February 25, 2010
Anglers –
Clear sunny skies are attracting more warmth seeking vacationers to the Los Cabos area. The weather patterns have been normal for the month February, scattered cloud cover at times, unpredictable winds, predominately from the north, switching from the south, low temperatures in the a.m. range hover around 50 degrees and high temperature reach near 80 degrees. Water temperatures are averaging a couple degrees above normal for this time of year, now ranging from 72 to 75 degrees throughout most of the region. Clarity has fluctuated greatly, accordingly to the rapidly shifting currents. There have been adequate supplies of mackerel, sardinas and sardinetas available most days, though a times there were limited amounts of the preferred inshore baitfish (sardinas), the size of these baits vary, larger sized bait were found further towards Vinormama.
The annual migration of humpback and gray whales to the waters of Southern Baja should last for the next month or so before these mammals return north. Sea lions have been excessively aggressive this winter, taking up residence on the same popular fishing grounds where local charter fleets congregate. This makes the situation very frustrating, as anglers work in vain to try and land their fish before a sea lion beats them to it. The key is to locate a rock pile that is holding fish, but has no sea lions in the vicinity, easier said than done.
Offshore fishing has not been consistent throughout the zone, though there was good marlin action on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, where boats were often scoring on multiple catches of stripers, while soaking baits deep, trolling surface lures or tossing baits into feeders. We look for this action to switch towards the Sea of Cortez soon, as more concentrations of mackerel baitfish are being reported from that area. Tuna and dorado have been scarce, scattered reports of some encounters with these favored species, but nothing consistent from day to day. The majority of the dorado recently have been found chasing baitfish closer to shore, most of them smaller to medium sized.
The majority of the panga charters have produced better results working the inshore coastal stretches for sierra, roosterfish and jacks, as well as drift fishing over rock piles with jigs and baits for snapper, bonito, amberjack, cabrilla, grouper and triggerfish. This action has been the most productive of the available option, though bite has been up and down. Earlier in the week, while fleets found more protected waters near Santa Maria, they also located schools of quality sized sierra in the 4 to 8 pound class. Also larger sized roosterfish appeared, one hot stretch was from the Regina to the Hilton resorts, several roosters reported to be up to 40 pounds were caught and released. A handful of amberjack to 30 pounds were accounted for, along with a few pargo/snapper and triggerfish. The strong current made bottom drops difficult at times. Mexican Bonito, weighing up to 8 pounds were taking over the area of San Luis Bank, maybe this is why so many sea lion were on the same spot. Yo-yo jigs, as well as larger baits produced mixed results, an occasional grouper was also being hooked into, some of them unable to be stopped.
The combined panga fleet launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 79 charters for the past week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
3 striped marlin, 1 wahoo, 29 dorado, 21 yellowfin tuna, 164 bonito, 2 yellowtail, 28 amberjack, 14 cabrilla, 7 grouper, 33 pargo, 188 sierra and 29 roosterfish.
Good Fishing, Eric
