We saw another wave of holiday vacationers arriving this past week. Weather patterns were great for the fall season, as much of the U.S. is now chilling off quickly. Relentless north winds were an issue, this limited where anglers could comfortably and efficiently put in their efforts. Ocean temperatures were still in the 78 to 80 degree range, warmer than usual for this time frame. This weekend we saw low early morning temperatures dip to 55 degrees, this cooling trend will most certainly contribute to an ocean cooling trend as well. Days were still mostly sunny and highs near 80 degrees.
Bait options remained the same, caballito, ballyhoo, slabs of squid and some charters were able to catch chihuil. The mackerel which had been schooling offshore of the marina area, seem to have temporarily scattered, in turn slowing the striped marlin action, we expect this action to rebound as water temperature cools some. No reports of any sardinas being found, have not seen these baitfish at all since mid October when big tournaments started.
Despite relentless north winds the local fleets were able to find calmer conditions close to shore on grounds such as Cardon, La Fortuna, at times outside on Iman Bank, but these grounds were more vulnerable to the winds. Wahoo and dorado were found closer to shore where winds did not hit too bad. Trolling live bait was most productive, dorado were found on these same grounds. More wahoo strikes were missed than were actual fish landed, as is normal for these elusive gamefish. Sizes of the wahoo averaged 20 to 35 lb., we saw a few nicer dorado to over 30 lb. this week, though the majority were more in the 10 lb. range. Numbers of fish per charter ranged from one or two to 8 or 10 in combination.
Tuna action still very spotted, a handful of yellowfin were accounted for, from the Vinorama and Iman Banks, these fish ranged to 60 lb. Though drift style fishing is never easy on choppy and windy grounds. The tuna are definitely in the area still and we are optimistic as wind patterns reside we expect this action to become more consistent.
Not much going on inshore or off the bottom now, most charters are targeting surface action for larger gamefish. Sardinas are always the preferred bait for late fall and winter action closer to shore and for off the shallow rock piles, so we are crossing our fingers that some schools of sardinas will reappear soon.
Good Fishing, Eric