Another fine week of wide variety catches continued from Puerto Morelos this past week and the only glitch for the week was a 1-day port closure due to adverse weather conditions.  Overall fish counts for a combined total of 20 fishing days reflected 1 sailfish, 12 grouper, 15 red snapper, 38 bonito, 8 Atlantic barracuda, 1 shark, 8 king mackerel, 7 triggerfish and 1 dorado.  Every time the lines go in the water in this area provides an opportunity for a different catch and tends to add to the fishing highlights for the day.

PM Climate:  Mostly cloudy days and one windy day causing the closure of the port.  Temps ranged from 64 nights to 85 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions:  Overall, the wind was up a little for the week and caused some choppy conditions for the anglers, but the water temps were very good and held stable at 80 degrees and excellent clarity.

Best Bait:  Continues to be the rigged and un-rigged ballyhoo, fresh caught in the area.

Blue water moved close in this past week and according to Captain Temo Verboonen, the sailfish bite was considerably better this week. Still, it was pretty good marlin fishing, too, but it seemed like there were more on & off days with the marlin.  There was very little bird life and porpoise working the areas this past week and that usually reflects a change in the bait availability throughout the area, or at least a movement from the areas we were fishing.  The inshore action slowed quite a bit this past week as the jack cravelle have moved off the area and the roosterfish moved out from Pantla Beach and have not been re-located yet.  Still, good bonito and chula catching on the rapalas, allowing for inshore anglers.

IZ Climate:  Mostly sunny & warm days with temps from 68 nights to 90 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions:  Some westerly winds from 10-14 knots during mid-week, but mostly good sea conditions with favorable temps that reflected 82 inshore and 84 offshore.

Best Bait/Lure:  Rigged baits for the billfish were still best.

Bait Supply:  Remains very plentiful inside the Bay

The inshore action from the Marina El Cid in Mazatlan remains the most consistent fishing for the area's anglers as the offshore action continues to be in the doldrum mode.  As with the Cabo San Lucas area, I would expect to see the showing of swordfish from the offshore waters at Mazatlan, which is so typical of March and April each year.  The overall offshore fish counts for 10 days fished reflected 2 sailfish released and 3 dorado, which is not a "lot to write home about" for 80 hours of hard fishing effort.  The inshore catches reflected some variety in the catch for their 7 days of fishing effort that included 10 barracuda, 5 pargo, 115 roncachos, 10 cochitos, 30 sierra and 74 mojarres.

Mazatlan Climate:  Partly cloudy days with temps from 53 nights to 82 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions:  Light surface breezes and small swells during the early week that led to 2 days of port closures before getting back to normal conditions.  Surface temps ranged from 70 inshore to 74-75 offshore.

Best Fishing Area:  Nothing noted for the offshore waters.

Best Lure/Bait:  Rigged mullet caught the two billfish and dorado. Shrimp & squid for the inshore waters

Historically, anglers tend to expect difficult fishing during the month of March from Cabo San Lucas, and there's just no reason to change that trend.  Finally, we have reached a time frame that I can honestly say to anglers, March is normally the toughest month of the year.  It's a time when the water temps tend to fall throughout the area and the water color seems to lose some of it's clarity.  On the plus side, it's normally the time of year when the swordfish start to show up in the area, and while we haven't seen'em yet, they will mostly likely be appearing at any time now.  The "Gaviota II" had half the billfsh count for the week, releasing 4 stripers for 3 fishing days, less than 10 miles from the harbor.  Overall fish counts for a combined total of 22 days fished reflected 8 stripers released, 5 dorado, 42 yellowfin tuna, 27 Humbolt Squid, 7 roosterfish and 57 Sierra.

Cabo Climate:  Partly cloudy days and temps from 58 nights to 80 daytime highs.

