San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

Water Temperature > http://tempbreak.com/index.php?&cwregion=cb

March 20, 2011

Anglers –

Spring time is now officially here and the weather is on a warming trend accordingly. Moderate crowds of vacationers are enjoying clear sunny skies with high temperatures reaching into the mid 80s. Winds have diminished and anglers found excellent ocean conditions, minimal swells with water temperatures averaging 69 to 72 degrees.

Supplies of sardinas are holding up, these baitfish were found schooling in various locations along the shoreline, though they were more abundant north of Punta Gorda, near Vinorama. There has been a lack of larger baitfish, no mackerel or caballito to speak of. Red crabs have been found on the San Jose del Cabo fishing grounds and are being used as bait for red snapper (pargo and huachinango).

Throughout the month of March anglers found that the most consistent fishing action was closer to shore. Working the various rock piles with yo-yo jigs and sardinas produced a mix bag of pargo, yellowtail, amberjack, bonito, cabrilla, triggerfish and others. While trolling the inshore beach stretches there was good action for sierra, jack crevalle and roosterfish. Not too many larger sized fish, most of the fish caught were under ten pounds, but there were a handful of yellowtail accounted for that were in the 30 pound class and some quality huachinango (red snapper) up to 10 pounds, at times these true Pacific red snapper were being found near the surface feeding the abundant pelagic red crabs.

Yellowfin tuna counts were minimal, on occasions tuna were seen feeding and breezing the surface on the Gordo and Iman Banks, but only an sporadic fish was being hooked, very shy, preferring to feed on the available food source on the fishing grounds, most notably the red crabs. The yellowfin that were being landed weighed in the 15 to 30 pounds class. At this same time frame last year there was an abundance of giant squid in the region and anglers were having some success using the strip squid as bait for tuna in the 50 to 90 pound range. We have not heard of any giant squid in local waters at this time, even though conditions seem favorable to attract them.

Quite a few wahoo were reportedly seen free swimming around in small groups, often close to the shore, a bit strange compared to their normal habitat. Not many of these wahoo were hooked into, they just were not very interest in any offerings, the few that were accounted for were on various cut or whole baits. One wahoo weighing close to 70 pounds was taken from a panga on a trolled lure near the Gordo Banks and the other wahoo that were accounted for were of good size.

Striped marlin action was spread out, no large concentrations of fish, the lack of bigger baitfish has not helped this situation. The local panga fleets were occasionally hooking into stripers while drift fishing with sardinas for tuna and other species. The marlin that were accounted for weighed in the 70 to 130 pound range. Some striped marlin were also found in the blue water by blind strikes while trolling lures. With water conditions now stabilizing and on a warming trend we expect the offshore surface action to improve significantly in the coming weeks.

Despite continuing news reports of cartel issues near Mexican border towns and on the mainland there have been no incidents at all reported from the Los Cabos area and this region remains a very safe travel destination.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 80 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 6 striped marlin, 10 dorado, 13 yellowfin tuna, 28 bonito, 315 sierra, 34 roosterfish, 24 yellowtail, 26 jack crevalle, 468 pargo,17 cabrilla, 4 wahoo, 6 hammerhead shark, 4 dogtooth snapper and 12 amberjack.

Good Fishing, Eric

San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

Water Temperature > http://tempbreak.com/index.php?&cwregion=cb

March 27, 2011

Anglers –

Warm sunny days dominated the first week of spring, crowds or tourist were lighter than normal and anglers found that the all around fishing action was slower than the previous week. Perhaps the larger than normal full moon had something do with this, hard to say. This period is always the time when conditions are rapidly changing, winds have been light, though currents have been pushing in off colored waters and there has been a lack of baitfish on the offshore fishing grounds.

Water temperatures continue to fluctuate, one day there is a warming trend, the next day cooler waters push back in, up and down, water temperatures have ranged from 65 to 72 degrees, the coolest areas around the corner of Cabo San Lucas, on the Pacific and the warmer waters being encountered offshore of San Jose del Cabo. Supplies of sardinas were scattered, these baitfish were more prevalent near Vinorama, but those schools have moved on and recently more bait is being found off of Palmilla Point. No schooling mackerel in local waters and only minimal supplies of caballito are being found.

The only real action that anglers found with any consistency was close to shore for sierra and shallow water structure species, though this bite was hit or miss as well. Charters had average combined catches of 3 or 4 fish, up to 20, with the most common fish being sierra or pargo. Anglers had best success using sardinas, though a percentage of fish were hitting on rapalas. Most of the sierra caught were in the 2 to 4 pound class, with a handful of exceptions on specimens up to 10 pounds accounted for.

Off the shallow rock piles there were various pargo species, triggerfish, pompano and cabrilla found while drift fishing with dead or live bait. These fish were mostly under ten pounds, but provided fun action and great eating fillets. During the later part of last week larger sized yellowtail in the 25 to 35 pound range were found schooling on the Outer Gordo Banks. These yellows would come to the surface chasing baitfish, but would vanish as quickly as they appeared. They were striking on fly lined sardinas, but they proved finicky and anglers were fortunate to land one or two of these fish, some boats accounted for up to five fish, many other fish were lost due to broken lines, these yellowtail always seem to know exactly where the closest rock out cropping is. Extremely powerful jacks, after being hooked up on the surface in 200 feet of water they are still able to peel the 40 to 60 pound line off far enough to reach the structure and eventually their freedom. These particular fish only would take the live sardinas, no yo-yos or anything seemed to work. This bite tapered off through the week, with only a few fish accounted for and most of them were early in the day.

There was better yellowtail action reported out of Cabo San Lucas, just around from the Arches, yo-yos, rapalas and bait were working on these fish. Though offshore action was tough, very few dorado, tuna, wahoo or marlin to speak of. With the warming days we will surely see action improve in the coming weeks. March is always a hit or miss time for offshore action in the Los Cabos area, this slow period is not unprecedented, bottom line is if the food source is not here you just are not going to find many game fish.

The combined panga fleet launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 60 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 10 hammerhead shark, 3 mako shark, 28 yellowtail, 91 pargo (red snapper), 25 cabrilla,12 bonito, 125 sierra, 18 roosterfish and 16 jack crevalle.

Good Fishing, Eric

San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

Water Temperature > http://tempbreak.com/index.php?&cwregion=cb

March 11, 2011

Anglers –

The weather is starting to warm and the spring season is set to officially start within couple of weeks. Ocean conditions have been a bit unpredictable, the week began with winds swirling from all directions, the water temperature fluctuated from 68 to 70 degrees through most of the area, though cooler waters were encountered towards Los Frailes and on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas.

Friday morning there was a devastating 8.9 earthquake that rocked Japan and spawned a massive tsunami that swept across the Pacific, warnings prompting interests along coastal areas to prepare for impact. The first tidal surges in the Los Cabos area were felt about 11:15 a.m., particularly noticeable in the marinas, where the water first flowed outward before turning around and rushing back in, this cycle was repeated at about ten minute intervals for several hours. Incredible to witness such force of Mother Nature, Our area was spared of any heavy damage, though the news from Japan is absolute devastation.

This past week anglers found that the most productive angling opportunities were close to shore for species such as sierra, roosterfish, bonito and a mix of shallow water structure fish like pargo, cabrilla, yellowtail and amberjack. Most numerous of all were the sierra, striking best on sardinas, average size for these fish was in the 2 to 4 pound range, though several specimens to over ten pounds were accounted for. The bottom species were limited, strong current continued and fish gorged on red crabs. Supplies of sardinas were limited and most prevalent along the beaches north of Punta Gorda.

Conditions can change quickly during this time period. There were reports coming from off of San Jose del Cabo of mackerel schools attracting striped marlin, this has just developed in recent days, so we will hope this develops into some consistent offshore action which for the most part has been slack this winter.

Yellowfin tuna proved elusive this past week, the Iman Bank and the Inner Gordo Bank did produce a few tuna in the 20 to 30 pound class, though the fish were very shy, even though they could be seen in good numbers breezing the surface, just not easy to entice into striking and then if you did get lucky enough to hook up you had to be even luckier to land the tuna before a hungry sea lion had the chance to get a hold of it.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 64 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 14 dorado, 13 yellowfin tuna, 58 bonito, 302 sierra, 82 roosterfish, 16 yellowtail, 89 pargo, 3 grouper, 16 cabrilla, 4 hammerhead shark and 8 amberjack.

Good Fishing, Eric