Anglers –
March 12, 2016

Just as the local saying goes, Febreo Loco y Marzo otro poco (Crazy February and March a little more), this proved to be the prefect summary for this past week’s weather. Daytime highs barely reached into the lower 70s for the first part of the week, south winds switched from out of the Northwest, gusts to over 30 mph, rain showers near La Paz, winds swirling from all directions, creating choppy ocean swells, causing the Ports of Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Los Cabos to be closed down for the day of Wednesday, even though Tuesday was the worst conditions, Port Authorities were being extra cautious. By Thursday morning the front had passed through, conditions warmed up, south winds remained steady though. Overall we are now back on a warming trend, during this seasonal transition period we can commonly witness srapidly changing conditions, remember last March, on the day of the annual off road races, we saw heavy tropical thunder storms, then hail and offshore water spouts, all on the same day, definitely can be crazy.

Ocean conditions became a bit more stirred up, areas of greener cooling currents, water temperatures varied from 71 degrees on the Pacific side to 76 degrees in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. Schools of baitfish continue to be found off of San Jose del Cabo, more sardineta than anything else, but also some mackerel. This is the same grounds where there has been good action for striped marlin, mainly while drift fishing baits down deeper, striped marlin up to 140 pounds were reported, these were larger striped marlin, compared to the smaller fish being found earlier. Fleets from Cabo San Lucas were also fishing this area, not much going on elsewhere. Not wide open action, but most charter were having opportunities at marlin. Live caballito were available from inside the marina on a limited basis.

For the La Playita panga fleets, the more productive action was coming off the bottom structure, high spots from Red Hill/Palmilla, north to San Luis Bank, produced a mix of species, while drift fishing with various baits and on yo-yo style jigs. Catches included amberjack, yellowtail, yellow snapper, huachinango, bonito, leopard grouper, barred pargo, triggerfish and others. All very good eating species. Though on windy days this type of fishing can prove to be difficult, creating too fast of a drift. We do anticipate some great bottom action as soon as we see more consistent calmer conditions.

Nor much to report in the way of dorado or wahoo, just an occasional specimen being accounted for. Yellowfin tuna was very limited as well, though these fish were hanging around the San Luis Bank and a few fish were landed, ranging up to 70 pounds, striking on strips of squid, early in the day seemed to be the best chance at enticing a strike, though this action was sporadic, there was also the ever present problem of sea lions waiting for their chances at stealing hooked fish.

Along the shoreline anglers have encountered increased numbers of sierra, striking on lures and strip baits. Some smaller sized roosterfish rounded out the inshore activity. The coming weeks should see improvement closer to shore, though this season the lack of the sardinas have made things more unpredictable.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 48 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 15 striped marlin, 3 yellowtail, 1 wahoo, 2 dorado, 19 yellowfin tuna, 16 amberjack, 34 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 12 huachinango, 22 yellow snapper, 6 barred pargo, 24 sierra, 12 roosterfish, 9 bonito and 38 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
March 5, 2016

As we near the official start to the spring season, people now visiting the Los Cabos area are being greeted by ideal weather conditions, low temperature in the 60 degree range with daytime highs reaching in the upper 80s. Next week is forecast to be slightly cooler. Skies are clear, plenty of warm sunshine to enjoy all of the available outdoor activities. Ocean temperatures are averaging 73/74 degrees throughout the region, swells were moderate, currents not as strong as they had been and winds have been much lighter, not much from the north at all, mainly from the southeast later in the day.

Schools of mackerel and sardineta are congregating several miles offshore of San Jose del Cabo, increasing numbers of striped marlin are showing up on these same grounds, still no wide open bite by any means, encouraging signs though, with all of the baitfish in the area, also with ocean conditions now much more favorable.

Species such as dorado, yellowfin tuna and wahoo have been extremely limited, though these fish are in the area, and with progressively warming days we should see more activity for these surface gamefish. In the meantime fleets are now finding more action for a variety of great eating species off of the bottom structure. Areas from Punta Palmilla, to La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis Banks have all been showing better production. Anglers have been doing well on yo-yo style jigs, as well as on various available baitfish. This bottom action is really just starting to develop and has been somewhat sporadic as to where the best bite is found on a given day. Daily catches have included, amberjack, yellowtail, yellow snapper, huachinango, barred pargo, bonito, sierra, leopard grouper, hammerhead shark, triggerfish, parrot fish and others. No huge numbers of any particular species, though there has been great variety available.

Early in the the week there was good action for sierra up to six pounds off of Palmilla and Red Hill, also some medium sized roosterfish were patrolling the normal inshore sandy stretches. A few local anglers reported hooking into a larger grade of yellowfin tuna, up to 150 lb. while fishing late in the afternoon on the Gordo Banks, but these fish are not showing themselves during normal charters earlier in the day. Perhaps with warmer steady conditions this will get something more consistent going. The smaller class of yellowfin tuna, up to 30 lb., have been hanging around the Iman Banks, though getting any big numbers of hook ups has not been a regular situation, though some charters did account for one or two tuna in their combined catch, most of these yellowfin hit on striped squid, with a handful on yo-yo jigs.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 66 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 9 striped marlin, 3 wahoo,1 baqueta grouper, 2 yellowtail, 28 yellowfin tuna, 32 amberjack, 68 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 21 huachinango, 44 yellow snapper, 18 barred pargo, 28 sierra, 14 roosterfish, 6 rainbow runner, 8 parrot fish, 14 bonito, 9 hammerhead shark (released) and 80 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
February 27, 2016

This past week conditions cooled off slightly over the previous week. Still plenty of warm sunshine for the moderate crowds of visitors, highs reaching into the mid 80’s, lows in the 50’s. North winds resided some, switched from the south at times. Currents were very strong at times, water was clear and blue within a mile of shore, water temperatures, ranged from 72 to 75 degrees, warmer currents found offshore.

Last weekend and through the start of this week we saw pelagic red crabs appear on the local fishing grounds, this created excitement, especially for the commercial fleets, these little crustaceans make excellent baits for red snapper, which is the bread and butter of the local commercial panga fleets. They were first seen on the Outer Gordo Bank, later on further north, but then current became swifter and these crabs did not come to the surface, which is the only way they can be caught, with nets when they are up top. So bottom action was the main deal this past week, even the sportfishing fleets were getting in on this action. A handful of nice amberjack to over 50 lb. were also accounted for, quite a few leopard group as well, a few of them over 20 lb. Many variety of snapper, the huachinango (true Pacific red snapper), yellow snapper, barred pargo, tijaretas, etc… Lots of triggerfish. Also one black sea bass of 45 b., a very rare catch for our area, this sea bass ate a red snapper that was being reeled in.

Very few dorado or wahoo, just an occasional fish or two being found. Inshore water where these fish had been holding cooled off, and we were dealing with a bright full moon. Striped marlin became very scattered, just a few fish being found, no larger concentrations. The schools of mackerel and sardinetas became more scattered this week as well. Most charters were using either strips of squid, caballito, ballyhoo, with some mackerel and sardinetas when available.

Little inshore action found, mainly smaller sized roosterfish and a few stray sierra. Not much inshore bait activity to attract numbers of gamefish at this time. Still no signs of any sardinas in the area.

Yellowfin tuna were limited to a few fish in the vicinity of Iman Bank or La Fortuna, these fish were hitting on striped squid, the ongoing sea lion problem continued, most of these inshore tuna were in the 15 to 25 lb. range, anglers were fortunate to land one or two. This whole winter we have had a bonus of finding yellowfin tuna, this during the season when we would normally not see many of these fish, this has been an odd year, with water temperatures being warmer than normal, has changed all of the normal migrations, even the whales are scarcer this season.

In recent days there have been a few yellowfin taken offshore of San Jose del Cabo, associated with rapidly moving schools of porpoise, these were a nicer grade of yellowfin, in the 100 to 150 lb. class, though only a few fish all together were landed, but it is encouraging that we are seeing this, could be the start of something more consistent.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 82 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black sea bass, 4 striped marlin, 4 wahoo, 40 yellowfin tuna, 5 dorado, 9 amberjack, 35 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 185 huachinango, 56 yellow snapper, 12 barred pargo,7 sierra, 16 roosterfish, 12 rainbow runner,14 parrot fish, 12 bonito, 15 hammerhead shark (released) and 110 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric