April 19, 2014
Anglers –

Easter Week is attracting local families to all of the accessible beaches, as this is the traditional time to spend time with family and friends on the shoreline. Practically the whole city shuts down this weekend, as no one wants to miss out on any of the action. This is also transition time for the weather patterns, days are steadily warming, though there has been a mix of cloud cover and cooler Pacific breezes sweeping through actually the ideal climate now, with high temperatures into the 80s.

Many locals always say that the fish go on vacation as well over the holiday, with the recent full moon passing and choppy ocean conditions for a few days, we did see the water clarity become blotchy and the all around fishing action was more scattered. Striped marlin with some dorado mixed in has been the main deal offshore, varying from day to day, at times fish were found within several miles, other days out to 20 miles. There were reports of offshore porpoise activity, but no yellowfin tuna were associated. Anglers were trolling open water with lures and using either rigged ballyhoo or live caballito for bait. The live bait found inside the marina dock area did become scarcer during the moon as well.

Panga fleets looking for the best chances at action for a variety of more preferred good eating species were concentrating on the San Luis Bank. The Eastern Pacific bonito was the most prevalent catch, striking best on yo-yo jigs, though there was also a mix of snapper, cabrilla, amberjack and even an occasional yellowtail, though no real numbers of any of these species, except for the bonito, limits were standard for them. Though there was the ever increasing situation of problematic sea lions hanging around these same grounds, being aggressive and opportunistic of stealing angler’s catches, fifteen of these mammals were counted one day on these same banks, making it nearly impossible to actually reel a fish all the way to the boat.

Not as many wahoo stories being told in recent days, but with water temperatures of 75 degrees, these species are staying in the area. There were reports of increased activity of schooling flying fish offshore, this is usually a favorable sign of spring time and should attract more gamefish into the local waters. Thrasher sharks were also reported from the same billfish grounds.

Inshore action was spotty for sierra, roosterfish and jack crevalle. Quite a few sierra seen, but without sardinas it has not been easy to entice them, a few charters that somehow obtained some frozen sardinas, did well on these sierra. Some days the juvenile sized roosterfish were found just north of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina Jetty’s, these smaller fish were having trouble swallowing the larger sized live baits. Other days the roosters vanished, hard to predict these jacks, sometimes bite best early, other days late, tide can come in to play as when these fish become more active.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 73 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 1 thrasher shark, 1 sailfish, 29 striped marlin, 2 wahoo, 6 yellowtail, 8 amberjack, 25 huachinago, 15 jack crevalle, 12 sierra, 36 dorado, 380 bonito and 16 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

April 12, 2014
Anglers –

This past weekend Southern Baja time zone moved clocks back one hour, we are now accustoming to this new schedule, days are rapidly lengthening as spring season progresses. Ideal all around climate now, last weekend a front with cooler cloud cover swept through and this week we have seen warmer clear sunny skies, high temperatures around 85 degrees, with lows of about 62 degrees, winds were lighter, more predominate from the south now, picking up later in the day. Ocean water temperatures ranged from 72 degrees on the Pacific’s Golden Gate Bank, to an average of 75/76 degrees off of San Jose del Cabo and towards Los Frailes.

After going slack, the billfish action rebounded off of San Jose del Cabo, anglers found great action for striped marlin, with a few sailfish also reported, the majority of the action was found 10 to 20 miles offshore, though on other days these fish were encountered within several miles of shore, as their food source moves, they move accordingly. Not a lot of surface baitfish activity seen and fish seem to be gorging on smaller sized squid, which apparently were now plentiful in local waters. The billfish were striking on rigged ballyhoo most often, though live caballito and trolled lures also took their share of strikes. Only an occasional dorado found in the mix offshore, more dorado were found nearer to shore, where concentrations of half beak baitfish were schooling. Anglers were fortunate to find one or two dorado in their catch, just no big numbers of these fish now, though with these water conditions, anything could happen at any time.

It has continued to be an unusual season, with both warm water species and other fish that prefer cooler currents, all in the region at the same time. Look at the wahoo for example, they never even migrated out of the area this winter, as they normally do every year, these pelagic gamefish have been hanging around, not that many are actually being landed, action has been sporadic, though most everyday a handful are being hooked into, with the majority of this action coming from the La Fortuna to Vinorama grounds. Some of the wahoo landed were nicer sized 40 to 50 pound fish. No yellowfin tuna have been seen to speak of, though on Wednesday a pair of local La Playita pangeros hauled in a yellowfin that tipped the scales at 198 lb. This was just one fish, though is maybe a sign of something to develop, this would normally be the season when we start to see more porpoise activity offshore, which can attract schools of tuna. Time will tell, with water temperature warmer than normal, things are more unpredictable.

Local panga fleets are departing at first light to take advantage of the early morning action for bottom dwellers, most productive spot was the San Luis Bank, while using yo-yo jigs and caballito batfish anglers accounted for bonito, cabrilla, huachinango (red snapper), amberjack, yellowtail and barred pargo. Early in the morning when the larger more exotic fish were taken, no huge numbers, but some quality fish to over 30 pounds were landed, as the sun came up the action shifted to mainly the Eastern Pacific bonito.

Close along the beach stretches north of Puerto Los Cabos charters found good opportunities for roosterfish up to 15 pounds, while trolling live caballito, there were reports of rigged ballyhoo also working, there were jack crevalle and sierra also mixed in, at times the baits available proved a bit large for the smaller jacks.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 91 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 52 striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 5 wahoo, 3 yellowfin tuna, 8 yellowtail, 25 amberjack, 44 dorado, 14 sierra, 45 roosterfish, 550 bonito, 17 cabrilla, 40 triggerfish and 56 hauchinango.

Good fishing, Eric

April 5, 2014
Anglers –

Spring break tourist activity seemed to have slowed some, even though the actual local Easter Holiday week does not begin until mid month. Weather has been nearly perfect, highs in the low 80s, there has been scattered cloud cover, burning off as the days progressed. Winds were moderate, mostly from the east and switching from the south, ocean temperature now averaged in the 70 to 75 degree range, a slight drop from last week, but still warmer than normal for early April. Quite a few whale sightings continue, despite this now being late season for these mammals, the majority have already began their northern migration.

Offshore , anglers found hit or miss action for the billfish, spread out, no concentrations of baitfish to attract any big numbers of striped marlin, fish were found further offshore some days and then as close as two miles to shore on others, clarity of water varied with the flowing currents. Dorado were found every day, though only in small groups, more of these fish were within several miles of shore, this is where half beak schools (ballyhoo) have been schooling. Weights averaged 10 to 15 pounds.

No yellowfin tuna to speak of, except an odd fish up to 30 pounds, being hooked into while working high spots with yo-yo jigs, from Iman to San Luis Bank. The most common catch were the Eastern Pacific bonito, striking readily on the iron jigs, ranging 3 to 10 lb. There was more porpoise activity now being seen offshore, though not many yellowfin were being reported. Early morning proved to be the best time for fishing over the rock piles, mixed in with the feisty bonito, were a handful of quality snapper, amberjack and cabrilla. Yellowtail action has been very spotty, most of the fish we have seen were nice 25 to 35 lb. A couple of these hogs were even hooked into while drifting live baits just outside of the Marina Jetty entrance.

This whole year has been abnormal, with warmer winter weather and ocean water temperature, enough so, where tropical pelagic species such as wahoo and dorado have remained in local waters throughout the winter and into the spring. Everyday there have been reports of wahoo being either hooked into, seen free swimming, or actually landed, most of this wahoo action was found from Punta Gorda and north along the ledges, towards Vinormama. A couple of fifty pound plus wahoo were accounted for, most of the ‘hoo landed were in the 20 to 30 pound class.

Close to shore there were lots of powerful jack crevalle moving in, also some juvenile sized roosterfish and sierra. This action could be wide open with sardinas, but none of these smaller baitfish have been available in recent months, with the main bait source now being either live caballito or rigged ballyhoo. We did see one 12 pound snook caught right off of the panga dock area, this fish hit on a live bait.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 84 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 6 striped marlin, 9 wahoo, 6 yellowfin tuna, 8 yellowtail, 17 amberjack, 80 dorado, 28 jack crevalle, 48 sierra, 22 roosterfish, 580 bonito, 15 cabrilla and 32 misc. pargo.

Good fishing, Eric