May 17-23, 2010
Weather: We had great weather this week as the nights were in the mid 70's and the daytime highs in the mid 90's. There were no clouds to speak of so of course, no rain! Light winds most of the week kept things from being too hot but you can tell that summer is well on its way.
Water: Things can change quickly on the water and we saw it happen this week. Early in the week the water was up to 85 degrees in several spots on the Sea of Cortez in our area with an average of 81 degrees while on the Pacific side it was a fairly cool 67 degrees close to the coast. On Wednesday evening things switched around and the water turned over wit areas changing several degrees overnight as well as becoming green. Right now there is a elongated plume of green water extending from the tip of the cape to the south/southeast 40 miles. The water in the rest of the Sea of Cortez is slightly off color but on the Pacific side to the south and west of the San Jaime Bank the water is a deep blue. Oh, big swells from the southwest, spaced far apart, no swimming on Medano Beach!
Bait: The usual Caballito and some Mackerel at $3 per bait, the warm water brought in the schools of Mullet as well and they are $3 each and there have been some sardinas available at $25 a scoop, but not on a steady basis.
FISHING
Billfish: The Striped Marlin bite has improved a little, but not much as almost every boat is getting a shot or two per day on tailing fish, with a few being hungry and eating the bait. There have been a few more Black and Blue Marlin being hooked up, with varying degrees of success in getting them to the side of the boat for releases. Most of the Striped marlin have been found on the Pacific side or right out front, while their larger cousins have been found in the warmer water in the Sea of Cortez.
Yellowfin Tuna: Fish ranging in size from 10 to 50 pounds have been getting into the fish boxes somehow, or at least they were at the start of the week. When the water turned over the bite dropped off a bit. Most of the fish have been found mixed in with the porpoise, but there have been quite a few found while blind trolling. The normal area such as south of the San Jaime Bank and up around the Golden Gate Bank have been producing a little better than other places, but they have been found just about everywhere.
Dorado: I really thought that the warmer water was going to bring in great numbers of Dorado, but they just haven't shown up strongly yet. Maybe next week, but there were some nice fish found this week. A few fish were in the 30 pound class with the average in at 15 pounds, and they were close in to the beach for the most part, on the Cortez side of the Cape and due south early in the week.
Wahoo: The week started out with a bang as these toothy speedsters went on a decent bite for a change. Strangely enough, it was during the new moon phase, not a full moon, so perhaps in another two weeks the bite will take off again. Anyway, it lasted for about four days and everyone who tried for them seemed able to get at least one or two fish, some boats managed a half dozen in the 30-40 pound class. When the water turned over the bite died off but there were still a fish caught here and there. The bite happened in the usual Wahoo haunts, along steep drops and on top of structure.
Inshore: Roosterfish were the beach fish of the week as there were some schools of fish up to 60 pounds in size found. Slow trolling live bait, preferably Mullet, worked best for the Roosters. A few Sierra were still found out there, and there was a halfway decent bite on Amberjack, but most of the Pangas tried to target the Wahoo!
Notes: I had a nice tip up the coast, a little rough the first two days, just a bit bouncy, then the water smoothed out. To the north of Magdalena Bay the water turned a really dirty green/brown color but smoothed right out and we had a good trip all the way to the Channel Islands. We were at the marina this morning waiting for clients to show up and some fog moved in, that was the coldest 74 degrees I have felt in a long time! Until next week, tight lines!