Anglers –

March 9, 2019

Another quiet week in Los Cabos, as numbers of tourists arriving were light, we should start seeing the first wave of spring break vacationers soon. The weather is feeling more like spring now, high temperatures reaching the upper 70s, while lows are about 60 degrees, actually an ideal climate now. Winds have settled down and we seeing calmer ocean conditions more frequently. Water temperatures have ranged from 70 to 75 degrees, warmest grounds at this time are just north of the Gordo Banks. Green currents are sweeping through inshore zone, water clarity clears up several miles offshore.

Good news was that just in recent days there have been sardinas found schooling near the marina jetty, this has opened some new options, as some nice sierra, jack crevalle and even roosterfish were found along the beach stretches, hopefully these baitfish will remain in the region for the coming months. Other bait options were caballito, chihuil, ballyhoo and slabs of squid.

Most local charters are working the grounds from the Gordo Banks to Iman Bank, some scouting as far north as Vinorama. Most common species this week were the Eastern Pacific bonito, red snapper, mostly smaller fish, but all good eating, striking on yo-yo jigs and various baits. Some red crabs were starting to be seen at times drifting to the surface, this could develop into something if we start to see this on a more consistent basis. An occasional amberjack or leopard grouper was highlighting the bottom action, no yellowtail reported..

The yellowfin tuna became very scarce in recent weeks, though just the past few days there were some tuna seen breezing the surface on the Gordo Banks, as well as on the Iman Bank, very few were actually hooked into, but we did see a handful of yellowfin brought in, these fish were in the 30 to 70 lb. class. Dorado also became very scattered after the inshore water became so off colored greenish, though a few dorado were being accounted for, anglers were lucky to find one, sizes to 15 lb.

The striped marlin were also very scattered, though every day we are seeing one or two landed. Bait schools are more spread out now, so the marlin seem to not be congregating on any particular hot spot.

With the climate continuing to warm up as we progress into the spring season, we should start to see more gamefish appearing on local grounds.  This next week will be fiesta time in San Jose del Cabo, as the annual carnival comes to town, special events panned include off road races and local fishing tournament, divisions for shore fishing, kayaks and offshore boats.

The combined sportfishing fleet out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina reported an estimated 62 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 8 striped marlin, 13 dorado, 4 yellowfin tuna, 1 golden cabrilla, 320 bonito, 210 red snapper, 5 baqueta grouper, 6 leopard grouper, 9 roosterfish, 8 jack crevalle, 5 yellow snapper, 4 amberjack, 9 golden eyed tilefish, 12 glasseye snapper, 35 sierra and 90 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric