JUNE WEATHER ON AN IMPROVING TREND FOR LOS CABOS FISHING BOATS

June 13-19, 2005, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The weather scene has been improving here in the Los Cabos vacation area. The wind seems to be slowly dying down. It is still blowing in the afternoons but it is starting later and is not quite as strong. Cabo San Lucas daytime highs have been around 90 degrees. It is starting to feel a little like summer!

Fishing water on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas is cold and very windy. The wind is slowly dying down but it is still victory at sea out past a mile anywhere north of the light house. With water temperatures ranging from 57 to 67 degrees, why get beat up and break a boat? The only fishing on the Pacific has been close in and close to home.

The Sea of Cortez side has been wonderful, especially in the morning before the wind shifts and picks up. The warmer water we have been waiting for is moving in and while there are some swells to deal with, having water up to 79 degrees has meant that there are fish out there! While there has been no strong temperature break, there has been a slight one accompanied by a current line running east-west around 5 miles past the 95 spot and the 1150.

Bait at Cabo San Lucas has been Caballito at $2 per bait with a few Mullet in the mix. Very few Mackerel and no Sardinas that I heard of.

Fish of the week was Striped Marlin. They were concentrated along the current line out past the 95 and 1150 and most Cabo San Lucas sportfishing boats were having no problem finding the fish, but getting them to bite was another story. While some charter fishing boats have it down to a science and consistently come in with two to six flags flying, others just aren't able to find the right fish and tossed baits at dozens without a bite. Downsize the leader and hooks, it might work. You could see free jumping fish all over the place.

The current line was not the only place to find them either. We worked off of Punta Gorda a few days ago and they were all over the place out 12 miles. Most of the fish caught and brought to the side of the boat were stuffed with foot long squid, tossing out fresh squid as they thrashed. There were two Swordfish reported caught this week.

There are plenty of football size yellowfin tuna south of the Cabo San Lucas arch, and most of them are fairly close to shore and the water is not too bad, but how many fish around 8 pounds so you really need? They are not associated with Porpoise, and the farther out you go the more you get beat up. A Yellowfin in excess of 200 pounds was caught outside the Gorda Banks by a boat working the warm water. Other than the footballs and the one large fish, I have not heard of anything else happening in our area this week.

The water is warming up so make sure you keep those fingers crossed for dorado. Wahoo fish should also show up, at least a few of them, as the water warms up.

Inshore fishing at Cabo San Lucas had some Sierra still showing up in the catch from the Pacific side as well as a few Yellowtail, but there was no wide open bite on them. Small football Yellowfin showed in quite a few Panga fish boxes and there was the occasional nice Pargo as well. Most of the effort was concentrated on Roosterfish, and they have been making a good showing off the beaches on the Cortez side of the Cape. I have talked to a few anglers who have had luck with them off the beach while surf casting.