May 15, 2011
Anglers –
This is the occasion to visit the Southern Baja California area, the weather is practically perfect, highs near 85 and nights are still pleasantly cool. Winds remain a bit unpredictable, but for the most part anglers have enjoyed very comfortable ocean conditions. Despite such favorable conditions the crowds of tourists have remained substantially below normal numbers for this time of year.
Sportfishing charters are covering a wide area searching for the most productive action, typically this is the period when more consistent action is found in the direction of the Sea of Cortez and off of San Jose del Cabo. Warmer water currents were pushing in, with the areas north of the Gordo Banks averaging 75 to 80 degrees. Large concentrations of baitfish are congregating on the local fishing grounds and offshore action has started to heat up. There continue to be sardinas available of Palmilla Point, also a mix of caballito, moonfish and mullet. This is the time when we see large size schools of mullet migrating into the region, this attracts the dogtooth snapper and big roosterfish, the coming weeks will see many options open up.
Yellowfin tuna action slowed down near the San Luis Bank, north winds were a factor for a couple of days, on other days lots of tuna were seen breezing the surface, but very few were hooked. One 200 pound class yellowfin was landed late last week by local La Playita pangero Sergio Carillo while trolling with a live bolito near San Luis. We anticipate that this action will become more consistent as the weather stabilizes and continues to warm up. Schools of yellowfin were found spread out from Palmilla towards Santa Maria, anglers had blind strikes on rapalas and hoochies type lures, most of these yellowfin were in the 10 to 15 pounds class and this action was scattered day to day. The larger sized tuna were found among the dark colored porpoise that are feeding on the same fishing grounds, they have been moving fast and were finicky, but a few have been hooked and on any given day these fish could become more cooperative.
This week we have finally started to see dorado in the daily fish counts, found offshore with striped marlin and also now following baitfish closer to shore. Dorado to 30 pounds were accounted for, this is the time of year when we see big bulls move in. No significant numbers now, but it has been a long time since we have seen any dorado at all, so just hearing about them now is exciting.
Not many wahoo talked about this week, the previous week had showed signs of more activity. Surely the ideal conditions and abundant food supply will trigger more action by these wahoo in the near future.
Bottom fishing produced limited action for amberjack, yellowtail, snapper, cabrilla and grouper. Even though it was not wide open, it was worth breaking up the morning of surface trolling with a drop or two off of the rock piles, you never know what you might catch while working a yo-yo jig of drifting with bait.
Striped marlin action moved closer to shore off of San Jose del Cabo, being encountered anywhere from five miles on out, anglers found feeders, as well as free jumpers and had multiple chances per day at hook ups. The stripers were coming up and striking on lures, consistently being hooked on dropped back baits. A few sailfish were also moving into the warmer waters.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 56 charters this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
3 sailfish, 19 striped marlin, 4 wahoo, 16 dorado, 57 yellowfin tuna, 18 bonito, 24 pargo, 28 sierra, 15 amberjack, 11 yellowtail, 17 cabrilla, 62 roosterfish, 6 pompano and 12 hammerhead sharks.
Good Fishing, Eric
