Sept. 21 - 28, 2009
WEATHER: Tropical Storm Olaf was the influence this week as it slowly worked it's way up the Pacific side of Baja California, finally crawling across the central part of the peninsula before going off onto the mainland. At the slow speed Olaf was moving, we received lots of clouds and some more much needed rain. With light rains every other day and an occasional one-hour drench, the whole of Baja California Sur is looking clean and green! Our daytime highs dropped a bit due to the clouds and averaged 95 degrees with an occasional short jump to over 100 when the sun showed itself. Nights were in the low 80's. Winds were from the west and southwest for the middle of the week through the end of the week due to the trailing feeder bands from Olaf.
WATER: Long slow rollers were the word of the week for most of the time with the water on Friday becoming very confused and rough on the Pacific side as the wind finally switched directions. Seas averaged 2-5 feet on the Pacific and 1-3 feet on the Sea of Cortez. Water temperatures were down a bit due to the cloud cover and also they were hard to get unless you were actually on the water for the same reason. What we did see was temperatures on the Pacific side at mostly 79-80 degrees while the Cortez side was 76 degrees inshore and out to 10 miles along most of the coast with a plume of warm water to 82 degrees intruding across the 1150 and Cabrillo Seamount from the southeast.
BAIT: Almost all the larger baits this week were Caballito and mullet at the normal $3 per bait.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: Striped Marlin and Sailfish were found rather close to shore on the Pacific side once again. There were reports of some decent Blue and Black Marlin being hooked up on the Cortez side up in the San Jose area, but I did not get to confirm that, just rumors I heard. The water conditions on the Pacific side at the end of the week had many of the boats focusing their efforts on the Cortez side of the Cape and it appears as if there are a few Striped Marlin and Sailfish to be found there as well, just not in the numbers we were seeing on the Pacific. Like the fish found to the west, these fish were not really in the eating mood either, drop a bait on their heads and the odds were 20% for a hook-up.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: While the Tina Seiners the week before last caused a couple of days of no Tuna action, they seemed to have returned a few days later. Still not in the numbers we saw before the seiners came through, they are being found in decent numbers farther offshore on the Pacific side. Running 30-40 miles in the choppy conditions we had was not in the books for most of the boats though, and few of them made it out to the fish, therefore there were few Tuna flags flying. Heading out between 175 and 210 degrees for 30 miles put you in the area, then it was a job to find the porpoise, when the chop started they seemed to disappear!
DORADO: Dorado action was good at the end of the week. These fish seem to like the conditions a bit choppy and most boats were coming in with at least four or five fish, averaging 12-15 pounds with good numbers of larger fish to 40 pounds. Most of the action was on the Pacific side of the Cape close to the beach.
WAHOO: There were some nice fish last week and with the full moon on the 4th, there should be more this week. Most of the Wahoo taken this week were found by boats working just of the beach fishing for Dorado, so you know there were a lot of fish lost due to small diameter Mono leaders!
INSHORE: The Pangas were not doing a lot of inshore fishing this week as the conditions were a bit rough, but there were some decent catches of small grouper and snapper made by boats working the bottom. For Pangas that were surface fishing, most of them were working just off the beach for Dorado and the occasional Striped Marlin and Sailfish.
NOTES: I love the rain that we have been getting, it is just the right volume and scattered out so that it soaks into the ground instead of washing everything away. It has caused a bit of a problem with the road construction however, and for those of you who actually expected the crews to meet the August 1 completion deadline, this is Mexico, we will be lucky if it is finished by the end of October! Full moon in October this week should mean Wahoo in decent numbers and, hopefully, some big Marlin showing up! This weeks report was written to the music of the king of blues, B.B. King on the 2008 Geffen Records release, "One Kind Favor". Until next week, tight lines!