Anglers –
December 8, 2018

Crowds of tourists remain lighter, though there were some anglers arriving in town wishing to get into some classic Baja game fish action. Weather patterns have been mild, still some north winds through much of the week, some scattered light rainfall late in the week. Mostly clear sunny skies with high temperatures in the upper 70s. Ocean currents were strong, water temperature ranged from 76 to 79 degrees, cooler water towards Los Frailes, warmer currents on the Pacific grounds.

Schools of caballito continue to be found in the PLC marina channel, though not quite as abundant as they had been, no sardinas seen at all, slabs of squid and ballyhoo were the other available options. Would be nice to find a new resource for sardinas, these baitfish have been scarce since early October. Catching chihuil has proved to be harder this season, and there are limited bolito or small sized skipjack being found.

Billfish action has been more active on the Pacific, though off of San Jose del Cabo there has been more signs of striped Marlin appearing, though spotty from day to day. Also we saw a couple of late season sailfish landed, as well as a monster 500 lb. class black marlin that was lost on Wednesday after an extended battle as the fish was nearing the smaller center console, the rod and line ended up breaking at the same time and the big black won the battle.

Yellowfin tuna action slowed way down this week, the Gordo Banks to Iman, San Luis and Vinorama were all scouted out, Iman Bank seemed to produce more numbers of tuna, though anglers were lucky to land one or two, sizes averaged 15 to 70 lb. Drift fishing with squid was the most successful technique, though with swift currents and a lot of natural food source on the grounds, the yellowfin were not easy to entice. Some white and black skipjack were on the same grounds, as were the ever present triggerfish, which has been the main species found now found off of the structure. Only an occasional cabrilla, amberjack or pargo being found, though with swift currents, not many anglers have concentrated on bottom action.

Dorado were concentrated closer to shore now, at times seen chasing flying fish or ballyhoo, under diving frigate birds, changing daily and moving fast. Dorado to 20 lb. were landed, no big numbers, but more than we had seen previous periods. Areas from Red Hill to Punta Gorda were holding dorado now, but again this proved sporadic from day to day.

Wahoo were found from Punta Gorda to Vinorama, though anglers were fortunate to land one or two or these fish. Using caballito or ballyhoo proved the most successful, not many lure or jig strikes. The wahoo are very finicky as to when they will bite. Spear fishing pressure has been unprecedented and seems to play a factor as to why these popular gamefish are increasing shy when they hear any boat motor noise.

Along the shoreline near Punta Gorda there have been roosterfish, most of these under 15 lb., a few jack crevalle, needlefish and sierra in the mix, with live sardinas this bite could be better, but at this time they are using caballito, often these are larger sized, the smaller sized bait seem to be more enticing for these inshore fish.

Whale migration in now arriving, no huge numbers yet, but they are arriving, both humpback and grays, this usually peaks more in January and February.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 92 charters for the week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 2 sailfish, 9 striped marlin, 105 dorado, 16 wahoo, 96 yellowfin tuna, 16 bonito, 26 white skipjack, 6 red snapper, 8 yellow snapper, 4 amberjack, 8 cabrilla, 4 sierra, 26 roosterfish, 8 jack crevalle and 125 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
December 1, 2018

Well the main busy fall season has now come to an end, as crowds of tourists and visiting anglers have lightened considerably, this is the normal pattern after the Thanksgiving Holiday, as people have other priorities and are now gearing up for Christmas Holiday coming up in several weeks. This is now actually a great time to visit, with the crowds down, this gives the bait supply a chance to replenish, also means less boat pressure on the fishing grounds, typically through the month of December we are still targeting the same gamefish species, such as yellowfin tuna, dorado, wahoo, as well as striped marlin.

Through much of this week we again felt the north winds, not as bad as the previous week, but still gusting and making for rougher conditions. Ocean temperature has been in the 77 to 79 degree range though most of the region. Main live bait being offered is caballito, also ballyhoo and slabs of squid available. Local fleets were mainly fishing the grounds from Red Hill to Gordo Banks, Iman, San Luis and as far north as Vinorama. Overall the action was more sporadic and spread out, really no particular hot spot from day to day, numbers of fish caught were less, but still there were some nice catches accounted for. On these grounds the main species being found are yellowfin tuna, dorado or wahoo. Not much going on off the bottom besides triggerfish and a few early morning snapper and cabrilla.

Every day we hear of one or two larger sized tuna being hooked into, most of these were taken off of the Gordo Banks, in recent days we weighed yellowfin of 145 lb., 220 lb. and a super cow 334 lb. landed late afternoon Friday aboard the center console “Jaqueline”, several other big fish lost after long battles. Slow trolling larger baits or drift fishing with strips of squid produced hook ups. Tuna were found from Iman to Vinorama as well, most of these in the 10 to 70 lb. class, but numbers were few and far between.

Dorado action was very good early in the week, especially off of Red Hill area, but then this action became more spread out, trolling ballyhoo or caballito seemed to be the best bet for finding these schooling dorado. The fish being encountered have ranged up to 20 lb. There are a lot of wahoo in the area, but getting them to bite has been the hard part. Many wahoo are striking while anglers are drifting with squid for tuna, these fish have not been striking trolled lures as well as they do at times. Best chances seem to come now on slow trolled baits, such as caballito or chihuil. Lots of spear fishing pressure now, this is the season the divers come out in force, the deal is that there are now far greater numbers of spear fishermen that are congregating on the same grounds that the rod and reel anglers are and we do notice that this does make the fish that much more spooky and elusive. Inshore areas are fragile and cannot sustain such pressure.

Along the shoreline there have been some roosterfish, jack crevalle, most roosters being smaller fish, but we heard of an occasional much larger specimen caught and released, not the normal deal for this time of year. Billfish bite has mainly been on the Pacific now, good number of striped marlin, though a handful of stripers are being seen around the Iman Banks and the Gordo Banks

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 104 charters for the week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 7 striped marlin, 135 dorado, 45 wahoo, 85 yellowfin tuna, 34 bonito, 14 white skipjack, 8 red snapper, 11 yellow snapper, 4 cabrilla, 5 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 4 jack crevalle and 90 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric