San Jose del Cabo Weather Links
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Water Temperature > http://tempbreak.com/index.php?&cwregion=cb

 

Wind Report > http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=130&regionProductID=30&timeoffset=0

 

March 31, 2012

Anglers –

The spring season has officially arrived and many people are now traveling to the Los Cabos area to enjoy the ideal weather conditions and all of the available activities offered. This is the weekend that in Southern Baja clocks will be changed one hour forward, several weeks later than in the U.S. You could not ask for a nicer climate at this time, clear sunny skies with high temperatures of about 80 degrees. In recent days the winds have all but diminished, slight breeze just to keep the air refreshing.

Warming days have helped ocean conditions settle and water temperatures are now on a warming trend, most of the region is now ranging from 70 to 72 degrees. Supplies of sardinas have remained plentiful, this past week the bait netters found the baitfish more abundant off the beaches near Vinorama. In the marina there have been options for live caballito and fresh frozen ballyhoo. Early in the week there were a couple of larger blue and black marlin landed, both in the 500 pound class, both were caught off of larger sportfisher’s based out of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina, we did weigh the one blue marlin in for Daniel Fisher, taken on Sunday, March 25, off of his 35 ft. Cabo, the “Fisherman”, it weighed in at 515 pounds.

Offshore action improved in recent days, off of San Jose del Cabo, 15 to 20 miles out, charters were finding good numbers of striped marlin, seeing the marlin free jumping, tailing in the swells and anglers were also taking blind strikes while trolling. Boats have been averaged 2 or 3 and even more hook ups per mornings. Rigged ballyhoo, caballito and lures have all been working. Dorado were spread out and not being found in as great as number as were the marlin, but a few bulls in the 30 to 40 pound class were accounted for. Dorado were encountered closer to shore as well, just outside of where boats were finding continued wide open action for sierra. As water temperatures rise we expect to see more numbers of dorado and other pelagic species to arrive. The next couple of months offer ideal weather and a wide variety of options for anglers, always an exciting period, never know what can happen from day to day.

While sierra continued to dominate the inshore action, there have been very good numbers of early season roosterfish, particularly off the San Jose del Cabo hotel area, with average size ranging from 5 to 15 pounds. Trolling live bait was the best technique for hooked up with wild and powerful jacks. Fly fishing anglers were getting in on this action too, having a blast enticing the sierra and roosterfish, both species are very sporty fighters on light tackle.

This is the time when we usually find improved bottom action as well, recently there have been red crabs sporadically drifting to the surface and anglers able to find these pelagic crabs were using them for baits for Pacific red snapper (huachinango), sizes ranging 5 to 12 pounds. An occasional hog sized yellowtail or amberjack would eat these baits as well. Grouper were making their presence on the rocky reefs, many hook ups were lost to cut lines in the rocks, though one gulf grouper of 110 pounds was landed from a La Playita panga on Thursday. Quite a few hammerhead sharks were now congregating on the structure and were keeping anglers busy re-baiting hooks.

A few mako sharks were reportedly found in the open water, juvenile sized. A couple of wahoo were also hooked into this past week, this is the time of year when warm water fish start to move back on to the local fishing grounds and anything can happen on any given day.

The whale watching season is now coming to an end, though these mammals still are being seen daily at this time, mostly humpbacks, a handful of whale sharks have been sighted off of San Jose del Cabo and towards the north, they always seem to arrive when red crabs are in the area, one of their favored food sources.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 77 charters this past week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:

32 striped marlin, 1 wahoo, 4 mako shark, 15 hammerhead shark, 30 dorado, 3 yellowfin tuna, 435 sierra, 55 roosterfish, 12 pompano, 10 yellowtail, 13 amberjack, 28 cabrilla, 8 grouper, 66 yellow snapper, 89 huachinango and 22 bonito.

 

Good fishing, Eric

 

San Jose del Cabo Weather Links
Click for weather forecast

 

 

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

 

Wind Report > http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=130&regionProductID=30&timeoffset=0

 

March 22, 2012

Anglers –

Spring like weather is now attracting moderate crowds of vacationers. Variable conditions, with some cloud cover, winds, but also plenty of sunshine, actually very pleasant climate now, not too cool or hot. Winds diminishing later in the week and anglers reported comfortable ocean conditions. Water temperatures ranged 68 to 70 degrees throughout most of the region, clarity improved, as cleaner blue water was found not more than several miles from shore.

Supplies of sardinas were a bit more scattered this past week, these baitfish were being netted by commercial pangueros off of Chileno, Red Hill and the beaches near San Luis, varying daily as where more concentrated schools were found. There were limited supplies of caballito also available from the marina areas.

Red crabs were found on the local fishing grounds sporadically in recent days and are being used as bait for Pacific red snapper (huachinango). These fish are a valuable and highly sought after commercial species, but also a fun sport fish on light tackle, prized eating for sure. But without the availability of these red crabs, these fish just do not have a taste for anything else at this time. Overall the presence of red crabs on the fishing grounds seems to have more of a negative factor than positive, as to how the structure species bite.

With the cooler water temperatures there are still quite a few late season whales being seen, there were also a handful of whale shark sightings in the past week. Striped marlin action has been very spread out, really no particular hot spot, stripers have been encountered tailing on the surface, but not in significant numbers, a few unusual winter time sailfish catches were reported as well.

Scattered reports of yellowfin tuna being found on the outside of Cabo San Lucas, fifteen or more miles offshore, often encountered without any sign of being associated with porpoise. These fish were smaller sized for the most part and hit or miss, particularly earlier in the week when southwest winds were strong and crated rough seas.

Dorado have been scarce as well, more of these fish are actually now found closer to shore than offshore. Dorado were feeding on inshore baitfish, looking for frigate birds circling overhead and diving, has been a way to find these gamefish.

For most of the month of March anglers found the most consistent fishing action 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. Trolling the inshore there was good early morning action for sierra, with a few jack crevalle and roosterfish. Not too many larger sized fish, most of the fish caught were less than ten pounds, but there were a handful of larger bottom species accounted for.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 60 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 1 sailfish,14 dorado, 17 bonito, 455 sierra, 24 roosterfish, 16 jack crevalle, 89 pargo, 27 cabrilla, 5 mako shark, 11 hammerhead shark, 9 pompano and 11 amberjack.

Good Fishing, Eric

 

San Jose del Cabo Weather Links
Click for weather forecast

 

 

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

 

Wind Report > http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=130&regionProductID=30&timeoffset=0

 

March 17, 2012

Anglers –

Only moderate sized crowds of spring break vacationers are now visiting Los Cabos, continued poor economy most likely the main reason for this. This still being the off season for prime angling opportunities, numbers of anglers taking charters out for the day are unusually light. We are in the midst of winter time ocean conditions, water temperatures rebounded slightly and are now averaging in the 68 to 70 degree range from Los Frailes to Cabo San Lucas, cooler water usually means the water color is not very clean and that has been the case, with greenish colored water being found throughout the region.

Charters venturing further offshore are finding bluer conditions, but offshore fishing has been very hit or miss, no yellowfin tuna to really speak of, dorado action has been limited to maybe every few boats reportedly seeing a dorado free swimming or feeding and occasionally one is being hooked. Most of these fish were in the 10 to 15 pound class and more of these dorado were actually encountered close to shore, this is where there are now more concentrations of various baitfish. Scattered reports of striped marlin found off of the San Jose del Cabo fishing grounds, there have been more numbers of stripers now being seen off of the Cabo San Lucas grounds, still no big bite at all to report, some boats reported multiple chances per day.

The fishing has more consistent close to shore for species such as sierra, roosterfish, pargo, bonito, cabrilla and a few amberjack and dorado mixed in. More sierra action than anything else, sizes ranging 2 to 8 pounds, using live sardinas for bait was the best bet, slow trolling or drift fishing, while chumming to attract the fish into range. Bait suppliers have found sufficient supplies of sardinas, this past week the Red Hill area was where more quantities of these preferred baitfish were found. Sierra could be encountered schooling along the entire coastal stretches, one of the better areas for larger sized fish recently was off of San Luis.

Anglers have been breaking up the morning sierra action by working the shallow water rocky spots, using bait and yo-yo jigs, there has been a wide variety of pargo and cabrilla species caught, an occasional amberjack or bonito, though not many larger sized fish now, an occasional leopard grouper to fifteen pounds, which was the average size of the few amberjack that were accounted for. Yellowtail action has gone into stand by, these fish never really moved in off of San Jose del Cabo yet this season, while areas just to the north and south did have significant runs, April is always a month when we see improved bottom action, as well as warming offshore conditions that attract more pelagic species, so hopefully this spring will live up to its reputation of variety and quality.

As a bonus to the sierra action, there have been some early season roosterfish found patrolling the inshore waters, just outside the surf zone is the region where these powerful members of the jack family look to ambush their prey. Off of Los Cabos, the largest sized roosterfish typically arrive in late spring and early summer, but a few fish up to 25 pounds were caught and released this past week.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 49 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 striped marlin, 14 dorado, 178 sierra, 10 bonito, 22 roosterfish, 16 amberjack, 24 yellow snapper, 14 barred pargo, 8 pompano and 42 cabrilla.

Good Fishing, Eric