December 21-27, 2009
WEATHER: The low this morning was 61 degrees, a tie for the season so far. Most mornings this week have been in the low 60's while the daily highs have been in the low to mid 80's. We had partly cloudy skies to mostly cloudy skies this week, to the point that for a few days it looked as if it might rain on us! At least if it did it was not going to be the frozen stuff.
WATER: The surface conditions on the Pacific side of the Cape were good for most of the week but there were a few days when the wind made itself felt. On those days the water on the Cortez side was just fine. The Pacific side has been warmer than the Cortez side this week with water averaging 77-78 degrees while on the Cortez side it has been ranging from 74-77 degrees. Water clarity has been very good with the exception at the end of the week of a large eddy of cold green water that came in across the 1150 area from the southwest.
BAIT: Most of the bait this week was Caballito but there were a few Mackerel as well as some mullet to be found. The cost of these larger baits was the normal $3 per bait. On and off you could find Sardinas up in the San Jose area for $25 a scoop.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: I am really confused about the Marlin fishing so far this season. I know that it is an El Nino year so the water is going to remain warmer longer, but I saw a Blue Marlin that weighed in at just around #800 hanging from the scales on Wednesday! I did not get over there in time to find out where the fish was caught or what it was caught on, but having Blue Marlin remain in our area this long, and be a fairly consistent catch is very unusual for us. Normally we are getting multiples of Striped marlin and the water has cooled to 72 degrees by now, but the water is still warm and the bite on the Striped Marlin has not yet turned on full time. We are getting little spurts of action from time to time, and I am hearing good reports from the private boats that are willing to travel 80+ miles up the coast on the Pacific side, but these fish have not yet made it into our area. The Striped marlin we are getting have been found off of the lighthouse on the Pacific and up just offshore of Los Arcos, both areas where bait is concentrated by the currents. When the bite has happened it has been good, but the past week only had two good days where the boats were releasing 4 or more fish each day, the rest of the days they were lucky to get one to the boat.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Football fish were available this week but they were moving around very rapidly, one day they could be found off of the Golden Gate Bank, the next day they would be absent there but were found 12 miles south of the Cape. With the fish moving around so quickly the action was not consistent, but if you were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time the action was good on fish that ranged in size from 10 to 30 pounds. Some boats only got one, others that were first on the scene managed to get 15. The fish also showed up for a few days off of the Palmilla point and chumming then live baiting with Sardinas was the way to go. There was also some decent action on fish of the football size on top of the inner Gorda Bank and an occasional cow was hooked up on the outer Gorda Bank by boats using downriggers and Bollito as bait.
DORADO: Dorado were still caught by almost every boat that fished this week, and those that managed to find something floating in the water really managed to limit out (and sometimes exceed the limit). Most of the action was still close to the shore on the Pacific side in the warmer water and slow trolling live bait worked well. Boats that headed offshore in search of Tuna usually managed to get one or more Dorado out there as well, but the numbers were found in close to the beach.
WAHOO: I am amazed that there are still Wahoo being caught! While I reported in last weeks news that there had been no Wahoo caught, I was corrected by a large number of anglers and Captains afterwards, and I myself was aboard a friends boat when we hooked and brought to the side of the boat a Wahoo of around 30 pounds while fishing the inner Gorda Bank. The fish have been scattered but reported from almost all the high spots and along the points, no large numbers on the most part, but a decent pick for boats that rigged a couple of lures for them.
INSHORE: As a repeat of last weeks action, again it was a decent bite for Sierra that were averaging 6 pounds with an occasional 8 or 10 pound fish, Roosterfish that averaged 5 pounds with an occasional fish to 30 pounds and some scattered bottom fish found as well. The Striped Marlin bite was not as good close to the beach this week.
NOTES: I hope everyone had a great holiday and will have a great New Year celebration as well. Whales are still around and showing off for us, both Gray and Humpbacks. If you want to do any banking, avoid HSBC Bank, they no longer accept a U.S. passport as valid identification and they no longer change dollars to pesos, maybe that is why there is no longer anyone in line there? This report was written to the guitar playing of Larry Carlton on the 1982 MCA release "Sleepwalk". Until next week, tight lines and happy holidays!