September 24, 2011

Well, it is now official, summer is over and we now start the fall season, anticipation is high for these most popular coming months. Tropical weather continues, the early mornings do feel noticeably cooler, though the mid day sun is still strong and humidity high. An extremely powerful storm has developed off of the Southern Mexican coast, named Hurricane Hilary, this system is projected to take a northwesterly path, passing approximately two hundred miles, plus or minus, to the southwest of Cabo San Lucas. So it does appear that the Los Cabos will not feel much impact besides outer bands of clouds, high ocean swells and stronger than normal winds from the south. The area could definitely use additional rainfall and with a slight northern swift of course, Hilary could bring local thunder showers. Ocean temperatures are ranging from 85 degrees near the San Jaime Bank to 89 degrees in the direction of Los Frailes, with no notable temperature breaks.

Fleets based out of Cabo San Lucas were reporting good action among the porpoise for yellowfin tuna in the 15 to 30 pounds class with many charters catching ten or more tuna. Most often this bite was found further offshore, often as far as 20 miles, same waters produced some scattered catches of dorado, though these fish were found in larger concentrations closer to shore, the majority of do dorado now in the area are smaller sized, same situation off of San Jose del Cabo, more numbers this past week, but practically all were juvenile fish.

Schools of sardinas have scattered from the Puerto Los Cabos Jetty area and now the commercial fleet is working hard to find sufficient supplies for charters, now netting off of Palmilla and towards Santa Maria. This has been the preferred bait for all around charter action and means back tracking for La Playita panga fleets, since they are now fishing in the direction of the Gordo Banks, La Fortuna and Iman Bank. Other bait options included various jacks and mullet, as well as skipjack and chihuil, which are being caught on the fishing grounds.

Hard to say for what reason, but this past week the local panga fleet reported lower all around fish counts, perhaps a combination of flat tides, strong currents and at times delayed bait delivery are were factors. Average catch per charter was one, two or three yellowfin tuna and similar counts for dorado, with a few bottom species mixed in. Lots of available food source for the yellowfin on the structure of the fishing grounds, on some days the fish became more active late in the day. We expect the bite to improve with more favorable tidal swings.

Not much being reported from the Gordo Banks in recent days, this is where the larger cow sized tuna were hooked in previous weeks. This action shut down, but we expect it to rebound as well. One 300 pound black marlin was landed from a panga earlier in the week. A couple of near cow size yellowfin were reported at the start of the week, but since then we have not seen them at our docks.

Fast current limited productive options off the bottom, just a handful of mixed pargo species, triggerfish, bonito, cabrilla and amberjack.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 57 charters for this week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 1 black marlin, 4 sailfish, 1 wahoo, 132 dorado, 148 yellowfin tuna, 12 bonito, 6 cabrilla, 32 pargo, 21 roosterfish and 16 amberjack..

Good Fishing, Eric

September 17, 2011

Now at the midpoint of the month of September, the Eastern Pacific remains calm, no tropical storm forming at this time. Ocean temperatures are ranging from 80 degrees off of the Pacific Banks up to 88 degrees in the direction of Los Frailes. With the officially end of summer one week off, there is now a feeling of fall during the early morning hours, though days have continued to be warm and humid.

Sportfishing fleet are now spread out over the offshore fishing grounds, with the majority of the more consistent action being found in the direction of the Gordo Banks and north from there. San Jose del Cabo anglers relied on sardinas as the main bait source, as well as the plentiful skipjack on the fishing grounds. Other bait options included limited supplies chihuil, moonfish and caballito.

The Gordo Banks has come alive with larger sized yellowfin tuna, these fish are hitting exclusively on bait, with chunks of fresh skipjack being the best bet in recent days. Fish in the 100 to 200 pound or larger class have been hooked daily, no huge numbers, but definitely quality. Charter crews are chumming heavily with cut skipjack and sardinas to get the tuna up in a feeding mood. Cow sized yellowfin tuna were seen coming right to the surface feeding and anglers were taking strikes on lines as heavy as 100 lb. Slow trolling with larger live baits also resulted in hook ups. Many stories of extended battles with larger fish were told, at least several yellowfin over 200 pounds were reportedly landed, with other big fish lost.

There were yellowfin tuna spread through the area, over the recent full moon phase these fish were not as cooperative, but with persistence anglers did account for some impressive catches. There were reports of good dorado action found out of La Paz, but in the Los Cabos area dorado counts have been low, with mostly smaller size do do’s encountered, only an occasional larger bulls being reported, no particular area.

Options have been somewhat limited, no inshore action at this time, all offshore on the structure, main target species being the yellowfin tuna, a mix of bottom species, but no consistency for dogtooth, amberjack or grouper, only a few missed wahoo strikes reported and billfishing is hit or miss, no numbers, but a chance at hooking into a big black or blue, one 532 lb. black marlin was weighed in recent days out of La Playita, the black hit on a live skipjack midway between the Inner and Outer Gordo Banks.

La Plaita locals have been spending time fishing off the panga docks and have accounted for a handful of snook, weighing up to 40 pounds, drift fishing with live moonfish, also some nice roosterfish hooked in the same area, only area locally where roosters are seen feeding, the higher tides have produced more bait fish activity in the marina channel.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 59 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 black marlin, 6 sailfish, 25 dorado, 97 yellowfin tuna, 22 bonito, 4 rainbow runner, 15 cabrilla, 7 dogtooth snapper, 26 pargo, 1 yellowtail and 7 amberjack.

Good Fishing, Eric

September 10, 2011

Light crowds now, always seems to be the same situation this time of year, with kids back in school and summer winding down, people are staying closer to home. Just around the corner is the busy fall season and we are anticipating a great turn out. There are no tropical storms developing at this time, but it is the time of year where we monitor forecasts closely. Mostly sunny days now, with high humidity, some scattered cloud cover and light variable winds. Water temperatures are ranging from 85 to 89 degrees, larger swell conditions earlier in the week have weakened, though there have been swift currents sweeping through certain areas. Supplies of sardinas have continued to be schooling around the Puerto Los Cabos jetties, pangeros are working hard at first light to net sufficient supplies for the local fleets. There has also been a mix of larger baitfish available.

Anglers were finding the best success for yellowfin tuna while drift fishing with sardinas over the grounds of La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis Banks. Lots of yellowfin tuna could be seen breezing the surface, but they proved to be more finicky in recent days, average catches ranging from one or two, up to four or five per charter. Sizes were mostly in the 20 to 40 pound class, though there were a handful of tuna accounted by the local panga fleets that were in the 100 to 170 pound class. Larger tuna were seen on the Gordo Banks, but these fish proved even more elusive than fish on the Iman and San Luis. Tuna acquire a taste for the particular food source than is naturally present on the fishing grounds and at times it can be hard to entice them with anything else.

Dorado action was found mixed in where the tuna and of course lots of skipjack were present, most of the dorado encountered were juvenile, under 10 pounds, only a few larger specimens reported. A few more sailfish found in recent days, also an occasional story of a blue or black marlin battle.

Other action included limited numbers of amberjack and dogtooth snapper, strong currents made this action not so easy. Larger live baits such as caballito or moonfish worked over structure, with La Fortuna being one of the more productive spots. Only a couple of incidental wahoo were being accounted for by the combined fleet for in past weeks, these fish become less active in the warmer waters, which have ranged now close to 90 degrees.

Local surf anglers reported some roosterfish action near the marina channel, as well as several very large snook, these guys put in some long hours targeting these prized gamefish, recently the mid day high tide produced more hook ups.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 47 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 1 blue marlin, 2 striped marlin, 9 sailfish, 10 amberjack, 9 dogtooth snapper, 15 cabrilla, 45 dorado, 118 yellowfin tuna, 28 bonito, 8 rainbow runners, 9 barred pargo and 20 triggerfish

Good Fishing, Eric