Anglers –
December 3, 2016

Easy to notice now that crowds of tourists have diminished since the passing of Thanksgiving. Normal situation for this time of year. Weather patterns have been on a general cooling trend, relentless north winds were hard to predict and eventually there will be some nicer conditions when the wind resides. Water temperature has also dropped into the 77 to 80 degree range, depending where you were, warmest areas in the direction of San Jose del Cabo.

With the weather not being favorable most days this past week we did see a decline in all around catches. Yellowfin tuna was the main species being found, various locations, early in the week the fleet found the best option to be off of Punta Gorda, within less than one mile from shore, the yellowfin were striking on strips of squid and ranged in sizes up to 30 lb. Later in the week some tuna action was found further offshore associated with fast moving porpoise, same deal with squid being the best bet. None of the large tuna were reported off of the Gordo Banks, changing conditions has put that bite to a standstill.

Dorado became very scarce once again, though we did continue to hear of more do’do’s being found on the Pacific, though with water temperatures dropping quickly in that direction we expect these fish will follow their prefer temperate currents. We were seeing only an occasional dorado for the charters based out of La Playita. Wahoo was the same story, only a fish or so per day being accounted for the combined fleet.

Billfish action was limited, a few striped marlin were reported off of the San Jose del Cabo region, where there were reports of some schooling sardineta and mackerel, also a indication of cooling currents. Most of the lingering black or blue marlin will soon be moving out of this area, searching for warmer waters. As we wait the arrival of the winter time billfish, the striped marlin.

Strong winds made it difficult to target any bottom action, though a handful of good eating pargo, triggerfish, pompano, cabrilla, amberjack and others were found, no big numbers though. A few sierra and roosterfish were scattered along the shoreline.

We are now seeing increasing numbers of whales started to arrive to their winter calving and feeding grounds, so still a bit early in the season, in another month or so we should be in peak season for seeing these mammals

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 85 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 245 yellowfin tuna, 13 dorado, 6 wahoo, 8 pompano, 4 amberjack, 18 yellow snapper, 8 leopard grouper, 14 huachinango, 4 roosterfish, 7 sierra, 8 rainbow runner, 8 barred pargo, 3 surgeonfish and 145 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric