Dorado, Wahoo, Yellowfin Tuna all on Local Grounds ~ November 7, 2015

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Anglers –
November 7, 2015

The weather patterns finally are starting to feel like Fall, though daytime temperatures were still warm reaching up to 90 degree, early morning lows are about 65 degrees, ideal climate actually. One drawback is that we are also feeling the north winds in recent days for the first time this season, up to 20 mph, this has made for choppy conditions on fishing grounds north of Punta Gorda. Water temperatures are now in the 84 degree range, no distinct area of a drastic temperature break. Swells have been moderate and early in the day most days ocean conditions were nice. Crowds are heavy this week, with the Won Tuna Jackpot Tournament having over 150 teams participating, this is the season’s final high stakes event.

There continue to be no sardinas available, baitfish supplies now consist of caballito, squid on most days, also ballyhoo starting to be available, some charters are looking for chihuil for use as trolling baits. Seems like during these big tournament events the bait situation becomes more limited, lots of hoarding going on.

Fleets out of San Jose del Cabo have been concentrating their efforts from the Gordo Banks to Vinorama, the action that had been productive for several weeks close off of Punta Gorda slacked up and the grounds towards Cardon, La Fortuna, Iman and Desteladera started to show more activity. Yellowfin tuna were being found moving with porpoise and were hitting on strips of squid, though this action was unpredictable as where and when the porpoise and in turn the yellowfin, would be encountered, more often late in the morning. The tuna being caught were mostly in the 40 to 65 lb. class, no big numbers, but quality grade of fish, some tuna much larger were also hooked into, but most were eventually lost due to lighter 50 lb. leaders that were being used to entice the line shy yellowfin.

Dorado and wahoo were also being found on these same grounds, better bite was first part of the week, before north winds played havoc. Wahoo were striking best on various baits, such as chihuil, caballito or rigged ballyhoo, also a percentage hit on trolling lures, sizes ranged up to 54 lb., most fish were in the 15 to 30 lb. range, charters landed as many as five wahoo per morning, though most anglers were fortunate to land one or two of these prized sought after gamefish. Finally we are seeing some nicer sized mature dorado, it has been a long time, still no significant numbers, but chances of finding two, three, maybe four of these fish, same grounds as where the wahoo and tuna have been encountered.

Billfishing was mainly for scattered action on sailfish and striped marlin, some marlin hooked into were unusually small, in the 20 to 30 lb. class, not often do we such juvenile sized billfish, others were of normal size.

Not much inshore or bottom action now, though we did see some red snapper action off of the San Luis Bank, closer to shore there were triggerfish, some yellow snapper, pompano, bonito and barred pargo.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 149 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 12 striped marlin, 14 sailfish, 185 yellowfin tuna, 8 sierra, 10 rainbow runners, 18 huachinango (red snapper), 66 dorado, 48 wahoo, 14 pompano, 18 yellow snapper, 75 triggerfish, 12 barred pargo, 16 white skipjack, 3 surgeonfish, 18 bonito and 5 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Larger Tuna and Wahoo More Active North of Gordo Banks ~ October 31, 2015

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Anglers –
October 31, 2015

It seems that our fall weather patterns have finally stabilized, no new late season tropical storms have developed since last week’s incredibly power Hurricane Patricia, which made land fall near Puerto Vallarta, surprisingly the damage was not too extensive. Ocean water temperatures have dropped a couple of degrees in recent days, now into the 84/85 degree range, this cooling trend should continue as days are becoming progressively shorter. Swells have been moderate, tides fairly extreme with passing of the full moon, winds increased from the south and north winds are starting to play havoc for the East Cape region. Daytime highs were still into the low 90s, but now it appears we will have more comfortable conditions in the mid 80s, with low of 65 degrees, time for long sleeve t-shirts, sweatshirts and wind breakers.

Sportfishing fleets continue to be busy, with the Bisbee Tournament now past, everyone is gearing up for the WON Tuna Jackpot scheduled for next week. In recent weeks all of the larger yellowfin tuna encountered were coming from the Pacific Banks, San Jaime or Golden Gate, just in recent days with the change in currents, there have been tuna to over 200 pounds found on the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo and to the north of the Gordo Banks. These larger grade of tuna were traveling with fast moving porpoise and were striking on strips of squid. Still no big numbers, but definitely a chance at hooking into a tournament winner, one panga charter lost an estimated 250 lb. tuna after a long battle, right as they were trying to gaff the fish, talk about a heartbreak.

The action close to shore off of Punta Gorda that has been going on for the past few weeks, continues, this is where tuna up to 40 lb. were sporadically biting, best action usually early, then becoming spottier throughout the day. Triggerfish, pompano and various pargo species rounded out that action off the point, overall this bite is starting to fade out and charters are now scouting out new grounds. Iman Bank is showing more activity for wahoo, as well as chances at tuna or dorado, again no big numbers, but with changing conditions, anything could happen on any given day. Wahoo were ranging from 15 lb. to over 50 lb., striking on Rapalas, skirted lead heads, as well as on chihuil or other rigged baits, including flying fish, if you were able to obtain them, as some skippers were able to a couple of weeks back when they ran into schools of these flyers in a spawning mode and were able to scoop them up with their bait nets by the dozens, of course this was a one day event.

Billfish has been mainly a mix of sailfish or striped marlin for San Jose fleets, with higher chances for blue marlin off of the Cabo San Lucas and Pacific grounds. Sailfish were found close to shore where the tuna action was. With ocean temperatures still warm, there could be blue or black marlin hooked late into the year, even early 2016.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 148 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 21 sailfish, 4 striped marlin, 370 yellowfin tuna, 12 rainbow runners, 2 amberjack, 18 dorado, 49 wahoo, 18 pompano, 16 yellow snapper, 145 triggerfish, 6 sierra, 19 barred pargo, 70 black skipjack, 14 surgeonfish, 16 roosterfish and 12 bonito.

Good fishing, Eric

Yellowfin Tuna off Punta Gorda, Squid Strips for Bait ~ October 24, 2015

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Anglers –
October 23, 2015

Now into the third week of October, only in the last couple of days we have felt cooler temperatures into the 60s during early morning hours. Quite pleasant conditions now, actually need a sweatshirt or light windbreaker. Most sunny skies, we are expecting some more scattered cloud cover from the distant bands of Hurricane Patricia. This latest storm is turning out to be the most powerful system every recorded in either the Pacific or Atlanta. Now situated offshore of the coast, between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta, Patricia has reached category five status, has sustained winds of 200 mph and gusts to 245 mph, sounds like data from a tornado. This incredibly strong storm is following a path directly towards making landfall late Friday, sure hope everyone in the path has taken necessary precautions and evacuated to safer land.

Conditions have been fine locally in Los Cabos, only a few isolated rain squalls reported through the week. Light winds in the afternoon, more breeze and swells reported on the Pacific. Ocean temperatures are still higher than average, ranging from 84 degrees on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, to 87 degrees in the direction of San Jose del Cabo and the Sea of Cortez.

Some 121 teams participated in the world’s richest fishing tournament, the Bisbee’s Black and Blue. This season fish migration patterns are all confused, the unprecedented El Nino causing havoc. Fishing action has been far more spread out and limited, not what we would normally expect for this historically productive time frame. This year anything could happen, we might see cow sized yellowfin on the Gordo Banks during the winter time.

Local fleets have been concentrated close to shore off of Punta Gorda, with the lack of any resource for sardinas, anglers have been relying on using strips of giant squid for bait. Main species being encountered have been yellowfin tuna in the 10 to 40 lb. range. No wide open action, spotty most of the time, fish coming up in flurries, often early, then less often later on the morning. Drift fishing with the strip bait had been the most productive technique. Off the bottom in this area there was a mix of triggerfish, pompano, barred pargo and small snapper, though no significant numbers of these. An occasional dorado, wahoo, striped marlin or sailfish has rounded out the surface action.

Some charters scouted out other areas, inshore, offshore and further north, looking for possible wahoo action and others, most of these scouting trips did not produce and the best chance at getting a hook up was once again off of Punta Gorda. Most of the wahoo strikes reported in recent days were by anglers using the strips of squid off of Punta Gorda.

Blue marlin were scattered, no black marlin reported recently, a few stripers and fair numbers of sailfish, up to 100 lb. Despite limited options this past week, we do anticipate with the cooling weather patterns, that we will see water temperatures cool and a change in currents should help improve our all-around action, we look forward to a great late fall and winter season.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 128 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 14 sailfish, 260 yellowfin tuna, 18 dorado, 6 wahoo, 16 pompano, 18 yellow snapper, 65 triggerfish, 4 sierra, 8 cabrilla, 12 barred pargo, 180 black skipjack and 16 bonito.

Good fishing, Eric