WEATHER: We had a quick and thankfully short reminder of what to expect later in the year early in the week. Waking up to early morning temperatures in the mid 80’s and muggy air let us appreciate the rest for the week. Monday and Tuesday were a bit on the mid-summer side of hot but the rest of the week was great with nighttime lows in the low to mid 70’s and the daytime highs in the mid 80’s. There was a light wind from the northwest early in the week and on Sunday we had a switch to winds from the East. All in all it was a great week on the weather front.

WATER: The Cortez side of the Cape continued to be the warmer side with water up off of the East Cape around the 80-degree mark. Closer to home and between the 95 spot and the Punta Gorda area the water was cooler with most of it being in the high 70’s early in the week. During the middle of the week a combination of extreme tides and shifting wind dropped the water temperatures across the area by an easy 5 or more degrees and put the fish into shock mode. Surface conditions remained good but the water cooled off and became very green in most of the areas that we had been getting good fish. At the end of the week the cleanest water was from the 1150 area on the Sea of Cortez and out to the Cabrilla Seamount and outside the 1,000-fathom line on the Cortez side. On the Pacific the water remained cold and green almost everywhere, with water temperatures in the sub-70’s to as low as 65 degrees.

BAIT: As is normal for this time of year there was a good mix of Caballito and Mackerel available from the bait boats at the normal $2 per bait. Sardinas were available as well and they were quality baits, most in the 3-4 inch size. In the San Jose area you could get them for $20 a bucket but here in Cabo they averaged $25 per scoop.

FISHING:

BILLFISH: Ouch, the water turned over and the fish moved offshore to the Cabrilla Seamount area. You could go out there and find fish but they were in temperature shock (sounds as good a reason as any) and getting them to bite was very difficult. That was just about the only area there were Marlin in any numbers. The area around the Vinorama Canyon produced some fish as did the area within 3 miles of the beach on the Cortez side, but the bite in these locations was early in the week. Also early in the week and continuing slightly into the end of the week was the sighting of Swordfish on the surface. A few of them were hooked up and a couple of them brought in. My friend Martin (Kiwi) caught a #200 fish on Wednesday.

YELLOWFIN TUNA: We did finally have some Yellowfin show up this week but they were all small football fish, and not in any great numbers. On Saturday there were some enormous bait balls of Sardinas in the vicinity of the 95 spot and the small Yellowfin and Skipjack Tuna were harassing them all day long. Farther offshore in the 15 mile range there were small scattered pods of Dolphin holding the small Tuna under them as well. No one scored high numbers but there were fish caught by boats that put in the time and effort. Considering how slow the fishing was for everything else, getting a few Yellowfin was nice.


DORADO: The sudden change in water temperature and clarity had the Dolphin on the run but a few boats were able to get three of four fish on Saturday by finding the Frigate bids working the Sardinas. Using very small lures in Green-silver to imitate the Sardinas they were able to get small skipjack hooked up and slow trolling them in the same area brought in the Dorado.

WAHOO: I had no reports of Wahoo this week.
INSHORE: The inshore fishing had been great but when the currents changed and the clarity and temperature dropped the fishing did as well. There were still a few Sierra caught on the Pacific side but the green water made fishing for the Yellowtail difficult at best and Roosterfish were almost non-existent.

NOTES: June has always been a difficult month to figure out as things are in constant flux. This year is no different and we can only hope things settle down soon. Until next week, tight lines and give Ottmar Liebert a listen to. One of my favorite guitarists and hopefully to become one of yours.
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Until next week, Tight lines!
Captain George Landrum