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 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

 

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 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