Anglers –

January 9, 2015

After one week of colder weather patterns we have now seen the winds calm down and a return to pristine conditions, clear skies and warm sunshine, with highs of 80 degrees. Incredibly ideal, considering the freezing forecast across much of United States and Canada. Crowds are relatively light now, as is normal right after the holiday season, great time to visit, airfares have dropped and the Los Cabos area has made impressive rebuilding headway, most areas are now back to normal, pre-hurricane status.

The colder currents pushing in the last couple of weeks have dropped ocean water temperatures into the 74 to 77 degree range, which would still be considered warmer than average by several degrees for this time frame. The cooler currents also brought in greenish colored water, which in turn scattered the pelagic gamefish, but now conditions are rebounding and opened up more options for anglers.

Anglers are using sardinas to fish close to shore and are catching good numbers of sierra, ranging to as large as eight pounds, these sierra were also striking on trolled hoochies and Rapalas. These fish, in the mackerel family, do prefer the cooler water. A mix of shallow water structure species are now becoming more prevalent as well, pargo, of several varieties, cabrilla, triggerfish, pompano, island jack, porgy, bonito, mero hawkfish, even sheephead, as well as and others, all very good eating fish, striking on various baits, as well as jigs.

Dorado were very scattered, but handful are being accounted for every day, most were under 15 pounds. Only a few smaller sized wahoo were reported, these were found in the direction of Cabo San Lucas. Yellowfin tuna had become very scarce during the windy days, but in recent days we have seen some nice yellowfin being accounted for from the Inner Gordo Bank, as well as from areas further north, near Vinorama. These tuna ranged in the 20 to 50 pound class, nice for winter time fish. Anglers were using sardinas, strips of squid and chunks of skipjack to entice these tuna. No great numbers, but there was a chance at catching several.

The striped marlin action continued off of San Jose del Cabo, anywhere from 3 to 6 miles offshore is where most of this action was taking place, concentrations of baitfish have been attracting the billfish and anglers were trolling and drift fishing with live baits, as well as casting into feeding fish when the opportunities arose.

If the weather conditions how it is at this time, we could all be in for some great winter action, hard to predict, but last year we had warm water all winter and chances are this season might be the same.

Many more whales are now arriving for their winter stay in the Southern Baja region, other attractions included manta rays, seas lions and porpoise.

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: 18 striped marlin, 3 wahoo, 27 dorado, 24 bonito, 15 white skipjack, 49 yellowfin tuna,140 sierra, 13 roosterfish, 1 sheephead, 15 porgy, 4 hawkfish, 65 various pargo, 8 island jack, 7 amberjack, 22 cabrilla and 30 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

January 3, 2015

The New Year started off with a cold front sweeping in and the crowds of holiday vacationers were wondering where all that advertised warm sunshine disappeared to. Actually New Year’s Day was clear and sunny, nearly 80 degrees, the forecasted front pushed in that evening and looks as this will be the trend through most of the week. Ocean currents are changing and we have now seen water temperatures dip down to 75 degrees, also off colored, greenish water has proved more challenging for anglers options of finding cooperative gamefish.

Inshore there have been increasing numbers of sierra arriving with the cooler current, some quality sized sierra in the 5 to 10 lb. class were found near Cabo San Lucas, other areas were finding smaller sized sierra. A few juvenile sized roosterfish in the mix. Supplies of sardinas were coming from areas south of Palmilla Point.

Offshore of San Jose del Cabo there has been this on and off again bite for striped marlin, found three to miles from shore, on the same grounds where baitfish such as sardineta, jurelito, caballito are now schooling. The stripers were encountered feeding on the surface, also many were hooked into while slow trolling or drift fishing with live baits. Very few dorado or wahoo were reported and the yellowfin tuna all but vanished as well, last weekend there were a few charters that were at the Iman Bank at the right time and accounted for a handful of yellowfin tuna weighing in the 20 to 50 lb. class. This action was before the wind picked up again and is back on hold at the present time. After weather settles back down there should be chances at late season action for wahoo, dorado and tuna.

