The winter chill across the United States is encouraging people to head south in search of warmer temperatures, as Los Cabos hotels are now reporting 70 to 100 percent occupancy rates. Not a great number of these tourists are anglers, because sportfishing fleets have seen only moderate crowds. Of course the fact that the all around fishing action recently has been sub Cabo standards has not made anglers anxious to get out on the water. Skies have been clear and sunny, lows are dropping to a chilly 50 degrees early in the morning, but by mid day temperatures were reaching into the upper 70s. Whale watching has continued to be at peak season and many visitors have been taking advantage of these opportunities to observe the giant mammals. Live bait became scarcer over this full moon period, but limited amounts of both sardinas and mackerel were available on most days.

The better fishing action this past week was found closer to shore, as offshore there was not much going on, there were fair numbers of striped marlin seen, but it was another matter trying to get them to bite. A handful of small mako sharks were on the offshore fishing grounds as well. Water temperatures fluctuated, but generally was on a cooling trend, averaging 62 to 68 degrees, the conditions were murky green in much of the area, particularly in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. The strong current continued to be a problem for anglers trying to effectively drift fish over the bottom rock piles, but when the current did slack up there were some opportunities to hook into some large fish, namely yellowtail, amberjack or quality sized huachinango. The San Jose del Cabo commercial panga fleet searched hard for red crabs drifting to the surface, not many were found, but the limited amounts that were able to be netted were used very productively for nice catches of red snapper (huachinango) in the 6 to 12 pound class, a value commercial species.

Mexcian bonito were the most common catch for anglers working yo-yo jigs off of the rock piles from San Luis to the Gordo Banks, these fish averaged 3 to 6 pounds and once found provided some fast and furious action. On these same spots there were larger yellowtail and amberjack lurking, several fish in the 30 to 40 pound class were landed and numerous other hook ups resulted in cut off lines due to these powerful bottom dwellers reaching the sharp rock out croppings before anglers could manage to turn their heads.

Inshore there were more sierra moving in with the cooler waters, striking on rapalas, hoochies, casting jigs and live bait. Average sizes were from 1 to 3 pounds, but there some monsters mixed in, with several specimens in the 8 to 10 pound range accounted for. Smaller sized yellowtail of 1 to 4 pounds were encountered along the inshore stretches as well and provided fun sport in light tackle. To round out the inshore activity there were juvenile roosterfish found, trolling live sardinas was the best option for these fun little gamefish, with catch and release being the sporting rule for them. Fly angling enthusiasts also got into this inshore action, as many of the roosters, sierra and a few yellowtail were also reportedly taken by fly casters.

The local panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos reported sending out approximately 41 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 3 mako shark, 11 amberjack, 15 yellowtail, 265 Mexican bonito, 162 sierra, 42 roosterfish, 8 cabrilla and 25 combined pargo species.

Good Fishing, Eric