Sept. 6-12, 2010
Weather: It started to cool a little this week. We still had hot weather but our lows went to the low 80's instead of the mid 80's and the highs dropped a few degrees as well. We had partly cloudy skies most of the week and that had something to do with it, of course.
Water: We had no tropical storms pass us this week so the swells were not as large as last week. That said, there was some wind every day in the afternoon that kicked up some chop. Mostly later in the week, and it came from the southwest for the most part, but it was there and made the trip home if you fished the Cortez side a bit uncomfortable. In the very early morning there was a bit of wind on the Pacific side almost every day, but it went away fairly quickly. The water on the Cortez side of the Cape seemed to stay right around 84-85 degrees in our area, and up to 88 degrees in the east cape area. On the Pacific side we had a cold water upwelling from the lighthouse, out to the San Jaime Bank and to the shore just inside the Golden Gate Bank. Cold water is relative of course and this was 74-75 degrees. It was cold compared to the surrounding water which remained in the 80-81 degree range.
Bait: Caballito and Mullet were readily available at the normal $3 per bait, and I heard that there were some Sardinas as well in San Jose.
FISHING
Billfish: Not quite as hot as it was last week, there are still plenty of Billfish to be found. Striped Marlin have made a showing on the Pacific side around the Golden Gate Bank, and the San Jaime Bank as well as the 95 spot and the 1150 have been producing a few Blue Marlin every day. The Gorda Banks, as usual, are providing anglers with some action on Black Marlin, and these fish are also being found at the high spots as well as off of the points. Most of the action on both Black and Striped Marlin has been on live bait, and while the Blues seem to go after lures better than live bait, that may just be because more boats pull plastic for them.
Yellowfin Tuna: On again off again is the story on Tuna this past week. If you were in the right place at just the right time it was very good fishing on fish to 35 pounds with an occasional bruiser to 200 pounds. But if you did not have the luck all you ended up with was a long boat ride. Mostly it was the first boats on the fish that had good luck, and at the normal Tuna spots, south of the San Jaime, 30 miles south of the Cape, outside the 1150, the Cabrillo Seamount and the Gorda Banks. The bigger fish seemed to come on the live bait dropped back after the first hook-up, with a few on lures. Those that were late to the party might have managed to get a few football fish into the boat, but the key was to be first on the scene.
Dorado: We still had a good Dorado bite, but not as good as the week before. Most boats were able to get at least one nice fish in the box, and the good guys were letting the small fish, under 8 pounds, go back to grow up. The bad guys were killing everything they caught, and some of them came in with way over the legal limit of the small fish. Most of the action took place on the Pacific side of the Cape, with almost all of the small fish being found close to shore and the larger fish at least 5 miles out.
Wahoo: Once again I did not hear of any Wahoo bite going on, but did hear of a few scattered fish being caught.
Inshore: Roosterfish, some decent Snapper, lots of small Skip-jack tuna and baby Yellowfin Tuna and loads of small Dorado supplied most of the action for the Pangas this past week. As well as the usual inshore fish, there were a few nice Black Marlin hooked by Pangas slow trolling live bait for bigger Dorado, so there was always the chance of being surprised!
Notes: While not as hot as last week, the fishing has remained very good, and we are hoping it continues. Our fingers remain crossed about the weather, this is normally the time of year when storms start up to the south of us, but looking at the weather pictures this morning I see nothing forming up. So..., until next week, tight lines!
Just came to our attention you can now buy fishing licenses online. Some Spanish required...won't let me buy quantities, as it looks like you can only buy one at a time. I only played on the website for a mew minutes this morning, look great for those yearly licenses!!! Thanks David for the website
https://www2.ebajacalifornia.gob.mx/Pesca/
http://captgeo.wordpress.com/