July 19-25, 2010

Weather:   This week started just the same as last week with highs in the low to mid 90's and the nighttime lows in the low 80's.  My how things can change!  On Saturday the clouds moved in and we had lightning and thunder combined with some rain, not a lot, but enough to form some run-off on the streets, wash the dust off the plants and make us feel that the air had been cleaned!  The temperature dropped several degrees and everyone was comfortable once again.

Water:  The ocean temperatures have been in constant flux this week, the currents are pushing one way, then pulling the other so that there has been no real consistency in the location of cool and warm water.  At the end of the week the water offshore in the Sea of Cortez averaged 80 degrees, close to home in the Cabo San Lucas Bay we were reading 77 degrees while on the beach on the Pacific side it was mostly 66-69 degrees.  Water conditions as far as the surface went were great with swells averaging 3-5 feet and widely spaced on the Pacific, 1-3 feet on the Sea of Cortez and widely spaced.  There was little wind chop on either side of the Cape in the mornings but occasionally things kicked up in the afternoons, not enough to be a problem, but just enough to form a decent chop on the surface. 

Bait: Caballito and Mullet were available at $3 per bait. 

FISHING

Billfish:  There was little change from last week on the billfish as we were still seeing quite a few Striped Marlin and the boats were having decent success with about 65% releasing one or two fish.  Many of the boats that did not get Marlin were targeting Dorado or Tuna so there was no effort to get a billfish hooked up.  Along with the warm water come the Blue and Black Marlin and just like last week they were there to be caught if you were lucky enough.  I saw several Blue Marlin to 400 pounds and had one 15 year old girl release here first, estimated at #250.  As is usually the case, find the bait, then you find the fish.  The small Tuna were holding near shore around the Chileno bay area and offshore along the 1,000 fathom line.  Near shore resulted in Striped Marlin and a few Black Marlin, working the bait offshore resulted in a few Striped Marlin and all the Blue Marlin.

Yellowfin Tuna:  Whatever the reason, the Yellowfin bite dropped off quite a bit this week.  A few of the larger fish to 100pounds were still being found around the Gorda banks, but once again you had to be there early to get hooked up.  Offshore in the usual areas, south of Cabo at the 1,000 fathom line, southwest of the Cabrillo Seamount and south of the San Jaime Banks were were finding small pods of Dolphin that were holding school and football fish averaging 15 pounds.

Dorado: I think I can say that Dorado were our fish of the week this past week.  Almost every boat that went out caught at least one Dorado and some of them were good sized fish!  We had one client who fly fished for three day, releasing a Striped Marlin and keeping a Dorado of about 12 pounds on the fist day, catching two Dorado of about 15 and 18 pounds the second day and on the third day he hooked up a Dorado estimated at 40+ pounds only to lose the fish close to the boat after a long fight.  Now that was with fly fishing gear, so you can imagine the results for those using conventional gear!  Not a wide open bite on Dorado but everyone went home with fish for dinner and smiles on their faces.  Most of the fish were found close to shore, within 4 miles , just to the south and 15 degrees either direction.

Wahoo: I know that there were Wahoo caught this week because I heard of a few, but none of our clients managed to get one to the boat.  We did have several fish bite through monofilament leader material, and there were several brought in by other boats.  The full moon on Sunday night was part of the reason there were fish biting, I am sure.

Inshore:  Once again Red Snapper were the inshore fish of the week as the rocks were producing for guys using live bait or cut bait.  The key was to get the bait as close to the foamy pockets between the rocks without getting hung up, and fishing with the drag set at almost full in order to get the fish away from the rocks quickly.  Many of the Pangas took advantage of the Dorado and did a lot of fishing just off the beach.

Notes: Fluctuating water temperatures have us shaking our heads, but at least they are warming up over all.  We are taking a short vacation and next weeks report will be abbreviated because of that, so please bear with us.  Until then, tight lines!