Anglers –

Los Cabos weather conditions continue to be extremely pleasant for wintertime, mostly clear sunny skies, high temperatures reaching 80 degrees and variable northern winds. Cooler nights ranged as low as 50 degrees helped lower water temperatures a couple of degrees since last week, average ocean temperatures are now from 67 degrees on the Pacific to 70 degrees further offshore and in the direction of San Jose del Cabo. Crowds of tourists are lighter than would be expected, though the people making the trip are enjoying the warm sunshine and multitude of outdoor activities.

Supplies of sardinas have been plentiful off the beaches north of Punta Gorda, this has been convenient for anglers out of San Jose del Cabo, because this is the same area where the fishing action for species such as dorado and yellowfin tuna was more productive, also there were miscellaneous structure species being found.

Dorado were found spread out through inshore and offshore fishing grounds, these fish are striking on a wide variety of lures and baitfish, average size has been 5 to 15 pounds, but every so often there were fish up to 25 pounds accounted for. With the ocean now on a cooling trend this could slow the bite down, as these fish tend to migrate south when currents drop to 70 degrees or lower.

This past week anglers found much improved action for yellowfin tuna around the Iman Bank. There was a fast current to deal with, also some pesky sea lions and let’s not forget to mention the presence of huge schools of aggressive skipjack, they made it tough to get through to have a chance at the tuna. Persistence and patience was the key, but many charters did account for one, two, three or more yellowfin, average sizes were 25 to 40 pounds, with some fish up to 80 pounds mixed in. Using sardinas or chunk of skipjack for bait was the most productive technique.

Closer to shore there have been fair numbers of sierra, most of these fish were in the 1 to 5 pound class, quite a few juvenile sized roosterfish in the area as well, both of these species hit best on sardinas, but would also strike Rapalas and cast jigs. Off the bottom, when currents allowed, anglers using various baits and yo-yo’s found a mix of amberjack, yellowtail, yellow snapper, cabrilla, bonito and dogtooth snapper, no great numbers, but at times it showed good promise of some great eating variety.

Striped marlin action has been more spread out this year, at this time the fleets are finding more numbers of stripers in the direction of San Jose del Cabo, from the Gordo Banks, Desteladera to Vinorama and this should be the area to concentrate on in coming months.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 68 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 6 striped marlin, 94 yellowfin tuna, 14 bonito, 15 amberjack, 13 cabrilla, 42 yellow snapper, 6 dogtooth snapper, 196 dorado, 18 roosterfish, 8 yellowtail, 6 mako shark and 88 sierra.

Good Fishing, Eric