|
 A
mix of striped marlin, sailfish, dorado, and
yellowfin tuna make up the bulk of catches
in the East Cape fleet right now. Fish are
scattered far and wide across the Sea of
Cortez, with several distinct tuna schools,
roaming billfish, and pods of dorado
throughout our fishing grounds. Most fish
are being caught with trolled lures.
Unseasonable north winds cooled our sea
surface temps a bit this past week, and in
lockstep with that we saw a big increase in
the numbers of dorado being caught. While
most of the fish are schoolie size, a few
nicer-sized mahi mahi in the 20-25# class
are being hooked.
 Billfishing
is excellent. Our fleet has tallied more
than 300 striped marlin and sailfish
recently, and some big blue marlin are mixed
in with the marlin catches also. Yellowfin
tuna remain in our waters, but are becoming
less consistent in catches, with numbers of
fish in the 60-120# range being caught,
although the vast majority of tuna are
football size. Inshore, fishing is great,
with a mix of roosterfish, amberjack, jack
crevalle, big-eye jacks, ladyfish, and pargo
available.
Sea surface temps range from
82-86 degrees and air temps have been in the
high 90's every day. Our third consecutive
year of no hurricanes! See you on the East
Cape soon!
|
The Sea of Cortez, one of the world's most rich and diverse
marine environments, is one of the few locales that yield
marlin year-round. Besides being a prime spring spawning area
for striped marlin up to 200 pounds, Baja's East Cape is a favored
location to achieve billfishing's Grand Slam--adding blue and
black marlin (200-1000 pounds) and Pacific sailfish (80-150
pounds) to the
mix.
Catch-and-release is strongly encouraged for all billfish.
These apex predators comprise the pinnacle of a fragile marine
eco-system. Conversely, plentiful species like tuna and dorado
(mahi-mahi) reproduce in the millions and make excellent table
fare. These pelagic (open ocean) species roam the
1500-7500-foot depths close to shore here. Numerous inshore
species add to the incredible variety of marine life in the
Sea of Cortez.
