Anglers –
July 1, 2016
As we now progress further into the summer season, we are seeing more stable weather patterns, southern hemisphere swell has diminished and winds are moderate from the south, mainly picking up later in the day. There is a low pressure system now developing further south, forecasts expect that this system will head towards the west and not do much off Southern Baja, except increase humidity some, possible rain shower next Tuesday, which would be nice actually. Crowds of visitors are light, great time to visit for anglers to enjoy lighter pressure on the local fishing grounds, this means more fish for everyone. Ocean conditions are continuing to rebound quickly, clarity is improving daily, as cleaner water is now being found within a couple of miles from shore, water temperature through the region is now in the 74 to 78 degree range continues on a warming trend. Most sportfishing fleets are now fishing in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, from Chileno to Vinorama.
Daily catches have included billfish, yellowfin tuna, roosterfish, jack crevalle, pargo, snapper, amberjack, bonito, cabrilla and also there are limited numbers of dorado and wahoo being encountered. With the conditions improving daily, anything could develop on any given day. Bait supplies remain steady for caballito, mullet, moonfish, jurelito and there are options of squid slabs or ballyhoo also being offered, though the live bait has proven to be the better option in recent weeks.
Local panga fleets have been concentrating mainly on the grounds from Cardon, Iman, San Luis and to Vinorama, within one to four miles from shore. Fleets found schooling football sized yellowfin tuna in this area while trolling with lures such as hoochies, Rapalas and cedar plugs, on some days charters were catching limits of these small yellowfin, while on other days fish were more scattered. Only an occasional dorado or wahoo being reported, but these gamefish are in the area, at times being seen free swimming and not wanting to strike. A few larger yellowfin tuna were accounted for as well, these tuna hit on larger whole live bait, with bolito being the best choice and these bait fish were being caught on small hoochies and then immediately pinned on and trolled slowly over the same grounds. Tuna to over one hundred pounds were hooked and landed, with other hook ups lost. With all of the small tuna and bolito in the area and the warming waters, there were a handful of larger sized back and blue marlin strikes reported, these fish were lost due to various reasons.
The rocky structure was producing decent action early in the day on yo-yo jigs, huachinango, amberjack, cabrilla and bonito being the most common catches. The depth of these grounds usually range from 100 to 180 feet, Other high spots closer to shore, in depths of 40 to 80 feet, these were producing various snapper and pargo species, as well as quality sized amberjack to 75 lb. This can be tricky fishing, some days fish would not become active until later in the morning as tides were shifting. Many of these fish were of the toothy dogtooth snapper variety, which once hooked near the surface would immediate freight train towards the nearest rock plie, more often than not resulting in frayed and cut lines. Can be very exciting fishing, but equally frustrating as well, even the most experienced of anglers can be brought to their knees by these powerful fighters.
Sharks continue to be presence on the same grounds, from offshore to these inshore areas as well, this can put a damper on the action in a hurry, if too many of these sharks invade the same grounds and spook the other gamefish.
Roosterfish continue to patrol the inshore beach stretches, as well as the hog sized jack crevalle, roosters to over 60 pounds were caught and released in recent days. We did not hear of much going with the porpoise and yellowfin tuna further offshore, that action seems to have faded away, of course all of the commercial purseiners that were also seen on these same grounds definitely could be one of the reasons why that action faded so quickly.
Local La Playita pangeros reported some quality action for snook this past week, fish were caught from the shore, as well as from pangas, which trolled in the surf zone, as close as they could safely do so. One snook of 60 lbs. was reportedly landed, this would have been a new official all tackle IGFA record if the angler had properly documented the incredible catch. Lots of sea life now, manta rays, turtles, sharks, seas lions and a few porpoise.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 72 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 14 striped marlin, 6 wahoo, 24 dogtooth snapper, 220 yellowfin tuna, 28 bonito, 8 dorado, 2 sierra, 59 amberjack, 19 leopard grouper (cabrilla), 25 pargo colorado, 27 huachinango (red snapper), 22 yellow snapper, 12 barred pargo, 35 jack crevalle, 3 snook and 85 roosterfish.
Good fishing, Eric