April 13-19, 2009

WEATHER:   We had partly cloudy skies early in the week with the weekend resulting in perfectly clear skies.  There was some windy days early with the wind lasting all night during the beginning of the week and tapering off a bit as the week progressed, then at the weekend the wind died to an occasional light breeze.  As the winds lessened the temperatures increased.  At the beginning of the week we had lows in the mid 60’s and highs in the low 90’s, at the end of the week the lows were in the mid 70’s and the highs in the mid 90’s.

WATER:  Surface conditions on the Pacific side were choppy at the beginning of the week, coinciding with the winds we experienced but at the end of the week the chop had gone away and there were just some well spaced 3-5 foot swells with a light breeze on them.  On the Cortez side the surface was calm with negligible swells and no chop locally in the mornings, and with some slight chop and swells in the afternoon and early in the week up to the north around Punta Gorda.  Water temperatures on the Pacific side remained at 66 degrees out to the San Jaime Bank and past there to the west it warmed to 70 degrees.  On the Cortez side the water was a very nice 74 degrees early in the week and on the 16^th a hot spot that went to 79 degrees appeared between the 1150 spot and the Cabrilla Seamount.  Immediately afterward the surface temperatures dropped and as of the end of the week we had a fairly uniform 70 degrees in the area.

BAIT:  There was a mix of Mackerel and Caballito available this week at the normal price of $3 per bait.  Sardinas were hard to come by this week.

FISHING:

BILLFISH:  The Striped Marlin bite has slowly begun to pick back up with fish showing on the surface on the Cortez side of the Cape.  Most of the fish being caught are found tailing on the surface and the bites have been pretty evenly mixed between live and dead bait.  On the Pacific side there have been a couple of fish found, but overall everyone pretty much agreed that inside the Pacific side banks the water is too cool for much action.  There were reports of a couple of Blue and Black Marlin giving some adrenalin rushes out there and that action was between the 95 spot and the 1150, outside around the 1,000 fathom line.

YELLOWFIN TUNA:  Once again the Yellowfin Tuna failed to show in any numbers.  There were a few fish found, but they were at quite a distance from Cabo, it took several hours running time to get into the productive waters, such as they were, and once there it took quite a long time to find any fish, it there were any there.  40 miles to the southwest was where a few schools were found, and they were only school fish in the 20-35 pound class.  That meant a long run on a possibility of getting a couple of small Tuna, most anglers said never mind. We did have one day of decent fish just to the south of the San Jaime with both Yellowfin and Dorado on the bite, but it was very short lived.

DORADO:  Just like last week, once again it was a case of scattered fish.  Almost every boat was able to get a Dorado this week, and a few boats managed to get three or four.  The warm water on the Cortez side produced the fish and the best area was three to five miles off the beach, the same area that held most of the Striped Marlin.

WAHOO:  There were scattered fish found in the early part of the week in the Punta Gorda, Inman Bank area.  These fish averaged 25 pounds and swimming plugs had the best results.

INSHORE: The bite is still on for Sierra and Yellowtail, it’s decent for Amberjack and Pargo and there are a few Grouper to add to the mix.  Most of the action early in the week was taking place on the Cortez side of the Cape but as the winds died down it moved back to the Pacific side off of Los Arcos.

 NOTES:  Took the dog to the beach this morning, nice and quiet out there with just a few people walking back and forth.  I have a two hour cruise at noon and then will get to watch some golf.  I am planning to get a couple of rounds in this week.  If anyone out there has every played any of the courses in Sun River, Oregon, I would like to hear from you and get your opinions on them.  My wife and I are going there at the end of June for a week long vacation, I need to smell some pine trees and see if I can stand wading in cold water casting a fly!  Until next week, tight lines!