Wahoo, Tuna Action for Crowds of Anglers ~ October 26, 2019

October 26, 2019

Anglers –

Busy times now in Los Cabos, peak fall tourist season, attracting hundreds of anglers from around the world, many of them participating in some of the world’s richest fishing tournaments, where pay outs can be in the millions of dollars. Weather settled down, perfect all around conditions, clear sunny skies, slightly brisk now early mornings, though days are still quite warm. Ocean swells minimal, with moderate variable breezes, shifting to the typical fall pattern, off the land, from the west early, then switching later out of the northeast, Ocean water temperature ranged 82 to 85 degrees from the Pacific and up past Los Frailes, or in the direction of the Sea of Cortez.

Sportfishing fleets and tournament participants are scouting out all directions, searching all possible options. Majority of local charters are now concentrating on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to Iman, San Luis and some venturing as far as Vinorama. Heavy pressure always means various bait options can become limited due to unavailable resource. Though this week with patience there seemed to be sufficient supplies of sardinas, slabs of squid and caballito. Sardinas were scarcer near the marina jetty’s and are now seen schooling off of Chileno, which means long back track for local bait vendors, as well as later start for anglers, if they want this bait option. Other anglers are going early, directly with squid and then some are catching chihuil on certain high spots, which proved to be probably the best chance now at hooking into a wahoo. Sardinas and the squid were best choice for finding any yellowfin tuna action. Dorado became very scattered, saw very few this week, not many billfish from the standard charters, more sailfish than others, a higher percentage of anglers were preferring to target wahoo or tuna.

Yellowfin tuna were found in recent days on the San Luis Bank, drift fishing with various baits, mainly sardinas and strips of squid. Yellowfin tuna to over 100 lb. were caught,  the majority of the tuna hooked into were in the 60 to 90 lb. class, no big numbers, but later in the week this bite did improve, some anglers later a couple of quality tuna. Only a handful of football sized yellowfin most were quality grade, of course lots of black skipjack and bonito to fight with.

Not many wahoo seemed to want the trolled lures, this week live bait proved best, particularly off of Vinorama, finding the live chihuil baitfish was not always an east guarantee. AS is the normal case, many more wahoo strikes were lost compared to actual fish landed. With the water temperature now still so warm, we expect wahoo action to be even better through next couple of months.

The a whole lot of bottom action even being attempted now, on and off currents and really nothing big happening, more triggerfish, bonito and smaller sized snapper.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 110 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 4 sailfish, 5 striped marlin, 88 yellowfin tuna, 9 dorado, 68 wahoo, 12 leopard grouper, 35 Mexican bonito, 19 yellow snapper, 3 dogtooth snapper, 4 pompano, 8 sierra, 6 spotted rose snapper, 12 rainbow runner, 8 Pacific golden eyed tilefish and 80 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

Rain Passes, Bite Spotty for Tuna, Dorado, Wahoo ~ October 19, 2019

October 19, 2019

Anglers –

The annual high stake billfish tournaments are now on going, with the granddaddy event of them all, the Bisbee Black & Blue, scheduled for this next week. So needless to say there are large numbers of visiting anglers now arriving. Last weekend’s scattered rain squalls, turned into more like isolated monsoons, very heavy rain on and off, which did cause major flooding in low lying locations. Now conditions are clear, drying out, high humidity just now starting to relent. Over the full moon period the winds became more unpredictable in recent days, coming from the north and at the same time swirling from the south. Ocean water temperature has ranged 80 to 85 degrees, warmer currents in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. With recent squalls, winds and currents, we saw varying ocean clarity. Most sportfishing charters locally were concentrating efforts on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to Iman and Vinorama. Bait supplies consisted of sardinas, being netted in the surf zone north of the marina at first light, also caballito, slabs of squid, ballyhoo, chihuil and skipjack being used.

Local Ports was closed partially Sunday and totally on Monday due to thunderstorms, fleets were back in operation Tuesday morning. Charters began scouting out to see where the best action could be found. Overall the bite proved to be more scattered than they were pre-storm. Combined factors of being full moon, baitfish a bit scarcer, added pressure, etc…More success proved to be found while using various baits, versus trolling lures.

The Gordo Banks produced a handful of yellowfin tuna up in the 100 lb. range, though numbers of yellowfin tuna found were higher near Iman Bank, still very spotty through the week, with anglers fortunate to land one or two tuna, with the majority ranging in the 20 to 70 lb. class. Dorado were scattered on these same grounds, found in smaller sized schools, while trolling lures, rigged ballyhoo, sardinas and chihuil. Most of the dorado we saw were in the 5 to 20 lb. range, heard of some larger bulls found on the Pacific.

Wahoo action being very good the previous week, slowed down over recent rainy and full moon period. Anglers who did best were the few that were able to find chihuil for use as bait for slow trolling. A handful also hit of Rapalas and rigged ballyhoo, we expect wahoo to become more active as conditions return to their liking.

A few sailfish and striped marlin being caught on the grounds off San Jose del Cabo, we heard of more billfish action on the Pacific and during the tournament they have weighed in impressive black and blue marlin.

Minimal bottom fishing being done now, no numbers of anything but triggerfish, a few amberjack, cabrilla, pargo, snapper and bonito.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 90 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 3 sailfish, 9 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 72 yellowfin tuna, 76 dorado, 28 wahoo, 8 leopard grouper, 22 Mexican bonito, 1 broomtail grouper, 12 yellow snapper, 2 dogtooth snapper, 4 pompano, 1 mullet snapper, 5 surgeon fish, 12 sierra, 8 amberjack, 6 rainbow runner and 125 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

Wahoo, Yellowfin Tuna Bite ~ October 12, 2019

October 12, 2019

Anglers –

Increasing numbers of anglers are arriving each day, in the next couple of weeks the crowds of the fall season crowds will be peaking. Weather is now transitioning, noticeably cooler early mornings, though days are still warm, very humid, more tropical cloud cover and over the weekend scattered rain squalls, We saw wide varying ocean conditions this week, from flat glass, no breeze at all, to swirling winds and choppy seas.

The fishing action was almost as unpredictable as the wither patterns. One day very few fish would cooperate, next day we had great action for the elusive wahoo, then the yellowfin tuna action became more active, dorado were spotty, but some nice schools were occasionally encountered, at times close to shore, others further offshore. On Friday, legendary La Playita local pangero Hugo Pino brought in a yellowfin that weighed in at 264 lb., impressive cow, first of this class we have heard about this season off of the Gordo Banks, the tuna hit on a live skipjack. On Saturday local super panga skipper Chame Pino landed a 111 lb. tuna

Through most of the week the more consistent all around action was near Iman Bank, also north to San Luis and Vinorama. Sardinas were now being netted ear the marina jetty, already becoming more limited as season becomes busier, ballyhoo was a great option for wahoo, slabs of squid were using for drift fishing for the tuna, caballito were another option. A few charters were searching for chihuil, which were ideal for wahoo, when obtainable. Through mid-week the wahoo went on a great bite, fish to over 40 lb., striking trolled Rapalas, skirted lead heads and various baits. Rigged ballyhoo proved to work especially well. Some charters had as many as four wahoo, while losing other strikes. Things can happen quickly with these speedsters are aggressive.

Yellow tuna action was mainly centered on Iman Ban, but this week a handful of nicer quality tuna came off of the Gordo Banks. Bite was spotty from day to day, as currents and water clarity was fluctuating, best bet for the yellowfin seemed to be drift fishing with sardinas, squid and also slow trolling smaller sized skipjack. We saw yellowfin tuna this week from football sized, all the way up to cows of 264 lb. most tuna we are seeing were in the 15 to 70 lb. range.

Dorado became more scattered that they had been, though there are some decent schools of these fish being found, of the fish we did see, we saw more respectable sized 10 to 20 lb. specimens.

We heard of more striped marlin activity out of Cabo San Lucas, though on the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo and towards the north there was some striped marlin and a few sailfish reported.

Off the bottom there was no consistent bite going on, a scattering of pargo, snapper, cabrilla, bonito and the highlight were several dogtooth snapper up to 45 lb., we have not seen many of those fish this season.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 110 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 1 sailfish, 6 striped marlin, 68 yellowfin tuna, 29 dorado, 47 wahoo, 7 leopard grouper, 8 Mexican bonito, 8 yellow snapper, 3 dogtooth snapper, 2 barred pargo, 3 pompano, 6 sierra, 4 amberjack, 4 surgeon fish and 95 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric