Considering the ideal climate we are now having in the midst of spring season, we saw light crowds of anglers this past week. For the few that did make the trip they were greeted with clear sunny skies, highs of about 85 degrees, variable winds, increased compared to the previous week, predominantly from the north. This contributed to stirring up the visibility, pushing in some more greenish currents, which were shifting directions, changing daily, making for some unstable conditions. This often is the case during the transition period of spring time towards summer. Ocean water temperature has now been in the 70 to 73 degree range.
Supplies of bait consisted of caballito, misc. jacks, ballyhoo, slabs of squid and on a couple of days minimal numbers of sardina and anchoveta were found near marina entrance. Most common fishing grounds have been from La Fortuna, Iman, San Luis and north to Vinorama.
Striped marlin action picked up further offshore, about 15 miles out, near the 1150 Bank, stripers up to 140 lb. were accounted for, trolling lures and dropping back live baits or rigged ballyhoo.
More charters were concentrating on the bottom species, main catch being the bonito, the white variety, good eating, unlike the California variety. Also on the same grounds there were a mix of amberjack, leopard grouper, barred pargo, yellow snapper, red snapper, spotted rose snapper, white fish, triggerfish and a couple of yellowtail were landed, though the bonito were most numerous by far.
Inshore the main deal has been smaller sized roosterfish and some jack crevalle, only a few sierra were brought in, needing more consistent supplies of sardinas for them. We did see a couple of yellowfin tuna through the week, taken off the same grounds where bottom action was found. Also one nice wahoo and a handful of dorado were accounted for.
With the Easter vacation week now past and spring break holiday times coming to an end, things have quieted down locally. Actually now is a great time to visit, weather conditions are ideal, moderate crowds and fishing action has shown signs of improvement recently. Clear sunny skies with highs near 85 degrees, for the most part calm ocean conditions, with the exception of a couple of days of north wind earlier in the week.
Ocean water temperatures are now in the 70 to 72 degree range. Bait supplies have included caballito, jacks, slabs of squid and ballyhoo, no reports of sardinas showing, though there have been some mullet appearing. Most of the fishing activity has now been concentrated on the grounds to the north of Punta Gorda, Cardon, La Fortuna, Iman, San Luis and as far north as Vinorama.
Close to shore along the beach stretches there have been good numbers of roosterfish found, striking on caballito, mullet and other jack species. Most of these roosterfish are juvenile sized fish under 15 lb. Remember to always carefully release these fish so that they can grow to maturity and reproduce. Not many sierra are being seen now because of the lack of sardinas for bait.
Bottom action showed signs of improvement, even though the bonito were still the most common species found while working the rock piles with yo-yo jigs, we saw a few more leopard grouper, amberjack and red snapper (huachinango) in recent days. Also a mix of barred pargo, yellow snapper, triggerfish and others, all very good eating species.
We saw more yellowfin tuna action this week, no big numbers, but at least everyday we are seeing a handful of nice yellowfin brought in. Sizes were ranging from 20 to 60 lb. These tuna were striking on strips of squid, caballito, as well as a few on yo-yo jigs, they were found on various high spots from San Luis to Vinorama. This was an encouraging deal, since the tuna bite has been dead for some weeks now.
Scattered through these same grounds were a handful of dorado, a few of them over 15 lb. No wahoo were reported, though as the weather continues to warm we expect water temperatures will also warm up and the wahoo should become more active, as they typically do at the end of this month.
Not much billfish action reported close to San Jose del Cabo, except we did hear that some striped marlin were found on the 95 spot where charters from Cabo San Lucas were operating. Not much going on the Pacific now, as north winds were gusty and conditions were rough.
Very busy weekend locally, most of all small businesses were shut down and families were swarming and filling up all of the various local beaches. With limited numbers of charter captains even available there were not a lot of charters heading out the past few days, this next week we will see more anglers ready to go.
Earlier in the week there was more north wind that contributed to pushing in greenish waters. These turned over conditions shut down the surface action, particularly the wahoo that had been biting last week. Water temperatures were in the 71 to 73 degree range. So we are back in the seasonal transition period as is normal for this month. Anglers are searching the various rock piles for a variety of bottom species.
Highlights were a handful of nice leopard grouper and amberjack, up to 30 lb., as well as bonito, fortune jack, island jack, pompano, barred pargo and others. All very good eating fish. Anglers were using a combination of bait and yo-yo style jigs. Sardinas became scarce again, there were limited supplies of caballito, jacks, as well ballyhoo and slabs of squid.
The lack of sardinas put a damper on the inshore sierra action for the time being. Perhaps the baitfish moved further from shore during the recent full moon phase, we are hoping that this next week these schooling baitfish reappear. We greatly rely on the sardinas for this time of year for the inshore and shallow water structure fishing.
The whale migration is nearing the end now, the final few weeks before these mammals begin their migration north back to their summer feeding grounds off of Alaska.
