March 29, 2009
Anglers –
With the start of spring we have noticed perhaps a slight increase in crowds visiting the Southern Baja, but still not in the numbers we would anticipate. Weather has been ideal, mostly sunny days, highs in the low to mid 80s, only moderate afternoon winds and all around great ocean conditions. Water temperatures are changing daily, ranging from 68 to 75 degrees, currents shifting unpredictably. Sportfishing fleets are searching in all different directions for the best possible action, but the most consistent fishing recently has actually been fairly close to shore, this is where concentrations of baitfish have been congregating.
The striped marlin bite that lasted months off of the Golden Gate Bank appears to have finally come to an end, as the fish are now scattering in the direction of Sea of Cortez and average catches have dropped to maybe one or two fish for charters that have specifically targeted these billfish. Often times marlin have been found tailing on the surface but have not shown any interest, we look for the action to improve within a few weeks. Schools of mackerel are now being encountered in areas off of San Jose del Cabo ,towards Punta Gorda, as well as La Fortuna, this should help attract more gamefish.
Sardinas continue to found schooling along the rocky beaches from Palmilla to Chileno and they have been the bait of choice for the inshore action. Sierra, roosterfish, jack crevalle are the main species being found while trolling along the beach stretches.The shallow water rocky structure has produced a mixed bag of amberjack, yellowtail, pargo and cabrilla, most of these fish are striking on yo-yo jigs retrieved off of the bottom, though the action has been up and down, with average catches ranging from a couple of fish to as many as ten fish in combination. There was one day that anglers reported seeing large schools of red snapper (huachinango) on the surface near the San Luis Bank, but these fish did not want to strike on anything, though a handful of the same fish did hit iron jigs off of the bottom. It is the time of year that pelagic red crabs migrate into local waters and they attract masses of snapper into a feeding frenzy.
This past week there were once again more dorado seen in the fish counts, this due to warming water temperatures off of San Jose, fish were found close to shore as well as 3 to 8 miles out, at times congregating near drifting sargasso weed lines. Many charters accounted for several of more fish in the 5 to 20 pound range, trolling with bait proved most effective, though some of the dorado did hit on trolled surface lures.
Very few yellowfin tuna were reported, though more porpoise activity is being reported and we should start to see some tuna under these mammals. This is now the tail end of the whale migration off of the Los Cabos region, still being seen daily, but not as numerous as they have been as many are now heading on their northern migration.
The combined panga fleet launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 78 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 striped marlin, 5 hammerhead shark, 3 yellowfin tuna, 28 yellowtail, 26 amberjack, 25 pargo, (red snapper), 16 cabrilla, 54 bonito, 182 dorado, 202 sierra, 63 roosterfish and 16 jack crevalle.
Good Fishing, Eric
