Cass Tours Fishing Report (Cabo and Gordo Banks) - June 9, 2014

THE CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING REPORT FOR THE GAVIOTA SPORTFISHING FLEET AND FISH CABO FLEET

According to Captain Roberto Marquez, the billfish were plentiful throughout the area but getting them to bite was next to impossible.  He said, "we baited 38 stripers over a 2-day span without a single strike and I feel the frustration of our anglers for each of those days.  On the end of the 2nd day, we landed a big dorado, near 50 lbs., for our Calgary, Canada client that definitely saved  the day for our anglers, but still, no billfish and that is what they had come for.  While they got to see many striped marlin we were unable to get them connected to a cooperative biter".  Then, on Wednesday, we fished up the Pacific side, above the Golden Gate Bank and inside toward Todos Santos and found an area of stripers that did want to bite and we landed 3 fish for the day, all released and that gave us a total of 5 stripers and 3 dorado for the 4 days fished.  The overall catches for a combined total of 19 days fished reflected 12 stripers, (11 released) 1 sailfish, 2 mako sharks, 3 yellowfin tuna, 6 skipjack and 32 dorado, (the dorado sizes got up to about 50 lbs.)

Cabo Climate:  A mostly sunny and warm week for Cabo San Lucas, with temps that varied from 72 nights to 96 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions:  Sea temps from the Golden Gate on the Pacific side, down to Cabo San Lucas and around the corner and up to the Gorda Banks, all held stable at 77-78 degrees.  Above the Gorda Banks a couple of miles and up beyond Las Frailes, the temps climbed to 83-84 degrees.  The surface breezes were flowing in, mostly from the southwest, from calm to about 15 mph.

Best Fishing Area: The better billfish catches all came from the Pacific side of Cabo, from Migino and farther up the coast, including an area about 2-4 miles southwest of Todos Santos on the Pacific side of Cabo, almost 35+ miles from Cabo San Lucas.

Best Lure/Bait:  Live bait was the best but a few fish were being caught on the frozen/rigged ballyhoo baits, too.

Live Bait Supply:  Remains very good and readily available at the $3.00 per bait rate.

 

GORDO BANKS - SAN JOSE DEL CABO

We are in the later part of the spring season, with moderate sized crowds of tourists now visiting, this is always the time when families are busy finishing school semesters, preparing for graduations, summer adventures, etc. Local weather patterns made a complete circle this past week. We had just seen the season’s first Hurricane form to the south of Cabo San Lucas, Amanda, this system pushed tropical humid air over the Southern Baja, stormy conditions which never amounted to much, besides some higher ocean swells, in recent days we are feeling strong southerly winds push cooler Pacific air and ocean currents in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. There is much marine moisture, creating morning clouds, being swept away by gusting winds later in the day.

Ocean water temperature in the past couple of days has plummeted from 80 plus degrees, to 72 degrees throughout the inshore region from Cabo San Lucas to Los Frailes, some 10 to 15 miles offshore of Vinorama to La Frailes is where the 80 degree temperature break is now lurking. This colder current is a dirty greenish color as well, unfavorable conditions contributed to scattered much of the baitfish and gamefish from this zone. As conditions settle, conditions will rebound, as this is the time of year where things can change quickly overnight.

There are many species of gamefish that have been encountered in local waters this spring, though none of the species have been particularly abundant, with the exception of the offshore action for the striped marlin, which at times was very close to shore, then further out, this action has been very consistent for nearly two months, just tapering off this past week, as food sources migrate so do the gamefish. Sailfish, thrasher shark and scattered dorado were also found on these same billfish grounds. No big schools of dorado, mostly solitary fish, a couple of bulls up to 40 pounds were accounted for this week, this is now the season for the larger bulls.

Before the ocean water turned over and became greenish throughout the inshore zone, we were seeing a handful of yellowfin tuna and wahoo in the fish counts, most of these fish were taken while trolling the grounds from San Luis to Vinormama, some fish weighing near fifty pounds were landed. We should see this action return as the ocean conditions clean. The activity will be determined by what exactly happens with these strong Pacific currents, something we deal with every year at this time.

Roosterfish are dominating the inshore scene, fish to over fifty pounds were landed this week, trolling with live moonfish has been the ticket to taking a monstrous strike. Changing conditions slowed this action and pushed it further to the north, but surely will shift back our direction soon enough. Still waiting to see schools of mullet move in along local beach stretches, their migration is late this year, last year we never saw mass abundance of mullet, though it sure was an epic year for big numbers of larger sized roosterfish, these are prized fighting, unique gamefish, not known for eating quality, with limited habitat, should be protected, caught and released with care, in order to mature, reproduce and fight another day.

Bottom action has produced mixed success and recent winds had shut that option down, though there have been some impressive specimens of dogtooth snapper, amberjack and cabrilla accounted for, spotty limited numbers though, drift fishing with bait or working the yo-yo jigs were best options.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 82 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 thrasher shark, 8 yellowfin tuna, 9 striped marlin, 5 sailfish, 7 wahoo, 10 amberjack,13 cabrilla, 12 sierra, 24 dorado, 8 dogtooth snapper, 25 bonito and 88 roosterfish.