March 29, 2014
Anglers –

Vacationing tourists continue to arrive in soaring numbers, as spring break season is now in full swing. Weather has been very pleasant, prevalent winds were gusting early in the week, with ocean conditions being quite comfortable late week. Ocean water temperatures were ranging in the upper 70s towards the Gordo Banks and further north, while currents were in the lower 70s on the Pacific grounds. Day time highs were in the low 80s, feeling a bit more like summer than spring. Whales are vanishing from the area rapidly, headed on their long migration towards the rich feeding grounds of the Bering Sea.

The striped marlin action off of the San Jose del Cabo area started back up with a flurry, feeding marlin were seen in concentrations, anywhere from 2 to 8 miles from shore, moving quickly at times, seen free jumping and tailing on the surface as well. Striking on lures as well as live caballito or rigged ballyhoo, many charters reported having multiple chances for stripers per outing. With inshore and bottom action being sporadic, much of the week anglers found that there was actually a better chance at finding marlin than any of the other smaller gamefish closer to shore.

There was a variety of other species now in local water, though it seemed that none of them were really abundant, or consistently biting on a day to day basis. Yellowtail were occasionally being hooked into on the various rocky high spots, some of these jacks were found close to shore on the ordinary roosterfish and sierra grounds. Yellows were holding on the Outer Gordo Bank, though only handful of people are landing them, all nicer sized 30 to 35 lb. fish, just no consistent action and many hammerhead sharks to sort through. Rounding out the fish counts were, cabrilla, pargo, amberjack, bonito, dorado, sierra and wahoo, all being reported daily in limited numbers.

Wahoo are being seen in schools off of Punta Gordo and to La Fortuna, though are finicky, striking baits, yo-yo’s and trolled jigs when they became aggressively in the mood for striking, strange do even have these fish hanging around at this time of year, this is a result of the warmer than usual water temperatures. Dorado are being encountered in smaller sized schools, the majority of this action closer to shore, rather than on the offshore grounds, sizes averaged 5 to 20 pounds.

Bottom action has never really turned into a steady productive option this season, the action for surface species proved more consistent than were the reef dwellers. We would normally expect to see a trend develop in the coming weeks, of less wind, warming days and more options for anglers off the structure and inshore stretches. Nice time of year coming, ideal weather, not too warm and not too cool.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 91 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 33 striped marlin, 17 wahoo, 3 mako shark, 4 yellowfin tuna, 12 yellowtail, 15 amberjack, 84 dorado, 15 jack crevalle, 28 sierra, 42 roosterfish, 95 bonito, 18 cabrilla and 14 hammerhead sharks (released).

Good fishing, Eric