August 8, 2010
Cooler than normal air and water temperatures were recorded during the month of July, this apparently was a factor in slowing the development of tropical storm systems. Now we are through the first week of August and temperature are rising, more to what we would expect this time of year. There is also a newly developed tropical storm Estelle that has formed off of Mainland Mexico, this system is forecast to follow a northwest track, staying clear of making landfall, mostly likely well create larger ocean swells and increase the humidity. Water temperatures have now risen to an average of 80 to 85 degrees, these temperatures are favorable for developing tropical cyclones.
Local fishing fleets are now concentrating their efforts from the Gordo Banks north to La Fortuna and San Luis, most common catches have been for yellowfin tuna, but also there are more dorado starting to appear in the daily fish counts. The live bait situation improved for sardinas, pangeros are selling fresh dead sardinas early in the a.m. and then arriving on the fishing grounds with live sardinas by about 7:30 a.m. Other options were to purchase whole giant squid, live cabalitto and mullet. More schooling baitfish such as bolito and small yellowfin tuna are now moving onto the fishing grounds and these have been yet another option for anglers wishing to troll larger live baits.
The yellowfin tuna action has fluctuated as to where the best action is found each day, drift fishing with bait has been the most productive method of finding fish. Sizes have ranged from football specimens to tuna of over 100 pounds. In recent days there have been more schools of 5 to 15 pound tuna appearing, but everyday there are also fish mixed in that are weighing to over 100 pounds. Anglers have used lighter sporting tackle to have fun with the smaller tuna, but the problem has been that at any time the big yellowfin can come up in the same areas and then the angler finds themselves under gunned and many larger fish were lost. Average catches ranged from 5 to 20 tuna per day for each charter.
Dorado were found in the same areas as were the tuna and closer to shore, most boats are finding one, two or three per day, with the majority of the fish being in the 5 to 15 pound class. These fish were hitting on trolling lures as well as bait and are being found in smaller sized school.
Strong currents have slowed down the bottom action and most anglers are now targeting the surface bite. A handful of cabrilla, amberjack and snapper were accounted for off the rock piles, as well as the ever present Mexican bonito.
Striped marlin and a few larger marlin were scattered throughout the area, no great numbers. On Thursday there was a black marlin reported landed off of the Gordo Banks by a Picante Charter out of Cabo San Lucas, reportedly to be in the 500 pound range.
Local surf anglers reported early in the week several snook being landed from the stretch of beach just to the north of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina. These fish were hooked on live mullet and ranged in weights up to 32 pounds.
Inshore action for roosterfish and dogtooth snapper has tapering off rapidly, as schools of mullet start to scatter and higher surf conditions become more consistent.
The combined panga fleet launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 98 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 black marlin, 5 wahoo, 5 striped marlin, 6 hammerhead shark, 434 yellowfin tuna, 84 dorado, 22 bonito, 4 dogtooth snapper, 3 grouper, 14 roosterfish, 12 jack crevalle, 16 huachinango and 13 amberjack.
Good Fishing, Eric
