San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

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

May 8, 2011

Anglers –

Crowds of tourists in the Los Cabos area continue to be substantially lighter than what you would normally expect during this prime time month of May. The combination of the bad economy and bad press alerts of warning people to not travel to Mexico has had a big local impact. We all want to accentuate that this region remains a safe travel destination and is not associated with any of the reports coming from other areas of this vast country. In recent days the spring time weather is feeling more like summer, as the first real heat wave of the new year developed. High temperatures reached into the 90s, this will certainly help to warm up water temperatures even more. The winds were a bit unpredictable to start the week, swirling from all directions, but by the weekend conditions calmed and ocean conditions were flat glass. Ocean water temperatures ranged up to 80 degrees in the direction of Gordo Banks and to the north.

Baitfish supplies consisted of sardinas, which were schooling near Palmilla Point, also a mix of caballito, moonfish and mullet. The fishing grounds have had larger schools of bolito and other unidentified batfish schooling, lots of food in the area to attract more gamefish. Last week was really the first time this season that the offshore action was producing much consistent action, this was mainly for striped marlin and yellowfin tuna, with a few wahoo and dorado in the mix The bite continued through this week, though the fish were a bit more spread out and all around it was not quite as productive as the previous reported period. Still the way the conditions are and with all of the baitfish being found on the fishing grounds we do expect we will have some great late spring season action.

The striped marlin action has been centering around the 1150 Bank and towards the direction of the Cabrillo Seamount, 18 plus miles from shore. The stripers were striking on trolled lures, but the majority of the solid hook ups were coming on various baitfish, being dropped back or cast to tailing fish. Only an occasional solitary dorado was being encountered, we look for the warming waters to bring in more of these prized fighters soon.

Yellowfin tuna were schooling near the San Luis Bank and anglers had success for them while trolling rapalas, hoochies, sardinas and bolito, action varied day to day, as to exactly where or when these tuna would bite, but at least we were now seeing them in the daily fish counts. With most of the yellowfin tuna being in the 20 to 40 pound range, some boats accounted for as many as six of these fish, while other felt fortunate to land one, two or three of them.

Wahoo activity has increased with the warming currents and healthy schools of bolito. No big numbers of wahoo were yet accounted for, for one reason there are not many charters that are specifically targeting them. The Banks off of San Luis to Vinorama produced wahoo strikes for anglers trolling with Rapalas, skirted lead heads and even on yo-yo jigs. One super panga charter from La Playita accounted for three wahoo, while losing other hooked fish, all strikes were on a cream/purple colored Rapala X Rap, strange that sometimes fish prefer that one certain color pattern. The wahoo we have seen come in were ranging from 25 to 40 pounds.

Bottom action produced mixed success for anglers soaking bait and working yo-yo jigs, various pargo species, amberjack, cabrilla and grouper rounded out this action. Inshore the mainstay continued to be sierra, jack crevalle and roosterfish, most of the roosters were still juvenile sized, though one day a charter did report releasing a handful of larger sized roosterfish. As mullet activity increases along the local beach stretches we will be looked to see increased numbers of the bigger roosters show up

The combined panga fleets that launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina area sent out approximately 52 charters for the week, with anglers reporting fish count of: 8 striped marlin, 10 hammerhead shark, 7 dorado, 5 wahoo, 30 yellowfin tuna, 8 yellowtail, 18 cabrilla, 7 grouper, 83 pargo(different species), 14 jack crevalle, 22 roosterfish, 8 bonito and 38 sierra.

Good Fishing, Eric

San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

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

Anglers –

We noticed a slight increase in spring time crowds traveling to Southern Baja, but still the numbers of visitors are far below normal. The latest upgrade in travel advisories to Mexico by the U.S. state department is definitely not helping the situation. The Los Cabos region is not the area that any of this cartel activity has been reportedly occurring and remains a very safe travel destination for tourists looking to enjoy themselves at one of the many world class resorts.

The weather is now perfect, daytime highs to 85 degrees, clear sunny skies, minimal winds and cooler evenings dropping to 65 degrees. Water temperatures have varied from the upper 60s off of the Pacific up into the mid 70s in the direction of Sea of Cortez, off of San Jose del Cabo.

With weather patterns progressively warming we are now starting to see some long awaited offshore action showing promising signs of breaking wide open. Striped marlin are being found in good numbers anywhere from 10 to 20 miles offshore, anglers found spots of feeders and tailing marlin. Many boats were landing multiple striped marlin per day, the majority of these fish were being hooked up on various bait fish, small percentage were striking on trolled lures. Sizes ranged from 90 to150 pounds. The fishing grounds off of the Palmilla Point area seemed to have the larger concentration of billfish in recent days.

Further north off of San Luis Bank to Vinorama anglers were finding some quality sized yellowfin tuna. No significant numbers yet, but a good sign to see some tuna in the fish counts after such a long absence. Tuna to over 100 pounds were landed, with most of the tuna being in the 20 to 80 pound class. Schools of bolito are congregated on these same fishing grounds and this has been the hot bait for these yellowfin. Anglers were jigging up their up own bolito, then using them to slowly troll the same banks. Tuna were also hooked into while drift fishing with sardinas and on yo-yo jigs. A few nice dorado were also accounted for and there were even a handful of wahoo strikes reported, though most of them resulted in lost fish stories.

Inshore action, which had carried fleets through much of the winter season as the most consistent action available, has continued off the beach stretches between San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, though the action has tapered off, with average catches per charter down to anywhere from 2 to 8 fish. Nice to finally have some other options offshore opening up.

In recent days the larger sized yellowtail resumed biting on the Outer Gordo Bank, these yellows were all in the 30 plus pound range, striking on yo-yos and larger baitfish.There were also a mix of cabrilla, amberjack and snapper to round out the bite off of the rock piles.

There were more options for bait now, sardinas, moonfish, caballito, mullet, bolito, chihuil and even some mackerel on limited basis. Things are looking up, ready to bust wide open at anytime, great time to now visit this area, light crowds, ideal weather and a variety of fishing options.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 69 charters for the week and anglers reported a fish count of: 17striped marlin, 10 hammerhead shark, 32 yellowfin tuna, 5 dorado, 23 yellowtail, 33 amberjack, 54 pargo, 17 cabrilla, 11 grouper, 152 sierra, 15 roosterfish, 18 jack crevalle and 8 pompano.

Good Fishing, Eric