December 7, 2008
Anglers –
As we start the month of December there are noticeably lighter crowds of tourists now visiting the Los Cabos area. Typically there is a lack of visitors after Thanksgiving and until Christmas, people are now busy preparing for the holidays. Will be interesting to see how businesses are affected by the United States depressed economy as we enter the coming year. Weather conditions have finally changed from summerlike, actually the early mornings have dropped as low as 55 degrees and days are still reaching into the 80s, ideal conditions. The north winds have not been a negative factor yet for San Jose del Cabo fleets, though there have been more wind reports coming from the East Cape region. Water temperature is holding strong at an average of 78 to 80 degrees, conditions have been clean and blue within a mile of shore. We are anticipating that there will be a better than average action for exotics such as wahoo, dorado and yellowfin tuna throughout the month, as water temperatures are a few degrees above average.
Live sardinas have been found along the rocky beaches near Palmilla and this meant back tracking for panga fleets based out of La Playita, since the more productive fishing grounds have now been from the Gordo Banks to La Fortuna and Iman. Caballito have also been available on a limited basis and mackerel are the mainstay for fleets fishing on the Pacific, where the striped marlin bite continues to be wide open. Most numerous species for San Jose anglers has been dorado, striking on various baits and lures, ranging in sizes up to 25 pounds. Yellowfin tuna are definitely in the area, being found on the Gordo Banks to Iman, schooling on structure and also traveling with porpoise close to shore. The yellowfin are striking on sardinas and larger baitfish such as skipjack, chihuil and bolito, most of the tuna caught this past week have been in the 20 to 75 pound class, larger fish were seen but proved to be finicky as they were feeding on the abundant natural baits on the fishing grounds.
Wahoo have become much more active the past few days, particularly off of La Fortuna, anglers caught them on sardinas, cocinero (jacks), chihuil, ballyhoo and even casting yo-yo jigs. Also the elusive ‘hoo were striking on the normal array of specialized lures, such as Marauders, Rapalas, Yo-Zuris and skirted lead heads. Sizes for the wahoo ranging from sierra like 8 pound fish to very respectable 60 pound specimens. As long as the ocean conditions remain favorable we anticipate the wahoo will continue to bite until Christmas time, the light angling pressure is a plus, as wahoo are notorious for being spooky and susceptible to excessive boat pressure.
Inshore action is producing only a scattering of sierra and smaller sized roosterfish, as water temperatures cool and more schools of sardinas migrate in we expect the inshore surface action to improve. Bottomfishing has not been doing much besides a few pargo and cabrilla, last year at this time we started to see more amberjack appearing, hopefully that will be the same case in coming weeks. With the surface action still being productive most charters are concentrating efforts on this fishery, as it will be soon enough when the warm water species head south, following the warmer currents.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita sent out approximately 67 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 3 sailfish, 2 striped marlin, 295 dorado, 134 yellowfin tuna, 39 wahoo, 13 cabrilla, 42 bonito, 42 pargo, 8 roosterfish and 22 sierra.
Good Fishing, Eric
