WEATHER WATCH AT LOS BARRILES AS STORM APPROACHES EAST CAPE

Sept. 1, 2006, Chris Moyers, East Cape Smoke House, Los Barriles, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

The East Cape sportfishing area is bracing for what will be the brunt of Hurricane John. As of a couple days ago, John reportedly had maximum sustained winds of 145 m.p.h. As of 8 a.m. today, John is a Category 3 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 m.p.h., traveling at approximately 7 m.p.h. on a track that will take it straight over Cabo San Lucas this afternoon.

History tells us that we don't like it down here when a hurricane slows down. Early yesterday, John was reportedly moving on a northern tack at 13 m.p.h. As of 5 a.m. this morning, John was moving at 10 m.p.h. You do the math.

At 10 a.m. East Cape time, it is eerily calm and dark here in Los Barriles. Curiously, there is no wind, only rain. It seems like it's just another summer rainstorm. On closer examination, the ominously dark, almost black clouds, both overhead and approaching like a furious army from the south, foretell something more fierce awaiting us.

Muddy water has begun to flow through the streets of Los Barriles.

We're battening down the hatches down and hoping for the best. Most of the visiting amigos from the north were able to get out of here over the past couple of days. They were unable to get flights out prior to the airport closing on Thursday.

Here at the Smokehouse, we managed to get all fish orders delivered to our clients. We've got most of the equipment turned off, save one walk-in freezer. In actuality, the Smokehouse is one of the safest places in town during a hurricane. Our crew, as do many of our local amigos, know where to run if the situation turns dangerous. We still have internet.

While overall fishing at East Cape took a slight dip, it was still plenty good this past week. John will surely stir things up a bit but let's hope once everything calms down here, we can hit the ground running.

The last sportfishing week at East Cape was real productive in terms of both the Yellowfin Tuna and Dorado. There's no need to go way offshore. There's something real nice about fishing within 5 miles on the East Cape.

Conversely, the billfish all but dropped off the face of the earth. The billfish bite took a tremendous dump!

Last week saw calm days, save for the welcome breezes kicking up in the afternoons. We saw air temps with a range of 72-95. Most of the time, the water temp remained in the 85-88 range.

Specifically regarding Billfish, the numbers dropped way off as anglers were able to generate an overall catch rate of merely 4 percent. They must have sensed something in the air or water and high tailed it out of here.

Sailfish were next with anglers reporting only a handful to the south off Cabo Pulmo and Los Frailes.

A few Blue Marlin were also reported to the south off Rancho Leonero and Los Meganos Blancos.

The Dorado bite remained pretty strong with anglers generating an overall catch rate of about 60 percent. Most of the Dodo action was reported south between Rancho Leonero, La Ribera, Cabo Pulmo, Los Frailes, and Destiladeras.

The Yellowfin Tuna bite, while falling off just a bit can nevertheless be classified as hot, with an overall catch rate of about 91 percent. Again, most of the action was reported from the southern locales.

(See "Mexico Fishing News" online for current fishing reports, photos, weather, and water temperatures from East Cape and other major Mexican sportfishing areas. Vacation travel articles, fishing maps and seasonal calendars, and fishing related information for East Cape may be found at Mexfish.com's main East Cape page.