Sea Condittions:  Prevailing NW wind at 12-15 knots cooled off the surface temps on the Pacific side.  Temps ranged from 70 at the Golden Gate Bank and slowly escalated to 73 degrees at the Gorda Bank.  However, offshore and to the southeast of Cabo at about 20 miles, the water temp increased to 75 and had a cleaner blue to it.

Best Fishing Area:  There is no concentration anywhere, but it did seem like most of the fish, (all kinds) were coming from the Pacific side of Cabo.

Best Lure/Bait:  Live bait for the billfish was best, feathers and cedar plugs worked well for the yellowfin tuna.

Live Bait Supply:  Good supply of caballitos.

The World Famous EL BUDSTER goes out fishing today. But does not catch anything. The charter wants to fish on the bottom. Today was not a good day for bottom fishing. Fishing on the EL BUDSTER II. The Edward Taylor party from Tucson, AZ have a fine day. They catch and release a 130 lb. STRIPED MARLIN. It is caught on a Black Bart Lure. They also do well with the YELLOWFIN TUNA( 25 - 30 lbs.) . They catch ten, keep eight and release two. They were one of the first boats to find the school of YELLOWFIN TUNA. All the fish were caught at the 95 Reef. The water temp. was 74 - 75 degrees.

Billfish released to date in 2010Cabo: 22

 Fishing on the World Famous EL BUDSTER. The Jody Grogan party from Slayton, MN catches two 20 lb. DORADOS. On the EL BUDSTER II. The Ted Hamacher party from Denver, CO catches twenty SIERRA MACKEREL ( 4 - 5 lbs. ). They also catch and release one 20 lb. JACKAVILLE and six 40 lb. GIANT SQUID. All the fish were caught 12 - 14 miles out at the 95 REEF. The water temp. was 72 - 74 degrees.

Billfish released to date in 2010Cabo: 22

San Quintin Update, Baja California Norte
Windy and rough but great weather for the weekend

San Quintin has windy, rough weather but the forecast for the weekend is fantastic. There has been a few yellowtail near San Martin Island as well as some coastal white seabass, big bonito and nice halibut. The water temps are very warm due to the El Nino so look for an early season this year.

   Excellent fishing continues for a variety of botton fish. Lots of lingcod, red snapper, salmon grouper continue to bite wide open as the bite has been execllent. A 12 pounce torpedo sinker with a 2-Hook ganion has been a fantastic way to catch a limit of the finest eating fish in the sea. Great action this winter. Look for lots of early yellowtail with good weather.

Ensenada Update. Baja California Norte

Windy rough weather has kept most of the boats in port the past few days. The forecast for the weekend is great so here we go. Along the coast, we have been seeing a few calico and sand bass, an occassional halibut and even a few white seabass. 
   The focus however, remains the rockfish and lingcod. That bite has been excellent with lots of bottom grabbers for all. In addition, there has still been some jumbo squid to 50 pounds around too. Perfect tackle for the rockfish is a 12 ounce torpedo sinker along with a 2 hook rig with 2-O sized hooks. Live sardines or a strip of squid. Look for yellowtail to get back on the bite with the nice weekend weather on the horizon.

Whale Watching in Ensenada

Gray whales have the longest known migration of any mammal. They travel 10,000-12,000 miles round trip every year between their winter calving lagoons in the warm waters of Mexico and their summer feeding grounds in the cold Arctic seas. Thanks to its nearshore migration route, we can observe the gray along its journey out of Ensenada.

Call 011 52 646-172-5444 to get on a Baja Whale Watch Adventure

What can we expect to catch today?

I am asked this question all the time while preparing our charter customers and our crews for the day's activities. And, while I can certainly understand why people want to know what to expect...I've probably asked that question in the past myself...there is no good way to answer this question. I know what is possible to see, I know what we are equipped to catch and what we are trolling for, but I have no idea what the day will bring. So I usually answer this by telling that person to let me know once they come back from their trip and we will both wait to be surprised.

And it is often a surprise at this time of the year. It is truly amazing the variety of species that we find here, especially as we are not yet being covered up by bill fish or by mahi-mahi. This is the time of the year when we pull out all of our tools and toys and experiment to see what we can come up with.

An example of this "surprise" , a few weeks ago I was out with some people who just wanted to do some "deep drops" to get either a big snapper or grouper. We had a good morning and came back with more than enough fish to eat well for the next few days. As we tied off and I jumped off the boat, I noticed a crowd checking out the water right behind the Sea Phantom run by Captain Beto. As I was in a hurry to get back to my shop in order to get things ready for the afternoon charters, I didn't take time to see what it was that people were looking at as I assumed they had spotted one of the rays or barracudas that often visit the marina. However, as I returned to the marina with our afternoon charters, my curiosity got to me and I took a look over the side. Holy smokes! There it was, a big bull shark...must have been over 250 lbs...tethered off the back of the boat. NICE! What a thrill for the clients and what a spectacle it made later that day as the fish was later processed and handed out to the local families.

Another example of the daily "surprise" came a few days later. The wahoo bite suddenly turned on and some of the boats reported in with multiple hookups...one of them, Wild Bill with Captain Caballo, hooking up with 4 at once. While not all got landed, there was a nice showing on the dock at the end of the day, including a beautiful 47 pounder. So, now it's time to wrap this up and head over to the dock to see what's up for today's surprise. Enjoy the pictures of the surprises -

Until the next time, keep your lines tight!
Bob
We are!! Captain Rick's

Fishing on the World Famous EL BUDSTER. On a one half day Cruise Ship Charter. The Matthew Nicholls party from McArthur, CA catch four SIERRA MACKEREL ( 4 - 5 lbs. ). They fish inclose at the Los Cabo Arches. The water temp. was 71 - 72 degrees.

Billfish released to date in 2010Cabo: 22

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!

YELLOWTAIL FINALLY GET INTO THE ACT! La Paz/ Las Arenas Fishing Report for the Week of Feb. 28 to March 7, 2010 We finally put some yellowtail into the counts and the 20-40 pound fish put the hurt on more than a few anglers! For all the latest as well as a surprise airline ticket discount just announced, click this: http://www.tailhunter-international.com/fishreport.htm

Fishing on the World Famous EL BUDSTER. Mark Buck from Shelton, WA catches two 5 lb. SIERRA MACKEREL. They go out looking for marlin. But are unable to find any. They fished 10 - 12 miles out from Cabo. The water temp. was 73 - 74 degrees.

Billfish released to date in 2010Cabo: 22

Overcast Sunday, but no rain...
 
It has been overcast all day today, but not nearly the rainfest we had yesterday. I know it is a bummer for folks that came on vacation to get out of the rain and snow, but we could really use the rain down here. The sun has been trying to burn off the clouds all day and the rest of the week is supposed to be beautiful, so no worries that way.

As for the fishing, things stayed strong today with the two groups that were out on the water.

Kevin and Penny Neiberger along with friends Robin and Robert Engen joined Captain Ramon and his Mate, Juan for a day aboard TantRum. As has been the case lately, the guys started out fishing inshore and were able to get a handful of Sierra first thing in the morning. Once they got offshore, they immeadiately raised a Marlin and had it right next to the side of the boat, playing around with the bait, but never really taking it. The crew worked hard to get a bite on several other fish, but in the end they had to settle for the Sierra.

Elene and Brad Hess shared Rum Runnin today with Todd Strawn and Kevin Cooper. These folks were all on our share board and we were able to hook them up with each other and they had a great day on the water. Captain Javier and his Mate Americo found the fish today, catching and releasing 2 nice Striped Marlin. They also got into a few sharks, catching and releasing a juvenile Mako and a juvenile Hammerhead!! It is always cool to see those Hammerheads come up behind the back of the boat (when we aren't swimming behind the boat that is.) Glad you guys had a killer day!