April 15, 2010
Ideal spring weather is greeting lighter than normal crowds at this time in Southern Baja, we expect the coming months to provide world class action for anglers targeting a variety of inshore, offshore and bottom game fish species. Ocean conditions were unstable, at times winds from the north and then from the south. It seems this season winds have been more persistent and unpredictable than expected normal patterns. Maybe it is El Niņo? Anyway, it has been apparent that local ocean water temperatures have been two to four degrees warmer than average. Recent current have been ranging from 70 to 76 degrees, coolest regions on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas. Clarity has fluctuated, southern swells are now increasing, overall the water conditions were improving.
Commercial bait fish suppliers were working overtime to find limited supplies, sardinas, mackerel or caballito. There were reports of giant squid, now more in the direction of Cabo San Lucas. Surprisingly there are still numerous sightings of humpback whales enjoying surely there last days in the area before starting their northern migration.
There was increased action for striped marlin found 4 to 8 miles from shore off of the Red Hill to Chileno areas, stripers were hooked up on trolled lures and by dropping back larger baitfish. Some of the time, even with live bait, the marlin were not always interested, stripers were seen free jumping and tailing on the surface. The billfish were averaging 90 to130 pounds.
Dorado numbers were limited, just some scattered solitary fish encountered, we anticipate that as the water temperatures warm and bait fish schools become abundant that more dorado will appear on local fishing grounds, we are now coming into the season when trophy sized of bull dorado can be encountered. Yellowfin tuna reports were scattered, at times fish were encountered traveling with porpoise, even within a mile or two of shore, more of these fish were hooking with live sardinas, problem was that often these baitfish were hard to find right off the bat. If you winded up in the right spot at the correct time there was a chance at hooking into a nice yellowfin tuna, fish weighing up to 72 pounds were accounted for by the La Playita panga fleets.
Wahoo are in the area, but not overly active, dedicated anglers that were specifically targeting these elusive pelagic reported having an average of one to four solid strikes, but the actual hook up to landing the fish has been a low ratio. Areas from Cardon to Iman seemed to be where most of this activity was reported in areas of 120 to 180 depth of water. As weather stabilizes and more bait fish appear we anticipate increased activity.
Most consistent catches have been encountered closer to shore, best success was found with live sardinas, even though the bait was in limited supplies. Sierra was the more common species, averaging 2 pounds, but a few larger fish ranged up 8 pounds. An occasional dorado was encountered close to shore, roosterfish up to 15 pounds were caught and released, this jacks are just starting to show, trolling bait north of the Puerto Los Cabos jetty has been a productive area. A mix of shallow water rock fish rounded out catches, pargo, cabrilla, amberjack, pompano and triggerfish
The combined panga fleet launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 49 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
2 striped marlin, 1 sailfish, 5 hammerhead shark, 5 wahoo, 8 dorado, 6 yellowfin tuna, 17 amberjack, 7 jack crevalle, 18 roosterfish, 20 cabrilla, 48 pargo (various),29 bonito, 6 pompano and 205 sierra.
Good fishing, Eric