Last week the winds had calmed and conditions were rebounding, there was quality bottom action found for a variety of species, these type of fish will bite in greenish colored water, but to effectively drift fish over these rock piles, angler’s calmer conditions. So this is hit or miss action throughout the winter, usually becomes more consistent towards spring.

Whales have been slow to show in big numbers this season, we expect this cold wave will bring more of these mammals back to their winter spawning grounds. Plenty of sea lion activity, an ongoing problem for anglers, as they enviably loose a percentage of their hook ups to these pesky animals.

Progress has been slow for rebuilding the panga area of Puerto Los Cabos Marina, recently we have seen a new construction begin pushing some dirt around, so hopefully they continue to pick up the pace and we can see this major rebuilding project finally completed.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 71 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:  16 striped marlin, 9 dorado, 10 white skipjack, 12 yellowfin tuna, 28 bonito, 210 sierra, 24 roosterfish, 25 pargo, 15 island jack, 5 amberjack, 1 yellowtail, 16 cabrilla and 25 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

December 27, 2014

Winter season has officially started and this past week we witnessed a change in weather patterns, cooler air blowing in from the north, ocean water temperatures dropping to an average of 77 degrees, off colored currents contributed to some scratchy fishing action, even though schooling yellowfin tuna, wahoo, dorado and striped marlin were seen on local grounds, getting them to bite was another story. Fish became more finicky as water conditions turned over, though this is not such a drastic change that we anticipate not having the action rebound as this latest weather front pass through.

Many families are now visiting for the Holiday Season, though not as many serious anglers at this time, most of them have already visited during the more favorable fall season. Though ocean water temperatures are now on a cooling trend, currents are still warmer than normal for this time frame and we are optimistic that anglers will enjoy great winter time action. At this time there are a wide variety of species in the area, though no particular type of fish are dominating the bite from day to day.

Bait suppliers are netting sardinas now from Red Hill and south towards Chileno, a bit more scattered than they had been, though with patience there have been sufficient supplies. Offshore of San Jose there were now schooling baitfish such as sardineta and a few mackerel moving onto the normal winter grounds. This attracted good numbers of striped marlin, though off colored conditions have scattered this action in recent days.

Yellowfin tuna and various skipjack, as well as some dorado and wahoo are rounding out the action for the majority of charters, no great numbers, but there are some quality catches being accounted for. Most consistent grounds have been from Punta Gorda and towards Vinorama. Though north winds have become a factor on these northern grounds. When the tuna did decide to come up and feed, anglers were able to hook into a handful of these yellowfin, average sizes were in the 10 to 20 lb. class. Same for the dorado and wahoo, most of these fish were less than 25 lb., though we did see one impressive 80 lb. wahoo accounted for, taken on a dead bait of Punta Gorda.

Inshore there were quite a few sierra found, though not many people have been targeting these fish, as there were chances of catching larger more sought after species without having to travel more than a few miles from shore. Bottom action is just starting to show signs of coming to life, one day last week some red crabs were found on the surface, these made great baits for red snapper, but have not been seen again, though some of these fish are striking on yo-yo jigs and other baitfish. Also some amberjack, cabrilla, triggerfish, bonito and pargo in the mix. We expect more of these rocky structure species to move into shallower waters, though to really be able to concentrate on this style of fishing you need the weather to cooperate and for the north winds to settle down.

Sea lions continue to be a pesky problem, waiting to ambush anglers hooked fish before they can be brought to gaff. Whales are slow to show in masses so far, we expect to see the larger concentrations of these mammals to appear in the coming weeks.

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:13 striped marlin, 48 dorado, 18 wahoo, 14 white skipjack, 124 yellowfin tuna, 22 bonito, 17 amberjack, 64 sierra, 10 roosterfish, 35 misc. pargo/snapper species, 1 island jack, 180 black skipjack and 25 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric