October 31, 2021

Crowds continue to arrive in large numbers to the Los Cabos area. Peak season now for sportfishing operations. Weather seems to have settled in to typically fall patterns, breezes from the north becoming a regular late morning pattern, treats of tropical storms seem to be over now, mostly clear sunny skies, heat index reaching close to 90 degrees, with morning lows of about 70 degrees, ideal all around climate. Ocean water temperature continue to be slightly warmer than seasonal average, now most of the region is still ranging 80 to 84 degrees. Swells have been moderate, though currents are strong and off colored greenish water has swept in on the grounds from Punta Gorda and north towards Los Frailes. Need the current to shift direction and push back in the cleaner water.

The off colored dirty water to the north has shut down the yellowfin action and has stalled out the wahoo bite as well. This past week the most production was towards the south off of Palmilla and Red Hill. These grounds were producing decent action for dorado while trolling lures, rigged ballyhoo and caballito. Sardinas were scarcer than previous weeks, being later a bit later in the morning near marina jetty, many anglers are not waiting around and going with other bait options. Always heavy pressure this time of year on all local and natural resources.

Many charters are landing limits of dorado, two per fishing license, average sizes were 5 to 15 lb. Only a couple of wahoo reported for the entire week, several other hook up were lost. We expect as ocean conditions clean back up on our favored northern grounds the bite should progressively develop, as November and December typically produce the best opportunities for hooking the elusive wahoo.

Not much going off the bottom, a handful of bonito, triggerfish, yellow snapper, a few smaller grade dogtooth snapper and a handful of amberjack, one weighed a hefty 75 lb.

A few charters reported catching juvenile sized roosterfish and early season sierra while trolling close to shore. Billfish action was limited on our local grounds, we did see one 150 lb. blue marlin over the weekend and some sailfish landed from the same grounds where dorado were schooling.

We remain optimistic that the season will turn around, it definitely has been tougher than we would normally expect for the past several weeks. Whales are now being spotted everyday, first wave of their annual southern migrations arriving from their northern summer trek.

Good Fishing, Eric

October 24, 2021 

As more crowds of visiting anglers arrived they were greeted with nice ideal weather, a distant hurricane did develop over the weekend, but is not forecast to impact Southern Baja at all, as it is going to make landfall  near Zihuatanejo. Moderate ocean swells this past week, with water temperatures still averaging a warm 84 degrees throughout most of the region. Mid-morning breeze from the north are becoming more common.

This past week the world’s richest tournament was held, Bisbee’s Blank & Blue, some 200 teams battling for a record purse of close to 10 million dollars. Only two qualifying marlin of over 300 lb. were recorded for three days of fishing. It appears the heavy pressure is taking its toll on the local fishery, having these back to back to back events with close to 200 teams in each participating and then most of all these same teams also pre-fishing during the weeks prior to the events, all on the same well known grounds. The fish seem to be getting more wise of the danger related to all of the boat traffic.

A week off now and then the first week of November is the big WON Tuna Jackpot event. Surprisingly there are still schools of sardinas being found and so far supplies of squid have remained fairly steady, teams will be hoarding now, so who knows how long supplies will last. An ongoing problem every year at this time and these events are becoming more popular, larger each season.  We are definitely noticing a decline in the fishery, surely this is a combination of factors.

For local charters, most were concentrated on the San Luis Bank this past week, where tuna up to 170 lb. were accounted for, most of the yellowfin landed were more in the 50 to 120 lb. range, a few smaller football sized fish showing as well. This action is really the best option going on now, so this has meant heavy pressure on this one spot. It seems that some tuna are hooked up early every morning and then after that they become extremely weary and disappear. There is some bottom action going on on these same grounds, but more triggerfish than anything else. A few amberjack, cabrilla and pargo. The dogtooth snapper bite is fading out this past week.

Wahoo and dorado were scarce as well, more dorado being found than wahoo, scattered through the zone, most of these  under ten pounds. Wahoo action certainly should improve as ocean temps drop a few more degrees in coming weeks.

A few smaller roosterfish being found along the shore, as well as the beginning of sierra season. Bill fishing is slow, a few sailfish and smaller sized striped marlin being found.

Good Fishing, Eric

October 17, 2021 

Early last week we saw Hurricane Pamela develop south of Southern Baja before swigging back from the west on an easterly path. Luckily this system weakened and shifted  just far enough south, without causing too much damage. Main effects were the closure of Port activities, including sportfshing, on Tuesday and Wednesday, ocean conditions were stormy and there were on and off downpours of rain, never felt much more than 20 to 30 mph wind gusts, which is always good to get some nice rainfall without high winds.

Busy times now, streets are bustling with groups of anglers, tournaments are ongoing and the largest event of the year, the Bisbee’s Black & Blue, is planned for later this coming week. There will be millions of dollars in prize money at stake.

After the recent storm the ocean became stirred up and murky green in areas, lots of current pushing in and out, clarity is now improving daily, as weather has settled down. Ocean temperatures are still quite warm, in the 84 to 87 degree range.

Bait supplies are under heavy pressure now, mainly sardinas, caballito, ballyhoo and slabs of squid being offered, on a limited basis at times. Overall action remains slow, boats are searching in all directions, scouting out all options. The majority of local charters are fishing from Punta Gorda, to Iman and San Luis grounds, others are heading in southern directions. Yellowfin tuna bite locally is still at a standstill, some fish are being marked and even at times seen flashing near the surface, just have not been on the bite. Dorado were scattered in small schools, fish mostly under ten pounds, very fortunate to land a limit of nicer sized fish.

Wahoo are now being seen most everyday, found on grounds the north, ballyhoo, rapalas and chihuil all produced strikes, though the ‘hoo are still just starting to become more active, as water drops a few more degrees that should help trigger this action. Of the wahoo we saw, they averaged 30 to 40 lb.

A handful of nice dogtooth snapper are still being hooked into from off the high spots north of Punta Gorda, We saw one fish weigh in at 72 lb., others over 50 lb. very tough fighters, more often than not these fish win the battle. A few misc. species being found off the bottom, cabrilla, bonito, black skipjack, amberjack and triggerfish, again more triggerfish than anything else.

With conditions on and off we are going through a tough stretch now, now as all anglers know things can turn around at any time.

Good Fishing, Eric
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