have to sit at the dock while all the boats are slaying the fish. I have turned that around on the boss. Each day I text him the fishing numbers. It is killing him. He had conflicting business this week and could not be here for the full moon bite. I have been making sure he knows what he is missing... " Owner torture".

Not much else happening here. seems that most of the people that own homes he in CDC dont visit much this time of year. The village is pretty quiet.

I am looking forward to stating to fish again.]]> no_email@example.com (CaptEd) http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=875#875 http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=874#874
I am sitting in a chair on the dock watching the marina slowly come alive. Kyle has the boat looking nice. The teak is all clean and she is shining pretty good this morning as I sit here on the dock

For the last week I was back in the states. I spent my time taking care of business that I have neglected by being out of the the country for the last two months. But it was not all business. I got to spend some good time with my kids going out on my boat and doing a little diving with them. But more importantly I spent some good quality time with Rudder the Super Beagle. He was happy to have me home but very sad to see me leave.
Blue Marlin tend to feed best around the full moon. Or at least they bite better. One reason is that they ( like everything else in the ocean ) spawn around the full moon. And as we all know, after a full night of spawning, there is nothing better than eating as many tunas as you can to get your energy back. Another reason is that the food they are feeding on spawns and aggregates more densely around the full moon as well. I think the fish here are feeding on the bait aggregations as opposed to spawning. Most all of the Blues we catch here are smaller Males. Female blue marlin tend to be larger. I think the smaller males are bunched up here feeding on small tunas as they ready for the real spawning season over the next few months. During that time the Larger females will begin to move to the areas north of the DR , Puerto Rico and be most prominent north of St Thomas. The smaller males will also take up station in that same area hoping to "get lucky". Heck I may have it all wrong but from what I have seen and read, it all seems to make sense. ( kinda)

There were two more boats that arrived here in Casa De Campo over the last week while I was gone. The Therapy, and a 61 viking just arrived yesterday.

The Therapy the Due Course and the Betsy are all out fishing this morning. The last week has brought good numbers of fish. Some numbers that stick out are 4 for 7 and 8 for 9 and 6 for 8. That's good blue marlin fishing. When I say 6 for 8. What I mean is that the boat caught 6 blue marlin out of the 8 fish that actually came up and bit a bait. So another way to say it would be that the boat caught 6 blue marlin out of the 8 blues that the boat had shots at. ( or 6 for .

Kyle picked me up at the airport last night. When I saw him as I came out of the customs area he had a beer in his hand. He let me know I was driving back to CDC. He was still excited from the drive to pick me up. On the way to the airport, he was sitting at an intersection being bombarded by window washers. He had just shooed them away when a police man walked up and tapped on the window. Kyle speaks very little spanish and normally asks for a shoe dipped in crap when ordering dinner, so when the cop started speaking to him, he thought he was in trouble for something. The next thing he knew, the cop waved over three more policemen. They all jumped into the car. Kyle was stunned but soon figured out that they wanted him to take them to the next town on the way to Santo Domingo. Apparently they had all just got done working for the day and wanted a ride home. It was a pretty weird experience for him. He stayed on the main highway and when the cops said to turn off the road because the town they wanted to go to was 5 miles to to the left, Kyle refused. He probably told them in his Spanish that " No me no left go, I go to tree to buy eggs" they begrudgingly got out at the next intersection and sent him on his way. Gotta love the DR.

Looking forward to the boss coming in this week and starting to put some blue marlin numbers for ourselves.]]> no_email@example.com (CaptEd) http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=874#874 http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=873#873 Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
May 7-13, 2012

