April 27, 2013
Anglers –

Ideal weather conditions are attracting tourists to Los Cabos, while parts of the United States are still experiencing winter like storms, crazy patterns for sure, makes this a great time to head south for a vacation in paradise, with warm sunshine. Winds have been light and anglers enjoyed great offshore conditions, ocean water temperatures are back on a warming trend in the direction of San Jose del Cabo and towards Vinorama, now up to 75 degrees, while off of Cabo San Lucas and around the corner on the Pacific temperatures are in the 60s. For this reason the majority of sportfishing fleets are fishing in the direction of Gordo Banks and to the north.

Bait sources have consisted of caballito, jurelito, moonfish, chihuil, skipjack and bolito, no sardinas, as these baitfish are not within range at this time. Chihuil has been the most productive offshore bait, they have been found schooling on the Inner Gordo Bank and are being jigging up on sabiki rigs at first light, for sale by the commercial fleet on a limited basis.

Striped marlin action had been spread out more, no concentrations, though in recent days the Desteladera Bank has come alive and charters were accounting for multiple billfish days, two, three or more fish per boat, as the marlin were schooling up in this area where baitfish have been abundant, reports of the billfish feeding on squid. The fish were striking lures, as well as dropped back or cast bait, average size striper was in the 90 to 130 lb. range. Dorado were less numerous, but we have seen more of them showing up in the warmer waters, particularly closer to shore where they could be seen chasing schools of ballyhoo, for the few that were caught, most were in the 10 to 15 pounds class. Only a few wahoo reports heard, we do expect these elusive fish to become more active now that the water is reaching closer to their preferred zone and there is also plenty of food sources to help lure them in. We are now on the full moon phase, things can be more unpredictable, anything could happen from day to day, the way conditions are really shaping up. No yellowfin tuna action being reported locally, you would expect that we should start to see some more reports of migrating porpoise holding tuna schools traveling offshore, perhaps the next couple of weeks this will develop.

Yellowtail action tapered off compared to how red hot it had been last week, these jacks were found close to shore, mixed in where roosterfish up to 30 lb. were also encountered, but larger schools of yellowtail in the 25 to 35.lb. range were being hooked into off of the Gordo Banks, live chihuil for bait was the most productive, the yellows did not want to strike the yo-yo jigs, preferring the deep drifted baitfish. Sea lions have been a factor on the banks, spooking both the baitfish and the yellowtail. The warmer water can cause lock jaw on these fish as well, which do prefer cooler currents.

A mix of bonito, amberjack, huachinango (red snapper) and leopard grouper (cabrilla) have rounded out the structure action and inshore there were sierra, jack crevalle and roosterfish. So all around the options have been producing a mixed bag of species and this should be the same deal in the coming weeks. Anything can happen from day to day, conditions are now very favorable.

Surprisingly there were still quite a few numbers of whales in the area, mostly humpbacks, surely they will be migrating north soon.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 70 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 28 striped marlin, 2 wahoo, 90 yellowtail, 10 amberjack, 76 dorado,13 sierra, 24 huachinago, 44 bonito, 22 cabrilla, 32 roosterfish, 28 jack crevalle and 7 mako shark.

Good Fishing, Eric

April 20, 2013
Anglers –

Paradise like weather conditions in Southern Baja is now attracting moderate crowds of visitors, slack period for tourism, as spring break is over and people are now planning new adventures. Sunny days, with temperatures in the upper 70s and light winds, all made for the perfect time to make a trip south. Ocean water conditions continue to be fluctuating daily, from favorable warming trends and then having currents turn around and cool off. Just a week ago we saw some areas of 75 degrees found offshore, now we are seeing temperatures on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas dip down to 66 degrees and highs of 70 degrees are found in the direction of San Jose del Cabo. There was a couple of days earlier in the week when the south wind blew and pushed in cooler Pacific waters. Ocean clarity has remained clean for the most part, despite being cooler than we would normally expect for this time period.

Striped marlin action were the main species being found while trolling offshore, though the fish are more scattered than in previous weeks. Marlin were found in limited numbers anywhere from 5 to 15 miles from shore, striking lures and baits, at times they were groups of marlin found feeding, other times anglers reported blind lure strikes. Only a handful of dorado are being encountered, most of them under 15 pounds, notably fewer of these fish in the cooler currents. No yellowfin tuna being reported on the local fishing grounds. Only an occasional wahoo strike be reported, we will look to see more activity for these sought after species as ocean temperatures warm back into the mid 70s range.

There were fair numbers of roosterfish being hooked into while trolling live baits close to shore, some of the roosters weighed up to 15 lbs., though as water temps dropped this action also slowed down. Bait supplies consisted of caballito, moonfish, jacks, chihuil and skipjack. Sardinas continue to not be available, due to the schools of these baitfish now being out of normal range.

The most prized catch being encountered in recent days for the local panga fleets have been the yellowtail. These jacks have been found throughout the area, from Chileno, Palmilla, Salinas, Gordo Banks and even right off of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina rock jetties. Very nice quality, most of these fish were weighing 20 to 35 lbs. These fish are striking on various baits, sardineta, chihuil, caballito and moonfish are working. The numbers of these fish have varied from day to day, some charter worked hard to account for one or two of these fish, while other days boats landed limits. Most anglers were fortunate to land just one of these quality eating and incredible powerful fighting gamefish. These jacks are strong fighters that can easily cut off anglers leaders on the nearest rock outcropping. The season is shaping up to be a banner year for yellowtail, La Paz and the East Cape experienced epic action for these prized fish during the previous month. The yellowtail were found close to shore and on the surface sometimes, mixed in with hog sized jack crevalle, though the majority of the yellows were being found in depths ranging 100 to 180 feet. A few cabrilla, amberjack and pargo were rounding out the catches off of the bottom structure. In the upper water column over these same spots there were feisty bonito striking on rapalas, these are the good eating variety and as close to any tuna we are finding at this time.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 72 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 wahoo, 26 striped marlin, 22 dorado, 96 yellowtail, 12 amberjack, 15 sierra, 82 bonito, 13 cabrilla, 115 roosterfish and 8 mako shark.

Good Fishing, Eric

April 14, 2013
Anglers –

As the spring break season has now come to an end and schools are all back in session, we have seen lighter crowds of tourists compared to previous weeks. Weather patterns continue to be unpredictable, changing rapidly, winds were now more predominate out of the south and actually gusts were so strong that port authorities decided to close the Cabo San Lucas Marina for a couple of days earlier in the week. Currents were pushing in warmer waters, then reversing and bringing back in cooler Pacific waters once again. At this time local ocean temperatures are ranging 68 to 71 degrees, actually warmer water was found closer to shore in recent days off of San Jose del Cabo and outside of three miles cooler water temperatures were present. Of course this pattern will surely switch around just as fast as it developed.

The up and down changing conditions has scattered fishing action some, the great striped marlin action slowed down to just a few fish here and there, some feeding marlin were found off of the La Laguna and Punta Gorda area, within several miles of shore, nice sized stripers up to 150 pounds. So far this season we have seen quality sized striped marlin, many of them in the 120 to 150 lb. class. We do expect to see the billfish action improve once again as conditions stabilize and the warming trend returns. Baitfish remain plentiful, more caballito now than mackerel, also some bolito, skipack and chiuil on the fishing grounds. For the past couple of weeks there have not been any sardinas available, this is because the schools are congregating along beaches far to the north, out of normal range for the commercial fleet.

No yellowfin tuna action was being reported locally, the La Paz fleet did report seeing yellowfin in the 50 to 100 pound class near Cerralvo Island, but few of these fish were hooked into, apparently too many skipjack were competing for the same baits. They also had a big bite on wahoo this past week, while off of the San Jose grounds there have been few wahoo in the counts, normally there is a time frame near the later part of April where the wahoo become more active on the grounds from the Gordo Banks towards San Luis, we have seen a taste of this and are anticipating more in the coming weeks.

Along the shoreline the juvenile roosterfish action continued, a few of these fish are now up to 15/20 pounds, though the majority are smaller sized. Sierra and jack crevalle are also being found in the same areas, as are a few roaming dorado, actually more dorado were found close to shore this week, than were found offshore, dorado always seems to go where more bait schools are congregated.

The bottom action was not as consistent as we would expect for this time of year, mixed success was reported on species such as pargo, amberjack, yellowtail and bonito. More of these bonito are appearing over the structure, bottom spot areas, they seem to prefer cooler waters, these are a good eating variety of bonito, not the same as found in So. Calif., they have been readily striking on smaller sized raplalas and are ranging in sizes up to ten pounds, similar fillets as found on small yellowfin tuna, sushi quality.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 82 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 sailfish, 4 wahoo, 28 striped marlin, 29 dorado, 9 amberjack, 14 yellowtail, 16 sierra, 165 bonito, 22 huachinango, 15 cabrilla, 124 roosterfish and 5 mako shark.

Good Fishing, Eric