Monthly Archives: January 2012

January14, 2012

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January 8, 2012

Anglers –

As we now get into the midst of winter, we expect more people will be searching out warmer destinations, the new year has brought pleasant weather conditions, scattered cloud cover, moderate northern winds and high temperatures into the 80s. Crowds are light now, reports of more reasonable air fares being offered should entice more anglers to travel to Southern Baja, where local fishing grounds offer a variety of gamefish opportunities, with striped marlin, sailfish, dorado, yellowfin tuna and wahoo all being encountered on any given day.

Water temperatures held stable in the 70 to 73 degree range, there were strong currents prevalent and water clarity fluctuated. The bait grounds off of San Jose del Cabo continued to hold schools of mackerel and sardinetas, smaller sized sardinas used for live tanks are being found in quantity near the Palmilla Point.

Despite this not being peak season for these popular species, there have been impressive numbers of dorado scattered throughout the area, with an occasional wahoo, marlin or sailfish in the mix and let’s not forget to mention overwhelming quantities of black skipjack, often they were so aggressive that it was impossible to hook into any of the preferred targeted species that were not able to compete with the pesky skippies. Larger sized sardineta baits were working well for the chance at staying way from the skipjack to target the nicer sized dorado, 10 to 20 lb. La Playita panga fleets were fishing areas from Palmilla to Iman, Cardon and La Fortuna were places of choice, this is where more consistent dorado action was found, this bite held up strong for days, with limits of dorado accounted for, the past few days saw numbers decline, though scattered schools of fish were found.

Striped marlin were more active off of the Pacific banks, this is where more concentrations of mackerel were schooling. Marlin also followed bait schools in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, this will be the pattern though spring. Yellowfin tuna continue to be found by the cruiser fleet out of Cabo San Lucas, most days on Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, more often traveling with porpoise some twenty miles from shore, hit or miss, but some quality action was found for fish in the 15 to 40 pound class. A handful of yellowfin were landed off of the Iman and Gordo Banks in recent days, only a few fish, they ranged 30 to 70 pounds, with the presence of sea lions, skipjack, hammerhead sharks and swift currents, this made for more of a challenge.

Sierra season has started out slow, some fair sized schools are being encountered along the beach stretches, the key is early in the morning, sardinas, hoochies and rapalas are all working, only a few roosterfish being found. Still an odd late season wahoo being hooking into, anglers trolling rapalas on the same dorado fishing grounds. Watch out for all of the skipjack, they will wear you out. No consistent action being found off the bottom, most days the current was too swift to even give it a try, other days there were a few cabrilla, pargo, amberjack and bonito, this action was found using iron yo-yo jigs.

Lots and lots of whales now being sighted, this would now be considered peak season, as these mammals enjoy their annual migration on the most southern grounds.

The combined panga fleet launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 55 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:

2 sailfish, 3 striped marlin, 9 wahoo, 15 yellowfin tuna, 11 amberjack, 2 yellowtail, 10 roosterfish, 42 sierra, 215 dorado, 14 cabrilla and 16 pargo.

Good Fishing, Eric

January 7, 2012

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San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

 

Click for San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico Forecast

 

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

 

Wind Report > http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=130&regionProductID=30&timeOffset=1

 

January 7, 2012

Anglers –

As vacationing families now return home so children can resume their school schedules, crowds of tourists are much lighter than how they were during the holiday season. The weather has been on a warmer trend, mostly sunny skies, light winds, with high temperature ranging into the 80s. Ocean water temperatures were now ranging from 70 to 74 degrees. Clarity varied from area to area, but overall conditions were improved over previous weeks.

Anglers were able to find live sardinas for bait without much difficulty and there were schools of mackerel and sardinetas found locally. Fleets were fishing in all directions, this past week there were more consistent reports coming from the Pacific side of Cabos San Lucas, this is where water temperatures were warmest. Areas off of Chileno, Palmilla, Cardon and Iman also produced scattered action.

The striped marlin bite was most productive off of Cabo San Lucas and the Old Light House areas, three to fifteen miles from shore, scores of tailing billfish could be seen on any given charter, though these fish proved to have lock jaw at times, different techniques were used with varied success, trolling lures, casting and soaking live baits, etc..Even though mackerel were still found schooling off of San Jose del Cabo, charters in this region have not seen much in the way of marlin this past week on these grounds.

Dorado were being found in smaller sized schools, fish averaged 5 to 15 pounds, with a percentage of larger fish up to 25 pounds accounted for. The dorado were found close to shore and also out on the offshore fishing grounds. These fish can grow up to five pounds per month, better to release smaller sized dorado so that they can spawn and have the chance to grow to maturity. Dorado have been fairly abundant in recent weeks, considering that this is the tail end of the normal season for them.

This is the time when more inshore action typically begins, so far there has been limited activity for sierra, with juvenile roosterfish also being found, we look for this action to improve as the season progresses. This is also the season when more bottom species become more prevalent, so far only mixed results for some cabrilla, pargo, bonito, amberjack and yellowtail have been found. Trolling with live bait, hoochies and rapalas worked close to shore and jigging with yo-yo’s over structure produced a mix of cabrilla, amberjack, bonito and snapper. Lots of hammerhead sharks are congregated on rocky high spots now, they proved to be a nuisance when trying to catch the targeted species.

Yellowfin tuna action has switched this past month from the Sea of Cortez to off of the Pacific and Chileno, associated with porpoise most of the time, more often anywhere from 10 to 20 miles offshore. Most of these fish were in the 15 to 30 pound range, though there were reports of tuna up to 100 pounds or more encountered. With fluctuating conditions this bite was hit or miss. In recent days there were signs of more yellowfin action.

No shortage of whales now, the Iman Bank has been a hot spot for humpback whales, while the gray whales prefer the inshore waters off of the Pacific beaches.

There have been news bulletins about a new Mexican law now starting to be enforced this month, Tourist Visas are now required for all anglers fishing in Mexican waters. This will not be a factor for anglers traveling by air to Los Cabos, since tourist visas are officially processed and stamped on arrival at the SJDC airport. This law is going to impact anglers departing by sea from Southern California and the heading south to fish in Mexican waters, these anglers will need to obtain their tourist visas in advance.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 46 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 wahoo, 5 yellowfin tuna, 235 dorado, 14 roosterfish, 112 sierra, 8 amberjack, 2 yellowtail, 12 hammerhead shark, 25 bonito, 18 cabrilla, 3 dogtooth snapper and 28 pargo.

Good fishing, Eric