May 11-17, 2009
Notes: The number of tourists in Cabo is still far under the normal for this time of year and yet we have had no reports of swine flu in our region at all. Add the fact that we are far from the border and the drug wars and everyone here is wondering what we need to do to get things turned around. Hopefully over time things will change, and before everyone here goes broke! If you wanted to go fishing this week for anything other than Striped Marlin you needed to go in a Panga on the Pacific side, offshore there were only billfish. Scroll on down for more information on the different species this week. Until next week, tight lines!
WEATHER: The week started with pretty steady winds from the west-northwest. I was out fishing in a Panga on Tuesday and the wind was blowing steady until about 9 am, and then the fog rolled in and the wind died down. Morning low was in the mid 60's with the daytime highs in the mid 80's. A few days later, and as a matter of fact through the rest of the week, the fog continued to move in, and not on a regular basis. At the end of the week the nighttime lows had risen to the mid 70's and the daytime highs to the high 80's, the wind had died down and the fog had finally stopped.
WATER: At the beginning of the week that cold water plume that ran along the shore on the Pacific side continued to keep near shore water at a cool 60 degrees, but as the week continued the current slacked off and warmer water from the Sea of Cortez pushed its way to the lighthouse and slightly beyond. On the San Jaime and the Golden Gate Banks the water remained between 65-67 degrees. On the Sea of Cortez side of the Cape the water near the beach was 75 degrees while at the 1150 and east it warmed to 80 degrees. Pacific waters were rough early in the week and became more comfortable later on, in the Cortez early in the week getting home was a wet trip as the winds really kicked things up after noon, but later on it was nice all day long.
BAIT: Bait was a little rough to get this week as the Caballito were fairly large and most of the fish that were caught were caught on lures. Everyone that could get live bait bought some though, as you never know if thy might make the difference between a good trip and a skunk flag at the end. Caballito were the normal $3 per bait, but some of the bait guys tried to sneak in half-dead fish or the small jacks instead, so you really had to watch out.
FISHING:
BILLFISH: The Striped Marlin showed up again from the 1150 to the Cabrillo Seamount, and they were there in pretty good numbers. They did not show much interest in live bait, most of fish came in pretty aggressively to lures, they just played with them and turned their bills away from live bait that was dropped back into the pattern. Boats where the mates and Captains worked the lures, teasing the fish into eating what they were already focused on, had best results. Boats that went for the Striped Marlin averaged 2 fish per boat with some getting up to four releases per trip.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: Once again I did not hear of any boats getting into anything close to home except for a few small football fish that may have gotten lost!
DORADO: A few scattered Dorado were caught this week by boats working the beach on the Cortez side, but with the water warming up there may be a better bite in the week to come.
WAHOO: What Wahoo?
INSHORE: Fishing from a Panga was the way to go this week and the cold water on the Pacific side did not deter the fish from biting. I fished just to the north of the lighthouse on Tuesday and we caught 16 firecracker Yellowtail and lost one that surely felt much larger. Later in the week the Pargo started to show up as well and the catch became a mixed bag. On the Cortez side there were scattered Sierra between Cabo and San Jose and past San Jose they were getting into some decent Bonita.