The pattern of unpredictable cooler than normal ocean conditions continued this past week. The relentless breeze from the south persisted and pushed cold and dirty currents into the lower Sea of Cortez. Early in the week the ocean swells significantly increased and this particularly stirred up the inshore areas. At this time there are no tropical storms developing to the south, but the weather is becoming increasingly more humid and reaching in the 90s. The water temperatures were ranging from 70 to 77 degrees, with most of the area off of San Jose del Cabo averaging 72 to 74 degrees. Sportfishing fleets were fishing off of the Pacific near Jaime Bank and north to the Gordo Banks, finding a varying of slow to very respectable action, depending on the day and location. Live bait availability consisted of sardinas and mullet, with mackerel schools also being found balled up on the surface on the offshore fishing grounds, they proved to be the bait of choice.

Striped marlin were spotted in good numbers offshore, but it was another story hooking up, especially if you were armed with only mullet, they were not that eager to strike on them, though for anglers that had mackerel in their arsenal they reported much better success. During the later part of the week anglers that scouted out the Outer Gordo Bank area reported good action on amberjack and yellowtail, these fish were seen feeding on the surface, trolling with live mackerel proved to be the best bet, but some fish hit on iron jigs. The fish that were landed were of quality size, all in the 25 to 45 pound class. No sign of yellowfin tuna on the banks, only a few scattered reports from cruisers searching further offshore of finding football sized tuna underneath porpoise, though there was no consistency on them. The vicinity of the Jaime Banks is where the fleets found a series of floating Sargasso weed patches and reported fast action for nice sized dorado and a few wahoo taken from the same areas, this bite was a matter of finding the weeds and being one of the first boats to be on the scene.

The San Jose panga fleets concentrated most of their efforts closer to shore and off the various bottom reefs from Cardon to San Luis. Using mainly baits and also some yo-yo jigs they were accounting for a mix of huachinango, yellow snapper, cabrilla, amberjack, pompano, pargo colorado, dogtooth snapper, bonito, surgeon fish, jack crevalle and triggerfish. Very few reports on roosterfish this week, though some larger roosters were spotted feeding, but they disappeared just as fast as they appeared.

The La Playita panga fleets sent out a total of 59 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for an approximate fish total of: 4 striped marlin, 7 dorado, 3 hammerhead sharks, 26 sierra, 27 amberjack, 14 roosterfish, 13 jack crevalle, 215 yellowtail snapper, 12 barred pargo, 21 huachinango, 15 cabrilla, 72 bonita, 8 dogtooth snapper, 20 pargo colorado, 11 yellowtail, 16 surgeonfish, 22 pompano and 28 triggerfish.

??Good Fishing, Eric