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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Great Lost to the Saltwater Fishing World, Jose Wejebe Dies at 54


I just heard about Jose's passing and it rocked me to my core. I met him in 2005 at the Fred Hall Show and we talked tackle technology, lure design, etc. He struck me as a very technical angler, very much dedicated to new tackle technology and moving light tackle technical angling forward. If we all think back to the "old days" before braided lines, small high performance reels and butterfly jigs, they seem like the dark ages. As a guide and TV host, Jose took many of these new tackle technologies from Shimano, field tested them in South Florida and presented them to the world. My condolences go out to the Wejebe Family.

He was a true innovator, he elevated our sport and he will be missed.

More details...
http://www.sportfishingmag.com/news/jose-wejebe-dies-plane-crash

Buena pesca,

Mark

Monday, May 7, 2012

Baja Fishing Report 5/7/12

Report by Cass Tours


San Jose Del Cabo - Gordo Banks

 Light crowds of visitors now traveling to Southern Baja. Conditions are practically perfect, high temperatures in the mid 80s, warming air and ocean temperatures is creating more marina cloud cover, afternoon breezes make the spring climate very pleasant. Water temperatures were on a warming trend throughout this past week and at this time there is 76 degrees pushing in from outside of the Gordo Banks area. From Cab San Lucas to Los Frailes the inshore water is ranging from 72 to 74 degrees. Conditions and fishing action can change rapidly at this time of year.

Increasing ocean swells from the south made it difficult for pangeros to net any sardinas, so in recent days live sardinas were not available and anglers were using the larger caballito, which remained plentiful from the marina area. Though these baits are purchased per piece, not to be used freely for chumming with, such as with the sardinas. More bolito are now schooling on the fishing grounds and these are being caught early in the day for use as bait. Also at times pelagic red crabs have been surfacing, being netted and used for bait over the bottom structure.

Striped marlin action has dominated the offshore action for the past few months, but this past week we saw wide open action, as the numbers of marlin on the local grounds significantly increased, anglers were regularly accounting for multiple catches on striped marlin ranging to to 150 pounds. In recent days there has been a hot spot found between the Outer Gordo Bank and the 1150 high spot, ten to twelve miles offshore, but the stripers are being found throughout the region, at times within a couple miles of shore. The marlin are striking on a variety of trolled baits and artificial lures. Local panga fleets were reported incredible success while slow trolling with dead bolito, while caballito and skipack also worked, the billfish seemed to prefer the bolito, striking on the fresh dead bait without hesitation. Many double and even triple hook ups were reported, these marlin were encountered in concentrations. As skipjack and bolito schools increasingly congregate on the fishing grounds, this is now attracting larger concentrations of gamefish. Continued reports of mako and thresher sharks found on the same offshore fishing grounds and more dorado also appeared in the fish counts, no real numbers yet, just single fish being encountered, hooked on trolled lures or bait, the majority of the dorado have been of larger size, with a handful of impressive sized bulls up close to fifty pounds accounted for from the same marlin grounds. A few wahoo stories being talked about and we look for these elusive fish to become more active with the warming currents and their favored bolito food source appearing.

With the lack of sardinas and higher surf conditions, there was not much to report for inshore action, anglers had other options of fishing rocky structure areas, from 50 ft. to 200 ft. Anglers found mixed results on a wide variety of species, most common were yellow snapper, barred pargo, huachinango (red snapper), amberjack, cabrilla (leopard grouper) and triggerfish. On some days good early morning action was reported on yo-yo jigs and live caballito, many heavier fish were cutting lines off in the rocks. Red crabs were sporadically found on the surface and being used successfully for red snapper bait, even an occasional amberjack hit on these small crabs. Sea lions were also hanging around their favorite snapper grounds and were a negative factor to deal with. Bottom species become finicky when the grounds are plugged with red crabs and all of the fish acquire a preferred taste for these crabs and not much or anything else. With persistence and patience there were quality catches accoutered for, all excellent eating specimens and we certainly enjoyed the improved action.

The combined local panga fleets launching from La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 52 charters for the week, with anglers reported a fish count of: 86 striped marlin, 6 mako shark, 2 thresher shark, 23 dorado, 22 barred pargo, 86 yellow snapper, 4 yellowtail, 34 amberjack, 28 cabrilla, 14 pompano, 48 triggerfish, 42 sierra, 1 yellowfin tuna and 12 roosterfish.


East Cape - Rancho Leonero

Water- 77-78 warmer than normal. Clear flat water all week.
Air- Warmer with highs in the 80's. Cool evenings and mornings. a nice time of year on the E Cape..

The same good fishing as in the past week continues. It is hard to tell what's going on by our fish photo gallery. Both the Striped Marlin and Roosterfish are normally released so we have very few photos of either. That said, the Striped Marlin mixed with a few Sailfish are abundant and close. Anglers targeting bill fish are releasing at least one a day. Most are being taken within eye sight of the hotel. The billfish are very close inshore some within a 1/2 mile of the beach. Our shuttle Panga driver, Eddie, caught a Striper around our boat anchorage on Wednesday afternoon. The billfish are very close. There are a few big bull Dorado to 60#'s being taken daily, all on trolled marlin lures. The Roosterfish bite is very strong with lots of Gallo's around. The Roosterfish are bigger this week with some 40 to 50# er's released. Inshore has been good with lots of Pompano and Pargo taking Sardine. The water is warming fast, we will have 80 degree water within the next two weeks, very early.

Bill fish- Very close, best between the hotel and Punta Arena (the lighthouse). All within five miles of shore. Mostly Stripers with a few Sails mixed in. Skirted Bally Hoo and live Caballito are working best. Trolled Squid colors working as well. The fish are between 150 and 200#'s.

Roosterfish- It looks like another big year for Gallos. More fish around than last week, and much larger. 50# er's are becoming common. The warmer than normal water is bringing the big guys in early. Very good fishing for Roosters..

Inside- Pompano and Pargo are both biting. Very strong predictable Pompano fishing this whole spring. Since the hotel has opened they have been producing limits of ten pound fish for all anglers targeting them. Some good size Pargo this week, a number of 10 to 15#ers are coming to the cleaning table daily..


Cabo San Lucas - Gaviota Fleet

According to Fish Cabo Fleet Owner, Roberto Marquez, the marlin were scattered all over and extended from out front of the Finistera Hotel and easterly, into the Sea of Cortez, with the primary hot spot from the 95 Fathom Spot to the 1150 Fathom Spot.  Roberto said, "The fish are beginning to bite much better and the hot bait was the slow-trolled ballyhoo baits, just like in the old days.  While they were still eating the live baits, both the caballitos and the mackerel, it seemed the ballyhoo was the right way to go for many of the boats."  It had started out slow in the early part of the week but picked up as the week progressed and with any luck at all, it will just keep getting better and better.  Many boats were reporting multiple fish days and that was a dramatic turn-around from the prior two weeks.  The overall combined fish counts for a total of 12 days fished offshore reflected 13 stripers, (12 released) and 3 dorado.  There was a single inshore fishing day that produced 10 Sierra and 1 yellowtail.

Cabo Climate:  It went from cloudy and cool days in the early part of the week to sunny & warm days as the week progressed and the upward temp changed to 68 nights and 94 daytime highs.  Very pleasant weather, now.

Sea Conditions:  5-15 mph westerly surface breezes keeping the Pacific waters cool at 65-66 degrees and is pushing up against the warmer, Sea of Cortez currents, starting outside Cabo, at 71-72 degrees.  Temps increase as we move easterly into the Sea of Cortez to 74-77.  Green water on the Pacific side from shore to the 1000 fathom curve, becoming clean green by Cabo and bluing up as one moves easterly into the Sea of Cortez, out to the 1150 fathom spot and beyond.

Best Fishing Area:  While billfish were being spotted almost everywhere, the best bite for the week was at the 95 Fathom Spot and on to the 1150 Fathom Spot.

Best Bait/Lures:  The hot bite bait for the week has been ballyhoo, slow-trolled from the outriggers.  Alternate baits that worked pretty good were the caballitos and mackerel and the artificials were the least effective.

Bait Supply:  The live bait supply was good and consisted of caballitos and some green mackerel.  When the bait boats had the ballyhoo available, ($3-$4.00 each) they went fast.  Roberto told me this morning that the ballyhoo are coming from the La paz area and not always available.

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report 5/4/12

Hola Amigos...The fishing continues to be very good down here on the East Cape. 8 to 12 boats per day have been going out and everyone seems to be catching plenty of fish. The fishing this week was almost a carbon copy of last week. Guests are getting plenty of shots at striped Marlin. Some boats are landing up to 6 in a day and seeing over a dozen per day. Some boats are reporting that the marlin are very finicky and appear to not be very hungry. Even so, those who don't get discouraged have been able to land some nice billfish.
  

The Dorado bite continues to be hot. Once again it wasn't the number of fish landed but the size of the ones that were landed. As you can see by the pictures which were taken earlier in the week, there are some nice size Dorado down here right now. We also saw the first Yellowfin tuna of the season, which landed by the cruiser J&B. The tuna weighed only 3lbs., but it's a sign that they are out there. The roosters were once again being landed in bunches, although not as many as last week. This may be because not as many people were targeting them. We are still seeing some nice Jacks in the area, Jack Cravalle and Skip Jacks were both landed by guests this week. Some of the other species we saw this week included Cabrilla, Pargo, Lady Fish, Pompano, and Mako shark. The water temperatures continue to hold steady at 74 to 76 degrees. The air temperature has been in the low to mid 80's, but we are seeing more mid 80's and it does feel like it is getting warmer each week. That is until today when the sky turned grey and we had some late afternoon thunder and lightning. This is only supposed to last until Sunday and then it will be back to warm sunshine. That's it for this week my friends. Until next week!

Eddie Dalmau
Baja's Van Wormer Resorts