Green Cool Water Slows Action at the Cape
Capt. Eric Brictson
May 20, 2009
San Jose del Cabo - Saltwater Fishing Report
May 17, 2009
Anglers –
It appears that the unprecedented scare of the swine flu epidemic has abated and slowly crowds of tourists are starting to return to Los Cabos. We are hoping that the month of June will bring increased visitors in order to help the depressed local economy. Unusual weather patterns now, last week there were water temperatures up to 78 degree and very warm air temperatures as well, this week has been a different story, breezes from the south has pushed in cooler Pacific water, ranging 67 to 72 degrees and with much marine moisture and even fog, the air temperatures have dropped into the 70s. There is a current line of warmer water of 77 degrees lurking some 15 to 18 miles offshore, from outside the Gordo Banks to the 1150 spot and as soon as conditions stabilize this current should once again swift closer to shore.
In recent days the water clarity closer to shore has progressively become greener, by mid week visibility was down to about five feet. Charters are reporting cleaner blue water outside where the warmer water was found, but fishing action was not consistent, though lots of striped marlin were seen swimming on the surface and free jumping, getting them to bite was another story, often times the fish did not show any interest in the baits, apparently they were filling up on the available bait sources, which has mainly been squid in recent weeks.
Live bait situation has remained limited, though there is a variety available, with mullet, caballito and sardinas. With the higher surf conditions the schools of baitfish are scattered. As the water had warmed last week we saw the first consistent action along the rocky shore stretches for dogtooth snapper, even though they proved extremely difficult to actually land, they were there and whilling to give anglers opportunites. This action has stalled now due to cooler green water conditions, the past few days there were actually more pargo colorado encountered than were the dogtooth, the colorado variety seem to tolerate the cooler water more than the dogtooth.
Anglers found a mix of species off the bottom structure, using various baits and yo-yo jigs they accounted for cabrilla, huachinango (red snapper), amberjack, yellowtail, pompano, bonito and yellow snapper. This action was sporadic, but some charters had catches of up to a dozen fish in combination.
Yellowfin tuna were encountered traveling with porpoise offshore, but still not on a consistent basis. A handful of tuna in the 10 to 20 pound class were hooked into on sardinas, hoochies or rapalas near Cardon, La Fortuna and Iman.
We are now dealing with this cooler current that always seems to plague the Los Cabos region this time of year, rarely reaching areas north of Los Frailes. It is hard to predict exactly when conditions will get back on track, but we are optimistic that it will not be long.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 38 charters this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
3 striped marlin, 1 mako shark, 5 hammerhead shark, 3 wahoo, 9 dorado, 13 yellowfin tuna, 18 bonito, 11 dogtooth snapper, 24 various pargo, 16 sierra, 14 yellowtail, 29 amberjack, 16 roosterfish, 7 pompano and 5 surgeon fish.
Good Fishing, Eric
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