September 7, 2009
Anglers –
This past week seems like it lasted for eternity. It started with light crowds of visiting anglers braving the summer heat to do battle with yellowfin tuna and dorado on the Iman Bank. Supplies of sardinas became scarce, but there were sufficient supplies for most charters to get in on the action. Drift fishing while chumming was the most productive technique, using both live and dead baits on leaders ranging from 40 to 80 pound, preferably fluorocarbon. The yellowfin were finicky, as this area was quite crowded due to it being the one place where the action was more consistent, particularly for the tuna, which were ranging in size from 20 to 100 pounds. Average daily catches of tuna per boat was in the 2 to 5 fish range. Though there was plenty of dorado mixed in for variety and to keep anglers busy. Also there was an occasional billfish hook up, for sailfish, striped or blue marlin, in clean blue water of 80 to 82 degrees.
Ocean conditions were very peasant through Sunday, almost paradise like, but for those people watching the satellite map and tropical storm forecasts it was time to get serious and take action, as there was now a rapidly forming Hurricane named Jimena that had gone from a low pressure area off of Acapulco to a category 2 storm in a matter of hours, this system was on a projected path taking it very close to the Los Cabos region in the coming days. The storm rapidly gained even more strength, as it was over extremely warm water, reaching category 4 and for a short period, the highest rating of 5.
The warnings quickly spread, tourists were heading for the airport to get out of town while they were able to do so, while local residents went into full storm preparation mode. The marina boat ramps became congested, as boat owners were hauling boats to safer dry dock areas. Gas stations had long lines, same story for grocery stores, purified drinking water outlets, lumber yards etc…Hurricane Jimena was one of the most powerful storms to develop in recent memory and with the advanced technology now available for predicting projected paths and possible landfall locations, people seemed to be really taking these warnings seriously. Streets were busy as everyone was bustling about getting things done before they would hunker down.
It was Monday night when the storm was within 150 miles and the weather really started to deteriorate rapidly by early Tuesday. High storm surf was reported to reach 25 ft. or more and was pounding local beaches. Rainfall started early on Tuesday, steady drizzle turning to hard thunder showers at times, with wind gusts reaching tropical storm force by the afternoon. Following the projected path of this hurricane was a cat and mouse game, one hour it would appear to be shifting course bringing it directly to Cabo San Lucas, then it would shift direction appearing to stay on a path keeping the eye at least fifty miles off to the west before making eventual landfall near Magdalena Bay and heading towards Loreto and Santa Rosalia in Central Baja.
Residents in the Los Cabos area now have a major feeling of relief that the eye of the storm did end up passing just far enough off to the west to not cause too much wide spread damage, even though there was flooding and property damage, it was minor comparatively how it could have been. There was a nice break from the sweltering heat as well, though now the sun is shining again and humidity is very high.
As of Thursday morning most all local schools, businesses were back in operation, the International airport was open and we expect tourists will now start arriving once again. Typically the gamefish are more active and hungry after a storm, so this should give anglers great opportunities in the coming days.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 48 charters for the shortened week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 7 sailfish, 2 wahoo, 5 rainbow runner, 18 pargo, 8 amberjack,15 cabrilla, 154 dorado, 116 yellowfin tuna, 34 Mexican bonito and 32 black skipjack.
Good Fishing, Eric
