Anglers –
July `18, 2015

After a quiet few weeks of calm weather with no tropical storm activity, things became busy once again in the Eastern Pacific. With two named systems developing quickly early in the week, Hurricane Dolores and Tropical Storm Enrique, of which only Dolores moved close enough to impact Southern Baja, this storm reached category four strength at one point while churning over warm waters some 200 plus miles west of Cabo San Lucas, we all felt fortunate that this storm stayed far enough from land to not cause any devastating damage. The main impact we felt was that all ocean activities were halted on Tuesday, as the Ports of Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Los Cabos were closed with posted Red Flag conditions. There was only scattered rainfall felt, more of this towards Todo Santos, with winds to 30 mph, ocean swells peaked close to 15 feet high on Thursday. We do expect that the Ports will reopen over the weekend sometime and sportfishing charters and other outdoor activities will resume.

Prior to the stormy ocean conditions forcing port closures we were seeing improved action for yellowfin tuna and dorado. Dorado were just making more of a presence before the latest storm system, weights up to 20 lb. Most of the yellowfin were smaller 5 to 10 lb. fish, though there were some larger tuna in the area. Skipper Chame Pino on the super panga “Killer II” out of La Playita landed a 140 pound yellowfin tuna off of the Gordo Banks while using a fresh lively bolito for bait. This area has been plagued with sharks recently, making it hard to keep a bait in the water long enough without having a shark grab onto it, before any other gamefish has a chance. Hopefully these pesky sharks move elsewhere soon so that anglers have more opportunities. Ocean temperatures were nearing the 85 degree range in some areas, likely that currents have cooled slightly with choppy seas through much of the week, clarity will be stirred up for a bit as conditions take time to rebound.

Live bait sources remained much the same, with caballito and a mix of some moonfish being available. Only limited supplies of sardinas were found for a few days before the storm, now bait suppliers will need to search all over again for possible resources.

Roosterfish had become much more scattered during the past week, most productive reports came from areas near Vinorama, where good numbers of quality sized roosterfish were encountered. Only a handful of dogtooth snappers were reported, most of these were seen very briefly, as they engulfed slow trolled bait and immediately headed for the nearest rock outcropping to cut the leader. Time we should see these big snapper showing up on the offshore banks.

There continued to be chances at early morning action off of San Luis Bank for red snapper (huachinango) while working yo-yo jigs, with some of these fish nearing 15 lb., though this action was showing signs of slowing down in the rapidly warming waters.

Billfish action was scattered, no particular hot spot, warmer currents had the main migration of striped marlin moving towards Southern California. Sailfish were encountered in limited numbers, as we near August we expect more black and blue marlin to arrive on the local fishing grounds. With all of the smaller sized yellowfin tuna now present, these are a favored food source for big gamefish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 21 charters for storm shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 sailfish, 2 striped marlin, 26 dorado, 2 wahoo, 78 yellowfin tuna, 1 dogtooth snapper, 7 yellow snapper, 6 jack crevalle, 9 bonito, 16 roosterfish and 18 huachinango (red snapper).

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
July `11, 2015

As school sessions end for the summer break we are now seeing more family vacationers arrive in Los Cabos, they have been greeted with calm, warm and humid patterns this past week. Distance tropical low pressure areas off to the west have created more tropical conditions, though winds have been light and skies very clear, moderate swells and clear blue water being found close to shore. Only rainfall reported has been to the north of San Jose del Cabo, near Miraflores and Santiago, vegetation is lush green in this region, compared to the parched desert landscape south of the airport, this is the normal pattern July through September, while coastal rainfall is more often associated with storm systems from the south, not like local thunderstorms that develop over the mountains north of San Jose del Cabo.

Ocean water temperatures have risen up to 85 degrees in areas, clear blue water for the most part, varying currents, raging at times, fleets are fishing over a wide span, searching for more productive waters. Billfish action slowed, warmer water can make striped marlin very sluggish and the majority of these stripers migrate towards California during the summer. A handful of sailfish are now moving in, and there have been blue marlin hook ups as well, though these fish are very scattered and not very active at this time. The offshore fishing grounds are holding schools of bolito and this past week we have seen more and more small football sized yellowfin tuna arrive, they are usually a good indicator for attracting large predators such as black and blue marlin. On the local Gordo Banks, this action usually peaks during the months of August, September and October.

Dorado are even more scattered than the billfish are, only an occasional fish being encountered, mixed sizes up to 20 lb., striking mainly in open water on lures, this is the time of year where we normally see larger concentrations of these popular gamefish. Wahoo have been elusive as well, but everyday a few of these speedsters have been accounted for off of the spots ranging from Red Hill, La Fortuna, to Iman Bank. The majority of the wahoo strikes were taken on trolled Rapalas.

Panga fleets out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, continue to target early morning action on the San Luis Bank for red snapper (huachinango), anglers working yo-yo jigs off of the structure were hooking into quality snapper weighing in 6 to 12 lb. class. This bite has tapered off compared to the past couple of weeks, though there is still a good chance at landing four or five of these snapper, with the only real productive time being early in the morning, after the sun starts to rise these fish shut down and most charters will then scout out other options offshore or inshore.

This season we have seem very limited activity for dogtooth snapper along the rocky shoreline, only an accessional story being told, most of them involving massive strikes that results in broken lines. The main action being targeted along the shoreline now has been for roosterfish, though this action became more difficult the past week, water clarity was crystal clear in many stretches and this can make these fish spooky. Anglers that went further north near Vinorama did report great action on larger sized roosterfish, apparently they witnessed some truly epic feeding frenzy activity.

An unusual catch was made by a commercial pangero the other day as he was returning into the marina channel area and was slow motoring, while leaving a moonfish out on a line, he hooked and landed a 30 lb. snook, all in front of local crowd hanging at the La Playita fillet stations, not an everyday catch.

The past couple of days we have seen some sardinas being found and then sold by the bait suppliers to charters operating in the direction of Iman Bank, these baitfish were found along the beach north of Vinorama, smaller in size, but are the first sardinas we have seen in at least two months and were being used to catch good numbers of smaller sized yellowfin tuna, most in the 5 to 8 lb. range, though a few tuna in the 30, 40 to 50 lb. range were also landed, some of these on yo-yo jigs or strips of squid. It is now the time of year where we see larger yellowfin moving on to the local Banks such as the Gordo Banks, Iman and San Luis. Last year there was a flurry of big tuna action in early August, time will tell what happens this season.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 75 charters, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 sailfish,14 striped marlin, 16 dorado, 17 wahoo, 135 yellowfin tuna, 3 amberjack, 8 cabrilla, 14 yellow snapper, 12 jack crevalle, 24 bonito, 24 roosterfish and 105 huachinango (red snapper).

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
July4, 2015

We are now settling into the new month of July, weather on the horizon remains calm at this time, no new tropical storms threatening, there are a pair of low pressure areas far off towards the west, heading in the direction of Hawaii, nothing to worry about in Southern Baja. With ocean water temperatures ranging into the low 80’s, these conditions can be ripe for tropical storm systems to develop rapidly, so we will all be monitoring forecasts closely.

Swells remain very moderate, currents are stronger that normal, winds were somewhat unpredictable, at times picking up from the north and then just as quickly shifting from out of the south, mainly from mid-day and into the afternoon, early in the day ocean conditions were much calmer. Sportfishing fleets have been concentrating on the grounds from outside of Cabo San Lucas and north towards San Luis Bank.

Bait supplies often become more scattered during the full moon phase, though at this time there have been both caballito and moonfish available. On the offshore grounds there have been bolito, skipjack and some smaller yellowfin tuna showing up, these can all be used for live bait as well. There have been limited numbers of larger sized yellowfin tuna found by sportfishers traveling anywhere from 25 to 40 miles offshore, these tuna, up to 200 pounds, were traveling with pods of porpoise, striking on a variety of lures, as well as available baitfish. A handful of yellowfin also were hooked into off of the San Luis Bank by anglers that were targeting the red snapper action that has been happening early morning on these grounds. These tuna were ranging from smaller sized footballs, up to about 40 lb. No significant numbers though, more tuna were seen at times, but it was another story trying to entice them into biting, especially on days where winds increased and currents were swift.

There are a wide selection of gamefish now present on the local grounds, a time when offshore billfish grand slams are feasible, with there being striped marlin, sailfish, black and blue marlin all being hooked into this past week. Marlin have been found in close proximity to shore, most of this action from 3 to 10 miles from shore. Blue water has recently been encountered in close proximity on most days, fluctuating currents did move off colored water in on occasions and boats would then travel further to find cleaner areas. This is still the time of year when conditions are stabilizing, as the hot summer season progresses, usually by mid-July we do not have to deal with cooler Pacific currents working our direction, by this time we would expect water temperatures of 85 degrees for the rest of the summer.

One 400 pound class black marlin was reportedly landed by a charter based out of Palmilla, also some blue marlin making their presence this past week, most of these were in the 100 lb.to 200 lb. range. There are more numbers of striped marlin than of the other species, a handful of sailfish in the mix. Dorado were scattered, mixed sized, majority were smaller fish, not in the numbers we would expect for this time period.

Many charters were doing some early morning bottom jigging or targeting inshore roosterfish action, before trying some open blue water or outer banks activity, this time of year there are a variety of options to choose from and on any particular day a certain area can go off. The red snapper (huachinango) bite has continued on the San Luis Bank, this has mainly been an early morning bite on yo-yo jigs for snapper up to 12 lb., with Mexican bonito, a few cabrilla or amberjack mixed in. This action had been more consistent last week, but is still producing, we must remember factors such as fast currents and bright full moon phases can change feeding habits.

Roosterfish continue to patrol inshore waters, this is peak season for chances at finding trophy sized roosterfish, jack crevalle and dogtooth snapper can also found close to during this season.

Wahoo became a bit more active mid-week, as many charters accounted for wahoo while trolling Rapalas or smaller hoochie type lures on grounds north of Punta Gorda, though again no numbers, most charters were fortunate to land one of these elusive wahoo, weights ranged to 35 lb.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 73 charters for the shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 5 sailfish, 29 striped marlin, 1 island jack, 74 dorado, 11 wahoo, 14 yellowfin tuna, 9 amberjack, 14 cabrilla, 5 dogtooth snapper, 2 pargo colorado, 15 yellow snapper, 8 jack crevalle, 66 bonito, 58 roosterfish and 115 huachinango (red snapper).

Good fishing, Eric