Anglers –
November 14, 2015

Large crowds of visiting anglers continue to arrive in Los Cabos, as we now enter the second half of November, when the busy fall season comes to an end. Weather patterns are shifting to predominately northern winds, ranging up to 25 miles per hour mid-week and these winds were basically relentless for most of this past week. Skies were mostly clear, with high temperatures nearing 90 degrees, we do expect that we will be feeling cooler weather arrive by this coming week. Hard to say what these northern winds will do, normal pattern are several days of winds, then a couple calmer days, before repeating the same cycle. This does not mean that sportfishing operations come to halt, it does sometimes make for changing plans accordingly and trying to fish in areas more protected if possible. Ocean water temperatures are now at 84 degrees throughout the entire lower Baja zone, no real temperatures breaks found. Swells have been moderate, choppy ocean conditions found to the north due to gusting winds.

There are still no sardinas available locally, strips of squid continue to be used for targeting yellowfin tuna, ballyhoo are now being sold in the marina area, these have been working for dorado and chances at billfish or wahoo, also available have been live caballito. Other options when weather allowed was to try and catch your own chihuil off of the high spots. We expect to see schools of sardinas move back within range as water cools and heavy pressure resides.

The all-around fishing action was more limited this past week, mainly due to windy conditions which limited where charters could comfortably fish. The yellowfin tuna found associated with porpoise activity in the vicinity of and north of the Gordo Banks, became less frequent as to when and if at all the porpoise were even encountered, though some charters who concentrated on this and stuck with it did account for yellowfin tuna in the 40 to 70 lb. class, all of these fish hit on strips of squid. Other tuna action was found closer to shore, off of Punta Gorda and now in recent days reports of improved tuna action for a smaller grade of fish off of the Santa Maria area. All this action was also found using strips of squid, as there are no sardinas in the entire area now, with sardinas available this action would definitely be wide open.

Dorado action was producing nice quality fish in the 15 to 25 lb. range, some even larger. No huge numbers, but most charters were finding one or two, or as many as six, the majority were nice sized fish. Striking on various baits, particularly on rigged ballyhoo early in the day, as the sun rose, the action was more sporadic. Off of the Red Hill and Palmilla area there was good early morning action through most of the week, we heard of quality dorado action off of Cabo San Lucas as well. Also some reports of a handful of 200 lb. class yellowfin tuna being accounted for off of the Pacific banks, have not heard of any real large tuna off of the San Jose del Cabo grounds this past week.

There were some sailfish and striped marlin on the same grounds as were the dorado and tuna, no big numbers, but everyday some of these billfish were being hooked into. Wahoo action dropped off this past week, baitfish schools were more scattered after the choppy seas, Iman Bank had been where the wahoo were lurking, these fishing grounds were rough most of the week, hopefully conditions will settle down in time for this weekend’s annual wahoo event out of La Playita.

Bottom action included triggerfish, various pargo and snapper species, an occasional leopard grouper or rainbow runner.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 152 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 17 sailfish marlin, 18 striped marlin, 168 yellowfin tuna, 12 sierra, 14 rainbow runners, 15 huachinango (red snapper), 155 dorado, 18 wahoo, 16 yellow snapper, 95 triggerfish, 18 barred pargo, 8 bonito, 10 cabrilla and 6 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

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

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