June 11, 2023

This week was much quieter in our local marina area, as the fiesta and carnival which had been congesting and blocking normal work areas were removed and clean up followed. Only moderate numbers of anglers were now in town taking advantage of calmer weather patterns, sunny skies with highs near 85 degrees. Bait supplies consisted of caballito, jurelito, ballyhoo, slabs of squid and some mullet.

Sportfishing charters spread out looking for various options. Farther offshore there were chances at finding yellowfin tuna traveling with moving porpoise, but this was not a normal charter deal since more often this hit or miss action was encountered 25 to 45 miles offshore. There were also chances at finding tuna near Iman and San Luis Banks. Though these yellowfin also proved very sporadic and scarce. Only a couple of wahoo reported through the week as well.

Better chances at catching a variety of good eating species was off the bottom, particularly early in the morning while using yo-yo style jigs. Success varied from day to day, but did produce some quality fish, including one 81 lb. amberjack, other fortune jack, red snapper, leopard grouper, bonito, barred pargo, yellow snapper, triggerfish and one yellowtail. At times the red snapper were seen in masses near the surface, apparently feeding on small jelly fish and had to be enticed to strike anything else after adapting a taste of this natural food source.

Striped marlin were still being found offshore, but more scattered than in previous weeks. We did see fair numbers of dorado on local grounds and many of these were over 25 lb. and some were up closer to 50 lb. Striking on lures, but more often on various baitfish. Often found in small groups, such as female and male pairs and there were repeated reports of larger bulls being more finicky to strike, as females were hooked up they would follow aggressively but more often than not would shy away from striking any offerings with hooks in them, guess for this reason they have grown to larger sized proportions.

Closer to shore there were jack crevalle and some roosterfish, but so far roosterfish action was not what we would expect for this time of year, as we are nearing peak season, still have not seen the mass schools of mullet which typically move in during this time frame.

Good Fishing, Eric–