Anglers –

January 31, 2015

This past week we saw more crowds of tourists traveling to the Los Cabos resort destination, airport activity was bustling and patience was necessary to get through International Customs. Lots of visitors, escaping the cold wintry conditions across much of the United States, despite this influx of people, not a high percentage of them were anglers and sportfishing fleets reported that though the fishing was very good, there were not many numbers of charters going out. That time of year, off season now for certain pelagic gamefish, spring time will be here soon enough.

Weather patterns were unpredictable, going from cold, cloudy, rainy, windy, to calm and quite warm, up to 90 degrees. Now we are starting the new month and as the local saying goes, “Febreo loco and Marzo otro poco”.Translated to “Crazy February and March even more”.

Actually in recent days the water clarity improved along the stretches north of Punta Gorda, ocean temperatures have dropped now into the 70/74 degree range, which might still be slightly higher than normal seasonal averages. Last week anglers were dealing with a challenging situation, having to wait for long as two hours for supplies of live sardinas to be delivered. Problem was that the baitfish schools shifted with the currents, in the direction of Cabo San Lucas, near Santa Maria, pangeros netters worked in the surf zone to net sardinas and then motor back to Puerto Los Cabos, where charters would obtain bait and head to the more productive northern fishing grounds. Bait supplies are no longer as abundant as in previous decades, more patience is needed, or later departure times arranged, there were not many options available for anglers to catch fish while waiting for this bait to arrive. Local pangeros were forced to regroup and now have found sardinas schooling north, near San Luis and Vinorama, they are hauling supplies to meet local sportfishing charters on the grounds such as La Fortuna, Iman and Cardon.

Yellowfin tuna are hanging around late into the season, or maybe this is the start of the new season, results will be dictated on what exactly happens with the ocean conditions and various food sources preferred by the gamefish. Spotty action, depending on what the weather and currents allowed. Tuna are being encountered on various grounds, most not far from shore, including the Gordo Banks, to La Fortuna, Iman and Vinorama. The bite was at random, sometimes early and often later in the morning, major issue with sea lions on other days. Average tuna was in the 15 to 30 lb., though the larger grade of fish was still lurking around the Gordo Banks, favorite choices for bait was sardinas or squid strips.

Dorado were found in decent numbers, La Fortuna and Cardon were good spots, fish ranging to 20 lbs., a handful even larger, slowly trolling or drift fishing with sardinas was a good bet, watch out for needlefish and skipjack.

Not much reported off the bottom, a mix of pargo, cabrilla, bonito and triggerfish for the few anglers that gave it a try when weather and currents allowed. Inshore action continued to be dominated by sierra, striking most readily on sardinas and earlier in the day, also some jack crevalle and juvenile roosterfish roaming the shoreline, remember to release these roosterfish, as they are a prized fighting gamefish that are only encountered and a limited natural range and need to be protected.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 52 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 76 yellowfin tuna, 220 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 88 dorado, 20 bonito, 16 cabrilla, 34 various pargo and snapper species, 10 jack crevalle and 8 amberjack.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

January 25, 2015

Similar patterns this past week, winter weather hard to predict, though the all-around climate is very pleasant and light crowds are enjoying themselves, soaking up the available warm sunshine. Winds have been more predominate again from the north and this has limited what areas the sportfishing charters could comfortably operate on any given day. Inshore areas north of Punta Gorda are seeing more greenish colored cooler current push in from the north, water temperatures are dropping as well, from the lower 70s up to the 75 degree range. Baits sources are supplying charters with sardinas, caballito and there are ballyhoo available as well. Lots of whale activity now being seen on a daily basis.

Anglers found billfish action offshore, a bit hit or miss, but this week the bite for striped marlin improved offshore of San Jose del Cabo, anywhere from four to six miles out, many marlin were hooked into while drift fishing live baits down deep, also trolling on the surface. Dorado were spread out, more being found closer to shore than further out, these fish are traveling where their food source is. The majority of the dorado were small to medium sized, an exception of a handful of fish being over 20 lb. Striking more often on bait than lures.

