Anglers –
December 9, 2017
With the big rush of the fall season now over, we normally expect to see less tourists arriving and that is the case now, though actually there were quite a few anglers still showing up, apparently to take advantage of the lighter crowds, warmer than normal ocean temperatures and all around great climate. Water temperatures are now ranging 78 to 80 degrees, it looks like this coming week the weather patterns will be cooler, so we will most likely see ocean temperatures drop. Air temperatures were reaching up to 85 degrees early in the week, but as north winds increased through the week, highs by the weekend were in the mid 70’s.
Bait supplies have remained sufficient, with sardinas being the bait of choice, they are now being netted along the beach stretches from Palmilla to Cabo Real. Some anglers are also still using slabs of squid, locating and catching the chihuil has been another option. We anticipate that new resources for mackerel and sardineta should start to appear as water cools off some. The most consistent fishing action is now being encountered from Santa Maria, Palmilla, Punta Gorda, La Fortuna and Iman Bank.
Anglers were finding that yellowfin tuna were the most common gamefish now being accounted for, the majority of these fish were striking on sardinas, some on strips of squid or chihuil. Most yellowfin landed were in the 10 to 20 lb. range, though a handful of tuna up in the 30 to 70 lb. class were also accounted for. Often the tuna could be seen on the surface feeding freely, but they were spooky and not eager to bite on baits with hooks in them, but they would strike in flurries, sometimes earlier in the day and then at other times not until later, a bit unpredictable, but there are definitely still a lot of yellowfin tuna on the local fishing grounds. Average daily catches would range from 3, 4 or 5 tuna, up to ten or more per charter.
Wahoo action went wide open for a couple of days early in the week, especially off of Punta Gorda, within one mile of shore, the key was having the chihuil baitfish, which were never any guarantee, only a few wahoo were taken on trolled lures, such as Rapalas or while casting yo-yo jigs. A few charters landed as many as 4 to 8 wahoo per morning trip, with sizes ranging up to over 60 lb. The word spread of the hot wahoo bite, and that area close to shore off of the point is a relatively small area and susceptible to pressure, the wahoo become finicky in a hurry. We do expect this wahoo activity to be on and off throughout this month, until water temperature become too cool for their liking.
Dorado continued to be scarcer than tuna or wahoo, though on some days we are seeing some of these fish from the same fishing grounds, with an occasional fish weighing over ten pounds. No billfish to speak of out of San Jose del Cabo and even the good bite on the Pacific slacked up over the recent full moon.
Action off the bottom produced better action than previous period, though later in the week the wind but this action on hold. A handful of quality leopard grouper, yellow snapper, amberjack and monster sized triggerfish were accounted for. Also everyday a few sierra are being brought in. Mixed in with the yellowfin tuna have been white and black skipjacks, some days in higher percentages than the yellowfin.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 83 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 44 wahoo, 22 sierra, 365 yellowfin tuna, 37 dorado, 8 amberjack, 18 yellow snapper, 5 island jack, 12 barred pargo, 12 Eastern Pacific bonito, 125 white skipjack, 4 barred pargo, 15 cabrilla and 105 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric