Cabo San Lucas Fish Report and Baja Fishing
Capt. Jerry Chapman
September 23, 2012
Cabo San Lucas - Saltwater Fishing Report
Jc Sportfishing Weekly Fish Report.
As the Admiral Seas It
Fishing Report: 9/16/12 to 9/23/12
It seems as if a guy who writes one of the other fishing reports down our way likes to be flattered. Isnt that cute, in the sincerest form! Some guys who have there office at local dive watering hole seemed to come up with the darndest stuff. No office , no boats and basically brokering boats illegally is not exactly something to be flattered about. Not only that, his report comes out after ours. Some of things these guys come up with after tipping a few . Well, John Steinbeck your lights are covered and also your rent, and you get all your great fishing information from the dive. So go ahead and pat yourself on the back and flatter yourself. We have never mentioned other peoples fishing reports or took swipes at others in our reports. Seems they might be running scared.
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Jc Sportfishing Charters is a family owned and operated business and has been fishing in Cabo San Lucas for the past 18 years. Jerry, explains that his charter business is geared more for families and novice anglers, making sure everyone who charters a boat with him has a great time and lots of fun. We welcome families and groups. We want everyone who fishes with us to take all the sites in and have memorable experience. This is what is most important to us. We have and do a few tournaments each year and can accomodate fisherman who might be interested in tournament fishing. Lets get on with the report for this past week.
WATER: The first part of the week with the large swells coming in had made the ocean like a large washing machine with dirty water in the area. Pretty dangerous for any boats fishing close to shore, especially Pangas. Over the last 3 or 4 days the swells have calmed and ocean has been calm with blue water moving back into the area. The water temperatures directly outside of Cabo Bay have been hovering at 83 to 85 degrees. The Pacific side has been a little cooler at 81 to 84 consistently. One of the good things about Cabo San Lucas is that the ocean temperature is fairly warm all year long. This is one of the reasons that watersports and fishing are so popular in Cabo. Swimming, snorkeling, Scuba diving, surfing, sailing and other water sports are more fun when the water is warm! In addition, fishing gets a boost from warmer ocean temperatures as well. The warm water is what make our grounds so rich for fishing through out the year. Even though the water is warm all year long in Cabo, the water temperature changes from season to season. At the end of summer and early fall the ocean temperature is at it's warmest in the mid to high 80's, and sometimes even hits 90 degrees. After the ocean temperature peaks in September, it gradually cools off through fall and into winter. The ocean temperature usually hits bottom in Cabo by late winter or early spring and usually gets down to around 70 degrees in late March and Early April. Other factors such as currents and upwellings can play into the water temperature factor and can cause it to become warmer or cooler than normal. But for the most part the ocean temperatures in Cabo are swimmable all year long!
WEATHER: The weather has been pretty good over the last 4 days with slightly cloudy days and light breezes. It has been hot though, and some humidity in air as I write this. Luckly any storms south of this year has passed by us and given much deserved rain this year. As for the storm season we aren't out of the woods yet as storm season here actually lasts through Nov 1. I have seen Hurricanes pass by as late Oct 29. What a lot of people don't realize is one of the worst storms Cabo ever had was in the first part of December and it sank 30 or 40 yachts that were moored in front of the Hacienda Hotel all the way to Club Cascades. I will write a story and post it about that December 8th night soon.
BAIT: Plenty of live bait and Caballitos around. They are the normal 3 dollars a piece.
BILLFISHING: The water was stirred up and even green last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday probably from the rain and storm passing by. Then the bluewater started to move in about mid week and Striped Marlin and Sailfish action started to get good up and around Los Arcos and Migrino. Most Marlin were caught 2 to 3 miles offshore by pitching live bait at tailers and using lures were enticing the Sailfish. Even the Pangas were getting in on the action with the Stripers and Sails. Most of the Pangas were catching in the area from the Light House to Los Arcos. The Blue Marlin action was in high gear with a few large fish reported up and around the Golden Gate . One Blue was reported at 350lb and another at 300lb. Really for Marlin and Sailfish it has been a very productive week .
TUNA: Well there is two really important things to report as far as the Yellow Fin Tuna go. The first and for most and biggest fishing story of the week is the fact that a possible world record Tuna was caught and was officially weighed and certified as 427 . This could be the largest Yellow Fin Tuna ever caught on rod and reel. The fish was landed by Guy Yocom from Dana Point, Ca aboard the 61 ft Viking El Suertudo 180 miles from Cabo. The fish was landed by using chunck bait and took roughly fifty five minutes to land. All indications say the fish was tail wrapped. This was not the only fish they landed they also caught a 200 pound Tuna as well. It will take a little time for the process of it being a official world record, but it looks likely.
The second not so positive of importance this past week is the return of the Tuna Purse Seiners. Here in the Los Cabos area the Tuna fishing has slacked off and it probably has to do with these guys raping the seas. Hope they get the hell out of Dodge soon as this is not good for the area or tourism.
DORADO: Lots of Dorado caught all this past week. A really good area was up around Los Arcos on the Pacific side. The Dorado were being taken on lures , Ballyhoo and cut bait. Really the Light House to Los Arcos was the hot spot with small Dorado being caught all the way up to 50lb reported. 2 to 3 miles offshore was the standard for Dorado. All in all it was a really good week for Dorado especially on the Pacific side.
INSHORE: The inshore fishing has been down some with the storm passing by and the water a mess for a few days at the start of the week. Local fisherman had been catching some Grouper and Snappers. These guys can catch no matter what the conditions are like. Some Tuna and Dorado were caught closer to shore while fishing from Pangas ,but this was a little dangerous this past week. I did hear reports of Roosterfish but all in all the fishing inshore was a bit off due to the storm that passed by us.
WAHOO: I have heard of some Wahoo strikes this past week. The Wahoo fishing is spotty and we are hoping to see a few more around soon.
BEWARE: Remember if your not renting charter boats from companies who have been established in Cabo for the past 20 years ( Jcsportfishing, Pisces Sportfishing, Minervas, Redrum, Picante Fleet) you might have problems. There are many sportfishing fleets on the internet who are really not established business, who are operating illegally. Lots of these outfits are renting you a boat they have never even looked at and don't even know where you would board the boat, leaving you the task of trying to find the boat. They don't even have an office you can go and confirm your charter boat. You do not want to spend a day walking around looking for the boat and where you board. If you wait till the day you are fishing and go to the dock where your boat is many times people will mislead you to another boat or dock trying to put you on a boat that was not meant for you. You need to have a person guide you to your boat, who is from a reputable charter company. This way there is no confusion or misleading. Lots of vendors renting boats in the hotels are not reputable and don't care about your interest and care more about a commission . 75% of the Cabo Fishing websites on Google are not even in business anymore or might be just brokers who don't have an office in Cabo. Some of the Google websites are misleading and not established .Please remember when renting Sport fishing boats in Cabo that you rent your boat from reputable and established business. Walk into a fishing fleet office and ask questions about what you are getting and what are the costs. You dont want to rent boats from vendors in the streets and you do not want to book through shady websites offering you the world. You need to go to the fishing fleet office, while in Cabo and book your boat. Check through travel forums about reputable fishing fleets to deal with. Look for testimonials about the fleet your booking your charter with. Ask about what will the boat be supplying? Will it include beverages or lunches? How much does it cost to fillet your catch? Check to see if charter boat is insured? Ask about getting your catch smoked? Check cost of fishing license. These are just a few things to consider when booking your charter boat. We will be talking more about this in next weeks fishing report. Until next time good fishing and we hope to see you in Cabo soon.
http://www.jcsportfishing.com
Cabo San Lucas Fishing Forecast:
Looking good this coming week for all species and we expect some more of the same great fishing.
Target Species:
marlin,tuna,dorado,sailfish,wahoo
More Fishing Reports:
