Anglers –

March 30, 2019

Despite the local spring break not happening until second and third week of April, we did see  a flood of spring break vacationers arriving from northern states. Visitors were greeted with great weather conditions, mostly clear sunny skies and high temperatures averaging 80 degrees. Ocean conditions were relatively calm, moderate swells and winds were not much of a problem, though currents remain swift. We are now still in a transition period, with ocean conditions slowly rebounding, now up to 72 degrees and much cleaner, blue water returning, more signs of batfish, flying fish, etc , all good signs that spring season is arriving and we are optimistic that the fishing action will be very good.

In recent days, bait supplies were limited, ballyhoo, some slabs of squid, very little activity for any sardinas, many charters are caching some of their own chihuil or mackerel out on the grounds near the Gordo Banks. Overall the action this week was tougher than last, but a variety of fish were found and there some quality specimens accounted for.

Billfishing was very spotty and scattered, though every day there are reports of striped marlin being seen, just not in any numbers and much of the time they were not in the mood to strike, though a handful were landed, weighing in the 90 to 110 lb. range. With the ocean now on a cleaning and warming trend we do expect to see improved billfish action soon.

Species such as wahoo, dorado or yellowfin tuna were hard to find now, on Thursday we did have one 40 lb. yellowfin brought in, it was taken near Cardon on a trolled chihuil for bait, other tuna were lost this same day, then on Friday bite picked up with some more quality tuna in the 40 to 60 lb. class were accounted for. So this bite seems to be developing once again. Off of Cabo San Lucas we heard reports of some tuna, we assume that these fish were being found further offshore and most likely associated with moving porpoise. We are only seeing an occasional dorado, and had no wahoo to report.

The best chance of catching fish now has been to concentrate over the structure, with the more productive areas being from the Gordo Banks to the San Luis Bank. Using various whole and cut baits, as well as yo-yo style and flat fall jigs, anglers found a variety of species. Early in the week we were seeing a handful of quality sized yellowtail, in the 25 to 35 lb. range, most of these hooked into on live baits off of the Gordo Banks. Later in the week this action seemed to stall out, as more sharks and other species were found. The Eastern Pacific bonito was the most numerous, most of these in the 3 to 8 lb. range, an occasional larger fish. A few broomtail group, amberjack, leopard grouper and various pargo species were also found.

Closer to shore over the rocky areas, there were more triggerfish than anything else, a few nice island jacks found as well, only an odd sierra being reported, as well as a handful of jack crevalle and smaller sized roosterfish.

There are still some whales being seen, but this is now the final time frame for these mammals, as the majority are already on their northern migration and the rest of them will be following soon. More sea lions starting to hang out on the same popular fishing grounds, this never seems to help the fishing any.

The combined sportfishing fleet out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina reported an estimated 85 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 6 dorado, 9 yellowfin tuna, 12 yellowtail, 8 leopard grouper, 245 bonito, 26 red snapper, 3 island jack, 16 roosterfish, 2 surgeonfish, 6 barred pargo, 9 yellow snapper, 22 amberjack, 12 golden eyed tilefish, 4 glasseye snapper, 7 baqueta grouper, 6 sierra, 4 jack crevalle,3 broomtail grouper and 80 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

Anglers –

March 23, 2019

We saw similar low numbers of vacationers arriving this past week, though we expect to see more spring break tourists arriving soon. Weather patterns had been on a cooling trend and now we are starting to see this turn around, as winds have laid down and days are warming up near the 80 degree mark. Ocean conditions had turned over to be cold and green, but now we are seeing this rebound some, it can be a slow process, water is now averaging 71 to 73 degrees.

Main baits being used now were caballito and ballyhoo, no sardinas being found to speak of and not much going on with slabs of squid now. It is the time of year where anglers use more yo-yo style jigs off the bottom spots.

