Anglers –
July 1, 2016

As we now progress further into the summer season, we are seeing more stable weather patterns, southern hemisphere swell has diminished and winds are moderate from the south, mainly picking up later in the day. There is a low pressure system now developing further south, forecasts expect that this system will head towards the west and not do much off Southern Baja, except increase humidity some, possible rain shower next Tuesday, which would be nice actually. Crowds of visitors are light, great time to visit for anglers to enjoy lighter pressure on the local fishing grounds, this means more fish for everyone. Ocean conditions are continuing to rebound quickly, clarity is improving daily, as cleaner water is now being found within a couple of miles from shore, water temperature through the region is now in the 74 to 78 degree range continues on a warming trend. Most sportfishing fleets are now fishing in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, from Chileno to Vinorama.

Daily catches have included billfish, yellowfin tuna, roosterfish, jack crevalle, pargo, snapper, amberjack, bonito, cabrilla and also there are limited numbers of dorado and wahoo being encountered. With the conditions improving daily, anything could develop on any given day. Bait supplies remain steady for caballito, mullet, moonfish, jurelito and there are options of squid slabs or ballyhoo also being offered, though the live bait has proven to be the better option in recent weeks.

Local panga fleets have been concentrating mainly on the grounds from Cardon, Iman, San Luis and to Vinorama, within one to four miles from shore. Fleets found schooling football sized yellowfin tuna in this area while trolling with lures such as hoochies, Rapalas and cedar plugs, on some days charters were catching limits of these small yellowfin, while on other days fish were more scattered. Only an occasional dorado or wahoo being reported, but these gamefish are in the area, at times being seen free swimming and not wanting to strike. A few larger yellowfin tuna were accounted for as well, these tuna hit on larger whole live bait, with bolito being the best choice and these bait fish were being caught on small hoochies and then immediately pinned on and trolled slowly over the same grounds. Tuna to over one hundred pounds were hooked and landed, with other hook ups lost. With all of the small tuna and bolito in the area and the warming waters, there were a handful of larger sized back and blue marlin strikes reported, these fish were lost due to various reasons.

The rocky structure was producing decent action early in the day on yo-yo jigs, huachinango, amberjack, cabrilla and bonito being the most common catches. The depth of these grounds usually range from 100 to 180 feet, Other high spots closer to shore, in depths of 40 to 80 feet, these were producing various snapper and pargo species, as well as quality sized amberjack to 75 lb. This can be tricky fishing, some days fish would not become active until later in the morning as tides were shifting. Many of these fish were of the toothy dogtooth snapper variety, which once hooked near the surface would immediate freight train towards the nearest rock plie, more often than not resulting in frayed and cut lines. Can be very exciting fishing, but equally frustrating as well, even the most experienced of anglers can be brought to their knees by these powerful fighters.

Sharks continue to be presence on the same grounds, from offshore to these inshore areas as well, this can put a damper on the action in a hurry, if too many of these sharks invade the same grounds and spook the other gamefish.

Roosterfish continue to patrol the inshore beach stretches, as well as the hog sized jack crevalle, roosters to over 60 pounds were caught and released in recent days. We did not hear of much going with the porpoise and yellowfin tuna further offshore, that action seems to have faded away, of course all of the commercial purseiners that were also seen on these same grounds definitely could be one of the reasons why that action faded so quickly.

Local La Playita pangeros reported some quality action for snook this past week, fish were caught from the shore, as well as from pangas, which trolled in the surf zone, as close as they could safely do so. One snook of 60 lbs. was reportedly landed, this would have been a new official all tackle IGFA record if the angler had properly documented the incredible catch. Lots of sea life now, manta rays, turtles, sharks, seas lions and a few porpoise.

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: 14 striped marlin, 6 wahoo, 24 dogtooth snapper, 220 yellowfin tuna, 28 bonito, 8 dorado, 2 sierra, 59 amberjack, 19 leopard grouper (cabrilla), 25 pargo colorado, 27 huachinango (red snapper), 22 yellow snapper, 12 barred pargo, 35 jack crevalle, 3 snook and 85 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
June 25, 2016

With the officially start to the summer season we also saw the weather change to more of a tropical pattern. Increased morning cloud cover, burning off as the day progressed, higher humidity and heat index up to 100 degrees. The wind and swell patterns are now becoming more predominate from the south. This week there was a ocean swell from the southern hemisphere that pushed into Baja waters. Currents continued to be extremely strong, inshore areas are now cooler and greener, the clarity line had been within several miles of shore, but in recent days have shifted from 20 to 30 miles offshore, this is where there is a pronounced break from 74 degree water, up to 78 or even 80 degree currents.

This entire week had the ocean conditions rapidly changing, the week started with warmer clean water being found fairly close to shore, then water clarity deteriorated and the warm blue water shifted to much further offshore. All of this movement has limited what sportfishing fleets were able to do, basically it was down to two main options, either stay closer to shore and work the beach stretches and the structure within a couple miles of shore, other plan was to head out deep to where the clean water was found.

Bait supplies consisted of mullet, caballito, moonfish, or ballyhoo and squid slabs were also available. The majority of the local panga fleets were fishing on the grounds from Cardon to Vinorama, trolling or drift fishing with various baits, there were some great quality fish accounted for early in the week, as the week progressed the water became more stirred up with the increased swell and the action tapered off. One of the more significant catches was a 122 lb. amberjack that was landed near Vinorama on a live mullet from the super panga “Hooker” by skipper Tony Miranda’s son Axel, what a monster. There were many other amberjack landed that were in the 20 to 70 lb. class. Also a handful of dogtooth snapper and pargo Colorado, leopard grouper, barred pargo, yellow snapper, roosterfish, jack crevalle and at least one yellowtail.

Off the structure, in areas of 120 to 180 ft. there was some action encountered while using yo-yo jigs, mid-week there were some yellowfin tuna up to 75 lb. landed off of the San Luis Bank, then as the water became off colored, that put an end to that action for the time being. All week there were reports of larger cow sized yellowfin tuna being encountered while trolling among pods of fast moving porpoise, most days this activity was found some 20 to 30 miles from shore, near where the warm water break was. We saw one 170 lb. class yellowfin brought to the panga dock area, we heard of a fish over 300 lb. taken from a Los Barriles charter, there were many reports of big fish, though with the distance offshore and the combination of south wind chop, this was mainly a larger boat deal and for the boats that arrived on the scene first before the traffic created too much commotion and put the fish off the bite. Other action offshore besides encountered possibly tuna action was for scattered strikes on striped marlin or dorado, no big numbers but a few nice fish were being found, most of these just by trolling lures in open water. Not much talk of wahoo this past week, though as the water clears back up closer to shore these fish could become more active at any time.

The roosterfish action continued to be very good along a wide stretch of inshore zones, a couple of off days when currents became dirty and cold in certain regions, quickly changing from day to day now. We heard of roosterfish to fifty pounds that were caught and released, also scores of big jack crevalle are also patrolling these same inshore areas,

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: 8 striped marlin, 1 yellowtail, 9 dogtooth snapper, 23 yellowfin tuna, 16 bonito, 9 dorado, 26 amberjack, 18 leopard grouper (cabrilla), 18 pargo colorado, 24 yellow snapper, 5 sierra, 10 barred pargo, 72 jack crevalle, 74 roosterfish and 55 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
June 18, 2016

Crowds are only moderate now, with weather conditions still bearable, as we are starting to feel the heat of oncoming seasonal changes. This weekend we will celebrate Father’s Day and then also in the coming days the summer season will officially begin on June 20, which also happens to be the day of the full moon, this is a rare occurrence, when the day of the Summer Solstice and the full moon fall on the same date, actually this has not happened since 1948, some 68 years ago. The climate has progressively felt more humid throughout this week, as a tropical depression was slowly moving off to the southwest of the lower Baja Peninsula about 300 miles off of land, does not impose any threat, only slightly increased swell activity and the higher humidity. Also a few more tropical clouds forming, though more than enough warm sunshine.

A lot can happen in a matter of one week, after last week’s big blow from out of the south pushed in cold Pacific currents to Punta Colorado, patterns have since stabilized and now warm waters near 80 degrees have pushed back in, from Cabo San Lucas and in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, though on the Pacific side of Cabo the water temperatures are still in the lower 70s. All this current flow has made the inshore waters, up to about five miles offshore, a little off colored and greenish. As we near the month of July we usually see that the blue water comes very close to shore as weather patterns increasingly warm.

This week we saw a huge influx of schooling mullet move into the San Jose del Cabo region, have not seen this much mullet activity in this area for at least several years. With all of this baitfish activity we have also seen the larger sized roosterfish arrive in substantial numbers. Reports of great roosterfish action on fish to over fifty pounds along the entire coastal stretches, though one particular local hot spot were the stretches from La Fortuna to north of Vinorama. Along with the roosterfish also came the hog sized jack crevalle and some dogtooth snapper action is also starting to be seen, if you can find a spot where the jacks will leave you alone long enough in order to give the snapper a chance. Sharks were moving closer to shore, the pilot sharks have been thick offshore for several months now, but we are now seeing more hammerhead as well, these sharks are congregating on the same bottom structure areas where we commonly target species such as cabrilla, amberjack, pargo and others, the sharks can become too numerous at times to be able to really have much a chance at catching the preferred species. Sharks our presently out of season, not legal to retain, though we always prefer to release them anyway. Anglers should also remember to release all roosterfish with care when possible, these fish are a prized for their fighting stamina, not eating quality, these gamefish can grow to weights of over one hundred pounds and also have a very limited habitat that should be protected, only existing worldwide from Southern Baja to Costa Rica.

Fleets were finding the best all-around action now on the grounds near La Fortuna to just north of Vinorama, lots of quality trophy sized roosterfish, jack crevalle, a few dogtooth snapper and amberjack to fifty pounds lurking around shallow water rock piles. Also decent numbers of yellow snapper, a handful of leopard grouper, at least one which was of the golden phased variety. A few late season sierra in the mix.

Offshore action included striped marlin and dorado, scattered with mixed results, some charters accounting for multiple marlin and dorado days. Dorado up to 25 lb., stripers averaging 90 to 130 lb. Many fish were just encountered by taking blind strikes on lures or on rigged baits such as ballyhoo or mullet. Caballito became scarcer, more mullet available this week compared to any other baitfish. Strips of squid are still be used for chunk fishing on the grounds from the Iman to Vinorama Banks. No significant numbers of yellowfin tuna, but charters that did target this action with persistence accounted for one, two or three tuna that averaged 25 to 30 lb. Only a couple wahoo reportedly landed recently, others were seen free swimming, so they are definitely in the area, these fish always seem to be elusive, until conditions are to their liking and they decide to go on the bite.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 80 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 wahoo, 13 striped marlin, 7 dogtooth snapper, 36 yellowfin tuna, 29 bonito, 14 dorado, 15 amberjack,15 leopard grouper (cabrilla), 34 yellow snapper, 8 sierra, 14 barred pargo, 55 jack crevalle, 105 roosterfish and 90 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric