April 6, 2008
Anglers -
As we enter the first full month of the spring season the Southern Baja California region has yet to change their clocks one hour forward for daylight savings time, it appears strange to see the sun high in the sky by 7 a.m., this situation will change this coming weekend, it always seems to feel like more of a dramatic change when waiting an extra month to spring forward. Weather conditions are ideal, highs into the low to mid 80s, not so chilly in the early morning and north winds are gradually becoming less dominant. Anglers are patiently waiting during this transition period as warmer currents slowly push back into the area, bringing with them the sought after pelagic gamefish.
Striped marlin action improved substantially this past week throughout the region, as scores of stripers are being spotted free jumping and tailing on the surface. One of the hot spots in recent days was from the Gordo Banks towards Desteladera, anywhere from 5 to 15 miles offshore. Charters targeting billfish were accounting for one to three fish per boat on an average, the majority of strikes came on mackerel, with a smaller percentage being hooked up on lures. Sizes were healthy, 100 to 150 pounds, with a few specimens even larger.
Yellowfin tuna continued to be found 15 to 30 miles offshore, sometimes with fast moving schools of porpoise, but at other times they were by blind strikes on lures, cedar plugs and feathers were both productive. Most of the tuna were under fifteen pounds, though there were reports of a couple of larger yellowfin accounted for that weighed into the triple digits. Dorado counts also jumped in recent days, as water temperatures up to 72 degrees were found on the outside. On Tuesday several boats reported encountering a dead whale carcass that was holding schools of dorado to thirty pounds, though the fish proved to be finicky at times and had a preference for live mackerel only. There were a scattering on dorado that also hooked into while trolling with lures on the marlin and tuna grounds.
The local panga fleets had been concentrating their efforts nearby off Palmilla Point for several weeks, this is where there had been big concentrations of yellowtail, mainly juvenile sized, with a few larger fish mixed in, anyway this action came to a standstill at the start of the week, even the bonito that had been schooling with the jacks appeared to have moved on, only the giant squid remained. Trolling along the inshore stretches of beaches produced sierra and roosterfish, most of these fish were striking on sardinas or rapalas and weighing five pounds or less.
Panga Charters are once again heading north to the Iman Bank, where catches have been dominated by Mexican bonito, yo-yo jigs, rapalas and sardinas are all catching fish. Also off the bottom rock piles there has been limited numbers or pargo, cabrilla and amberjack.
Whale watching season is winding down, the mammals are still being spotted daily, but numbers are significantly less, as the humpbacks and grays start their migration back north.
Be aware that in recent days the Mexican Navy has routinely been conducting on the water inspections of sportfishing charter boats, particularly having a vendetta against the pangas, make sure you have a valid fishing license, also boat owners need to be diligent about having all of their paper work and safety equipment in order. You would like to believe that any regulation problems could be taken care of back at the docks before the boats even launched, tourism is already slow in recent months and to have a heavily armed Navy Patrol vessel rapidly approach you while you on a relaxing fishing excursion can definitely be a bit nerve wracking to say the least.
The combined panga charter fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 64 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 9 striped marlin, 33 giant squid, 28 dorado, 27 yellowfin tuna, 27 pargo, 9 cabrilla, 13 amberjack, 126 yellowtail, 285 Mexican bonito, 134 sierra and 56 roosterfish.
Good Fishing, Eric
