Anglers –
December 19, 2015

Holiday crowds have started to arrive in greater numbers this past week and it appears that it will be busy during this year’s festive times. Weather has been a been a bit crazy, relentless winds from the north much of the week, before laying down for the weekend and actually feeling once again almost like late summer, instead of winter. Whales are also being sighted more frequently now, as this is just the start of the annual migration for these mammals.

Ocean swells have been minimal, water temperatures have ranged from 76 degrees in the direction of Los Frailes and 79 degrees off of Cabo San Lucas. Anglers have been relying on caballito or squid slabs for baits, still no reports of anyone finding any schooling sardinas, hard to say what will happen with this, we do believe that when water does eventually cool off, that we will see these preferred baitfish return within our range.

The week started off with the most consistent action being found off the areas of the Cabo San Lucas Arches to Sol Mar, within one mile or less of shore, this is where there was a good bite going on for yellowfin tuna while drift fishing with strips of squid. These ranged from 8 to 15 lb., some of these fish also hit on caballito. The bite was sporadic, but many charters did account for their limits, there was a good chance at losing a percentage of your hook ups to hungry sea lions that were patrolling this same area. Lots of pressure on these grounds, since this was around the only productive spot through most of the week, as north winds made it almost impossible to fish on the grounds to the north. But over the weekend as conditions changed from nearly gale conditions to flat calm, this had charters heading north again and they did have encouraging reports, especially considering all the wind, water clarity was surprisingly good. Yellowfin tuna starting biting again on the Iman Bank, nicer sized fish to 30 lb.

Not much going on for dorado and wahoo, only an occasional fish being landed, other strikes lost, but just no significant numbers of either of these species. Nothing much going on around the Gordo Banks, but maybe the calmer conditions will get this area back on track, as lots of skipjack and other baitfish activity was reported. Also at least one 200 lb. class black marlin was landed, another black, estimated to weigh close to 500 lb. was hooked on a trolled caballito, only to be lost near the boat as the fish got its head down, gaining momentum and heading deep and breaking the lighter 130 lb. leader which had been intended for a cow yellowfin tuna, not a late season el Nino black marlin.

Inshore there was some good action for smaller sized roosterfish off of the San Jose del Cabo Hotel area, particularly near Holiday Inn and the Estuary. Very little bottom fishing was going on now, more triggerfish than anything else, we expect to start seeing more variety start to move in off of the structure. Marlin action was scattered as well, a few striped marlin and then the chance at a larger marlin around the Gordo Banks, no big numbers though of any of these billfish. Will be interesting to see if there is a good run or mackerel and in turn striped marlin his season, this is the month when this normally occurs, starting on the Pacific Banks, before shifting in the direction of the Sea of Cortez.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 74 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black marlin, 8 striped marlin, 285 yellowfin tuna, 16 dorado, 5 wahoo, 4 cabrilla, 22 pargo, 8 bonito, 35 roosterfish and 18 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
December 12, 2015

Another quiet week for numbers of visitors arriving in the Los Cabos area, another ten days or so we should see more holiday travelers. Weather patterns were more like typical late fall season patterns, cooler mornings, predominate north winds, relentless for days, before diminishing for a period and then repeating the cycle. Air temperatures in the mid-80s and the strength of the sunshine has felt surprisingly intense for mid-December. Scattered clouds most days, threatening light rain later in the week. Lighter winds early in the week, increasing by week’s end. Ocean temperatures are ranging from 78 to 82 degrees, warmest currents being reported straight outside of Cabo San Lucas and towards the Pacific Banks. Overall ocean conditions are considerably warmer than what they normally would be for this time of year, definitely results from El Nino.

Local fishing grounds are still attracting pelagic gamefish such as yellowfin tuna, dorado, wahoo, skipjack, sailfish, striped and blue marlin. We are anticipating on having summer and fall type fishing action lasting into this winter season, this as a result of warmer than usual ocean conditions. There are some cooler water species like sierra now appearing along beach stretches and bonito off the structure. No reports of any new resource for sardinas, we expect as the ocean temps eventually cool, schools of sardinas will return, hard to predict what is going on with these baitfish migrations, many factors involved. Whales are now arriving on their annual migration, numerous sightings, this activity should only increase in the next couple of months.

San Jose del Cabo fleets concentrated most of their efforts on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to Iman Bank. Action was somewhat sporadic, no great numbers of any particular fish, though there were some quality fish being accounted for every day, again the pressure was light due to minimal crowds of anglers at this time. There was good dorado action found early in the day, straight out front of Puerto Los Cabos Marina, 2 to 4 miles out, slow trolling caballito was the best producer, though some dorado also hit on trolled lures or ballyhoo, for anglers that were able to find any of these rigging baits. Most dorado were weighing in the 12 to 25 lb. range, nice sized fish, charters accounted for anywhere from one or two, up to four or five fish per day. On these same ground there were billfish, this past week anglers hooked into sailfish, striped and black and blue marlin. There was a story of a black marlin hooked later in the day anglers battled this fish until 8 p.m. before breaking it off, no moon at all and the crew did not seem to be making any headway.

Yellowfin tuna was a bit spottier, though in recent days this action did show signs of improvement. The key to this action was finding sufficient supplies of squid slabs, drift fishing while chumming was the method that was working. Both Inner and Outer Gordo Banks were holding yellowfin of 40 to 100 pound class, most likely much larger, most of the fish being landed from these grounds were in the 60 to 80 lb., we heard of a local pangeros last week who caught a tuna that went 180 lb. Other heavy hook ups were lost, included more than one big fish lost to cut lines, suspected that some lost commercial set gear could be the problem. Anglers were lucky to land one or two of these tuna and had to be specifically targeting these fish. The Iman Bank produced a grade of tuna in the 15 to 35 lb. range, also nice fish and chance at more numbers, some charters had as many as 5 to 8 of these yellowfin. These were the same grounds where wahoo have been holding, the bite has been on and off, mainly on trolled baits, caballito, skipjack or chihuil, not much reported on trolled lures recently, of course more anglers are fishing the bait, compared to trolling lures.

Some sierra now mixed with mostly smaller sized roosterfish found close to shore, inside the marina area locals are having a field day with the wide open barracuda bite. Bottom action consisted mostly for smaller sized pargo and triggerfish, a few bonito and cabrilla.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 56 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 11 sailfish 1 blue marlin, 17 striped marlin, 66 yellowfin tuna, 85 dorado, 18 wahoo, 4 sierra, 28 pargo, 1 pompano, 10 cabrilla, 16 white skipjack, 8 bonito, 12 rainbow runner, 14 roosterfish, 4 surgeonfish and 20 triggerfish

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
December 5, 2015

This week like clockwork the numbers of visitors were far fewer than in previous weeks, this is normal for immediately after Thanksgiving and prior to the Christmas Holiday season. Last week we were all caught off guard by the latest forming major Hurricane ever recorded in the Eastern Pacific, Hurricane Sandra reached category four strength and initially was forecast to pass very close to Cabo San Lucas on Saturday, the system followed a unpredictable course, it then collided with a powerful wind shear from the north, which stirred the storm further south and caused rapid weakening. Southern Baja was spared of any devastation, there was a fair amount of rainfall recorded in the Los Cabos, possibly up to three inches in certain areas. Winds never reached much more than 30 mph gusts, but storm swells did kick up to about four meters and both local ports were closed all day on Friday and Saturday, rainy day schedule, finally opening Sunday morning. Since the passing of this storm front there have been persistent northerly winds, ranging 15 to 25 mph and this created choppy conditions on the open grounds north of Punta Gorda. The winds did slack later in the week, helping to settle seas, air temperature are still reaching into the 80’s and lows dipped to 60 degrees. Ocean water temperature was now ranging 79/80 degrees throughout most of the region. North winds pushed in slightly greener current close to shore.

The week started off with the wahoo being aggressive and very active early in the day on the Iman Bank. Best action was on slow trolled baits, either caballito or chihuil, not much reported on trolled artificial lures. Some charters landed up to five wahoo, with that many other strikes lost, weights for the ‘hoo averaged 25 to 40 lb. Not as many numbers of dorado were found from these same grounds, though the other fleets fishing on the Pacific did find more numbers of dorado, but not many wahoo or other species, besides billfish.

Yellowfin tuna action became hampered by persistent winds, harder to find porpoise activity, and not favorable for drift and chum style fishing. Other days anglers could see tuna breezing on the surface, but these fish were just not interested in striking any offerings. A handful of yellowfin tuna have been landed, some smaller grade football, but other quality tuna in the 40 to 120 lb. class were accounted for. The day before the recent storm struck there was a report from commercial pangeros based out of Los Frailes, who landed one yellowfin tuna that weighed 378 lb. while fishing on the San Luis Bank with squid. If weather does cooperate we do expect to have more quality yellowfin tuna action opening up.

The bottom action showing a little more promise in recent days, but again you need calmer conditions to really have better opportunities. A few species of pargo, bonito, amberjack, triggerfish and cabrilla, no big quantities, but better than what we have seen off of the bottom for the past month, we expect to see improved bottom action, though this will depend on how persistent north winds prove to be. Normal fall/winter wind patterns have been harder to predict this year, winds usually blow for several days, then we have a few nice days and cycle repeats itself, not like these seven to eight day blows we have had this fall.

Bait supplies remained plentiful for live caballito, not much else was available, no ballyhoo or sardinas to speak of. With changing ocean conditions we hope to see sardinas move back within our range.

Surely we will see the annual migration of whales start to arrive soon, warner than normal water might delay this, but these mammals will arrive soon enough. Great time to visit now, ideal climate, crowds of anglers are light and fishing is liable to break wide open on any given day.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 78 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 blue marlin, 13 sailfish, 7 striped marlin, 34 yellowfin tuna, 39 dorado, 49 wahoo, 9 sierra, 46 misc. pargo species, 1 amberjack, 12 cabrilla, 13 bonito, 6 roosterfish and 25 triggerfish

Good fishing, Eric