Conditions Much Improved, Fish Still Scattered
Capt. Eric Brictson
July 12, 2009
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
July 12, 2009
Anglers –
Well, so much for the cool relief in the weather patterns that we saw last week as southern winds prevailed and were pushing in cool Pacific air and water into the region. The weather has reversed, you could say that summer is now definitely here, heat and humidity would best describe the tropical conditions currently being felt by the moderate crowds of tourists visiting the Los Cabos area. Winds have still been on and off out of Cabo San Lucas, but for the past several days the ocean conditions in the direction of the Sea of Cortez have been flat calm. Clean blue water has returned to within a couple miles of shore and water temperatures have risen back in the low 80s. The seasons second tropical storm developed off of the Manzanillo coast, named Blanca, but this system never really gained much strength as it tracked on a western course. The only affects felt locally by this system was the serious humidity and increased ocean swell that persisted for a couple of days.
Anglers chartering out of San Jose del Cabo were waiting patiently for the water to improve after it had become off colored. Live bait that was available for purchase consisted of mullet, some caballito and sardinas, that were slowly increasing on size. This transition period happened over a several day period and in the mean time the fleet was concentrating on San Luis Bank where large schools of huachinago (red snapper) were seen feeding near the surface on small sized jelly fish, not the easiest baitfish to match, but the snapper would strike on yo-yo jigs early in the day, many charters were catching ten or more of these fish that were weighing anywhere from 8 to 12 pounds. Mixed in with these quality snapper were feisty bonito, strong fighting amberjack and an occasional dogtooth snapper. As the water cleared and warmed to about 82 degrees the concentrations of jelly fish disappeared along with the snapper action. It was once again time to start fishing the surface.
As the water conditions returned to normal summer patterns, clear and warm, this also coincided with the full moon period. Maybe this was a contributing factor as to why there was not a lot of action being found in recent days for species such as dorado, yellowfin tuna or billfish. Even though the offshore fishing grounds are holding large schools of bolito, small skipjack and flying fish, all favorite food sources for gamefish. Anglers did report some scattered action for dorado, marlin and tuna, but there was not much consistency or significant numbers. With the excellent conditions now finally stabilizing we are very optimistic that action will bust loose soon, just too much baitfish activity now for the fish to be too far behind, perhaps they are holding deep during daylight hours? Surely we will see significant improvement in the coming weeks on these local offshore fishing grounds that are situated a mere ten miles from the new Puerto Los Cabos Marina. This is the season when a variety of monster sized fish take up residence, anglers better be prepared, you never know what you might hook into, black, blue or striped marlin, sailfish yellowfin tuna, dorado, wahoo are the main attractions, but grouper, dogtooth snapper and amberjack are just some of the other species that also might be encountered on any given day.
Surf fishermen reported much better action for a variety of species, most notable were some trophy sized snook, including one over 50 pounds, that were being hooked into while using both artificial lures and local baitfish, productive areas have been near the Puerto Los Cabos Marina Jetties, but there were favorable reports from other areas as well. The warm summer months and particularly during periods of increased swell activity is when these snook become more active, baitfish congregate in the stirred up muddy looking inshore currents and this is where the snook are waiting to ambush their prey.
The local panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 55 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of, 3 striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 6 yellowfin tuna, 8 dorado,165 huachinago (red snapper), 7 dogtooth snapper, 9 cabrilla, 26 amberjack, 18 roosterfish, 1 halibut, 13 pompano, 18 yellow snapper, 12 pargo colorado and 15 jack crevalle.
Good fishing, Eric
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