June 13, 2014
Anglers –

NEXT FISH REPORT WILL NOT BE POSTED UNTIL FIRST WEEK OF JULY

Last week we saw a cold Pacific current sweep in as far north as Los Frailes, this dropped ocean water temperatures down into the 68 degree range, relentless south winds contributed to turning the water a greenish color and scattered the fishing action to few and very far between. The climate was a very pleasant though, as the cool Pacific air was refreshing. Now once again we have had a complete turnaround of conditions, with the months second major Hurricane forming, Cristina developed off the mainland and is presently following a path which will bring the system within a few hundred miles of the Southern Baja Peninsula. This has pushed ocean temperatures back up to 82 degrees, clean blue water close to shore and high swells of 8 to 10 feet. Coinciding with the full moon, there was a very high surge on the evening tide. Looks like this is all the impact we will feel, high humidity, some increasing late afternoon southern wind and a small chance of isolated showers, high swells are forecast to taper off starting on Saturday.

So we do have great water conditions now, though swells are high and the current is swift, still making for spread out sporadic action. Though there were encouraging signs in the past couple of days, a variety of fish are in the area and we have seen the roosterfish bite pick back up after having come to a standstill, anglers trolling with caballito and moonfish had great action on roosterfish to 50 pounds along the beach stretches north of Punta Gorda. After this swell resides it should be a great time to target the inshore dogtooth snapper action. We have noticed more mullet activity along the shore, this attracts more of the inshore gamefish and this is big amberjack season as well. A handful of very impressive fish were landed by beach anglers in recent days, including snook weighing 45 pounds and a few halibut, as large as 30 pounds, not a common local catch, but the way this whole year has been, nothing is out of the question. Beach anglers were using mullet and various casting lures for this action.

Dorado became more active with the warmer waters, though not being found in big numbers, there are some nice sized bulls in the area, one dorado pushing fifty pounds was reported and we saw several others in the 20 to 30 pound class. Dorado were encountered close to shore, as well as offshore, striking lures and bait. Marlin bite was more scattered, no real concentrations now, though they are being seen throughout the zone, not always hungry, we have heard that the striped marlin bite off the East Cape now is very good, though they are having a hard time finding other species in that area, only roosterfish and marlin.

Yellowfin tuna are making a presence on the outside of Cabo San Lucas, traveling with porpoise and also tuna in the 20 to 40 pound range are hanging around north of Punta Gorda, several were hooked into on rapalas and slow trolling larger baits.

Bottom action came to halt with the persistent windy conditions, but as this pattern settled anglers were returning to that option, only limited success on snapper, cabrilla or amberjack, a few yellowtail in the 30 pound range were accounted off of the Gordo Banks in the cold water, yo-yo jigs off the bottom was the method that produced these yellows, that was a one day deal though.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 91 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
5 yellowtail, 19 yellowfin tuna, 3 striped marlin, 1 halibut, 18 amberjack,14 cabrilla, 8 sierra, 16 jack crevalle, 44 dorado, 6 dogtooth snapper, 66 bonito and 22 roosterfish.
Good fishing, Eric

June 7, 2014
Anglers –

We are in the later part of the spring season, with moderate sized crowds of tourists now visiting, this is always the time when families are busy finishing school semesters, preparing for graduations, summer adventures, etc. Local weather patterns made a complete circle this past week. We had just seen the season’s first Hurricane form to the south of Cabo San Lucas, Amanda, this system pushed tropical humid air over the Southern Baja, stormy conditions which never amounted to much, besides some higher ocean swells, in recent days we are feeling strong southerly winds push cooler Pacific air and ocean currents in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. There is much marine moisture, creating morning clouds, being swept away by gusting winds later in the day.

Ocean water temperature in the past couple of days has plummeted from 80 plus degrees, to 72 degrees throughout the inshore region from Cabo San Lucas to Los Frailes, some 10 to 15 miles offshore of Vinorama to La Frailes is where the 80 degree temperature break is now lurking. This colder current is a dirty greenish color as well, unfavorable conditions contributed to scattered much of the baitfish and gamefish from this zone. As conditions settle, conditions will rebound, as this is the time of year where things can change quickly overnight.

There are many species of gamefish that have been encountered in local waters this spring, though none of the species have been particularly abundant, with the exception of the offshore action for the striped marlin, which at times was very close to shore, then further out, this action has been very consistent for nearly two months, just tapering off this past week, as food sources migrate so do the gamefish. Sailfish, thrasher shark and scattered dorado were also found on these same billfish grounds. No big schools of dorado, mostly solitary fish, a couple of bulls up to 40 pounds were accounted for this week, this is now the season for the larger bulls.

Before the ocean water turned over and became greenish throughout the inshore zone, we were seeing a handful of yellowfin tuna and wahoo in the fish counts, most of these fish were taken while trolling the grounds from San Luis to Vinormama, some fish weighing near fifty pounds were landed. We should see this action return as the ocean conditions clean. The activity will be determined by what exactly happens with these strong Pacific currents, something we deal with every year at this time.

Roosterfish are dominating the inshore scene, fish to over fifty pounds were landed this week, trolling with live moonfish has been the ticket to taking a monstrous strike. Changing conditions slowed this action and pushed it further to the north, but surely will shift back our direction soon enough. Still waiting to see schools of mullet move in along local beach stretches, their migration is late this year, last year we never saw mass abundance of mullet, though it sure was an epic year for big numbers of larger sized roosterfish, these are prized fighting, unique gamefish, not known for eating quality, with limited habitat, should be protected, caught and released with care, in order to mature, reproduce and fight another day.

Bottom action has produced mixed success and recent winds had shut that option down, though there have been some impressive specimens of dogtooth snapper, amberjack and cabrilla accounted for, spotty limited numbers though, drift fishing with bait or working the yo-yo jigs were best options.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 82 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
2 thrasher shark, 8 yellowfin tuna, 9 striped marlin, 5 sailfish, 7 wahoo, 10 amberjack,13 cabrilla, 12 sierra, 24 dorado, 8 dogtooth snapper, 25 bonito and 88 roosterfish.
Good fishing, Eric