Anglers –
April 28, 2018

The is late spring season now, weather patterns can change quickly, as we witnessed, when last week was cooler and now we are feeling the year’s heat wave of sorts. Calm winds, with warming ocean temperatures, now averaging in the 71 to 74 degree range. Still some strong currents running through the region, as one day the ocean was much bluer and then in the same area the next day it could be a little greenish. Also some serious marine layer fog to deal with north of San Jose del Cabo mid-week.

The great thing in recent days has been that the yellowfin tuna on the Iman Bank are now very active, most all of these fish have been in the 25 to 60 lb. class. Sardinas has been the bait of choice, a couple of different varieties and these bait have been available on a daily basis. Some anglers reported success on strips of squid and at times live caballito or chihuil were working. Lots of pressure on these fishing grounds now, as this is the best local action now happening and everyone wants to get in the action. Through the week charters were doing well, averaging from two to six yellowfin per boat, with many other hook ups being lost, due to various reasons, including seas lions, sharks and cut lines from having to use lighter leaders because the fish were more shy and finicky. Tuna could be seen boiling and jumping clear out of the water, very exciting action.

Besides the yellowfin tuna there was not all that much going on, except mid-week there were a couple of days of good striped marlin action being encountered on the same grounds where the tuna were schooling. Some nice sized stripers up to 140 lb. were landed.

Off the bottom there was limited action, part of the reason being that almost all charters were now targeting the tuna bite. There were a handful of yellowtail, amberjack, leopard grouper and other species accounted for when working the bottom with iron jigs and larger baits.

Inshore the main action reported were jack crevalle, some up to 25 lb. plus, a few sierra and smaller sized roosterfish. Schools of the clear type of sardinas were found just north of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina jetty and anglers fishing from the shore reported some decent action on halibut to over ten pounds, also several corvina to 25 lb.

As this summer like weather continues we expect the water temperature to warm even faster and this in turn will bring in more schools of baitfish, with a wide variety of gamefish following closely.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 85 charters for this week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 17 striped marlin, 245 yellowfin tuna, 16 yellow snapper, 13 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 18 huachinango (red snapper), 34 bonito, 9 amberjack, 8 yellowtail, 7 barred pargo, 8 roosterfish, 18 jack crevalle, 5 sierra, 18 flag cabrilla, 15 grunt and 30 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
April 21, 2018

Lighter crowds continued, as well as unpredictable and rapidly changing weather patterns. Ocean conditions which had turned over are now rebounding, cleaner currents are pushing back in and the water temperatures have warmed back up in to the 71 to 75 degree range.

Through the first half of the week there was no surface action going on, with the only action being found being off the bottom for a variety of species, but also hit or miss from spot to spot. The highlight was a few grouper up to 40 lb., yellowtail to 30 lb. and amberjack to 50 lb. They were using various baits and some yo-yo style jigs. Some days the winds made it tougher to reach the more productive fishing grounds.

On Thursday conditions started to improve, with a handful of yellowfin tuna to over 40 lb. being accounted for, they were found between San Luis and north of Vinorama. Using sardinas was the best deal. Most days these batfish were available, On Friday the tuna bite was even better, the best spot was near San Luis Bank. The yellowfin were in the 20 to 40 lb. class, most all charters that targeted the tuna were landing at least a few fish, some charters had as many as ten tuna.

We did not see any dorado, besides a few small fish, though some wahoo were seen and even hooked into, but they were not landed. There were still quite a few whales being spotted, despite it being late season now for these mammals. Early in the week there was some form of krill hatch going on and the whales and big groups of manta rays were seen getting involved in this feeding frenzy.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 70 charters for this week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 6 dorado, 46 yellowfin tuna, 2 broomtail grouper, 30 yellow snapper, 22 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 15 huachinango (red snapper), 2 dogtooth snapper, 82 bonito, 4 amberjack, 4 yellowtail, 14 barred pargo, 2 roosterfish, 8 jack crevalle, 14 sierra, 18 flag cabrilla, 4 surgeon fish, 55 spotted rose snapper and 110 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
April 14, 2018

We did notice lighter crowds this past week. Visitors were greeted by cooler weather patterns, which started with winds switching from out of the south last Sunday, continuing through the first part of the week. This pushed in cold Pacific currents which turned over the ocean as far north as Los Frailes, green colored water and dropped water temperatures into the 67 degree range. Of course this did not help the surface fishing action much at all, basically shutting down the tuna and marlin bite, though the all-around climate was nice, lows of about 60 degrees and highs up to 80 degrees. Typical spring time conditions during this transition period.

Anglers found that sardinas were scattered as well, some of the clear type of sardinas which are used for dead baits, also some rigged ballyhoo, a few caballito. The best action found was for shallow structure species, using various baits, as well as more fish starting to strike on yo-yo jigs, particularly the bonito and leopard grouper, a few amberjack and yellowtail.

Last Sunday the yellowfin action was very good north of Vinorama and a few were caught on Monday as well, these were fish in the 30 to 60 lb. class. Since then the cold green water has shut this action down and now we are waiting patiently for the conditions to rebound. In the meantime the best bet has been to concentrate on bottom species over the various rock piles. The red crabs also were less active, but the fish were starting to strike the yo-yo jigs better. Several yellowtail up to 30 lb. were accounted for, a handful of amberjack, a variety of snapper and pargo and quite a few leopard grouper in the 5 to 18 lb. range. All very good eating fish.

Along the shoreline there were sierra, jack crevalle and an occasional roosterfish, this action was spotty though, but if you were at the right place at the right time there were some nice fish found.

Billfish, dorado, wahoo were not in the picture at all, with the exception of a few striped marlin and dorado early in the week before conditions completely changed.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 66 charters for this week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 5 dorado, 18 yellowfin tuna, 32 yellow snapper, 20 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 42 huachinango (red snapper), 125 bonito, 7 amberjack, 9 yellowtail, 22 barred pargo, 6 roosterfish, 10 jack crevalle, 35 sierra, 1 halibut, 12 grunt, 15 flag cabrilla, 7 island jack, 6 surgeon Fish, 65 spotted rose snapper and 90 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric