San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

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

January 27, 2011

Anglers –

Los Cabos continues to greet light crowds of vacationers with clear sunny skies, daytime high temperatures have reached into the mid 70s and conditions have been very pleasant for this winter season. Winds out of the north have not been too strong, as they often can be during this time. Ocean swells are minimal and anglers are enjoying favorable times on the water. Water temperatures remain cooler than they were at this same time period of 2010, now averaging 67 to70 degrees. This is now peak season for the annual whale migration, also there are plenty of sea lions and manta rays.

There have been sufficient supplies of sardinas available, recently these baitfish have been schooling off the beaches north of Punta Gorda and the Palmilla area. For the first time in several years the pelagic red crabs have been coming to the surface on the local fishing grounds such as the Gordo Banks and Desteladera. These crabs were being scooped up with small bait nets and are being used for the true red snapper (huachinango). These are prized snapper, averaging 5 to 10 pounds, occasionally reaching 14 pounds. The schooling snapper will often follow these migrations of red crabs and also come to the surface to feed, quite a sight when the water’s surface actually turns into a big spot of red mass. Perhaps the cooler water temperatures has triggered this event and surely the fact that there have not been giant squid in the region has given a chance for this activity to develop.

There have been yellowfin tuna found on the Iman Bank, a bit finicky in the cooler waters, also with aggressive sea lions lurking on the same fishing grounds, though persistent anglers were hooking into these fish while drift fishing with both live and dead sardinas. The tuna were averaging 20 to 50 pounds, with a few larger specimens accounted for, charters reported landed one to four of these yellowfin per morning. Boat pressure was light, with minimal crowds of anglers now in town.

Other options included trolling sardinas closer to shore for good light tackle action for sierra, most of these fish were smaller sized, but a handful of these fish weighed over five pounds. Yellowtail of 2 to 8 pounds were found in migrating schools, rapidly moving location from day to day, but once found these fish provided fun action on both live baits and yo-yo style jigging. A mix of cabrilla, grouper, amberjack, bonito, yellow snapper and triggerfish area accounted for from shallow water rocky areas.

Dorado were found spread out through most of the zone, more often closer to shore where baitfish concentrations were holding. Often becoming more active later in the morning when the oceans surface was warmed some by the rising sun. Striking on a wide range of baits and lures, most of the dorado were smaller schooling size fish under 10 pounds, but there were occasional1exceptions of fish over 25 pounds being landed.

The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 56 charters for the past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 111 dorado, 45 yellowfin tuna, 16 roosterfish, 254 sierra, 11 amberjack, 23 bonito, 18 cabrilla, 68 yellowtail, 6 grouper, 124 and 26 yellow pargo.

Good Fishing, Eric

San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

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

January 17, 2011

Anglers –

Though this winter season has been cooler than it has been for the past couple of seasons, visitors are still able to enjoy sunny skies with temperatures reaching into the 70s. Crowds have been moderate, people are having a fine time participating in the many outdoor activities available, while much of the United States is enduring harsh wet and icy conditions. Ocean water temperatures are some five degrees cooler than they were at this same period last year, now averaging 67 to 69 degrees, with some warmer currents found close to 20 miles offshore.

Sardinas have been available in good quantities on most days, being found near Palmilla and north towards Vinorama. No mackerel or sardinetas off of the San Jose del Cabo area at this time. Local fleets have been finding the most consistent action within several miles of shore.

Most common catches recently have been for sierra, pargo (yellow snapper), skipack, dorado, amberjack, yellowtail, triggerfish and bonito. Surprisingly, considering the cooler water temperatures, there have been quite a few dorado around, though most of these fish have been under ten pounds, good time to catch and release the smaller females. Some charters are catching up to a dozen of these schooling dorado, using sardinas for bait has been the most successful. The same areas are producing a wide variety of structure species, a mix of leopard grouper, amberjack, yellowtail, bonito and snapper are being hooking into off the rock piles on both bait and yo-yo jigs, it was not uncommon to catch six to eight different species off of the same spot. No large yellowtail being found, they have been the fire cracker models of 4 to 8 pounds.

A handful of yellowfin tuna were caught earlier in the week, these fish were in the 15 to 20 pound range, but with the water on a continuing cooling trend this action is now fading out. Until water conditions warm up a bit most of the action will be closer to shore for sierra of off the bottom rocky areas for a variety of species, all of which are good eating.

Plenty of whale watching to be done now, the peak migration of both humpback and gray whales will occur during the next couple of months. There have been some sea lions lurking on the fishing grounds that have been very aggressive, repeatedly stealing anglers fish as they were trying to reel them to the boat, it has not really mattered what type of fish, dorado, snapper, yellowtail, they liked them all.

The combined fleet of pangas launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 57 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 wahoo, 16 yellowfin tuna, 172 dorado, 212 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 17 amberjack, 25 cabrilla, 66 pargo, 18 bonito, 68 yellowtail and 18 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

San Jose del Cabo Weather Link

January 7, 2011

Anglers –

Lighter crowds of tourists this past week as families prepare to return to their school and work routines after this holiday season. Cooler temperatures now, a couple days saw high temperatures barely reaching 70 degrees, most days were near

75 degrees, scattered cloud cover with threats of rain, which never developed. There were increased winds out of the north, the gusts were moderate compared to what we can often see at this time of year. Water temperatures are now in the 67 to

72 range, warmest areas found in the direction of San Jose del Cabo.

Anglers were able to obtain live sardinas for bait without too much trouble, schools of these baitfish were found off of Palmilla Point and north near Vinorama. It was worth any extra waiting time involved because this was the best choice for finding the variety of action now encountered closer to shore.

Fleets found the most consistent bite off of spots such as Santa Maria, Chileno, Palmilla, Punta Gorda and Iman Banks. Catches included sierra, roosterfish, yellowtail, amberjack, snapper, bonito, dorado, skipjack and a few scattered billfish. Using sardinas for surface action produced more numbers of fish, most numerous were skipack and sierra. Trolling with hoochies and rapalas worked well and jigging with yo-yo’s worked for structure species such as yellowtail, amberjack, bonito and snapper. This past week saw more schooling yellowtail moving in on the inshore reefs, most of these fish were of the firecracker variety, 4 to 8 pounds, though there were a handful of larger yellows mixed in. It is the time of year when there can be great variety of smaller to medium sized fish close to shore, most all of them very good eating species.

Last week the yellowfin tuna action had slowed down due to changing ocean conditions, some schooling tuna were found further offshore traveling with porpoise, but this was hit or miss. In recent days there were signs of more yellowfin action. Palmilla Point produced some tuna up to 25 pounds, but you had to get through the aggressive skipjack first, some skippers found that using either dead bait or chunks of skipjacks drifted down deeper resulted in more percentage of tuna hook ups than skipjack. Larger sized yellowfin tuna to over one hundred pounds were holding on the Gordo and Iman Banks. The fish on the Gordo Banks were seen breezing the surface, but with all of the red crabs on these same fishing grounds they have acquired a taste for them and were not looking to feed on anything else. Though on some days there were a few tuna hooked into, one tuna of 133 pounds was landed by Dennis Powell, who is from the Lake Tahoe area and was fishing with local La Playita guide Chame Pino, the same day they lost two other quality sized tuna. The very next day on the Banks no one even saw a tuna, this is how it has been from day to day. Iman Bank was holding nice tuna as well, trolling with bolito was the ticket, if you were able to find and catch these elusive baitfish.

Dorado were being found in smaller sized schools, most of these fish under ten pounds, remember to release these juvenile fish if possible, particularly the females, which are easily identified by their smaller rounded forehead. These fish grow up to five pounds per month, better to let these fish spawn and grow for this coming spring season.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playta/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 77 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 sailfish, 2 striped marlin, 46 yellowfin tuna, 122 dorado, 24 roosterfish, 315 sierra, 14 amberjack, 154 yellowtail, 8 hammerhead shark, 36 bonito, 16 cabrilla and 38 pargo.

Good fishing, Eric