Yellowfin tuna action picked up, especially in the Inner Gordo Banks, the wind factor was an issue, too much wind and swift current on certain days made this option difficult to impossible. Though there were a larger grade of yellowfin now on these grounds, up to 100 pounds, many in the 30 to 80 lb. class were hooked into, biting best on sardinas rigged on lighter leader of forty pound test. Some charters had as many as three or four of these nice tuna, other days we would see maybe one or tuna all together. So this late season bite was still sporadic, though fairly impressive to even have a chance at these quality fish at this time of year. Tuna were also found on the banks such as La Fortuna and Iman, these fish were mostly in the 15 to 30 lb. range, again hit or miss, depending on the north wind conditions.

These same fishing grounds were producing a mix of bottom structure species, not a lot of large fish, most were under fifteen pounds, though always a chance of a much larger specimen and all of these fish are the excellent eating variety. Catches were made on yo-yo jigs, as well as on whole and cut bait, including pargo, snapper, porgy, island jacks, bonito, triggerfish, amberjack, cabrilla and parrot fish.

Close to shore the sierra run is now in full swing, once found, these schooling fish are voracious feeders and the action often can be fast and furious on these scrappy gamesters that were averaging three to five pounds. Also a few roosterfish and jacks rounding out inshore catches. Most of the roosterfish now being found are juvenile sized and should be released unharmed whenever possible. Early in the morning while panga charters were waiting for bait suppliers some nice fish have been hooked into directly outside of the Puerto Los Cabos jetties, including yellow snapper, cabrilla and amberjack. This was a early bird special and would happen one day and then maybe not the next, though a few fish in the 20 to 30 lb. class were accounted for.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 68 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 16 striped marlin, 95 yellowfin tuna, 325 sierra, 15 roosterfish, 72 dorado, 45 bonito, 18 barred pargo, 28 yellow snapper, 15 island jack, 14 amberjack, 28 cabrilla, 12 porgy,

8 parrotfish and 32 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

January 18, 2015

As we progress deeper into the winter season, we are now seeing light crowds of tourists arriving in Los Cabos. With airplane fares becoming more reasonable, as fuel prices drop, we expect more people will realize this and take the opportunity to visit this winter wonderland. We have seen varying weather patterns, some days with cloud cover, with some scattered rainfall earlier in the week, scarcely measurable, then again on other days there was plenty of warm sunshine, with highs reaching near 80 degrees.

Winds were variable as well, the week started off very tranquil, then later in the week there were stronger breezes blowing from the north. These patterns contributed to anglers adjusted their game plans accordingly, as to where they could comfortable fish on a given day. Options varied from offshore, inshore and reef fishing. Ocean temperatures were ranging from 74 to 77 degrees throughout the region, greener off colored currents now pushing in from the north.

Anglers enjoyed excellent action for yellowfin tuna during the first half of the week, tuna were striking on sardinas off of the normal grounds, such as the Gordo Banks, Iman, Vinorama, La Fortuna and Punta Gorda. Easy limits were taken on yellowfin that averaged 15 to 25 pounds, with a larger grade of fish mixed in as well, some 30 to 50 pounds and even a handful topping the 70 pound mark. A local angler reported one tuna over 100 pounds while fishing with slabs of squid on the Gordo Banks, so even though this is now very late in the season, there is still a chance at a larger sized yellowfin.

Dorado were more hit or miss, though there were actually more of these gamefish accounted for this week, as compared to the previous. Found in small schools. Many very close to shore, ranging 5 to 25 pounds. Wahoo were seen, but not many were being hooked into, remember last season, when the wahoo action went wide open during mid-February, we are hoping for a repeat of that non typical scenario.

Inshore action remained steady for sierra, scrappy gamesters, ranging up to eight pounds, striking on sardinas, trolled hoochies and Rapalas. Some juvenile sized roosterfish and various jacks also found close to shore. Off the shallow rock piles there has been a variety of structure species encountered, though this action was not consistent from day to day, depended greatly on how strong currents and winds were.

We are now seeing the main concentration of both humpback and gray whales arriving for their annual breeding and feeding voyage to Southern Baja. Sea Lions are bountiful as well remaining a pesky nuisance on the fishing grounds.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 8 striped marlin, 2 wahoo, 365 yellowfin tuna, 134 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 38 dorado, 28bonito, 12 white skipjack, 42 miscellaneous pargo, 5 island jack, 16 amberjack, 18 cabrilla and 25 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric