July 29, 2007
Anglers –
Southern Baja saw the affects of the seasons first tropical storm, as Dalila passed within two hundreds of Cabo San Lucas as it followed a track into the cooler Pacific waters, where it quickly weaken. On Wednesday there were heavy isolated thunderstorms combined with wind that were enough to cause minor flooding in certain areas, also high surf conditions creating choppy seas that all but shut down sportfishing operations for the day. Swells up to ten feet pounded the shoreline and were perhaps just a prelim of what might develop as we enter the warmest part of summer.
Heavy surf once again tested the new Puerto Los Cabos jetty, it held up fine, though storm waves were crashing over the top of the northern jetty and surf was closing out through the jetty entrance. It will be interesting to watch and see what happens when a real hurricane strikes this area, it is only a matter of time and we will find out. The Navy Corp of Engineers found out the hard way that local surf can be treacherous, as they were using their wooden panga style skiff to gather some loosened floats they became sideways in the surf zone and flipped the boat over with four of their personnel aboard, one of which was taken away by ambulance with undisclosed injuries.
The week started off with the fishing action improving before the storm, there were good numbers of striped marlin, dorado to 35 pounds, yellowfin tuna offshore with porpoise and even a handful of wahoo, as well as an assortment of snappers and amberjack. Since the storm water conditions became cooler and stirred up closer to shore, but 15 to 20 miles offshore the water was clean and 80 degrees. Lots of baitfish were seen on the surface, including bolito and particularly flying fish, by the dozens. Fleets were able to purchase mackerel, but sardinas became very scarce and were only available some of the time, this limited what options were open for anglers, the best bet was going further offshore, looking for the warmer blue water.
Dorado were not numerous, but most of the fish encountered were in the 15 to 30 pound class, striking on lures and trolled baits. Everyday there were scattered reports of yellowfin tuna beingfound traveling with porpoise, 15 to 25 miles offshore, anywhere from off Cabo San Lucas to Vinorama, most of the tuna were averaging in the 15 to 20 pound range. Though a few larger fish were also reported, including a couple reportedly weighing over 150 pounds, taken outside of the San Luis Banks by a boat based out of Palmilla.
The combined La Playita panga fleet sent out 33 charters in the weather shortened week and anglers accounted for a fish count of: 1 wahoo, 11 striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 15 yellowfin tuna, 22 dorado, 9 hammerhead sharks, 26 bonito, 55 various pargo, 18 jack crevalle, 9 cabrilla and 7 amberjack.
Good Fishing, Eric