WEATHER: It's summertime! We have had clear skies and warm weather all week long, and the water is warming up as well. With the daytime temperature getting into the mid to high 90's and the nights only dropping to the high 70's we know it's not too long before going to the beach will become an almost daily ritual. It's about the only way to beat the heat without running the AC all day long. Put the sweaters and long pants away and buy new tubes of sunscreen.
WATER: At the end of the week it was clear that warm water has been pushing our way from the east. The surface temperatures on the Sea of Cortez inside the 1,000 fathom line east of the 95 spot is a steady 75-76 degrees. Outside the 1,000 fathom line and from the beach on out north of the 95 spot to the lighthouse on the Pacific side the water is 69-70 degrees. From the lighthouse on the Pacific side an 8 mile wide band of 67 degree water extends from the northeast to the southwest. On the northern side of this line, for about 3 miles, there is a band of cold water at 60 degrees that runs right across the top of the San Jaime Banks. North of this band the water warms a degree or so to 63-64 degrees. Surface conditions throughout the area have been great with small swells and mostly light afternoon winds.
BAIT: Caballito have been the prevailing bait this week with very few Mackerel and a decent supply of Mullet, all at the normal $3 per bait. For boats willing to go the distance and needing Sardines, we were finally seeing some decent size ones from San Jose, but you had to be there early, and they were going for $20-$25 a scoop if you could get them.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: With the moon in it's waning phase we are seeing more Striped Marlin on the surface and they seem more willing to take a bait than they were last week. The favorite area is still between the 1150 and the San Jose Canyon, but there are fish showing up on the 95 spot, probably as the warm water keeps moving to the west the fish will follow. A few boats were finding Marlin very close to the beach, less than two miles out. They were not there in the numbers being found offshore, but they were willing to bite and many boats managed to close out a half day trip by catching one right outside Cabo. In more good news, the warming water may also be bringing in more of the larger Marlin as several boats this week reported catching Blue Marlin. I did not see any of the fish but they were reported to me as being less than 200 pounds and were caught on lures pulled for Striped Marlin. Never forget that there are other billfish out there as well! A private boat went out this week to run some checks on their electrical systems, checking the radar, sonar, FLIR and such and of course they put a couple of lines in the water. Crossing the 95 spot they hooked up a Swordfish that weighed just under 300 pounds, on a lure, at night! You never know what is going to show up!
YELLOWFIN TUNA: I did hear of a few boats in the area that lucked into #100 fish while working Dolphin but there were no numbers reported to me, just that a few had been caught. Must be nice to luck into these fish! For the rest of us, Yellowfin were pretty much a hit-or-miss situation. Find the right porpoise pod and you might get a few fish averaging 15 pounds, but there were not many of them out there. Boats fishing inshore trolling Rapallas for Yellowtail caught a few Yellowfin, but once again there were no number of them, just the occasional fish here and there. These were not fish that I would have gone out and targeted this past week, but instead would have been happy to get as a by-catch.
DORADO: I think the Dorado may just be a month away as we are slowly seeing the bite improve. Once the water hits 80 degrees we might see it bust loose, but for now an occasional 30 pound fish with a few smaller ones in the 10 pound class are what we are seeing every day, and that is not per boat, but an average of about 10 boats. They are there, but the numbers are not here yet.
WAHOO: Wahoo were scattered this week with most of the fish reported coming from the warmer water up around the Gorda Banks and Punta Gorda. More were being seen than were being caught, but there were some nice fish reported with weights ranging from 25 to 70 pounds. Sure would be nice to get a couple of Wahoo fillets, I have some ingredients just waiting to use on them for a great meal! The fish that have been caught have mostly been on live bait but a few have been reported caught on lures, and almost all the fish have come from shallow water, less than 350 feet.
INSHORE: Sierra continue to be the inshore fish of the week in our area, but I have heard reports from a few of our boats that have ventured up to the Punta Gorda area that there was a decent bite on Pompano that lasted for a few days. These great eating fish were found close to the beach, averaged 6 pounds and were biting on Sardinas. There are still some Yellowtail being found on the Pacific side of the Cape, but not in the numbers we were seeing several weeks ago, nor in the same size range. Boats are averaging two to three fish per trip and the size has dropped to an average of 12 pounds. Also being found inshore are good numbers of Roosterfish to 20 pounds. Great action on spinning and fly tackle, when you mix in an occasional Jack Crevalle you better be ready!
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe!
NOTES: Tawny is snoring at my feet, waiting for the Sunday beach walk, that was my music for this report! Can't keep her waiting, and of course a great Sunday breakfast when we get back, a call to Mom for mothers day and then off to watch the final round of golf at TPC Sawgrass! Have a great week everyone, and Happy Mothers Day! Until next week, tight lines!]]> no_email@example.com (CaptGeo) http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=873#873 http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=872#872 Captain George Landrum
gmlandrum@hotmail.com
www.flyhooker.com
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/
Cabo Fish Report
April 30 – May 6, 2012

WEATHER: This was a very strange, yet very great week for weather in Cabo as we received our first rain in almost a year! It was sunny and warm all week with the temperatures at 6 AM in the mid 70's while in the evenings it stayed warm, at 9 PM on Saturday it was still 85 degrees. Our first rain in almost a year arrived unexpectedly on Friday, which for some reason was also the best sea surface temperature shots of the week, amazing with the cloud cover we had. The front moved in from the southwest with heavy cloud combined with plenty of lightning and thunder. The animals were hiding under the bed with all the booms and rolling vibrations! The rain was not a large amount, just enough to get the cars good and dirty with runnels of water coursing down the dust, but it did manage to give the trees and plants a mush needed cleaning, and knocked the dust down for a while. The early part of the week saw mostly cloudy skies and after Friday the skies cleared up and we had sun and fun!
WATER: The water has started to change on us with warm water moving in from the east. Off of the Gorda Banks area we are seeing blue water at 78 degrees, changing to 74 degrees between San Jose and Cabo while in front of Cabo it is 72 degrees. On the Pacific side of the Cape we have 70 degrees below the San Jaime Banks and 67 degrees above it. That colder water above the San Jaime is green and just off the beach inside the Golden Gate Bank not only is it cold,but it is a very dirty red/green color. On the surface the Pacific side has had some swells to 8 feet with most of them averaging 4-6 feet. On the Cortez side of the Cape it has been smaller at 3-5 feet and spaced fairly far apart. The only real bad day on the water this week was on Friday when the front moved through, I would not have wanted to be out there after 1 PM!
BAIT: The usual Caballito and Mackerel with a few Mullet at the normal $3 per bait along with a few Sardines, but they are becoming more and more scarce recently. A few of the bait boats have been carrying frozen Ballyhoo, but you have to be careful as some of them have been frozen, thawed and re-frozen when they don't sell the first day. That kind of bait falls apart very quickly.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Fishing for Striped Marlin was mostly concentrated in the area between the 1150 and the Gorda Banks as that is where the bait was. It was common early in the week to see dozens of fish either sleeping or tailing on the surface and you could actually find a few that were hungry. A good trip early in the week resulted in 4 to 6 releases while an average trip might have one or two. As the week went on and the moon became larger the bite dropped off as did the number of fish seen. I went on Wednesday and we saw 13 fish, resulting in 8 strikes with four of these released. I heard of a Blue Marlin being caught early in the week but do not know the size or where it was supposed to have been caught.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: It is a waiting game for the Yellowfin still, and while there are a few small fish being caught there are no numbers. The only fish I heard of this week were caught 7 miles to the southwest of the arch in the blind, striking on cedar plugs. One boat brought in tree out of five fish and another boated one out of three strikes. The fish were footballs of about 8-10 pounds. I did not hear of any other Yellowfin caught within our normal operating range. By the way, the boat that caught the three Yellowfin also caught and released a Marlin on that cedar plug!
DORADO: Once again there were a few Dorado caught in the warm water in the Sea of Cortez. Small fish were found close to the beach while there were a few larger nice sized fish found offshore by boats fishing for Marlin. No real numbers were reported by any of the boats, but it seems to be a sign of good things to come!
WAHOO: The full moon resulted in a few Wahoo but no large numbers. There were more strikes resulting in cut off lures and baits than there were fish caught! Maybe 15% of the boats had a Wahoo strike and half of those managed to get one to the boat. Average size on the speedsters was 25 pounds.
INSHORE: The Yellowtail bite has dropped off and the Sierra have taken over the position of the fish of the week for the anglers fishing inshore. Not that the Yellowtail aren't out there, it's just that the numbers have dropped off. Toss in an occasional Amberjack, Grouper and a few Snapper and fishing the beach has been the best way to insure having something to eat for dinner! The best areas have been from the lighthouse on the Pacific side to the arch, and on the Sea of Cortes from Chileano Bay to Palmilla Point.
FISH RECIPE: Check the blog for this weeks recipe!
NOTES: This weeks report was written to the music of Jack Johnson on the CD “On and On”, still one of my favorites from him. We hope you have a great week and check us out next week for an updated fishing report from Cabo San Lucas. Until then, tight lines!]]> no_email@example.com (CaptGeo) http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=872#872 http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=871#871
Amazing pictures of the fish thieves, glad yall got some to swim off! Automatic paintball guns might be a good deterrent. LOL

