September 30, 2012

September 30, 2012
Anglers –

As we have now officially began the Fall season, this last week has been more tropical than anything else. Hurricane Miriam swept past on the Pacific side of the Peninsula, some 400 miles from Cabo San Lucas, it was a category three storm and a strong swells developed, no winds from this, but as the system weaken, clouds shifted towards the east and brought up to four inches of additional rainfall to the area. At the same time Miriam was downgraded to a depression, there was TS Norman developing quickly, within 90 miles of Cabo San Lucas, bringing more thundershowers and wind gusts to 30 mph as it passed just south of the Baja as it continued towards the mainland Mazatlan region. The roads had just been cleared from the last storms, now we will all be busy once again cleaning up. Most all sportfishing activity was canceled for Thursday and Friday, hoping conditions improve for the weekend.

Before the weather turned for the worse charter fleets were catching good number of dorado and yellowfin tuna were also being found. Larger yellowfin are now in the area, including on the Gordo Banks, they have been more active in the afternoon for the past week, but a few nice tuna were also hooked earlier in the day. All strikes were coming on baits, preferably live cocinero, bolito, skpjack, caballito of chihuil. Everyday a handful of larger tuna from 80 to 250 pounds were being accounted for, most of these fish were taken by local pangeros specifically targeting these fish.

Sardinas were harder to obtain with the higher surf conditions, this is what the smaller sized yellowfin tuna around the Iman Bank have preferred, this action was also best later on in the morning. Lots of skipjack to deal with, some of them the species locals refer to as white skipjack, good eating, similar to yellowfin, most are less than ten pounds though. Giant squid have once again moved into the area, though they are north, off of Los Frailes, the commercial pangeros are catching them daily now and some of the sport charters from San Jose del Cabo were able to purchase them and had mixed success using them for bait.

Dorado were the most numerous fish found, scattered throughout the entire zone, ranging in sizes to over 30 pounds, though the majority of the dorado were in the 5 to 15 pound range. There will certainly be more floating debris found after these latest floods, this always help produce the food chain, which in turn can attract gamefish. A few wahoo were found early in the week, with ocean temperatures still in the upper 80s these fish prove to be sluggish and not as active as they become when the water drops into the upper 70s.

A few sailfish and striped marlin are on the offshore fishing grounds, no black or blue marlin really to speak of recently, this is the time we should hear about some black marlin be seen lurking around the high spots, such as the Gordo Banks. Not much off the bottom, a few dogtooth snapper and other miscellaneous pargo.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 38 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 4 sailfish, 4 wahoo, 5 amberjack, 6 dogtooth snapper, 9 cabrilla, 114 dorado, 79 yellowfin tuna, 25 various pargo species and 3 roosterfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

September 22, 2012

September 22, 2012
Anglers –

There has been mixed crowds of anglers, surfers and just normal traveling sun worshipping tourists enjoying the clear tropical weather for the past week. The area is now lush green due to all of the recent rainfall, humidity is high, but there a hint of fall in the air now, as early mornings are cooler. Swells are moderate, there was very little wind at all, just a slight afternoon breeze. There is a new low pressure system forming at this time, should become Tropical Storm Miriam in the new few days, this is projected to follow a path off to the west, keeping it clear of any land. Ocean clarity has cleared up now along the coast, this is where it had been clouded by the entire desert run off. Blue water has been found within several miles of shore and water temperatures are averaging 88 degrees throughout most of the region.

The most exciting news of the week was on Wednesday morning, this is when a crew aboard the 61 ft. “EL Suertudo” brought in a new world record sized yellowfin tuna to Cabo San Lucas. The record catch was weighed in on two different scales, 421 lb. and 427 lb. respectably, after certification the final weight will be listed, either way this fish appears to be shoe in for the new all-tackle IGFA record. Congratulations go out to angler Guy Yocom, from Dana Point, Ca. and to the rest of his crew aboard his yacht, this is an unbelievable accomplishment. These anglers were specifically targeting big yellowfin tuna and appear to have also qualified for the “Hook a Million”, one million dollar prize sponsored by Mustad Hook Company for any new world record tuna caught worldwide before the end of September, 2012, this definitely added to their motivation of going the extra miles to the fishing grounds where the giants lurk.

Conditions are really shaping up nice now, as weather has settled, each day the water is looking better, there is an abundance of baitfish scattered throughout the area, more skipjack than anything else. Caballito are being found near the marina jetty and sardinas are now being netted along the shoreline, near Palmilla and north towards Vinorama.

For the panga fleets departing out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina they have encountered more consistent action near Iman Bank and north to Vinorama, though the bite has been up and down and below local late summer standards. There has been a recent trend of the better action coming later in the day. Mort common catches were dorado or yellowfin tuna, the majority of the fish ranged 10 to 20 pounds, a few larger specimens mixed in. Live sardinas was the best bet for this bite. There are big yellowfin on the Gordo Banks, but they have proved very elusive, at times they were seen feeding in chum lines, but they did not want to bite baited hooks. At least one tuna close to 200 lb. was accounted for this week, it was landed on an afternoon private charter. Tuna often become spooky on these shallow banks in clear water, but they can also all of a sudden decide to bite just like that on any given day, pressure is light now and we are encouraged to see this larger grade of tuna now present on the local grounds.

A few sailfish and striped marlin found on these same grounds, but no big numbers, basically just incidental catches. As well as a few wahoo now being seen free swimming around drifting boats, but several were landed in recent days, so we expect something to happen with these speedy fish to become more active as fall weather transitions.

Not much bottom action found now, besides dropping larger baits over structure for a chance at winning the battle against a dogtooth snapper. Should be the time we hear about some grouper as well and we also usually expect to see some amberjack in the mix. Just as we have seen now for the last few seasons, we heard about a handful of nice sized roosterfish being hooked into further offshore over the rocky high spots, this is out of their normal feeding zone close to shore, I suppose they are adapting to where they can find sustainable food supply.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 61 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 6 sailfish, 3 wahoo, 7 amberjack, 8 dogtooth snapper, 12 cabrilla, 137 dorado, 78 yellowfin tuna, 43 various pargo species and 4 roosterfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

September 15, 2012

September 15, 2012
Anglers –

The late summer season is progressing through normal patterns, light crowds of anglers, at least as many surfers as fisherman in town, muggy tropical conditions, rapidly changing ocean conditions depending on storm activity in the Eastern Pacific. So much for the drought, as Wednesday night and throughout Thursday there were wide spread thundershowers passing through the region, creating more clean up for the already over worked road crews. On Thursday afternoon there were red flag conditions, at least for Puerto Los Cabos Marina, officially closed to boating on Friday, until further notice, which is expected to be over the weekend. This most recent storm front seemed to be created by a combination of local weather disturbances combining forces with Tropical Storm Kristy, which was on a course paralleling the peninsula some 200 miles to the west of CSL. Besides the not so needed additional moisture, there were swells of 8/10 feet creating dangerous ocean conditions and pounding the shoreline, swells are expected to reside by Sunday.

Before this latest set back from the passing of TS Kristy anglers found improved action on the fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks to San Luis, ocean temperatures were averaging 85 degrees or more in some areas. Lots of baitfish activity found on these same grounds, particularly from black skipjacks of all sizes. Also some chihiul now being found on the Gordo Banks, as well as steady supplies of caballito in the marina area, before the swell swept in there were schools of sardinas being found by commercial pangeros off of Punta Gorda, dangerous work for these bait netters, especially when tide is low and surf is rising.

The majority of panga charters are concentrating around the San Luis Bank, this is where more numbers of yellowfin tuna were found schooling, these tuna were striking on live sardinas and weighed in the 10 to 20 pound class, on Thursday, the day of scattered rain squalls, the boats had the highest counts of tuna, averaging 10 to 15 yellowfin per charter, actually there was nicer weather conditions that morning on the fishing grounds than back on land. Dorado were found throughout the region, in open water, on the high spots and congregating near floating debris, not as numerous as in previous weeks. Most of the dorado were under 10 pounds, but there was also other spots where larger dorado to 20 pounds or more were encountered.

This past week there were at least four larger sized yellowfin tuna in the 150 to 250 pound class taken from the vicinity of the Gordo Banks. These tuna all hit on larger sized baits such as skipjack, caballito or chihuil, encouraging news to finally hear of tuna action on the famed local fishing grounds. This action should only improve as weather settles down in the coming weeks. There were dogtooth snapper biting on these same banks as well, ranging from 20 to 50 pounds, striking on whole or chunk baits, as usual more of these fish were being lost than actually landed.

Early in the week the red snapper (huachinango) continued to bite on San Luis Bank at first light on yo-yo style jigs, with a handful of cabrilla, grouper and amberjack rounding out the bottom action. Normally the first part of fall season can be very productive for larger sized species off of the bottom structure, this action also will depend on ocean conditions remaining calmer.

One truly noteworthy catch this week was that of a 50 pound snook caught off of the panga dock area at 1 a.m. by a local La Playita angler that was really targeting the elusive triple tails that are known to become more active during the evening hours. This monster snook hit on a chunk of skipjack and was battled for a period of time before it became entangled in the dock pilings and the angler and his friends actually dove into the water and down into the structure, passing the rod underneath the docks to untangle the line and were successful, eventually bringing the fish to gaff.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 43 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 1 blue marlin, 11 striped marlin, 7 sailfish, 1 wahoo, 8 amberjack, 11 dogtooth snapper, 9 cabrilla, 77 dorado, 104 yellowfin tuna, 42 huachinango (red snapper), 6 hammerhead shark and 16 yellow snapper.

Good Fishing, Eric