Anglers –

November 29, 2014

Vacationers were arriving in Los Cabos by good numbers for the Thanksgiving Holiday week. Warm sunshine likely attracting people, as very frigid winery conditions are now sweeping across much of the United States. Locally the early mornings have been cooler, but as the soon rises the days have warmed up quickly, with high temperatures now about 85 degrees.

Ocean water temperature has remained 80 degrees throughout the region. This week we felt the first really strong north winds, Tuesday the gusty conditions started and lasted for three days. These conditions limited options for anglers and created murkier inshore water conditions. The winds have settled down now and forecasts look favorable for the weekend.

Schools of sardinas are being found along beach stretches near Red Hill and towards Chileno. This has been the bait of choice for the all-around action now being found. Tougher ocean conditions contributed to more limited fishing action. Yellowfin tuna were found in schools close to shore, from Santa Marina to Punta Gorda and La Fortuna, mixed with skipjack, coming up to the live sardinas, striking best on lighter line. No big numbers though, the yellowfin were finicky at times, readily coming up for the chum, but not wanting to strike the baiting hooks.

Dorado were scattered in smaller sized schools, the majority of these fish were smaller in size, but some dorado up to 20 pounds were accounted for. Wahoo remain in the area and should be around for a while, with the water temperatures still holding at 80 degrees. Though the wahoo have proved more elusive for the past couple of weeks now, these fish are being encountered on the same grounds as are the tuna and dorado, ranging in sizes up to 40 pounds, striking on bait, yo-yo jigs and at times on Rapalas. Trolling with skipjack, ballyhoo, chihuil and sardina have been the various baitfish options.

We have started to see more structure species in the mix, such as amberjack, pargo, cabrilla and pompano, calmer weather is more suited for targeting these species. Sierra are moving in along the shoreline now in greater numbers and the season’s first whale migration are starting to arrive to their Southern Baja feeding and calving grounds.

Billfish action has been limited, the striped marlin schools are still on the Pacific grounds to the north, at least one 350 lb. class black marlin was reportedly caught and released early in the week from the Outer Gordo Bank area, this was on a private boat launching out of Puerto Los Cabos.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 135 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:

15 wahoo, 155 yellowfin tuna, 84 dorado, 20 bonito, 180 skipjack, 15 cabrilla, 14 amberjack, 16 pompano, 68 sierra, 12 jack crevalle, 28 pargo, 2 yellowtail and 5 dogtooth snapper.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

November 22, 2014

After a series of late season tropical storm fronts developing, this past week we saw weather patterns return to the more prevalent Fall conditions. Early morning chill, offshore breeze early in the day, shifting to variable winds predominately from the north. Ocean water temperatures were still holding 80/81 degrees, we expect that cooler current will gradually swept into the region. All in all the climate is ideal now, while much of the U.S. has endured record early cold waves, we are still wearing shorts in the warm 80 degree sunshine. Crowds have been lighter than you would expect for this time of year, but actually businesses have been much busier than in previous weeks, so it is nice to see the activity.

Live bait supplies seemed to have rebounded some after recent shortages, sardinas, caballito and some ballyhoo have been available. Skipjack, bolito and chihuil have been other baitfish options, though never a guarantee they will cooperate on the fishing grounds. Fishing action has been spread out from the Pacific to the grounds north of Punta Gorda, no real temperature break being found anywhere. Most San Jose del Cabo charters are now fishing in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, there had been a bite going on for smaller sized tuna, dorado and wahoo off of Santa Maria and Chileno , but this action became more inconsistent through the week and fleets were finding better chances in the vicinity of the Iman Bank.

Anglers found sporadic action for yellowfin tuna, at times in feeding frenzies, other times  not biting until later, though other days early action was best, areas close off of La Fortuna and Punta Gorda also were holding the schooling yellowfin tuna. One key was having the sardinas for bait. These tuna averaged 10 to 20 pounds, various skipjack were mixed with them. An occasional much larger tuna, weighing from 60 to over 200 pounds, was being accounted for, no big numbers though, Gordo Banks was the best bet at trying to find the larger grade of yellowfin. These fish were all hitting on various baits, either live, dead or chunk. They were not being taken on lures.

Most of the wahoo were striking on baits, as compared to on lures, you never know with these elusive spooky fish, they are very unpredictable. Many small wahoo under ten pounds were in the area, particularly closer to Cabo San Lucas, though there were quite a few fish in the 20 to 40 pound class and then an occasional larger specimen over 50 pounds also being reported. Most of this wahoo action was from Punta Gorda and further north.

More dorado are now being encountered off of San José del Cabo grounds, though the majority have been smaller sized fish, remember to release these juvenile fish, so that they can mature and reproduce, helping to maintain the future fishery. More sierra now moving inshore, always a sign of cooling currents to come.

Off the bottom rock piles there have been a handful of dogtooth snapper, amberjack, pargo, cabrilla and bonito found, though this has not been consistent and with increasing late morning winds from the north, this has not been a practical option at times. Billfish became even more scattered, probably the best bet would in the direction of the Pacific banks. With the warm ocean temperatures and plentiful schools of skipjack, there are still chances of the black and blue marlin hanging throughout the present year.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 205 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 115 wahoo, 590 yellowfin tuna, 310 dorado, 22 bonito, 150 skipjack, 23 cabrilla, 5 amberjack, 28 sierra, 15 jack crevalle, 2 roosterfish, 14 pargo and 6 dogtooth snapper.

Good fishing, Eric

November 15, 2014

Anglers –

The first week of November we saw late season Hurricane Vance develop and pass a couple hundred of miles to the southeast of Cabo San Lucas, increasing ocean swells and bringing some scattered rain showers, never really amounted to much, one day of charters were cancelled. This week there was another low pressure storm system passing from the south, moving eastward. This system never resulted in much, but did create rough choppy ocean conditions during the first two three days of the week. Now conditions have settled down for the first time in a couple of weeks and anglers are enjoying comfortable days on the water.

Crowds increased during the past couple of weeks, busy times now, which is normal during the weeks before Thanksgiving. Ocean water temperatures still warm for this late in the season, averaging 82 to 84 degrees, this could mean that we will have exotic species in local water through the rest of the year.

As we anticipated, bait supplies were more limited after the big surge in charter pressure and during local tournaments, which put even increased stress on bait schools. There have been sardinas available most days, as well as some caballito, ballyhoo were a bit harder to find, the fishing grounds held skipjack, bolito and chihuil, which were also being used for whole and cut bait. Fishing on the areas north of San Jose del Cabo were more productive for a variety of gamefish while using various baitfish, compared to on trolled lures. Though always a bonus to have some wahoo type lures such as Rapala X-Rap or skirted lead heads for your personal arsenal. Chihuil baitfish have not been easy to come by, but have proved to a bait of choice for wahoo and a few larger grade yellowfin tuna.

The yellowfin tuna action has been more sporadic since the passing of the recent full moon, tuna ranging from 10 to 258 lb. were landed this past week, chance at the bigger cows was still best on the Gordo Banks, though very few of the larger tuna are actually being hooked into. Better action for the smaller 10 to 30 lb. class fish was encountered around the Iman Bank. Crazy bite though, one day the Outer Gordo would be best, then the action would switch to Iman or back to the Inner Gordo Bank. Lots of bonito and various skipjacks mixed on the same grounds.

Best bet for finding wahoo has been near the Iman Bank, either on live caballito and chihuil or on trolled lures, more so on the live bait this past week, a few were hooked on yo-yo jigs. Sizes on the wahoo ranging from small sierra sized models, up towards 60 pounds. Dorado made a rebound this past week, as we saw increased numbers of fish in the 10 to 25 pound range, one day early in the week there was a section of a floating dock found and it was holding schooling dorado, tuna, wahoo and even sharks, the whole food chain., of course the next day no one located the same debris. Schools of dorado were also found north of Punta Gorda, it appears the fish are returning from the Pacific, in the direction of the Sea of Cortez.

Bottom action showed signs of improvement with the calmer days, a handful of cabrilla, snapper, triggerfish and at least one 35 lb. yellowtail was accounted for off of the Gordo Banks. Inshore there were jack crevalle, sierra and a few smaller sized roosterfish.

Billfish bite slowed compared to last week, a few striped marlin were scattered around, though we heard of more numbers on the Pacific.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 138 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 72 wahoo, 315 yellowfin tuna, 135 dorado, 28 bonito, 380 skipjack, 18 cabrilla, 1 yellowtail, 18 sierra, 14 jack crevalle, 4 roosterfish, 18 whitefish and 30 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric