July 6, 2008
Anglers –
The start of July brought with it the first series of tropical storms, first was the minimal strength Hurricane Boris that head out west, causing no impact on land, then there was Tropical Storm Douglas which formed offshore of Manzanillo and made its way towards Sothern Baja, before changing directions off towards the west. This second system did create stormy ocean conditions by Thursday morning and sportfishing fleets were cautious with limited options. It does not appear that the Los Cabos area will receive much rainfall from this system, only increased humidity and heat.
Tourism continues to be stagnant due to the poor economy, as fuel prices reach new record highs and airlines raise fares, people are forced to change priorities and are simply changing summer travel plans. It appears we are in for a long slow summer and will just have to wait for the market to rebound.
Ocean conditions were unpredictable, unseasonable winds from the north and south not giving the chance for clarity offshore to stabilize. Water temperatures were in 60s off of Todo Santos on the Pacific, to 80 degrees inside the lower Sea of Cortez region. Anglers targeting offshore species really had not much to report other than a scattering of striped marlin action, much of time the marlin were found tailing on the surface, but not eager to take baits of lures, though the stripers were still being hooked up and provided anglers more consistent action than did any dorado or yellowfin tuna. There are reports from the La Paz and East Cape areas of good action on dorado and tuna, their conditions are cleaner, not being so affected by the Pacific currents. Typically by mid July conditions off of San Jose del Cabo normalize and the action to the north migrates towards this direction.
In the mean time, anglers are patiently waiting for offshore action to develop, there has been red snapper, amberjack, yellowtail, sierra, pompano, bonito, roosterfish and dogtooth snapper providing opportunities for anglers. Fleets were fishing spots from the Gordo Banks to San Luis, the normal rock piles, three to four miles from shore, they also were trolling and drifting baits closer to shore. Yo-yo jigs produced a mix of snapper, amberjack and even a few yellowtail, some of these fish topped 30 pounds. Along the shoreline most of the roosterfish were smaller 5 to 10 pound specimens, though a handful of larger fish to 40 pounds were found. A couple of dogtooth snapper pushing the 50 pound mark were landed while trolling over the La Salina wreck, the trick was to use the motor in helping move these powerful fish away from structure. African pompano were also found on the wreck, striking best on sardinas and even coming up on the larger trolled mullet. It is now the tail end of sierra season, but also the time when larger fish are encountered, several sierra to ten pounds were accounted for.
The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 49 charters for the week, with angelrs reporting a fish count of:
4 striped marlin, 3 yellowfin tuna, 6 dorado, 204 red snapper, 38 amberjack, 7 yellowtail, 26 pompano, 45 sierra, 8 dogtooth snapper, 22 bonito and 82 roosterfish (majority released).
Good fishing, Eric
