Anglers –
June 27, 2015

This week we had persistent warmer weather conditions, no storms brewing on the map at this time, warm and humid conditions prevail and with warmer ocean currents pushing 80 degree plus water in our direction, anything could develop on the horizon any day. Ocean swells are minimal now, after the big blow last Saturday winds were now light, which turned water conditions over for a couple of days, water temperatures cooled by ten degrees overnight, also clarity became greenish closer to shore. Though now water has cleaned back up and conditions appear favorable.

The action became more scattered after the gusty winds, as water was cooler, the colder water species, such as Eastern Pacific Bonito and huachinango, the true Pacific red snapper went on a good bite on the San Luis Bank, striking mainly on yo-yo style jigs. By mid-week this action tapered off as warmer clean water returned. Though there was a decent mix of bottom species accounted for, pargo, amberjack, cabrilla and a few dogtooth snapper. Some fish to 30 lb. were landed.

Roosterfish action had really picked up the previous week, then as colder water pushed in this shut down the action, but by the later part of the week the monster sized roosterfish started to bite again, with the stretch near Punta Gorda producing roosters up to 70 lb. Please do remember to release these prized fighting gamefish with care.

Live bait sources remained the same inside the marina entrance area, with both caballito and moonfish plentiful. Bolito have been found schooling on the offshore grounds and make a very good extra bait option.

Dorado remain scarce, considering this is the time of year we should be seeing larger size do-do’s moving into local waters. Only an occasional wahoo being talked about, one 35 lb. ‘hoo was landed during last weekend’s Father’s Day Tournament out of La Playita.

There were a few larger sized yellowfin tuna found traveling with porpoise further offshore, anywhere from 24 to 40 miles out, not really a practical deal yet for panga charters. One yellowfin tuna of 183 lb. won the heavy fish honors during last weekend’s tournament, landed from a 40 ft. sportfisher far offshore, hard for the smaller pangas to compete against boats of size when the cleaner warm water had shifted some 40 miles offshore and seas were a bit choppy, this event was originally a panga event, but has opened up to any size boats, not really fair for the smaller boats to compete against these larger vessels, maybe different classes should be formed.

Billfish action tapered off during the first part of the week, though by late week striped marlin returned in force to within close range and many charters were accounting for multiple fish days, a few stripers were weighed up to 160 lb., larger grade fish moving in.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 70 charters for the shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 23 striped marlin, 16 dorado, 1 wahoo, 2 grouper, 8 amberjack, 19 cabrilla, 9 dogtooth snapper, 5 pargo colorado, 18 yellow snapper, 14 jack crevalle, 155 bonito,
115 huachinango (red snapper) and 25 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
June 20, 2015

With the summer season now officially upon us we have seen an increase of crowds, as many school have already ended school semesters are now on vacation. The latest Tropical Storm, “Carlos” dissipated off of mainland Mexico and never amounted to anything for Southern Baja, except for raising the heat and humidity factors, ocean swells barely even were visible and very few clouds were seen. Sunny days, with highs in the lower 90’s, winds predominately from the south, out of San Jose del Cabo, ocean conditions were calm and this is where the water temperatures were up to 80 degrees. Currents have fluctuated, pushing in cleaner water and then perhaps even the next day, shifting currents would sweep in off colored greenish water, this is time of year when we can see these rapidly fluctuating currents, which can affect how active the fish can be in certain areas on a given day.

Anglers were relying on the bait source found in the marina area, caballito and moonfish most readily available. Though there were reports of massive schools of mullet seen along the beaches just on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, have not seen these mullet in significant numbers for some time. Just like clockwork the larger sized roosterfish have arrived and are now patrolling inshore beach stretches, roosters weighing up to 70 lb. were landed and released this past week. Please remember to catch and release these prized trophy gamefish whenever possible, as they are not known for their eating qualities, instead they are sought after for their fighting quality and for being a true gamefish, being found only in few places of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Striped marlin were the main species found offshore, at times found very close to shore, striking on trolled lures, as well as on available baitfish. Main center of action was found offshore of San Jose del Cabo and Red Hill. A few sailfish now in the mix as well, swordfish were encountered by sportfishers venturing further offshore, 15 to 30 miles from shore. There have been reports of some blue marlin strikes that were lost. So anything could happen on any given day. Nothing much going on for yellowfin tuna now, though a handful of private charters found yellowfin further offshore traveling with porpoise, this is the season where we see the tuna moving with these mammals.

Dorado action was limited, an occasional larger bull being accounted for, one 37 lb. dorado was brought in La Playita, there were more juvenile sized schooling dorado found, these fish should be released with care, so that they can have the chance to mature, reproduce and help maintain healthy fish stocks.

Wahoo were definitely in the area, but anglers were fortunate to land one, as they were just not striking very aggressively. Most that were hooked into were from Palmilla Point and north of Punta Gorda, weighed to over 40 pounds. With more bolito appearing on the local grounds and favorable water conditions, these fish could go on a big bite anytime.

Panga charters were working inshore reefs and finding some amberjack, pargo, snapper, bonito, cabrilla and others, most of these fish were striking on the larger baitfish or on cut bait, a few of the amberjack were in the 70 pound class. Though last week we saw more numbers of these amberjack, conditions have fluctuated some, mainly clarity of the water, this could be a factor of the bite being off, could turn back on at any time. The roosterfish have been striking fairly consistently, quality sized fish, not uncommon to hook into a half dozen or more of these fish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 102 charters for the shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 sailfish, 13 striped marlin, 44 dorado, 7 wahoo, 3 grouper, 27 amberjack, 13 cabrilla, 5 dogtooth snapper, 9 pargo colorado, 6 sierra, 15 yellow snapper, 7 jack crevalle, 8 bonito and 88 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
June 13, 2015

Hurricane Blanca passed off to west of Cabo San Lucas last weekend, although everyone was heeding the warnings and preparing for worse conditions, this system never really amounted to much, very little rainfall at all was felt, though on Sunday night there were some wind gusts up to 50 or 60 mph the blew through the Los Cabos Region. Sportfishing fleets were shut down for three days due to stormy conditions, resuming operations on Tuesday. Ocean conditions were a bit stirred up, water was off colored and fleets were searching all the known local grounds for signs of the best possible action. Ocean currents were strong, even though swells diminished, water temperature ranged from 76 to 80 degrees through most of the area. Baits supplies of caballito and moonfish were being found in the Puerto Los Cabos Marina channel, only scattered numbers of mullet now showing up and no signs yet of sardinas.

Center of the most consistent action was found around the 25 spot, off of La Fortuna, inside of the Iman Bank. This is where hog sized amberjack have been testing the skill and strength of anglers, with fish to over 60 pounds being accounted for. These fish were striking on live baits while either slow trolling or drift fishing over the rocky structure. The few charters that did use downrigger equipment had particularly good results. Various varieties of cabrilla and pargo rounded out the catches from this area, with one more golden phased leopard grouper being accounted for.

Dorado were spread out, though a percentage of charters were finding limited numbers of these fish, with a few larger bulls starting to be accounted for. With the water now being an off colored greenish blue, we have not had any wahoo action this past week. Yellowfin tuna were also scarce during this past storm shortening week, though on Wednesday one angler did report losing a nice yellowfin, of an estimated 80 pounds, right as it neared the boat.

Striped marlin were spread out through the region, one charter boat had a double hook up close to shore while trolling ballyhoo, marlin were also found further offshore. There were reports from a couple different private sportfishers of landing cow sized yellowfin tuna while traveling offshore and encountering porpoise.

This is always the time of year when we see big roosterfish moving into the local inshore grounds and in recent days we have seen roosterfish up to 65 pounds landed, still no big numbers, but these fish are definitely in the area now. There were also some dogtooth snapper starting to appear along shore, near the rock outcroppings, these fish will test even the most skilled of anglers.

Presently we are closely monitoring the progress of Tropical Storm Carlos, as this system is forecast to move in the direction of Southern Baja by next Wednesday.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 52 charters for the shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 8 striped marlin, 19 dorado, 3 yellowfin tuna, 1 golden leopard grouper, 34 amberjack, 15 cabrilla, 3 dogtooth snapper, 4 pargo colorado, 2 sierra, 10 yellow snapper, 12 jack crevalle, 8 bonito and 20 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric