Anglers –

October 31, 2014

We are now in the peak Fall Season, normally a very bustling period for the Los Cabos area. This year the situation is much different, as many Resorts are still in the rebuilding stage and combined with changing airline schedules, has contributed to below normal capacity level crowds of tourists, as try to find available flights and accommodations. By the coming New Year we do expect to see many more resorts reopening their doors to tourists. For the time being we are seeing more visitors arrive, just not like we would normally expect to see.

The climate has been absolutely ideal, clear skies, slight chill early in the morning, warming up quickly to 90 degrees later in the day. Only a couple of days of north winds, mostly calm ocean conditions with minimal swell activity for anglers. Water temperatures are still averaging in the mid 80’s. Clear blue water is found close to shore now, most fishing activity has been taking place within 2 to 8 miles from shore.

Sardinas became  more scattered from where they had been school in the Puerto Los Cabos Marina jetty area, heavy pressure from the Bisbee tournament seems to hurt local bait supplies, teams pay big money to local pangeros to fill large ice chests with bait for chumming, this is a marlin tournament, why are so many sardinas needed, apparently to chum up more skipjack or smaller yellowfin to be used as baitfish for the billfish, it just seems there should be some control on this, sustainable bait populations are very fragile these days. Surely the upcoming WON Tuna Jackpot will put even more negative pressure on this local bait resource.

Dorado became more scarce this past week, we heard of more dorado being found on the Pacific fishing grounds, compared to in the direction of San Jose del Cabo. Wahoo were consistently being found in schools on the normal grounds north of Punta Gorda. Anglers were finding many opportunities at hooking into these speedsters, having five, six or seven strikes per morning was not uncommon. Strikes are coming on trolled Rapalas, skirted lead heads and slow trolling trap-hooked chihuil.Most of the wahoo being accounted for weighed in the 15 to 30 lb. class, though there were some fish up to 45 lb. landed.

Yellowfin tuna were a main targeted species on the La Fortuna to Iman Banks, the tuna schooling here were striking on sardinas, these fish were mixed with a variety of aggressive skipjack, weighing to 20 pounds, average catches ranged from 1 to 5 yellwofin per charter, many more skipjack than tuna were being hooked into. The chance of hooking into the larger cows sized yellowfin tuna still was concentrated around the Gordo Banks, yellowfin in the 50 to 300 pounds are holding on these grounds, though getting them to bite has been another story, everyday there are reports of maybe one or two nice fish being hooked into. This past week we weighed one tuna of 204 pounds in, one fish weighing close to 300 lb. was taken last Sunday, other large fish were lost and yellowfin tuna of 80 to 100 lb. were reported by anglers that were on scouting trips for next week’s Tuna Jackpot, surely this year’s event will have some very stiff competition.

Billfish action was spread out, though a few more blacks and blues were hooked in this past week, weighing up to 300 pounds plus. It is the time of year where an offshore grand slam could happen, there are sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin now in local waters.

Not much found off the bottom recently, most anglers are now targeting surface species.

Local La Playita panga fleet’s are back operating out of the panga basin of Puerto Local Cabo Marina, this particular area sustained heavy disastrous damage from Hurricane Odile. Work conditions continue to prove extremely challenging. Rebuilding progress for this facility is now frustratingly at a standstill, not even simple conveniences such as fresh running water, bathroom facilities, suitable parking, electricity for any form of lighting, or even an accessible boat ramp for making needed maintenance schedules, the only usable marina ramp now has a chain in place and fleet owners are required to pay high fees for the privilege of using it, the list could go on. These are simple conveniences which could all be addressed in timely fasion, though Marina Management has other priorities, no effort or expense has gone towards helping this panga area. Locals seem to be on their own in tackling the rebuilding undertaking. Waiting for Governmental help, funding for the necessary specialized equipment, appears to be on a long road ahead.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 70  charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 sailfish, 2 blue marlin, 3 black marlin, 3 striped marlin, 78 wahoo, 82 yellowfin tuna, 9 dorado, 10 rainbow runners, 24 bonito, 320 skipjack, 14 cabrilla, 8 barred pargo and 20 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

October 23, 2014
Anglers –

We are now finally officially back in operation, as today we were connected once again to phone and Internet services. The long absence of not making any updates was all because we had no connection. We are now back operating fishing charters based out of the same panga area as before Hurricane Odile made a mess out of our marina basin. Work conditions are a bit rough, but we are making due and progress has been remarkable, as everyone is putting in extra efforts in this rebuilding phase. Limited numbers of charters have been departing, as flights from the U.S. have just resumed. Local infrastructure is making rapid advancements. Grocery stores are stocked, gasoline and diesel readily available, highways open, traffic signals working, Resorts are rebuilding, many have reopened already and most will be by the New Year.

Ocean conditions have been great, calm though most of the day. Mornings are now a little chilly, days are still warm and sunshine is intense, not many clouds in the sky. Perfect climate now, crowds are just returning now, great time to come visit and help support the local economy as they face this major rebuilding stage.

Live sardinas have been abundant around the marina channel area and the fishing grounds are holding large schools of skipjack and chihuil. Most action was taking place from the Gordo Banks to the Iman Bank towards the north. Catches were very impressive, wide variety of gamefish now on the grounds, on any given day anything could happen. Catches have included wahoo, dorado, yellowfin tuna, striped, blue & black marlin, as well as sailfish. Off the bottom structure there has been a chance at grouper or dogtooth snapper, no big numbers, but quality specimens.

Wahoo went on a good bite near Iman and La Fortuna, striking trolled chihuil, as well the normal array of lures. Several charters accounted for up to three wahoo, average weights were in the 20 to 40 pound range. Dorado were also found in smaller sized schools, in recent days some nicer sized bulls up to 30 pounds were accounted for on the offshore grounds.

Most of the yellowfin tuna found recently ranged in the 20 to 60 pound class. The action had been hit or miss, drift fishing various baits over the Gordo Banks and north towards Iman Bank, some days early, some days the fish would hit late, hard to predict. Today a cow yellowfin tuna was weighed in at La Playita, it was landed by Bob Deeter of Fort Brag, Ca., Fishing aboard his private 29 ft. Center Console “Reina de Wahoo”. The tuna hit on a trolled live skipjack on the Outer Gordo Bank, using 300 pound leader the crew took a couple of hours to land the cow and it weighed in officially at 278 pounds.

Good Fishing, Eric

September 13, 2014
Anglers –

For the past month we have watched Tropical Storm systems develop on a weekly basis.
After enjoying clear and calm conditions ever since the passing of Hurricane Norbert, at the present time we are watching the development of Tropical Storm Odile, moving at a mere two miles per hour, some 250 miles south of Manzanillo. Forecasters have been more cautious in predicting exactly what this storm will do. It looks like the Southern Baja Peninsula might become lucky one more time, if Odile does follow a more northwesterly track as it gains strength to category two or higher before weakening over cooler waters.
Either way we do expect to see Red Flag closed Port conditions on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, surely more rain, hopefully no high winds.

Crowds of visitors continued to be moderate, as many people have stayed away due to frequent stormy forecasts. This is how the month of September goes, very tropical time of year and unpredictable from day to day.

Anglers were enjoying great wide open yellowfin tuna action since ocean conditions have calmed down. Sardinas continue to school near the rocks of the marina jetty and this has been the bait of choice for getting into the hot tuna action, hard to say how long this resource will remain plentiful.

Yellowfin tuna are now being found in various locations, over structure, such as La Fortuna, Iman and the Gordo Banks. The fish are coming up feeding on the sardinas, ranging in weights from 10 to 25 lb, to 40 to 80 lb and on up to 300 pounds. All sizes of yellowfin tuna in the area, most common catches were in the 15 to 60 pound range. The best chance at the hooking into a monster cow still seemed to be around the Gordo Banks, on Thursday a trio of local La Playita pangeros went on an afternoon trip and landed a 298 pound yellowfin while using 60 pound gear, so these cows are definitely lurking, just not in the numbers of the other smaller grade of tuna near La Fortuna or Iman Banks.

Several varieties of skipjack are now in the mix with the yellowfin tuna, also good numbers of wahoo on these same fishing grounds. Most of the wahoo landed were in the 10 to 30 pounds class, a few larger. Many hook ups were lost, as anglers were having wahoo strikes while they were using mono leaders targeting tuna. The wahoo were striking trolled Rapalas or skirted lures as well, just unpredictable as to when or where you might take a ‘hoo strike. Dorado were scattered and when found they were more often juvenile sized

An occasional sailfish of striped or blue marlin were hooked while anglers were on the tuna grounds, no large concentrations of billfish being seen. Plenty of food fish in the area now, so you figure there would be some large gamefish predators nearby. Not much bottom fishing being attempted now, with the surface action being so productive. One commercial pangeros out of La Playita did haul in two gulf groupers one day while using heavy hand line, both fish weighed over 120 lbs. Lots of triggerfish and an occasional dogtooth snapper. With water temperatures now in the upper 80s, many species that live near rocky structure will head deeper to find cooler and richer in oxygen habitat.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
8 sailfish, 620 yellowfin tuna, 450 skipjack, 36 dorado, 6 dogtooth snapper, 8 rainbow runners, 12 cabrilla, 15 wahoo and 8 dogtooth snapper.

Good fishing, Eric