March 22, 2013
Anglers –
This past week was super busy with all of the events going on during the annual traditional carnival days of San Jose del Cabo. There was a noticeable increase in numbers of tourists arriving in the area. Spring season is now officially here and this is the time when we see more spring break vacationers incoming. Just like clockwork the weather is quickly warming and we are seeing temperatures ranging in the upper 80s. Actually the climate is perfect now, great time to visit, before the heat of the summer arrives and when the humidity seriously rises.
Overall offshore conditions improved, as winds resided and warmer currents pushed into the region. Then we saw south wind that brought back in some cooler Pacific currents. So just like the conditions, the fishing action has varied from day to day, but we did see much improvement for a variety of species, from close to shore and on the offshore grounds. At this time local ocean temperatures are down to 65 degrees near the 95 spot and outside of the Gordo Banks there are spots up to 72 degrees.
Early in the week fleets found great yellowfin tuna action outside of the El Cardon area, about 10 to 14 miles offshore, schooling yellowfin in the 15 to 25 lb. class traveling with rapidly moving porpoise. These fish were striking cedar plugs, feathers and live sardinas. Later in the week this action scattered, this is the pattern we should see for yellowfin during the spring, scattered offshore, moving and feeding with porpoise. There are still chances at hooking into a nicer grade of tuna, on Sunday there was a 120 pound tuna landed off of the Gordo Banks, this fish was landed by team “Reina de Wahoo” and proved to be the winner of a local government sponsored tournament out of La Playita.
Dorado were harder to find this week, just a scattering of these fish being encountered, no particular place, inshore and offshore, weights up to 25 lb., a percentage are striking on lures and others on bait. As the ocean currents warm back up, there will be more of these gamefish moving in. Also this will be the time we start to hear reports of some wahoo. A few of these speedsters were encountered this past week, a couple them were hooked in an area very close to shore near Cardon, same spot where the sierras have continued to provide fun light tackle sport.
Yellowtail action started off with a fury for anglers that were lucky to just happen to get in on the action. Close by, off of the Estuary Hotel Zone, with a mile or two of shore, in about 150 feet of water, anglers landed good numbers of yellowtail in the 15 to 28 pound range. These fish were hitting best on larger baits, such as caballito, sardinetas, moonfish, jacks, etc.. Also some hit on yo-yo’s. Baitfish were not always easy to obtain, same with the smaller sardinas being netted off the beaches north of La Fortuna, increased swells and lower tides made it more challenging for the pangeros. This was the hot spot now, for close by bottom action, not the normal local grounds where yellowtail are usually found, so who knows where these migrating jacks will go next. We have perfect conditions now for more schools of yellows to arrive, encouraging to finally see these fish and of such nice quality.
Striped Marlin action broke wide open again off of San Jose del Cabo, from 3 to 15 miles out. Good numbers of marlin were found, sometimes free jumping in all directions, others seen feeding on the surface, as well as tailing on the surface and coming up into to trolled lure spreads was a common scenario, dropping back live baits resulted in solid hook ups. The striped marlin were ranging in sizes up to 130 pounds, many charters accounted for two, three or four fish per morning.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 96 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 wahoo, 42 striped marlin, 108 yellowfin tuna, 85 dorado, 330 sierra, 3 amberjack, 86 yellowtail,32 various pargo,13 bonito, 3 mako shark and 30 triggerfish.
Good Fishing, Eric