Anglers –
May 16, 2015

As summer season nears, we are started to feel progressively warmer days, actually the climate is ideal now, as evenings do still cool off comfortably and daytime highs are averaging about 85 degrees. Unpredictable winds blowing from the north and then switching from the south have stirred up conditions some and limited some of the options for anglers.

Swells have been higher once again, making surfers very happy, but not helping the bait netters any, as there are still no signs of any sardinas being found in local waters. There continue to be caballito and now moonfish are also appearing in the marina channel, ballyhoo has been another available bait option. Ocean temperature has been in the 74 to 76 degree range throughout most of the region. Currents have fluctuated, raging at times and completely slacking on other occasions. Hard to predict from day to day, as is normal for this time frame. Not much action being reported on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas or out of the East Cape, this is normally a good time for that area. Hard to say what factors might be causing this situation. Lack of sardinas is a normal scenario when southern swells arrive and it is normal to be relying on large sized baitfish at this time. In the coming weeks the fishing action will depend a lot on what weather patterns do.

Striped marlin has been really the only action found offshore, recently they have been found from 3 to 12 miles from shore. There are good numbers of these billfish now in the area, many can be seen free jumping, tailing on the surface and also feeding on balled up bait schools, including squid, which apparently are plentiful. The marlin are striking on rigged ballyhoo, caballito and other available baitfish. At times they have proved finicky, as they are filling up on natural bait sources and not much interested in anything else. Though with persistence many charters are reported one, two or three marlin per outing, best bite has been late morning and into the afternoon.

Dorado have continued to be scarce, only an occasional fish being encountered, no large schools of these fish now. Wahoo are holding on the ledges north or Punta Gorda, to Vinorama, these fish are striking best on slow trolled baits, most of these fish are ranging in sizes up to 30 pounds. Some charters accounted for up to five wahoo, though the majority were fortunate to land one or two of these elusive and tricky speedsters. Many yellowfin tuna could be seen breezing on these same fishing grounds, especially around the Iman Bank, but with no sardinas now available, these tuna have been hard to entice, a handful of yellowfin in the 25 to 40 lb. class were accounted for, these fish hit on live chihuil or caballito.

When the weather allowed, anglers found much improved action off of the bottom structure, from La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis Bank, a variety of quality species were taken, leopard grouper, including at least one of the rare golden phase variety, yellow snapper, bonito, huachinango (red snapper), grouper and amberjack. Grouper to 40 pounds and amberjack weighing to over 60 pounds were accounted for. Most of this bottom action was found in relatively shallow water and the fish hit on whole and cut baits, not much on yo-yo jigs recently.

With the recent larger swell activity there was not much going on close to shore recently, as swells reside we do expect to see more roosterfish activity, maybe even some dogtooth snapper will start to move in.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 60 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 18 striped marlin, 11 yellowfin tuna, 19 wahoo, 14 dorado, 24 amberjack, 16 huachinango (red snapper) , 23 cabrilla, 1 golden phased leopard grouper, 3 broomtail grouper, 2 gulf grouper, 48 yellow snapper, 18 bonito and 28 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
May 9, 2015

Surprisingly light crowds now, considering this is usually a popular time for visiting tourists. Large swells pounded the region through last weekend, same swell that caused major flood damage to resorts located further south on mainland Mexico. Conditions have settled now, light breezes, increasingly warm days, feeling semi tropical, great time of year, climate is ideal, this is before the heat of the summer.

Sportfishing fleets were fishing in all different directions, main action found offshore was for striped marlin, good numbers of fish seen throughout the zone, anywhere from a few miles out to fifteen miles or so have been productive areas. The marlin have been feeding on an abundance of squid which are now on local fishing grounds, at times, with all of this natural bait available, the stripers became more finicky of striking on any other offerings. Though many were striking on various lures, rigged ballyhoo and caballito baits. Average weighs ranged from 90 to 120 lb. Still some thrasher sharks being hooked into on the same grounds.

Dorado were surprisingly scarce, just a handful of fish found scattered from inshore to offshore, most smaller sized fish, with a few exceptions. Water conditions are improving once again, recent swell and winds contributed to pushing in dirty greenish currents, with conditions now rebounding and water temperatures averaging 74 to 76 degrees, anything could happen on any given day. On the Pacific there were water temperatures as low as 70 degrees reported, warmest grounds were in the direction of the Sea of Cortez and Los Frailes.

Anglers were scratching away at a variety of structure species, while waiting for surface action to improve. Most common fish were huachinango, of the true Pacific Red snapper, leopard grouper, yellow snapper, triggerfish and bonito. Though this action was not consistent, best bet for enticing the red snapper were being found while using red crabs for bait, which were only available on a very limited basis. Other whole and cut bait were being used, as well as yo-yo jigs. No sardinas have been found now for the past couple of weeks, ballyhoo are being used for trolling, and caballito have been readily available in the Marina channel through the commercial fleet.

We had not seen any yellowfin tuna action at all for some 12 days, though on Wednesday and Thursday limited numbers of yellowfin were accounted for by charters trolling with caballito off of the Cardon area. These fish were all in the 25 to 40 lb. range, anglers were fortunate to land one or two of these fish. Wahoo made a strong showing on the same spot as where the tuna were encountered, though many more wahoo were lost than were actually landed. As clarity improves and the days continue on the warming trend we expect action to turn on in the coming weeks. This is the time of year, when there can be great action found from inshore, offshore and off of the structure.

Inshore fishing was hit or miss now, some roosterfish, most of them smaller sized, jack crevalle, powerful fighters, some as large as 25 lb. Not many sierra now, season is getting late for them and the lack of sardinas is not helping to find these fish. Within the next several weeks is when we do normally begin to see larger sized roosterfish move in, particularly as their mullet food source migrate into local waters.

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: 17 striped marlin, 15 yellowfin tuna, 7 wahoo, 18 dorado, 10 sierra, 18 jack crevalle, 8 roosterfish, 5 amberjack, 49 huachinango (red snapper) , 26 cabrilla, 2 broomtail grouper, 18 whitefish, 20 yellow snapper, 12 bonito and 22 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
May 2, 2015

Starting another new month, May is a great time of year, progressively warming weather, as we get into the later part of spring, at times it can be quite warm, near 90 degrees, though evenings still cool off and all around the climate is very nice, normally anglers find calmer ocean conditions and action can include options from inshore, offshore and on the bottom structure.

This past week we saw the changing climate apparently affected how the fish acted, school of sardinas vanished near Vinorama where they had been, now we have larger sized baitfish available, caballito, jurelito, ballyhoo, bolito and chihuil. The yellowfin tuna action came to a standstill, dorado and wahoo were also very scarce. Best action for this past week has been for striped marlin, thrasher shark and miscellaneous structure species, with the prize being the true Pacific red snapper, locally named ”huachinango”. The snapper are striking best on small pelagic red crabs, which have been hard to obtain, limited supplies were being imported from the San Carlos region, none of the crabs locally have been drifting to the surface, so there is no way to catch them, they sure do make good baits for these snapper.

An occasional amberjack, yellow snapper, whitefish, bonito, triggerfish and cabrilla has been rounding out the caches off o the rocky reef areas. Anglers were using mostly various whole or cut bait, a handful of fish were taken on yo-yo style jigs.

Striped marlin were active all week, ranging from the 1150 spot to outside of the Gordo Banks, the billfish were striking on lures or rigged ballyhoo, as well as on chihuil or caballito. Anglers that drift fished with baitfish down deeper were hooking into thrasher shark, many of these hard fighting sharks were hooking into, fish to 200 lb. were landed, more fish were lost than were actually landed. Most of the striped marlin have been in the 90 to 120 lb. class.

Here was not much going on close to shore and with a large swell forecast to sweep through the area this weekend we expect this inshore bit to remain calm for the time being. A few sierra, jack crevalle, roosterfish, the majority were small fish. Baitfish could be seen congregated just north of the local marina jetties, but these were the clear soft sardinas, not the baitfish we prefer to use, do not seem to be attracting much.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 67 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
23 striped marlin, 4 wahoo, 21 dorado, 19 sierra, 10 jack crevalle, 12 roosterfish, 8 amberjack, 138 huachinango (red snapper) , 18 cabrilla, 16 whitefish, 25 yellow snapper, 24 bonito and 40 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric