Anglers –
July 28, 2018

Ae we progress deeper into the summer season we are seeing limited numbers of tourists arriving, despite weather conditions being very tranquillo. No new tropical storms threatening for the near future. There was an increase in swell activity due to distant southern disturbances, also the wind picked up earlier in the week, mainly from the south, but swirling as well from the north and then out of the east, once again by the weekend conditions calmed down. The wind had pushed in greener water, especially closer to shore, also cooled the water a few degrees. Though now the water is becoming bluer with each passing calm day, water temperatures is back up averaging 78 to 83 degrees.

Finding the live sardinas has been tougher this week, some days hardly any could be located, other days there were sufficient supplies. Caballito still have been readily available, though some morning the bait moved into netting range later than at first light. There were still options of mullet for bait as well, these seem to be working best for the roosterfish, which are still in the area, but this is now the later part of the season for these gamefish. Some anglers are starting to use strips of squid for targeting the yellowfin tuna, bought from local super markets, this always becomes another option this time of year when the sardinas do normally become much scarcer.

Targeting the yellowfin tuna seemed to be the most productive option. Main center of activity has been from the Gordo Banks to the Iman Bank. Good numbers of the smaller football sized tuna have moved onto to both grounds, ranging from a few pounds to about 15 lb., mixed in with black skipjack and the Eastern Pacific bonito. The best chance of hooking into a larger grade of yellowfin has been near the Iman Bank, everyday a handful of tuna in the 50 to 70 lb. have been accounted for, these fish were finicky, a couple of yellowfin much larger were seen and even hooked into, though were lost due to extended battles on lighter than ideal tackle, this because the tuna were hitting the lighter line more readily.

Not much happening off the bottom, besides the bonito, a scattered of red snapper and an occasional amberjack or cabrilla. Still lots of sharks hanging on these same fishing grounds, most of them appear to be silky, also some hammerhead.

After seeing good numbers of dorado last week, though most were smaller in size, this week they were much fewer, no particular area that they were more concentrated, best chance at a nicer sized dorado seemed to be further offshore where charters were targeting billfish. Marlin action was limited, though a couple of blue marlin in the 200 lb. class were accounted for, also a few late season striped marlin and a few sailfish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for this week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 3 sailfish, 3 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin, 2 wahoo, 22 dorado, 265 yellowfin tuna, 190 bonito, 6 yellow snapper, 14 red snapper, 9 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 4 amberjack, 55 roosterfish, 22 jack crevalle and 34 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
July 21, 2018

We saw a slight increase in visiting anglers this past week. Weather patterns were increasingly more tropical, with more cloud cover, but only some very minimal rainfall was felt, more humidity than anything else. No new storms brewing to the south at this time, mild surf conditions and very little wind. All this made for great ocean conditions for anglers, with water temperatures up in the 80 to 83 degree range through most of the region and even warmer currents lurking further offshore. Lot of baitfish now on the fishing grounds.

Anglers found sufficient supplies of bait near the marina area, mainly sardinas, caballito and mullet. Most of the fishing action has now been centered from the Gordo Banks to Iman, San Luis and north to Vinorama. Cleaner currents have improved the all-around action in recent days. Though the yellowfin tuna that are schooling near and Iman and San Luis Banks continue to be very finicky from day to day, though the tuna that are being hooked into are averaging in the 40 to 60 lb. class and there were at least a couple of larger tuna up to 120 lb. accounted for this past week. Some small football sized yellowfin tuna have also shown up, we have not seen those yet until now, perfect bait size for trolling after at a big black or blue marlin. We have heard the reports of black and blue marlin taken out of the East Cape and especially out of La Paz. On our grounds a couple of blue marlin in the 200 to 300 lb. class were reported. Some sailfish and striped marlin were also found on the same grounds,

The wahoo and dorado also became more active this week, dorado were found on the same tuna grounds, most of these on various baitfish, though they would strike lures as well. Sizes ranged up to 20 lb., though the majority were under ten pounds, please remember to release the smaller fish, especially the females, which are easily identified by there more rounded off forehead. Wahoo were striking trolled Rapalas near Iman, San Luis and Vinorama, no huge numbers, but at least we are seeing some of these elusive and highly sought after gamefish, sizes were respectable, averaging 30 to 40 lb.

Bottomfish was mainly jigging for red snapper and bonito off of Iman and San Luis, some days better than others, late in the season now for these fish. Hoping to see more amberjack and possibly dogtooth snapper show up. Only a handful of leopard grouper or broom tail grouper found.

Inshore action for roosterfish was becoming a bit more scattered, but some epic action for quality sized roosterfish to 70 lb. was found, particularly on the beach stretches towards Vinorama, but also off the local hotel zones as well. Mixed in were some hog sized jack crevalle and even a few out of season sierra. Best bait for roosters was live mullet

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 74 charters for this week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 5 sailfish, 7 striped marlin, 92 dorado, 132 yellowfin tuna, 9 wahoo,142 bonito, 12 yellow snapper, 75 red snapper, 19 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 2 amberjack, 68 roosterfish, 19 jack crevalle, 8 barred pargo, 5 surgeon fish, 8 sierra and 38 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
July 14, 2018

Crowds of tourists continued to be lighter than we might expect, though maybe the more serious anglers are waiting for the fish reports to improve. Tropical weather patterns remained very quiet, light ocean swells, high temperatures near 90 degrees, water temp now back up to 80 degrees, water is steadily cleaning, with no new storms seen developing on the horizon and extended forecast looking quiet for the next ten days, it all appears to be favorable for putting our summer season back on track.

Supplies of baitfish now included caballito, mullet, sardinas and a few moonfish in the mix. Most of this bait activity is found right in the marina channel area. With the variety of baitfish in this area there have been some amberjack being hooked into right offshore of the nearby marina jetty, of course the word travels fast and many locals are now taking advantage of this limited opportunity.

Offshore action was hit or miss, mostly just heading out deep, 10 to 30 miles out, looking for schools of porpoise, with hopes of finding yellowfin tuna. With water temperatures warming and clarity improving daily, we have seen the action for yellowfin tuna near San Luis Bank rebound. No big numbers yet, but every day we are seeing some tuna brought in that are averaging 50 to 70 lb., these fish have been striking on caballito, sardinas and some on yo-yo jigs. Many of the silky sharks were lurking on these same grounds, ready for any chance they can find at an easy meal. Most charters were doing well to land one of these quality yellowfin, though some were more fortunate and landed up to three tuna. Mixed on these grounds were red snapper (huachinango), bonito, sailfish and striped marlin. With water clarity looking much better anglers reported seeing free swimming wahoo on these gronds as well, maybe if the water does not become too warm these fish will also start to bite.

Along the shoreline there were still some trophy sized roosterfish found, best bait for these fish seemed to be live mullet. Please remember to release these trophy roosterfish, as this fishery is becoming more fragile with each passing season and it is very important to preserve this species for future generations.

Only a scattered of smaller sized dorado seen this past week, with improving ocean conditions we should start to see some larger fish show up. Later in the month of July and through the rest of the summer is known for big fish season.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for this week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 4 sailfish, 11 striped marlin, 16 dorado, 55 yellowfin tuna, 158 bonito, 5 yellow snapper, 164 red snapper, 7 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 11 amberjack, 12 roosterfish, 3 barred pargo, 4 sierra and 36 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric