Anglers –
June 6, 2015

Tropical storm season has started off with a flurry of unprecedented activity, last week we saw Hurricane Andres pass off to the west, bringing warmer humid conditions and increased ocean swells. At this present time we are following the rapid development of and projected path of Hurricane Blanca, which appears to heading on a track to bring it very close offshore of Todo Santos and then downgrading to a tropical Storm as it makes landfall early Monday morning near San Carlos. We are expecting strong winds, heavy rainfall and ocean swell over 20 foot during the entire day of Sunday. So preparations are now being made, moving boats to safer areas, stocking up on provisions, etc…Normally these early season storm systems will steer more off to the west, as did Andres, but it appears that Blanca has another plan. Being prepared is the wisest thing that can be done at this time. This summer is shaping up to be very busy in the Eastern Pacific, as water temperatures are already near the 80 degree mark.

Sportfishing fleets continued to deal with light crowds, main offshore action was for striped marlin, with many charters accounting for one or two billfish. Dorado were showing up in greater numbers, especially closer to shore, most of the dorado were small in size, though a percentage were in the 10 to 20 lb. range. Striking on various lures and baitfish.

Bait suppliers were netting caballito and moonfish in the marina channel and ballyhoo was another option. No reports of anyone finding any sardinas and with higher storm swells heading our direction we expect baitfish might become a bit more scattered. Still no significant signs of mullet schools being encountered, though some larger roosterfish have been hooked into trolling along the local beach stretches, fish of 40 to 50 lbs. were landed this past week. Some quality sized amberjack to over 60 pounds were accounted for and dogtooth snapper were also hooked into, but lost due to the close proximity of sharp rocky reefs. A mix of pargo, bonito and cabrilla rounded out the action over the shallow structure.

Wahoo bite dropped off compared to last, full moon might have been a factor, though these elusive speedsters remain in the area and conditions are favorable for them to become more active at any time. Most of the wahoo landed recently have been fish weighing in the 15 to 30 pound class, striking on either baits or trolled lures, mainly on the grounds to the north of Punta Gorda.

Lots of sharks still being reported, from on the offshore marlin grounds to the inshore structure areas as well, brown, mako and hammerhead sharks have been prevalent, apparently attracted by the plentiful food source now on these grounds.

There were yellowfin tuna seen feeding on the local fishing grounds, though only a handful were hooked into, most of these were in the area from La Fortuna to the Gordo Banks, while using available baitfish, these tuna averaged 30 lb., at least one much larger yellowfin was reported, though we did not receive an exact weight on that fish.

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: 11 striped marlin, 64 dorado, 8 yellowfin tuna, 8 wahoo, 16 amberjack, 11 cabrilla, 22 yellow snapper, 8 jack crevalle, 16 bonito and 29 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
May 30, 2015

Light crowds of tourists now, as school semester’s soon finish, we will see greater numbers of vacationers arrive. At this time the season’s first tropical storm has developed off of the coast of mainland Mexico, named Andres, this system is forecast to follow a more westerly path, keeping it well away from any impact with land. As Andres brewed some 500 miles to the south, the weather became more tropical, feeling like summer, warm and humid. We do expect to see higher ocean swells develop over the weekend. Water temperature temperatures have ranged from 72 degrees on the further Pacific banks, up to the 78/79 degrees in the vicinity of the Outer Gordo Banks.

There were variable gusty winds out of the north and switching from the south, on and off throughout the week, this made for unpredictable conditions offshore. Most consistent action found was for striped marlin, this action centered straight offshore from San Jose del Cabo, with more billfish being found from 10 to 15 miles from shore, though some stripers were encountered much closer in. Many charters were accounting for multiple billfish days, two, three or more marlin, striking on lures, as well as taking dropped back baits. Large number of sharks were encountered on these same grounds, to the point of being a nuisance, quite hefty, brown variety, strong fighters, taking up a lot of angler’s time.

Action for other species was limited, though some charters were able to land two or three wahoo while trolling lures, mainly Rapalas, off of the Red Hill area, some strikes were taken on rigged baits as well, most of these were smaller sized ‘hoo, up to 25 pounds. Dorado were few and far between, though on occasion a boat would come in with two or three fish, most of these under fifteen pounds.

Only a handful of yellowfin tuna were reported, a few larger tuna were hooked into on the Gordo Banks, fish were strong enough to break leaders, over one hundred pounds, these hook ups were lost for various reasons, so the tuna are in the area and with warmer tropical conditions forming, anything could happen on any given day.

With limited numbers of charters and breezy conditions, there was not much bottom action reported, even when weather cooperated there were just not many structure species accounted for, strong current was a contributing factor.

Close to shore anglers found action for roosterfish and jack crevalle, though this action was hit or miss, we have not seen many mullet moving into to local waters yet, this migration of baitfish is what normally brings in the big run of larger sized roosterfish. This is the time of year when we can see dogtooth snapper close to shore, we have not seen these powerful snapper yet, typically found near the rocky reefs.

Still no sign of a resource for sardinas, with higher surf conditions on the way, most likely the bait situation will remain the same, with caballito, moonfish and ballyhoo being offered inside the marina at launch time.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 52 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 38 striped marlin, 26 dorado, 6 yellowfin tuna, 24 wahoo, 4 amberjack, 3 pargo colorado, 18 huachinango,13 cabrilla, 12 yellow snapper, 10 jack crevalle, 18 roosterfish and 10 bonito.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
May 23, 2015

Now starting the final week of the month of May, weather conditions continue to be very pleasant, warming days, highs around 85 degrees, moderate breezes and light swells, all combine to create comfortable ocean conditions for visiting anglers. Crowds are much lighter than we would expect for this time frame, many anglers who regularly fish out of the panga area of Puerto Los Cabos Marina are waiting for rebuilding efforts to be completed, progress is moving along, though priorities are not aimed towards repairing the damaged docks, so far crews are only working on all of the other surrounding infrastructure, people are having to park or be dropped off out on the far perimeter and carry supplies much longer distances than pre-Odile days.

There have not been any sardinas available for the past several weeks, anglers have been relying on what available baitfish that are being found in the marina area, mainly caballito and some moonfish, also ballyhoo. Other charters are spending time catching chihuil and some people had success on strips of giant squid that they purchased ahead of time from local super markets. Ocean temperatures has been ranging from 74 to 77 degrees and blue water is being found within several miles of shore.

Striped marlin has been the most common species found offshore, straight offshore of San Jose del Cabo, anywhere from 3 to 15 miles from shore, concentrations of stripers are being found, free jumping and at times feeding on balled up bait sources. At times the marlin proved very finicky, though with persistence anglers were hooking up, many boats accounted for one or two marlin, while other seen many fish, but could not entice any strikes, with so much food on the fishing grounds, the marlin would just not be hungry at times. Only an occasional dorado being encountered, this is the time where we do expect to start seeing more larger sized dorado move into the area.

Wahoo were fairly active throughout this past week, most of the time found near shore, off of Palmilla and north to Cardon and La Fortuna, anglers using lures and baits were accounted for as many as two or three wahoo in their combined catches, weights ranged up to 40 lb. Many wahoo could be seen following baits as they were being trolled slowly, but they would be shy at actually striking, lighter leaders proved to be an advantage. Encouraging to have so many wahoo being reportedly sighted, even though the numbers of fish actually landed have been limited. Something could happen at any time now to trigger a wide open bite for these fish.

Yellowfin tuna bite was limited to just one or two tuna here or there, many of these hit of strips of squid, some were hooked on small hoochies and other on chihuil or caballito, sizes averaged 20 to 40 lb. Lots of yellowfin in the area, but these fish are just not that eager to strike on what the anglers are able to offer.

After having some excellent bottom action last week, this week has been a different story, one factor being the swift current that has been running, this will put the fish off the bite faster than anything. A handful of amberjack, cabrilla, yellow snapper and triggerfish were accounted for, no significant numbers though, with the areas of La Fortuna and Iman being the best bet for this. If the currents slacks on any given day this action can produce some quality catches.

Along the shore only a few sierra being encountered, some larger sized roosterfish are now moving in, we saw roosterfish up to 40 lb. landed and of course there are jack crevalle in the mix as well. In the coming weeks we expect increased numbers of larger roosterfish to continue to move through our area, mid-June is normally the peak season for these prized gamefish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 30 striped marlin, 14 yellowfin tuna, 27 wahoo, 18 dorado, 15 amberjack, 22 huachinango (red snapper), 15 cabrilla, 22 yellow snapper and 16 bonito.

Good fishing, Eric