Thanks for the fish pics!!]]> no_email@example.com (CaptAnthony) http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=871#871 http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=870#870 no_email@example.com (CaptAnthony) http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=870#870 http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=869#869
A traveling captain’s poem

I sit on the boat and dream of home
For months on end, we travel and roam
Plying the waters, we fish here and there
Home in our thoughts as the ocean we dare
When home we dream of being at sea
Our thoughts of the boat do constantly be
We want to be there and chasing big fish
Our minds do wander, of travels we wish
Torn between two, we are pull to and fro
We live for our dreams that we only know
Our homes and our travels pull like the tides
Both do controls us for all of our lives
-Capt Ed Thompson]]> no_email@example.com (CaptEd) http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=869#869 http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=868#868
The breeze is nice sitting here on the dock. The sun is coming up fast and warming the tropical air quickly. The humidity from the nightly rains is thick and you can practically see it rising as the morning sun heats the ground and steams up the atmosphere. My little friends the turns, are scurrying about the dock chirping and looking for scraps. They are finding plenty.

The docks were very busy this weekend as it the Dominican Labor day weekend. There were many boats filled with families that have been out this weekend. When a Dominican family goes boating, its not just mom dad and two kids..... Uncles and grand ma and great grand pa in the wheelchair are all piled onto the boats. It is quite the event.

The last week was great. We had the boss in town for the entire time. We fished quite a bit and had some great and some slow days fishing. But even our slow days were good. There are not to many places you will see as many Blue marlin as we see here. our last day was a real slow day. We only had two shots at Blue marlin and missed them both. The Betsy had 7 shots and caught 5 marlin. Seems like each day is different for each boat.
It was kinda depressing taking the boss to the airport yesterday knowing that We wont be fishing for a bit, or till he returns.

Kyle and I drove the boss to the airport yesterday. OH MY GOD. It reminds me of Mexico ten years ago. The crap you see driving on the roads here is mind boggling. The poor driving skills, The speeders, the lack of respect on the roads, the poor quality of the roads, the pedestrians dashing across 50 mph highways, the horses using the roads, The motor cycle that has a trailer hitch pulling a trailer with 4000 coconuts in it........ Also, Stop lights seem to be more of a suggestion to drivers here. The trip to and from the airport seemed to fly by as you are constantly bracing for impact or laughing at something completely ridiculous or out of place. Then there are the window washers. I have dealt with them in Mexico before. But here they are everywhere. They are kids that hang out at intersections that run up and splat a sponge on your windshield and then squeegy it off. On the way to the airport we only got hit up once but on the way back they were constant. My wind shield was perfectly clean but they just kept coming. I tried flipping on the wind shield wipers but they would just flip them forward and continue. Persistent little buggers. They see a few white guys in a car and figure they are getting the big pay off. I just gave them change. And in pesos here change isnt much. A figure one time I gave them 15 coins that amounted to 35 cents US$. I now have the cleanest wind shield in all of the DR.

Today we are working on the steering a bit. I am hoping for the best but fearing the worst. I believe I have on steering hydrolic ram that is not working. If I need a new one, It will be such a pain in the ass to get here. And an even bigger pain in the ass to try to fly one in.

On Wednesday I fly to the states for a week. It will be good to get back for a few days and be away from the boat. Although as I always say, when we are on the boat we think of being home and when we are home we think of being on the boat.]]> no_email@example.com (CaptEd) http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=868#868 http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=866#866
Below are some more Marlin pics.

Also below are some pictures of the dinner we enjoyed last night out in La Romana. We had a driver take us to a place we had heard about. It was a dump. I would never have expected how good it was going to be. It is a fish market that you pick out your fish and then a cook prepares the fish for you. I am not real big on whole fish. I normally dont like the eye balls and the butt hole still on the fish when it is on my plate. But the yellow eye snappers we had were outstanding.

We will fish one more time tomorrow before the boss leaves. Then next tuesday, I get to go home and see my dog, Rudder for a few days.

Click on this link to see the video of our experience at a seafood restaurant http://youtu.be/QoKCQRkJoNg]]> no_email@example.com (CaptEd) http://Mexico-Offshore.Com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=866#866