March 1-7, 2010
Weather: We had a great weather week
until Thursday evening when the clouds started to move in. It was nice
and sunny earlier in the week with morning lows in the low 60's and
daytime highs in the mid 80's. Once the clouds moved in it warmed up a
bit so that on Saturday our low was 71 degrees and our high was 83
degrees, but the clouds also brought rain. It was just a good spit on
Friday but on Saturday it came down steadily, but lightly, almost all
day. Great for all the plants but it was uncomfortable out on the
water, and it got worse in the afternoon when the wind suddenly
changed and came from the east. Everything had settled down after 7 pm
but the shift surprised a lot of boats. It looks as if we are in for a
few more days of cloudy weather before things clear up.
Water: It looked as if conditions had
not changed before the clouds moved in as far as water temperatures
go, it was warm on both sides of the Cape with an average of 73
degrees out to 30 miles almost everywhere. Once the clouds moved in we
had no shots from above, but the boats were reporting pretty much the
same thing on the water. There was a bit of a swell all week from the
northwest on the Pacific side, as well as a bit of wind so the
conditions were a bit choppy at times. The Cortez side was smoother
with smaller swells and less wind. The water everywhere was a little
off in color, it all had a green tinge.
Bait: There were Pacific Green-backed
Mackerel and Caballito at the normal $3 per bait and up in the
Palmilla area a few boats were selling small Sardinas for $25 a scoop.
FISHING
Billfish: Marlin fishing has remained
slow, the best I saw this past week was one boat flying three flags as
he returned from a charter. Quite a few more boats were able to find
the fish this week, compared to last week and they were biting a bit
better, but it was still nothing to write home about, at least for
those of us who go out all the time. The fish seemed to be
concentrated closer to shore than normal, most of the fish were found
within three miles of the beach, and on both sides of the Cape.
Yellowfin Tuna: Just like last week,
most of the Tuna that were found were quite a long way from home,
necessitating a two hour or more cruise to get to where you might find
some. At least that was the conditions for most of the week. There are
always exceptions though and on Saturday there was a pod of Dolphin
found three miles off of Chileno Beach that had loads of football
tuna, 5 to 20 pound fish, and the first dozen boats to get there had a
blast. There were a few other close in fish found this week as well
but for the most part tuna were a long run from home with your fingers
crossed!
Dorado: Just a few yellow flags were
flying this week, most of the boats did not have any luck with Dorado
and those that did only got one or two at the most. The fish were
found offshore on the Cortez side by boats searching for Tuna and
there were a few very small ones in close to the beach, also on the
Cortez side of the Cape.
Wahoo: Just like last week, what Hoo?? I
saw lots of orange flags flying this week, but they were all for
Sierra.
Inshore: For the fourth week in a row,
inshore fishing was the way to go. The Sierra bite busted wide open on
the Pacific side late in the week and I was disappointed to see so
many of these so called “conservationist” captains load up with two,
three or more times their limits. Come on guys, you have two clients
on the panga, come in with 40+ Sierra and then the next day complain
that the fish have disappeared? Get a clue, please. Anyway, the bite
was good and there were a few decent Yellowtail caught as well as a
few grouper and snapper. The surprise for many was the Marlin that
were found so close to the beach. While dropping bait to the bottom
for grouper and snapper, many boats keep a live bait half way down for
Amberjack, but there were quite a few marlin caught this week doing
that.
Notes: I didn't see as many whales on
Saturday as I thought I would see, and there were still plenty of
Humboldt Squid out there if things got really slow fishing. The rain
is great and I am looking forward to the trips into the desert in a
few week to take pictures of all the flowers! Until next week, tight
lines!
