San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

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

February 13, 2011

Anglers –

It appears the coldest weather has now past, recent days have been mostly sunny, at times moderate cloud cover, overall conditions were on a warming trend compared to last week. Winds were still unpredictable, most of the time coming from the north, at times swinging out of the south. Ocean water temperatures raised a couple of degrees this week, now averaging 69 to 72 degrees, warmest areas now near the 95 spot, outside of Chileno.

Finding any sufficient supply of sardinas became difficult this past week, minimal supplies of this bait source were netted near Palmilla, hardly enough to have the needed chum for possibly chumming up the yellowfin tuna that have been schooling off of Santa Maria, these tuna were in the 15 to 25 pound class, but were very finicky and lots of bait was needed to have the best opportunities.

The most consistent fishing action has been closer to shore, over rocky structure, typically in depths ranging from 100 to 150 feet. Anglers used a combination of sardina, red crabs (when available) and yo-yo style iron jigs to catch a wide range of species, including red snapper (huachinango), cabrilla (leopard grouper), amberjack, yellowtail, yellow snapper, triggerfish, bonito, black skipjack and shark. These fish were all great eating species, averaging less than ten pounds, but also a few larger fish to over 20 pounds were accounted for. On an average morning charter groups could expect to catch three, four or five different types of fish and anywhere from 5 to 15 total landed.  

Stretches close to shore were holding sierra, roosterfish and at time yellowtail. Slow trolling with sardinas was the most productive method of finding action, though anglers also reported success on hoochies and Rapalas.

Pelagic red crabs are being found on the local fishing grounds, this has been more of a commercial pangero deal than sportfishing.  Each day these pelagic crabs are found on the surface, varies daily as to exactly where. These small crustaceans are what the red snapper are being caught on, pretty much exclusively since this is what these true red snapper now have a taste for.

Striped marlin activity has been scattered, though anglers wishing to target these billfish have had an average of a couple opportunities per day on stripers ranging up to 120 pounds, much of this action was found 8 to 15 miles off of the Palmilla to Chileno region. Strikes came on trolled lures, rigged ballyhoo and dropped back baits. We expect as water temperatures raise some and attract more offshore bait species, such as mackerel, sardinetas and flying fish, we will see improved action offshore.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 44 charters for the past week, with anglers reported a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 22 bonito, 15 amberjack, 22 cabrilla, 183 yellowtail, 114 huachinago (red snapper), 46 sierra, 32 roosterfish,14 dorado, 44 yellowfin tuna, 26 triggerfish, 3 mako shark, 1 wahoo and 45 black skipjack.  

Good fishing, Eric

San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

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

February 6, 2011

Anglers –

Global weather patterns continue to create cooler than normal conditions throughout much of Northern America, as perhaps three quarters of the United States is now either snow or ice bound. This has made traveling that much more difficult and crowds of tourists recently arriving in the Los Cabos area have been noticeably lighter than average. The skies have been clear and sunny, though temperatures this past week were downright chilly, a low of 41 degrees was reported on Friday morning and daytime highs barely reached 65 degrees, surely this cold wave will not last long, though now is a time when you definitely want to have a warm jacket available, as wind gusts were predominately from the north and they dropped the chill factor even lower.

Ocean water temperatures ranged from 66 to 69 degrees, most certainly will start on a warming trend next month as the days progressively become longer. Swells were minimal, though with the combination of persistent winds and strong currents, this attributed to limiting the options for anglers, often having to fish closer to shore in sheltered spots. There were good supplies of sardinas available, with limited pressure this made finding the live bait easy and plentiful.

Local San Jose del Cabo fleets were spending most of their efforts fishing the spots from Punta Gorda, Cardon, La Fortuna and when the weather allowed, the Iman Bank. Despite not so ideal conditions, anglers found a wide variety of small to medium sized species. There were red crabs being encountered on the surface, but it was kind of a crap shoot as to when and where these pelagic crabs could be found. When obtained, anglers were able to use these small crabs as bait for red snapper, which were weighing in the 2 to 10 pound range, these were the true huachinango snapper, prized eating, with high commercial value. A bit tricky fishing these light baits, the snapper take the bait very delicately, hard to detect at times, strong fighters on sporting tackle.

Other common catches were yellowtail, sizes up to 15 pounds, most of them about 5 pounds, striking on various baits and jigs, most often off the bottom rock plies, but at times being encountered closer to shore mixed in with schools of sierra. Also a mix of yellow snapper, cabrilla, triggerfish, bonito, as well as an occasional small dorado. Small sized roosterfish were plentiful along the beach stretches north of La Playita to Punta Gorda, good area for sierra as well.

The Iman Bank has still been holding some yellowfin tuna, 10 to 40 pounds, though the inclement conditions have not been favorable in recent days for this spot. Hopefully the weather will scatter the sea lions which have taken up residence on these banks and have turned into a real nuisance.

 The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 44 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 8 yellowfin tuna, 16 bonito, 4 amberjack, 17 cabrilla, 92 pargo, 21 dorado, 34 roosterfish, 91 yellowtail and 112 sierra.

Good Fishing, Eric

San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

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

January 29, 2011

Anglers –

Light crowds of tourists are now visiting Southern Baja, they have been greeted with cooler winter time conditions, scattered cloud cover with moderate winds and daytime highs in the low 70s. Still this would have to be considered nice weather for mid winter. Ocean water temperatures are averaging in the 67 to 69 range through most of the region, this is five degrees cooler than what conditions were at the same time last year.

The San Jose del Cabo fleets have been concentrating their efforts in the direction of the Iman Bank in recent days, this is where they have found schooling yellowfin tuna, ranging in sizes up to 20 pounds, also a scattering of dorado and various bottom dwellers. Trying to land hooked tuna before a pack of aggressive sea lions got a hold of them was a major issue, most charters were having as many fish broken off by these sea lions as they were actually landing. Boats were averaging 2 to 8 yellowfin per morning. This is not bad considering the time of year and condition of the water. Using sardinas for bait was the most productive technique, these baitfish remained plentiful off of the beach stretches north of Punta Gorda. Most of the dorado that are now encountered have been juvenile sized, though occasionally a larger bull of 20 pounds was found.

Closer to shore there have been good numbers of sierra, again most of these fish were in the 1 to 3 pound class, some schooling yellowtail of 2 to 6 pounds were found in various inshore locations as well, both of these species hit best on sardinas, but would also strike Rapalas and cast jigs.

There is not much going on the Gordo Banks now, this area is not known for the best action when the water temps are cooler, though the commercial fleet have been finding the pelagic red crabs in this area and are netting them to be used for snapper bait on other fishing spots.

Striped marlin action continues to be off this year, some scattered fish are being found, but no large concentrations, as the water conditions warm and more numbers of larger baitfish arrive we expect this action to improve.

There were a handful of yellowfin tuna found traveling with porpoise offshore, hit or miss deal, but some of these tuna were in the 30 to 60 pound class. Other schools of tuna were seen at times on the local fishing grounds, but they disappeared as fast as they had appeared. These fish become even more finicky in cooler conditions.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 51 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 114 yellowfin tuna, 24 bonito, 6 amberjack, 15 cabrilla, 62 pargo, 16 dorado, 14 roosterfish, 29 yellowtail and 110 sierra.

Good Fishing, Eric