Anglers –

June 8, 2019

This week we did see more numbers of anglers arriving, they were greeting with great ocean conditions for the most part, some late morning and afternoon winds earlier in the week, settling down by the weekend. Swells were moderate, water temperatures on the Sea of Cortez side were averaging 77 to 78 degrees, while colder conditions in the 66 range were still plaguing the Pacific. The local climate continued to be ideal, not too hot yet, weather now in the low to mid 80s, some early morning marine cloud cover burning off as the sun rose higher, cool  Pacific waters are helping to keep air temperatures mild.

Most all of the fishing action is now in the direction of San Jose del Cabo and to the north. The striped marlin bite came on strong this week, as these fish were found spread out throughout the zone, anywhere from two to ten miles from shore. Bait supplies consisted of mainly moonfish, ballyhoo and some caballito, with lots of smaller skipjack and some bolito found schooling on the fishing grounds. The majority of the marlin were striking on various baitfish, though they would also hit trolled lures, the stripers were weighing in the 70 to 120 lb. range.

After a long absence we were now hearing of more reports of dorado being seen, some landed, most were smaller, but we did hear of a couple of nice fish found further offshore that were in the 20 lb. class. We do expect to find more of these gamefish moving in, as water conditions are now more favorable. No reports of wahoo, though the way the water shaping up, something could develop on that at any time.

Many charters are still working the yo-yo jigs off of the rocks high spots for the Mexican bonito, red snapper, cabrilla and amberjack, though this action providing some quality eating fish, most of these fish were under ten pounds. Inshore there were jack crevalle, a few pargo and roosterfish, to over 30 lb., though the annual migration of the mass schools of mullet has yet to appear, this is what normally will bring in the main run of the quality sized roosterfish, everything seems to be running a bit later than normal this season, included this marlin bite that now is happening.

On the San Luis Bank anglers were finding chances at quality yellowfin tuna up to 100 lb., no big numbers yet, but every day we have seen these tuna brought in and all of them seem to be at least 40 lb., with the majority being over 70 lb. Striking mainly while drift fishing with strips of squid, a handful even hit on yo-yo jigs. Some days were better than others, factors of sea lions, sharks and crowds came into play. But this week we saw more tuna action than in the past couple of months, so that is a promising sign.

This is also now the time when we should start seeing more amberjack and dogtooth snapper appear. Often these fish will be found close to shore during June and July, before moving further offshore to the high spots as summer progresses

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina reported an estimated 98 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 9 dorado, 44 striped marlin, 19 yellowfin tuna, 4 dogtooth snapper, 15 leopard grouper, 210 Mexican bonito, 70 red snapper, 12 amberjack, 45 roosterfish, 12 jack crevalle and 90 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric