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

Anglers –
November 28, 2015

This year of 2015 will be remembered for all of the rebuilding efforts created from Hurricane Odile devastation in September of 2014. This year there was record early forming hurricanes in May and now the Los Cabos area has just dogged a major hit by one of the latest Hurricanes to ever form in the Eastern Pacific. This storm named Sandra, follows Rick of last week, which never impacted land, though Sandra strengthened to a category four storm and appeared to be on a collision course with the Southern Baja, but the system was pushed away by strong shear, which also caused Sandra to weaken rapidly and pass far enough to the south to not cause any local damage. Los Cabos ports were closed for at least Friday and part of Saturday, by Sunday sportfishing fleets do expect to be back operating as normal. Swells increased to 10/12 feet, though wind never amounted to much and rainfall was not significant either.

We are now just winding down from our busy fall season, there always is a slack period after Thanksgiving and before Christmas, family priority shift directions. Though this past week was busy with visitors. The week started off with persistent north winds limited options for anglers and making the overall action more spread out, by mid-week, the conditions calmed before the storm and we saw improved fishing action. The most common catches were wahoo, yellowfin tuna, dorado, sailfish and striped marlin, also some roosterfish found near shore. For the most part there were no large numbers of any particular species, though there were some quality fish being accounted for, many days charters would just account for two, three or four fish in combination, though there were dorado to 25 lb., wahoo to 50 lb. and tuna to 80 lb. all accounted for.

Dorado were harder to find compared to previous week, though wahoo became more active around the Iman Bank, early in the morning was best and you had to capitalize and make the best of the chances that you did have. Trolling with caballito, chihuil and various lures all produced wahoo strikes. Dorado were found scattered, no hot spot, though we did hear of more numbers of dorado found on the Pacific. Ocean Temperatures were ranging 79 to 82 degrees through most of the region. Still no reports of any new resource for sardinas, tuna action would be more consistent if this bait was available, most tuna are still be taken on strips of squid. The Inner Gordo Bank produced yellowfin tuna over 80 lb. and some days schooling tuna to 100 lb. could be seen surfacing, but were very finicky to bite any offerings. The action for tuna found under the porpoise became more sporadic, but was still an options when anglers found themselves in the right place at the right time.

More striped marlin appeared on local grounds, not always in the mood to bite, as they can be near full moon. There were two black marlin reportedly landed from private boats out of Puerto Lo Cabos Marina and there was a blue marlin landed from a panga that was estimated to weigh close to 500 lb., this blue was hooked on a trolled caballito late in the afternoon about five miles off of Red Hill and was not landed and brought back to the docks until midnight. With the warm waters there are still quite a few sailfish in the area for this late in the year, most of these in the 40 to 80 lb. class.

Not much off the bottom now besides triggerfish, small cabrilla and pargo, also a few bonito. A few charters reports good success on roosterfish while slow trolling caballito near Punta Gorda, surprising to see roosterfish at this time, some of them to 20 lbs. Lots of barracuda keeping anglers busy off the marina dock area, also a few sierra showing up.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 89 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 black marlin, 1 blue marlin, 15 sailfish, 19 striped marlin, 90 yellowfin tuna, 35 dorado, 39 wahoo, 13 sierra,, 35 misc. pargo species, 14 cabrilla, 22 bonito, 28 roosterfish and 44 triggerfish

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
November 21, 2015

With all of the major local gamefish tournaments now over we will see the crowds of visiting anglers lighten up, as people are now preparing for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays which are rapidly approaching. The weather this week was dominated by the persistent northeast winds, which picked up at the start of the week and never really laid down all week. This created choppy seas and limited options for fleets launching out of San Jose del Cabo, though twenty miles to the south, out of Cabo San Lucas, the seas were much calmer, in areas which were more protected from north winds, though action was still sporadic.

Tropical Storm Rick developed more than several hundred miles off to the west of the Baja Peninsula and is forecast to stay far offshore and not cause any impact on land. Overall we are feeling a cooling trend, though daytime temperatures were reaching 85 degrees. Ocean temperatures dropped a couple of degrees as well, most areas are now averaging 82 degrees, some spots of 83/84 degrees, this trend should continue, maybe the cooling currents will help normalize pre-El Nino currents for bait and gamefish migrations.

Action proved to be more spread out and less productive this past week, there were some quality fish accounted for, though numbers were down, no particular place was hot, wind was a major factor on the grounds from the Gordo Banks and to the north. Schools of yellowfin tuna up to 100 pounds were seen surfacing while traveling with porpoise, but conditions were not favorable for chasing these rapidly moving schools and not many of these tuna were landed. A handful of fish in the 40 to 80 pounds were accounted for, some striking on strips of squids, other on live chihuil. Still no resource for sardinas, there have been caballito and ballyhoo available as other options. Perhaps cooling currents and less angling pressure will allow the sardinas to move within our range, which would be a great bait to have at this time.

The wahoo were not as active this past week either, though on Monday there was a 69 lb. wahoo landed out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, this trophy sized ‘hoo hit on a live skipjack, was part of an explosive double hook up, which resulted in one nice wahoo landed and another one lost. Wahoo were spread out throughout the area, though better chances still seem to be north of Punta Gorda. Dorado action slowed was down in recent days, though these fish are still in the area, the majority of charters finding maybe one or two, or at least having a chance or two.

Billfish was spread out, though there did seem to be increased numbers of striped marlin in local waters now, also some sailfish and at least one blue was landed for the panga fleet out of Puerto Los Cabos. When the wind does reside there should be better opportunities found.

More sierra are moving in with the cooling waters, these smaller sized gamefish will provide bonus inshore action, especially when we start seeing schools of sardinas move back into the region. It will not be long until the annual migration of whales arrive for their winter visit to their most southern calving and feeding grounds.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 138 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 blue marlin, 14 striped marlin, 12 sailfish, 66 yellowfin tuna, 13 wahoo, 96 dorado, 12 sierra, 14 rainbow runner, 76 misc. pargo species, 12 cabrilla, 14 bonito and 50 triggerfish

Good fishing, Eric