TOUGH WINDS AND ROUGH FISHING WATER REDUCE
EAST CAPE FISHING ACTIVITY TO JUST A FEW BOATS

Dec. 3-9, 2004, Chris Moyers, East Cape Smoke House fishing, East Cape, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Water Temperature 69-75. Air Temperature 82-61. Seas: mild to moderate seas in the a.m. with moderate to heavy seas developing in the p.m.

We don't have much to report this week due to atmospheric anomalies negatively affecting barometric conditions, thus causing excessive hydroactivity, or hyperhydroactivity, as it were. Yeah, the wind blew real hard and the water was real rough.

Anyway, only a handful of boats actually fished and those anglers caught enough fish for dinner. The fact is, there just aren't many hooks in the water. The north winds picked up for most of the week beginning in the late mornings and continuing on, thus screwing up East Cape fishing.

Nov. 26-Dec. 2, 2004, Chris Moyers, East Cape Smoke House, East Cape Fishing Report:

Charters 59. Anglers 148. Total Fish 225. Fish/Charter 3.81. Fish/Angler 1.52. Blue Marlin 4. Striped Marlin 23. Sailfish 6. Dorado 160. Yellowfin Tuna 16. Water Temperature 72-78. Air Temperature 80-60. Seas: mild to moderate seas in the a.m. with moderate to heavy seas developing in the p.m.

We will be closing both locations, in Los Barriles and Cabo San Lucas, on December 19, 2004, for the holidays. We will reopen both locations on January 2, 2005.

The overall bite has fallen off just a bit. While the billfish bite made a slight comeback, thanks to a nice little striped marlin run, and the dorado bite was consistent, the yellowfin tuna bite continued on a downward trend.

We saw quite a bit of north wind in the afternoons this past week. As a result, most anglers chose to head north in the a.m. so as to avoid fighting the choppy water coming home. Still, many charters returned early due to the conditions.

We saw air temps range between 60-80 so it's downright chilly down here. Water temperatures saw a range of 72-78. The moon is waning from full to last quarter at present. Bait-wise, we've got mackerel and sardines.

We saw a nice little jump in the billfish bite, with both Striped and blue marlin, as well as Sailfish making their presence known. The overall catch rate for billfish was up to about 22% which ain't half bad for this time of year.

As for the Stripers, anglers reported landings mostly to the north off Punta Pescadero (5-10 miles as well as in the vicinity of the shark buoy stops). Sailfish were a distant runner up this past week with limited success being reported to the north off Punta Pescadero in the vicinity of the shark buoy stops. Blue Marlin brought up the rear with anglers reporting landings off Punta Pescadero (8-12 miles). Mackerel and various lures did the trick there.

The Dorado bite just continued on its merry streak with the overall catch rate at about 100%. Just about everyone caught a Dodo. Most fish being landed are in the 15-20 lb. class but they're still plenty fun to catch. Anglers reported success . . . where else? . . you got it, to the north off Punta Pescadero, at the shark buoy stops. Mackerel, sardines, hoochies and some flies did the trick there.

The Yellowfin Tuna bite has really fallen off to the point where it can only be classified as dismal. There are still some tuna out there but they're to the south. As mentioned, that presents a problem when the afternoon winds kick up. In actuality, the low numbers are not all that surprising for this time of year.

Rounding out the report were 16 Sierra landed to the north off Punta Pescadero (1 mile). Well amigos, I know the late season reports can get a little boring and monotonous, but what can we do? We just keep plugging along.