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 10, 2012

Anglers –

With the spring season now only a couple of weeks away we are now in transition period, unpredictable from day to day, there are still predominate winds from the north, choppy seas through much of this past week. Days have been mostly sunny, with high temperatures reaching 80 degrees. Water temperatures has ranged from 68 to 72 degrees, the warmest currents are now found off of Cabos San Lucas..

Yellowfin tuna action came to a standstill on the Iman Bank, as stirred up ocean conditions slowed the surface action and anglers found the most consistent bite to be closer to shore for sierra, an occasional dorado up to 15 pounds and a mix of bottom dwellers, most success has come on bait, some action on yo-yo’s. Strong currents limited options on certain days, conditions can change quickly from day to day. Despite dealing with some gusting winds anglers were able to fish in calmer more protected inshore waters, where a variety of species provided fun sport on light tackle while using sardinas for bait.

Supplies of sardinas have remained plentiful, they were found off of the Palmilla area, as well as north near San Luis. Cardon proved to be one of the more productive areas this past week, larger sized sierra, some snapper , amberjack, bonito and cabrilla off the bottom, this is also where quite a few out of season dorado have been found, small groups of fish attracted to where more baitfish were schooling.

Reports of striped marlin action was hit or miss, the 1150 spot produced some billfish and the old light house grounds also had some favorable reports, though overall the marlin bite has been scattered and not up to Cabo standards. The month of March can often be an off time for these stripers and as the days warm in the spring, the coming months show much improved action on the offshore front.

The annual southern migration of gray and humpback whales is now almost over, this is the time when these mammals start their return trip towards the northern feeding grounds.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 wahoo, 2 striped marlin, 38 dorado, 32 bonito, 315 sierra, 13 roosterfish, 14 yellowtail, 18 amberjack, 11 jack crevalle, 55 pargo, 9 grouper, 16 cabrilla and 11 pompano.

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 3, 2012

Anglers –

Pristine spring like weather is now attracting crowds of early spring breakers to the Los Cabos area. Vacationers were greeted with mostly warm sunny skies, high temperatures in the upper 70s. Winds were variable, at times coming from all different directions, residing the later part of the week. Ocean water temperatures ranged from 68 to 71 degrees throughout most of the region, winds cooled off waters, now we are back on a warming trend. This will be the pattern now, as we transition from winter into the spring season, always unpredictable, up and down conditions, until stabilizing with the warmer conditions.

As conditions changed from day to day, anglers tried offshore, inshore and bottom options accordingly. With cooler waters temperatures, dorado and yellowfin tuna catches were very scattered, mostly single fish here or there taken. With the conditions now much calmer, we expect a few more yellowfin tuna to be found on the Iman Banks.

The month of February would certainly be considered very good tuna fishing on these local banks, this is normally a time when we do not see many tuna in local inshore waters. As a bonus these were a quality grade of fish, ranging from twenty on up to one hundred pounds, averaging 40 to 60 ponds. Never big numbers, but two, three or four of these winter time yellowfin tuna, along with a mix of other species, is a good all around catch for a morning trip.

Anglers were now finding improved action for structure species, such as yellowtail, amberjack, grouper, cabrilla, pargo, bonito and others. Drift fishing with weighted baits and working yo-yo jigs up off the bottom were both productive techniques. More numbers of yellowtail were found off of Cabo San Lucas, straight off the arches, to around along the Pacific beaches and off of Chileno, where some yellows up 20 or 30 pounds schooling on the rock piles. Off of the San Jose del Cabo fishing grounds there has yet to be a big run of yellowtail this winter, with reports of quality catches coming from Cabo San Lucas and off of the East Cape to La Paz, we expect to see greater concentrations of these powerful and sought after jacks showing up off of San Jose.

Sufficient supplies of sardinas have been available, they are being found near Palmilla Point and off the beaches near Vinorama. Some caballito and mullet from the commercial bait sellers as well. Plenty of skipjack on the fishing grounds, mixed in were some feisty good eating bonito, not the same Southern Californian species.

Sharks were prevalent on the Iman Bank this past week, caught while bottom fishing, mostly white tip reef sharks and hammerhead, a few mako sharks were landed as well. Most of these sharks were in the three to five foot range, of course they were a few larger. There must be an amble food source deep around the Iman Bank, attracting these foragers, spooking the tuna bite as well. Leopard grouper up to 15 pounds were taken in decent numbers, also yellow snapper, amberjack and some yellowtail, the yellows this season have been larger sized than normal.

Striped marlin action remains very spread out, though on any given day there are charters finding one or two fish. With warming weather we expect these billfish to become more active, April through June is typically the best season for stripers on the San Jose del Cabo grounds.

Options along the shoreline was mainly trolling for sierra or smaller sized roosterfish. So far the sierra action has not busted wide open, as you would expect for peak season, makes you think about the relentless gill net activity off of the more remote areas also having a major influence on our local inshore fishery.

The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 81 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 1 mako shark, 19 hammerhead shark, 23 reef sharks, 15 yellowfin tuna, 24 dorado, 36 cabrilla, 11 grouper, 28 amberjack,17 yellowtail, 55 pargo, 66 bonito, 9 moharra, 38 sierra and 5 roosterfish.

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

 

February 25, 2012

Anglers –

There was a noticeable increase in tourists this past week, as more visitors were arriving to enjoy the pristine wintertime weather and multitude of outdoor activities available. Sunny days, averaging 70 to 80 degrees, light to moderate variable winds with ocean water temperatures warming up a few degrees in recent days, now averaging 70 to 73 degrees, with even warmer currents found outside of San Jose del Cabo.

Sportfishing fleets are fishing areas all throughout the zone, from the grounds on the Pacific, to off Chileno, Palmilla, Punta Gorda, Iman Bank and north to Vinorama. Anglers found scattered action on a wide variety of species, no great bite on one specific fish, but the all around action has been comparatively on par for how wintertime action typically is. This is now the beginning of spring transition period, warmer currents start to return, attracting a particular food chain, with the array of gamefish following.

Anglers found spread out striped marlin action, no great concentrations, though a percentage of charters were accounting for multiple billfish days, the cleaner warming currents brought more fish closer to shore this past week, though often when encountered they were bait shy. Striped marlin were striking on trolled lures, as well as on baits such as caballito, skipjack, rigged ballyhoo and if you were fortunate enough to find, mackerel. Dorado were scattered now, as often they become in these cooler water temperatures, by next month we should see more of these prized golden dorado returning to local waters. There still are a few dorado being encountered, most of them juvenile sized, with warming water temperatures anything could happen at any given time.

Panga anglers found the most consistent action around the vicinity of the Iman Bank area. This is the spot where the yellowfin tuna have been the prized target species, despite being somewhat out of season, there have been schools of quality sized yellowfin tuna holding here and anglers are hooking up while drift fishing with sardinas, as well as on chunk bait. Heavy boat pressure, fast currents and big numbers of hungry skipjack and sea lions, all have contributed to up and down, hit or miss action, some days better than others, anglers felt fortunate to land one or two of these tuna, average weights were in the 30 to 60 pound range, with a fish pushing the one hundred pound mark seen in the area. These yellowfin were finicky, lots of boat pressure, sporadically coming to the surface, anglers using 30 to 40 pound line weights accounted for more hook ups, but many larger sized fish were broke off due to extended battles on the light gear. On some days the early morning bite would be best, while on others there was more activity later on.

For the San Jose del Cabo fleets, sardinas are now being netted near Vinorama, which is nearly a 20 mile run, but this is where this preferred tuna bait is now found, not many other options for sardinas, near Cabo San Lucas sardinas were abundant, though the bait was much smaller and this is not practical due to the location of the yellowfin tuna at this time. The Iman Bank is about three miles south of Vinorama, so this is the best deal for now.

Stronger currents this past week made it more difficult to fish bottom spots, though there was a wide mix of structure species caught, amberjack, yellowtail, pago, bonio, cabrilla, grouper and shark. No big run of yellowtail yet this season, best numbers were found along the Pacific shores, a few fish, here and there in the direction of Sea of Cortez, the yellows that were found, weighed 10 to 30 pounds. Drifting with baits and working yo-yo jigs were the two main techniques used for the bottom action. Typically this type of action peaks during the spring time months.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 83 charters for the past week, with anglers reported a fish count of:

6 striped marlin, 15 amberjack, 22 cabrilla, 23 yellowtail, 166 bonito, 24 huachinago, 42 sierra, 13 dorado, 1 wahoo, 105 yellowfin tuna, 35 yellow snapper and 312 skipjack.

Good fishing, Eric