August 2, 2010
Now in the final days of the month of July the summer season continues to run its course smoothly. Some scattered rain showers last weekend were welcome and forecasts are for possibly more of the same this weekend. No tropical storms are on the horizon now, only an area of low pressure off of Southern mainland Mexico that has recently formed. Crowds of tourists remain light, though weather patterns have been more comfortable than normal for the heart of the summer, cooler Pacific breezes have prevailed. Ocean conditions have still not stabilized like one would expect by the final week of July. In recent days these same Pacific currents have swept in the direction of the Sea of Cortez and cooled inshore water temperatures into the lower to mid 70s, becoming off colored as well, warmer 80 degree plus water is now 12 or more miles from shore, the warmer currents will certainly swift back closer to shore as currents switch.
Despite this set back with the conditions the fishing action has remained steady, particularly for yellowfin tuna, which have been the main stay of daily catches for the fleets launching out of San Jose del Cabo. The most consistent bite was found from the Iman to San Luis Banks, drift fishing with strips of squid of sardinas was the most successful technique. There was finally some good news on the baitfish front, with the availability of live sardinas for the first time in what seems like months for local fleets. Commercial pangas have been netting the baitfish off of beaches towards Vinorama and are delivering them to the fishing grounds. The tuna have ranged in sizes from footballs to over 100 pounds, included in the last week were two yellowfin tuna over 200 pounds, that weighed in at 232 and 233 respectably. Cow sized tuna are showing early this season, encouraging sign for coming months.
Dorado activity has been limited so far this summer, but this past week there were more numbers of these popular gamefish showing up. These fish were found on trolled lures, as well as various baits, ranging in size from 5 to 30 pounds. Wahoo were not as active this past week, most likely due to the greener water conditions north of Punta Gorda where these fish had been found, we expect this action will improve as the water clarity turns around.
Billfish continues to be spread out, though in recent days some larger sized marlin were reportedly hooked up in there region outside of San Luis where the tuna action was concentrated. This is the area where the 581 lb. black marlin that is presently leading the East Cape Bisbee Tournament was hooked into.
Some nice sized amberjack were caught off of Palmilla Point by anglers drifting with larger jurelito or mullet baits. This action was capitalized on more by the commercial fleet than the sport anglers. This is the same time period as last year when big amberjack were encountered schooling on the surface off of Palmilla, also is the time when an occasional larger sized grouper can be hooked into.
The combined panga fleets launching from the La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos area reported sending out approximately 53 charters for the past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 276 yellowfin tuna, 31 dorado, 18 amberjack, 22 huachinango (snapper), 8 dogtooth snapper, 18 bonito, 8 hammerhead sharks, 14 surgeon fish,11 jack crevalle, 9 cabrilla, 7 wahoo and 15 roosterfish.
Good fishing, Eric
