Anglers –

August 10, 2019

Typical moderate numbers of tourists now arriving in the heat of the summer, braving the warm humid climate. Tropical conditions, highs of about 90 degrees, though feels more like a 100 degrees when calculating the heat index. A relatively quiet week for Eastern Pacific tropical storm activity, there are several low pressure area developing at this time, the forecast appears to have these systems drifting off to the west, away from any contact with land. The next six weeks are historically the time when storms can strike this region. Water temperatures have recently ranged from 77 to 83 degrees, there have been two meter swells and some south winds later in the day, but the overall ocean conditions have been favorable for anglers, with clean blue water now being found close to shore.

For the past week the local panga bait netters have been working the surf zone just to the north of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina jetty, finding good sized schools of sardinas, but they were having to work hard, other options were caballito, slabs of squid and ballyhoo.

Starting on Monday the yellowfin tuna finally decided to bite, this action was on the grounds from La Fortuna, Twenty-Five Spot, to Iman Bank. These yellowfin were ranging in sizes averaging 30 to 65 lb., though we did hear of one tuna of about 100 lb. being landed Friday. Some charters had as many as four tuna, others felt fortunate with just one, but at least these tuna were becoming more active. The fish were hitting on sardinas, squid and some on chunk bait from skipjack or bolito.

Dorado action was wide open on these same grounds, often not giving the tuna a chance to even get to any baits. Problem was that most of these dorado have been very small, but occasionally some larger fish were mixed in, the key is to release the smaller dorado with care and try to fill your personal limit with a couple of nicer sized fish. Offshore, on the marlin grounds there has been a better chance of finding large bull dorado, fish to over 40 lb., though not many numbers, just a few scattered nicer quality fish.

Marlin bite was sporadic, but at this time there can be opportunities for sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin. There was one black caught from a panga this week, weighed in the 400 lb. range. Several blue marlin were also reported, a handful of out of season striped marlin, as well as a couple of sailfish.

No wahoo to speak of, surface action now mainly being for dorado, tuna or billfish. Bottom action produced more triggerfish than anything else, a few yellow snapper, bonito, island jack and leopard grouper. Though more anglers were targeting the dorado and tuna at this time. Along the shore there were a few roosterfish still hanging around, as well as jack crevalle, though with increased surf activity this season is now winding down.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 69 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 2 sailfish, 1 black marlin, 4 striped marlin, 4 blue marlin, 450 dorado, 52 yellowfin tuna, 8 leopard grouper, 45 Mexican bonito, 14 yellow snapper, 1 island jack, 3 amberjack, 8 roosterfish, 6 jack crevalle and 38 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

Anglers –

August 3, 2019

New month is feeling more tropical by the day, increased humidity, last week there were distance tropical storms, Erick and Flossie, both headed far off to the west causing no impact with land. Presently there is a new storm named Gil, is expected to follow the same direction off west. Swells have been moderate, winds mainly out of the south later in the day, unpredictable from day to day when the breeze might pick up. Ocean temperatures are ranging from 80 to 86 degrees. High daytime temperature averaging 90 degrees.

The last few days there were sardinas found schooling just to the north of the marina jetty, so this has been a bonus bait option as well as caballito, ballyhoo and slabs of squid. Most common fish has been dorado, spread throughout the area, particularly around the Iman Bank. The majority of these fish were smaller in size, though a handful of larger fish to over 20 b. were mixed in. There has been a lot of catch and release going on. Most charters were easily getting their two dorado limits per person limits.

Very few yellowfin tuna were landed, though many were seen on different grounds, just with all of the natural food source in the area they just did not appear to be that hungry, the tuna that were caught were in the 15 to 25 lb. range.  A few wahoo were reported, found trolling in open water, on marlin and dorado grounds. Marlin action slowed down compared to previous week, though there were still chances at striped and blue marlin, also we saw at least one sailfish, have yet to report any black marlin this season.

Bottom action consisted mainly of triggerfish, with an occasional leopard grouper, amberjack or snapper. Some days various shark species were also hooked into while trying the bottom action. Most charters are now concentrating more on surface bite.

Along the shoreline there were a handful of roosterfish reported, though the season for these fish is now winding down.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 72 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 2 sailfish, 3 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin, 6 wahoo, 255 dorado, 8 yellowfin tuna, 11 leopard grouper, 12 Mexican bonito, 16 red snapper, 1 Pacific golden eyed tile fish, 4 yellow snapper, 9 amberjack, 6 roosterfish, 4 jack crevalle and 90 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric