April 20-26, 2009
WEATHER: There were a few clouds in the sky this week but for the most part we had sunny and clear skies. It feels as if summer is fast approaching as our daytime temperatures have been a few degrees warmer every week, this week we averaged 88 degrees in the daytime and 71 degrees in the mornings. I almost turned on the air conditioning last night, but then thought better of it, after all, that stuff costs a lot of money and I turned on the floor fan instead!
WATER: We had light winds at the beginning of the week and they picked up quite a bit on Thursday, by the weekend they had died back down. The winds were our typical northwest winds and they kicked up the swells and waves for a couple of days. By the end of the week things had calmed down. On the Cortez side of the Cape things were a bit calmer since the wind did not shift very much and the swells stayed small with just a light wind chop. There was a very defined current line running from the tip of the Cape to the south-southeast where the western side was a cool 64-67 degrees and the eastern side was 70-71 degrees. The cool water was in a band about 10 miles wide 30 miles to the south and the distance between the cool water and the warm water was one mile. On Saturday there was an 81-degree hot spot on the surface that ran between the 1150 and the Cabrilla Seamount.
BAIT: Once again it was a mix of Caballito and Mackerel at $3 per bait and the Sardinas were hard to come by here in Cabo. The little guys were hard to get in San Jose as well; you had to be early to get a shot at these baits.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The warm spot of water between the 1150 and the Cabrilla Seamount was expected to give up a couple of Blues or Blacks but failed to produce much of anything at all other than a couple of Dorado. A few boats were able to scratch up one, two, or in a few instances, three Striped Marlin while working between the shore and the 95 Spot. There were a few tailing fish sighted on the Cortez side but the kudos went to the guys who were willing to use their electronics to spot fish down at 100-150 feet and drop bait to them.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: We had a couple of good days of fishing for football Tuna in the 5-15 pound class in the middle of the week. The fish were with a large pod of dolphin on the Pacific side just to the south of the San Jaime Banks. When the wind picked up on Thursday the fish were more difficult to find. When they were biting earlier I had no problem getting limits for my guys as we were covered up five times and had multiple hook-ups every pass. Small feathers or lures in the 4-5 inch size and in red or black were the ticket as the Tuna were feeding on small squid. There were also dolphin that had fish to the south, but once again at a distance of 25 miles and they were football fish.
DORADO: This week was a repeat of last week, and it of the week before. Just like last week, once again it was a case of scattered fish. Almost every boat was able to get a Dorado this week, and a few boats managed to get three or four. The warm water on the Cortez side produced most of the fish and the best area was three to five miles off the beach, the same area that held most of the Striped Marlin.
WAHOO: I did not hear of any Wahoo this week.
INSHORE: Just like last week, the bite is still on for Sierra and Yellowtail, it's decent for Amberjack and Pargo and there are a few Grouper to add to the mix. The Yellowtail were up around Los Arcos on the Pacific side and the Sierra were on the Cortez side of the Cape. When the winds blew hard in the middle of the week the water really greened up on the Pacific coast and most of the action moved to the Cortez side.
NOTES: Thank you for all the replies about my questions on Sun River last week, they helped me a lot. Denny, I look forward to hearing from you when you come down. Another game of golf planned for this week and perhaps some time on the water as well. This weeks report was written to the music of the birds on the Legends of Golf tournament in Savannah playing on the TV! Until next week, tight lines!