The all-around fishing did improve the past few days, the highlight being some hog sized amberjack in the 50 to 70 lb. class, also a few nice 25 lb. yellowtail were brought in, so this is encouraging to see these larger gamefish species showing up, taken over the structure near San Luis Bank. Also plenty of the Eastern Pacific bonito to keep anglers busy, a few even up to 15 lb. Some of the big amberjack actually grabbed onto bonito that were hooked up, these are hungry and aggressive fish, very powerful as well.

Only one or two yellowfin tuna seen all week, dorado were scarce as well, perhaps with a slight warming of the water we might see more of these fish, chance that maybe even the wahoo will wake up. The water is still greenish, but not as bad as it had been, it is on a clearing trend now, a lot can happen in a matter of a few days this time of year.

Action was scattered for striped marlin, though as the water clears we should see this improve, even in the off colored water there were reports of striped marlin, just no big concentrations at this time, at least off of the San Jose del Cabo grounds.

Inshore there were good numbers of small sized roosterfish off of the Hotel zone, trolling live bait is what these fish want, without sardinas, the other choice would be caballito or possibly mullet. Only a handful of sierra are being caught, a few up to five pounds.

The combined sportfishing fleet out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina reported an estimated 60 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 5 dorado, 1 yellowfin tuna, 1 wahoo, 7 yellowtail, 13 leopard grouper, 205 bonito, 34 red snapper, 15 roosterfish, 3 surgeonfish, 4 barred pargo, 9 yellow snapper, 22 amberjack, 9 golden eyed tilefish, 5 glasseye snapper, 12 baqueta grouper, 9 sierra, 8 jack crevalle, 1 broomtail grouper and 110 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

Anglers –

March 16, 2019

Still fairly quiet in town as far as numbers of tourists arriving. Weather patterns were cool throughout the week, most days barely reaching 75 degrees, lows down to 55 degrees. Skies were mostly clear, only scattered cloud cover, winds were swirling from different directions, settling down late in the week. Ocean water temperatures ranged from a chilly 68 degree on the Pacific to 72 degrees in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. Green water was reported throughout the entire region, later in the week areas north of Punta Gorda, towards Iman Bank and Vinorama were showing signs of cleaning up. Very strong currents at times, this has attributing to fluctuating conditions. This pattern can be normal for this time of year as we transition from winter into the spring season. As warmer conditions become progressively more consistent and winds out of the north reside, conditions will improve and this in turn will help the overall fishing action.

All around the fishing was very slow this past week, as anglers were dealing with turned over water conditions and just not much was going on. Scattered bottom action, when seas allowed, not much surface action at all reported, sporadic early in the week, becoming more difficult as the week progressed. Being optimistic that maybe the next day will be better, just the way the ocean conditions were it is not as simple as just completely rebounding overnight, can take a few days once the conditions do stabilize, so we are patiently waiting now for things to improve.

Bait supplies consisting of sardinas, mackerel, ballyhoo and some slabs of squid. Anglers were using yo-yo jigs off the bottom structure, as well as the various whole and cut baits. Triggerfish was the most common species, but there were some bonito, snapper, pargo and leopard grouper also accounted for.

Early in the week there were some striped marlin found, but then with the greenish that bite dissipated. On Monday there was also one nice 75 lb. yellowfin tuna taken from a panga while drift fishing on the Gordo Banks with squid, that same days several of tuna strikes were also lost, then that same afternoon conditions turned over and since we have not seen the tuna. Only a few scattered dorado were found through the week.

Inshore there were some sierra and smaller sized roosterfish found, but this action proved sporadic from day to day as well. This Sunday there is the annual San Jose del Cabo fiesta days fishing tournament, slated for Dorado, tuna and wahoo, could be a tough go trying to find any of these species unless water improves quickly.

The combined sportfishing fleet out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina reported an estimated 66 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 12 dorado, 1 yellowfin tuna, 12 wahoo, 9 leopard grouper, 85 bonito, 34 red snapper, 44 roosterfish, 4 yellow snapper, 2 amberjack, 8 golden eyed tilefish, 14 glasseye snapper, 16 sierra and 110 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric