Anglers –
March 11, 2017

We noticed more spring break vacationers now starting to arrive in town. Also San Jose del Cabo is busy preparing for the large annual traditional fiesta which will be held in the next week as well. Will be eventful times, crowds of people and lots of shut down streets to deal with as well. We felt a heat wave build mid-week, feels like spring already, clear sunny skies with high temperatures in the mid 80’s. Ocean water temperature was averaging from 70 to 73 degrees. In most areas clean blue water was being found within several miles of shore. North winds early in the week, then the later part wind moderate, strong currents did not help anglers though..

The action that was going on for yellowfin tuna off the Cabo San Lucas arches faded out over last weekend and we did not see any rebound this week. A handful of tuna were landed off of the La Fortuna and Iman Banks, most of these in the 30 lb. class, though numbers were very limited, more skipjack than anything else. Supplies of schooling sardinas were still being found off the rocky beach stretches from Regina to Cabo Real. Sardinetas are on the bait grounds off of the San Jose del Cabo Hotel Zone, though not many mackerel at all being reported, some people are using strips of squid as another bait option as well.

Not much billfish action being reported in any direction, on the Pacific or in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. Who knows what is going on with the striped marlin, should be the time we see more numbers of these fish showing up, definitely behind schedule.

Nothing has really developed with the yellowtail either, a few fish here and there, but no numbers at all. A handful of yellowtail up to 25 lb. were reported off of the Palmilla Point, hitting on yo-yo jigs and larger baits, but only one or two per day for the whole fleet and then the next day none. No consistent bite on these prized jacks, though we are still optimistic that something might happen soon.

Charters are not finding much at all further offshore or inshore for that matter, besides some sporadic action on sierra. Most charters are starting to work the various rock piles within a few miles of shore for a mix of snapper, pargo, amberjack, cabrilla, triggerfish and others. Spotty action for the most part, sometimes up to a dozen fish, other times only several. All good eating though, except for the black skipjack, which at times were very plentiful on same grounds where anglers were trying to get the yellowfin tuna to bite. Just not the time we are catching many really trophy sized fish, though with the weather now warming up with each passing day, things can change fast, also coming off a bright full moon, so as night time skies darken we hope to see the daytime action improve.

Still lots of whale activity being seen, though usually by the end of this month these mammals will start back on their northern migration. Plenty of sea lions in the area as well, always following the fishermen around trying to get an easy meal.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 61 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 14 yellowfin tuna, 6 yellowtail, 8 amberjack, 36 yellow snapper, 15 flag cabrilla, 15 leopard grouper, 8 mojarra, 44 huachinango, 62 sierra, 150 black skipjack and 130 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
March 4, 2017

Similar pattern continues, many tourists arriving from northern territories to enjoy the ideal Southern Baja winter time climate. Not a large percentage of these visitors are serious hard core anglers, though many are deciding to give sportfishing a try as one of their many activity options to choose from. Scores of whales, as well as manta rays, sea lions and sea turtles are an added attraction for sightseeing. As we now transition towards the late winter season, low temperatures early in the morning are much milder, clear sunny skies have prevailed and daytime highs are near 80 degrees and this next week is forecast to be even warmer. Ideal time now to visit this resort area, surely the first waves of spring breakers will be arriving soon.

Ocean swells are moderate, water temperature is now on a slight warming trend, now averaging in the 71 to 73 degree range. Winds were predominately from the north, coming in cycles of two or three days, then diminishing for a period before returning, but for the most part the conditions were favorable for anglers to target what available options there have been. The red snapper bite had slowed over last weekend on the Outer Gordo Banks, but picked back up to start this week, the rare run of larger sized crabs were again present and were being netted and used for baits to drop down for the huachinango action, limits of these true Pacific red snapper were the rule, early in the day these fish were also readily striking on yo-yo style jigs, one California sheepshead weighing close to 30 lb. was also accounted for. This action for the snapper faded out again later in the week, north winds contributed to this and the crabs became very scarce as well, hard to say how this action will pan out in the coming weeks. Not much else going on for a variety of bottom species, a mix of yellow snapper, a few amberjack, cabrilla and the ever present triggerfish off rock piles closer to shore. No yellowtail action be reported this past week.

Sardinas have continued to found schooling close to shoe along stretches from the Regina Resort to Chileno and this was the bait of choice, with squid strips as a backup. The yellowfin tuna action has starting back up off of the Cabo San Lucas Arches, picked up strong mid-week for fish ranging 20 to 40 lb., quality sized yellowfin within a stones through of the shoreline. Wind was not a factor on these grounds, very calm, though once the word got out on this bite developing again the crowds swarmed, of course the sea lions and sea gulls were all in on this action as well. Anglers were doing best while slow trolling the live sardinas, but had to deal with the birds and sea lions taking their baits and then once actually hooking a tuna had to be fortunate to escape from having a sea lion grab the battling fish. Overall charters were accounted for an average of three to six tuna per morning trip, with many black skipjack in the mix.

With very limited billfish action being found throughout the area and no dorado or wahoo to speak of, this bite for the yellowfin was definitely the best option presently. During this transition period a lot can happen from week to week, still hoping to see some yellowtail of decent size show up, have not seen any numbers of them now for several years, with water temperatures starting to rise hard to say what will develop.

Limited action close to shore now for mainly sierra, along the beach stretches from Palmilla towards Cabo San Lucas, no word of roosterfish recently, though warming water should start to bring in more roosters.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 72 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 sheepshead, 1 wahoo,170 yellowfin tuna, 8 bonito, 11 yellow snapper, 8 leopard grouper, 124 huachinango, 15 sierra, 4 amberjack and 80 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
February 25, 2017

There did seem to be larger crowds of tourists in town this past week, enjoying the spring like weather conditions, though not many anglers are in these numbers of people, as amount of charters are slower, not that unusual for this time frame though, this is never considered to peak season for any of the more glamorous gamefish species. We did have a day of rainfall last weekend, isolated showers that really did not amount to much, also more winds, both from the south and then returning from out of the north, this combined to slow down the all-around fishing action. Water temperature has been averaging about 69 to 70 degrees through most of the region, currents have been strong at times and swells also increased during the previous week, before residing back down. Crazy weather this time of year, as we begin to transition from winter to spring.

Bait netters are finding sardinas still near Palmilla and towards Regina Resort, other options have been strips of squid and we are starting to use some yo-yo jigs more as well. The tuna action has been centered near the Iman Bank, where fish up to 60 lb. were landed, though the past week this action did slow way down, with anglers very fortunate to land one or two of these yellowfin, which were most of the time averaging 20 to 30 lb. More charters are also starting to work the bottom for various pargo, snapper, amberjack, cabrilla, bonito, yellowtail and other species. You have to have calmer conditions to be able to really have good chances for this type of action. Lots of sea lions to contend with as well, getting more than their share of the catch.

There has been a great bite for huachinango (red snapper) on the Outer Gordo Bank, not many people even knew about this. There was an unusual run of larger size reddish crabs drifting to the surface, averaging two to three inches in size, much larger than the more common pelagic red crabs that we see this time of year, these crabs found in recent days are a much rarer occurrence. The deal was to cruise around these grounds and net what crabs you could and then rig them up with sinkers and drop towards the bottom. The few charters that did try this did very well on quality snapper up to 14 lb. Though they also had to battle the sea lions, who also knew about these schooling snappers and were waiting for their chance at easy pickings of hooked up fish. Big numbers of humpback whales also still congregating on these same popular fishing grounds.

There were some smaller sized yellowtail, most in the 4 to 8 lb. class off of Palmilla, still waiting for larger fish to move in. Also some amberjack in the 5 to 25 lb. class, an occasional leopard grouper or yellow snapper, of course many triggerfish in the mix as well. Not much going on for inshore action, only a few boats even trying, mainly for limited numbers of smaller sized sierra.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 63 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 striped marlin, 29 yellowfin tuna, 10 bonito, 14 yellow snapper, 13 leopard grouper, 165 huachinango, 18 sierra, 12 yellowtail, 26 amberjack and 55 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric