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

San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

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

March 5, 2011

Anglers –

Spring was in the air as we entered the month of March, a warming trend swept through the Southern Baja region, pleasant sunny days with high temperatures reaching close to eighty degrees. Crowds of tourists have noticeably increased this past week and everyone seemed to be enjoying the ideal climate. With the spring break vacation period beginning, we do anticipate busy times in coming weeks and the weather is on track to cooperate as well. There continues to be unpredictable winds from varying directions, which always seems to be the pattern during transition period of winter to spring time conditions. This past week we saw improved ocean conditions, currents had brought water temperatures down in the range of 65 to 68 degrees, but at this time there is once again a warming trend and we are seeing temperatures back up in the 70 to 72 range.

With ocean conditions fluctuating rapidly anglers found the all around action to be a bit inconsistent, though there was quite a variety of fish found, with the best reports coming off of inshore rock piles or trolling along the beach stretches. Supplies of sardinas were scarcer, schools of the baitfish were scattered and commercial pangeros encountered stronger tidal conditions while throwing their bait nets. There were caballito available as another option, though the smaller sardinas were the bait of choice for inshore panga action.

This week anglers found yellowfin tuna schooling on the Iman Bank, lots of fish were seen feeding on the surface, but getting these finicky fish to strike a baited hook proved difficult. Using lighter leader material down to 20 to 30 pound resulted in higher hook up percentages. These yellowfin were commonly in the 15 to 30 pound class, with a few of the 40 to 60 pound size models mixed in. Many of the larger sized fish ended up breaking off due to light line, but the problem was the fish would not hit the more visible heavier leaders. If it was not the problem of the fish being so picky and shy, there was even a worse sea lion situation, as a group of these aggressive mammals have been feeding on tuna that anglers are battling to bring to gaff on lighter tackle. Though it definitely is frustrating it adds variety to your fish stories. Recent days have seen average catches per charter at anywhere from one to four tuna, with black skipjack and bonito mixed in the same areas.

There were reports of red snapper being caught close off of the rocky beaches on the Pacific, tossing live baits into the surf zone, always exciting. Sierra have been fairly plentiful for anglers targeting them with sardinas, some nicer sized fish up to six pounds were accounted for. Roosterfish, jack crevalle and a few pompano rounded out the inshore action. The roosters were mostly all juvenile sized, but are a good sign that we  should see a big run of the larger roosterfish arrive later in the spring and early summer.

Anglers found less consistent action off of the bottom, though there were some nice yellowtail, amberjack, snapper and cabrilla accounted for. Not in the numbers as previous weeks. It will be interesting to see if the larger yellowtail show in any significant numbers near the San Jose del Cabo area, as the big yellows are now really hitting out of the East Cape and La Paz areas.

Not many dorado found the past week, fewer wahoo, as the water temperature conditions warm we will see these fish become more active. There were scattered reports of striped marlin for the cruiser fleets trolling offshore from 6 to 15 miles, blind jig strikes and casting to fining fish. Still no schooling mackerel found on local fishing grounds.

The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 82 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 4 mako shark, 8 hammerhead shark, 122 yellowfin tuna, 14 dorado, 16 cabrilla, 4 grouper, 18 amberjack, 84 yellowtail, 36 pargo, 24 bonito, 9 pompano,148 sierra and 45 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric