Anglers –
April 29, 2017

Moderate crowds now that spring break has passed, this week the annual event of the Norra 1000 off road rally race celebrating their 50 th anniversary of running, arrived at their final destination of San Jose del Cabo on Thursday afternoon after five action packed stages, starting last Sunday from Ensenada, this was a fun event for everyone involved. Weather patterns are feeling more like summer in recent days, though early in the week there was some heavy fog marine layer to deal with for offshore operators, also later in the week there were swirling gusty winds pushing in from the Pacific Ocean water temperatures varied from up to 76 degree in the direction towards Vinorama and as chilly as 66 degrees on the Pacific. Still definitely in the midst of transition period.

Last week the main highlight for fishing action was the yellowfin tuna, which were striking on sardinas from the Iman to San Luis Banks. Now that action has slowed way down, problems with jack crevalle moving in, to many skipjack and wind chop that picked up early, at times lots of yellowfin were seen, but were finicky to strike, also diminishing supplies of sardinas. Still a chance at catching a couple of tuna in the 20 to 40 lb. class, though very spotty in recent days.

Striped marlin bite improved offshore of Palmilla, in the vicinity of the 1150 spot, some 15 plus miles offshore. Many charters were reported multiple chances for marlin, while trolling lures and rigged ballyhoo, there was a lack of live bait to help offshore now, no caballito to be found, that should improve soon. We should also start to see maybe some moonfish and mullet schools appearing in the marina area, which would help open up more baitfish options. No dorado or wahoo reported, though if weather does stabilize soon and more warm water pushes back in, anything could happen.

Snapper bite faded out, lack of red crabs for bait, a few cabrilla, amberjack, pompano, bonito and triggerfish were accounted for off the bottom, using yo-yo jigs and various available baits, had to work hard for handful of fish. Once again, we do expect this lull in activity to pick up soon as we get more consistent warmer weather conditions. This time of year can typically be like this, changing week to week, what is hot and what is not.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 60 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 9 striped marlin, 29 yellowfin tuna, 11 amberjack, 14 yellow snapper, 8 barred pargo, 16 leopard grouper, 5 pompano, 22 huachinango, 14 roosterfish, 19 sierra, 8 bonito and 210 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
April 23, 2017

Easter week is now past, businesses are back in operation after extended weekend break, though local schools still have this week off, will be returning Monday for classes. Spring break rush of tourists has tapered off and crowds are moderate now. Weather is ideal, clear sunny skies, high temperatures of about 85 degrees and winds have been light. Ocean water temperatures are ranging 72 to 75 degrees, areas of blotchy greenish water closer to shore, though north of Punta Gorda to Vinorama the clarity has been much improved.

The highlight this week was the yellowfin tuna action, fish in the 20 to 40 lb. class started to bite near Vinorama, about one mile offshore. Angers were using live sardinas, which in recent days were found schooling near the Puerto Los Cabos Marina jetties. Drift fishing and slow trolling baits worked, average catches ranged from 2 to 6 per tuna boat, good action considering this is early in the season for yellowfin.

The snapper action continued on the Gordo Banks and on other high spots, the key was obtaining red crabs for bait, also the drift was very swift at times, which made this style of fishing tougher. Still a great option to have, as these snapper are ranging from 4 to 12 lb. and are excellent eating. In recent days more boats were trying for the tuna action, since it had just developed again. Other rock piles such as Palmilla Point, Iman Bank. La Fortuna and San Luis Bank produced various numbers of amberjack, bonito, pargo and cabrilla, anglers working hard with yo-yo jigs were rewarded with an occasional amberjack up to 30 lb., but overall the numbers were limited.

The way the weather patterns are now, continuing warming trend, anything can happen on any given day, this week it was the yellowfin tuna, next week possibly striped marlin, wahoo or larger amberjack could appear. Things can change fast as we progress towards summer.

Heard of a couple of snook taken by shore anglers, also a few roosterfish taken by slow trolling baits near shore, one in the 25 lb. range. With more baitfish appearing along the beach stretches we should start to see increased activity.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 66 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 165 yellowfin tuna, 13 amberjack, 19 yellow snapper, 13 leopard grouper, 4 pompano, 6 roosterfish, 180 huachinango, 14 sierra, 14 bonito and 70 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
April 15, 2017

This is Easter week, through this weekend the entire area almost shuts down, as local families flock to the many beaches to enjoy their vacation time with family and friends. The weather is definitely cooperating, ideal climate now, lows near 60 degrees, quickly warming up into the 80s as the sun rises, winds picked up for a couple of days early in the week, but then laid back down and anglers enjoyed great conditions on the water.

Ocean water temperatures are in the 70 to 74 degree range, actually a bit warmer and clearer close to shore than it has been farther out. Most consistent fishing action recently has been found from the Gordo Banks, north towards La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis Bank. Main bait source the past week was red crabs, caballito and ballyhoo, not much effort put towards finding the schools of sardinas, since most charters were using the red crabs with good results for the red snapper. Surf conditions continue to be high enough that was more challenging for the bait netters to reach the areas where the sardinas are schooling.

The most productive red snapper (huachinango) action was found on the Gordo Banks, strong currents varied and it would vary from day to day as to where the better bite was found, either on the Inner or Outer Banks, also sea lions continue to be a nuisance, robbing more than their fair share of the catch. The whales have now pretty much vanished from our area, headed back towards their northern summer time feeding grounds. The unusual run of larger sized crabs continue throughout the region off of San Jose del Cabo, though the more usual smaller red crabs have been the mainstay for bait being use to catch the snapper. The fish are sometimes coming up near the surface, but more often holding in the middle of the water column. Average sizes ranged from 3 to 12 lb., these excellent eating fish are highly prized for commercial value as well and this has definitely been the main game going on now.

Minimal surface action was being found, a handful of yellowfin tuna to 15 lb. were taken on the troll earlier in the week, heard of one or two wahoo and a stray dorado offshore. No billfish action to speak of either, by the end of the month we expect to see improved surface activity, but in the meantime we will be concentrating over the bottom structure. A handful of amberjack, most of them under 15 lb., we saw one nice 25 lb. yellowtail, which was also taken on a red crab bait on the Inner Gordo Bank. Some yellow snapper, leopard grouper, bonito and triggerfish rounded out the bottom catch, anglers were using various whole and cut baits, as well as yo-yo jigs for this action.

Although we are not seeing many trophy sized catches recently, the fish that are being caught are of the very good eating variety, this season is turning out to be one of the better in many years for the amount of quality red snapper being accounted for. We expect we will start to see more amberjack and dogtooth snapper appear in these fish counts in the coming weeks.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 75 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 wahoo, 1 dorado, 8 yellowfin tuna, 1 yellowtail, 16 amberjack, 40 yellow snapper, 14 leopard grouper, 1 golden cabrilla, 560 huachinango, 9 sierra, 48 bonito, 12 mojarra, 70 black skipjack and 140 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric