August 16, 2014
Anglers

Light crowds of visitors this past week, as many families are now busy preparing for the start of fall school semesters. Another factor for the limited crowds of anglers is that Southern California is now enjoying an epic El Nino season, where they are catching yellowfin and bluefin tuna, dorado and yellowtail, all in local waters. Weather patterns in Southern Baja continues to be unpredictable, forecasts have called for scattered thundershowers for much of the past two weeks, most of this activity has been over the mountain regions in the afternoon and not on the coastline, though there were isolated heavy showers over the coastal stretches as well. Ocean conditions have varied from day to day, swirling seas with increased swells, breezes from the north, east and south, then the next day would be calm. Charter fleets were able to launch every day, though on certain days it was wise to stay in closer proximately in case the weather turned unfavorable. There is a newly formed Tropical Storm Karina, now heading westward and far away from having any impact on land.

Ocean temperatures ranged from 82 to 88 degrees through most of the area, clean blue water was found within one mile of shore, lots of schooling skipjack now on the fishing grounds, sardinas are now being netted from the Puerto Los Cabos Marina Jetty area, very small in size. This has been the bait of choice for enticing the schooling football sized yellowfin tuna off of Palmilla Point, the tuna are also now found schooling off of Punta Gorda and La Fortuna, the key is obtaining the sardinas, this is a limited resource that really needs to see Government restrictions enforced in order to maintain a sustainable fishery.

This week local San Jose del Cabo fleets found action close by, with Palmilla Point being one of the more productive spots, anglers were fly lining live sardinas for yellowfin tuna in the 6 to 14 lb. class., some days there were quite a few skipjack to deal with, other times smaller sized schools of dorado would appear and to keep things interesting there were chances at hooking into a wahoo, striped marlin of sailfish. Hard to predict the exact time of day that this inshore action would be best, one morning it would be very early when the fish were most active, then the very next day they would not get going until 11 a.m., who’s to figure why?, current, tides, barometer, full moon, a lot of factors involved.

The Gordo Banks is starting to come alive, with cow sized yellowfin tuna making an appearance, but not in the biting mood yet, another grade of tuna in the 40 to 60 lb. range was also holding on these grounds and several of these were landed, early in the day striking on chunked skipjack or sardinas for bait. A handful of wahoo strikes off of these banks as well and at times the dogtooth snapper were in the mix. These grounds are coming alive, anything could happen on any given day. A black marlin estimated to be in the 450 lb. range was battled for two hours from a local panga, only to have the hook pull free as the fish was near the boat.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 69 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
2 striped marlin, 8 sailfish, 320 yellowfin tuna, 5 cabrilla, 8 jack crevalle, 66 dorado, 7 wahoo, 12 dogtooth snapper, 18 red snapper, 150 skipjack and 6 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

August 10, 2014
Anglers

Southern Baja California official kicks off Tournament season with the Bisbee event out of East Cape now going on. Weather patterns remain very tropical, no new storm systems threatening at this time, though forecasts have anticipated scattered thundershowers throughout this week, so far we have seen little moisture fall near the the coast, though over the mountainous terrain they have received more and at times some serious hard rainfall with lightning and thunder, though in isolated areas. Very warm temperatures persist, though we have felt slight relief with increased cloudiness and breezes from the south, off the Pacific.

Swells increased some and then dropped off just as quickly. Ocean water temperatures are now averaging in the upper 80’s throughout the region. Water clarity varied, southern breezes will push in off colored currents, though for the most part blue water has been found within a few miles of shore, which is normal for the summer season.

Bait situation has consisted of limited amounts of sardinas, these schooling baitfish are just moving back in to the Puerto Los Cabos Marina jetty area, small juvenile sized, but have been the ticket to getting into a local yellowfin tuna bite that has developed off of Red Hill and Palmilla, football sized tuna, found close to shore, striking on the live fly lined baits. Hard to say how long this bait resource will hold up, they should actually close this zone from commercial netting of these baitfish, in order to give them a chance to mature, spawn and reproduce, a lot easier said than done, when anglers are relying on these baitfish to provide them action for larger gamefish and particularly when these inshore tuna do want to hit on any other offering besides these small sardinas..

The bite for the larger grade of yellowfin tuna continues far to the north, near Los Frailes, not within range of a normal charter from San Jose del Cabo, actually closer for the East Cape fleets, though a handful of charters from the San Jose are making the long trek, be prepared for gas surcharges if wanting to fish those grounds, where tuna ranging up to 50 pounds have been accounted for. Limited sardinas being offered and more charters were looking for slabs of giant squid, sold at times in local super markets.

Dorado schools were scattered, mostly small sized fish, lots of females, good practice to always release these juvenile dorado to give them a chance to mature, reportedly these popular gamefish are one of the more rapidly growing fish, gaining five pounds per month.
This past week these fish became scarcer, though at times were found in schools, striking on lures and various baits. Wahoo remain in the area, though often become more sluggish in such warm ocean conditions, every day we are seeing one or two of these speedsters mixed in the fish counts. Trolled lures accounted for more of the wahoo strikes, though a handful were hooked into for anglers using chunk or whole baits.

Bottom action remain slow, an occasional snapper, cabrilla, amberjack, with more triggerfish than anything else. A few dogtooth snapper found off the rock piles, deep water grouper and snapper keeping commercial fleet busy, rapid currents making this a tough option for drift fishing. Best chance at hooking into fish while using yo-yo style jigs has been very early in the morning, after the sun comes up this action completely comes to a standstill.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 69 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
1 blue marlin, 6 striped marlin, 9 sailfish, 175 yellowfin tuna, 6 cabrilla, 12 jack crevalle, 36 dorado, 11 wahoo, 3 dogtooth snapper, 11 red snapper, 4 amberjack,10 bonito and 2 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

August 2, 2014
Anglers –

The last week of July was uneventful as far as any tropical storm threatening land, there was the formation of Hurricane Hernan, which quickly weakened to a depression as it passed within 300 miles of Cabo San Lucas, ocean swells did increase for a few days, surfers were happy, no winds to speak of, no rainfall either, definitely increased humidity, with heat index in the triple digits. Now we have distant Tropical Storm Iselle that is gaining some strength, though way to far to cause any impact on the Baja Peninsula.

This next week there are forecasts for scattered thundershowers, it is that time of year, where weather patterns become increasingly tropical. With recent moisture accumulated, the local landscape is rapidly transforming from the parched desert to lush greenery. Ocean water temperature have been averaging in the upper 80’s, strong currents sweeping through, moderate swells, overall great conditions for anglers, remember to bring plenty of liquids to keep hydrated.

No source for sardinas this past week, very limited sized schools of these baitfish were found in local waters, anglers have been using ballyhoo and a mix of live moonfish and caballito. Some anglers are bringing slabs of squid purchased from local super markets as an additional option for trying to entice the yellowfin tuna, there have been plentiful skipjack and some bolito on the fishing grounds, which are commonly used as bait during the summer months. Anglers found a mix of species, most common catch were dorado, with average sizes ranging 5 to 15 lb. with a handful of much larger bulls encountered, including at least one reported 50 pound fish. The dorado were striking on about any type of medium sized lure or baitfish, once the schools were located.

Yellowfin tuna action slowed way down from the previous week when live sardinas were found north near Los Frailes. This week numbers of the yellowfin were limited, some football sized models striking on hoochies type lures between Iman and San Luis Banks and a handful of tuna to 40 lb. were accounted for north of Vinorama, hitting on limited sources of sardinas, dead or alive, also skipjack used for chunk bait worked for some people. Mid week there reports of yellowfin tuna found traveling with large porpoise pods, off of Chileno to straight outside of San Jose Del Cabo, these fish were in the 10 to 50 lb. class.

There was good action for billfish, more striped marlin than other species, though also sailfish and blue marlin were lurking, as well as possibilities of a black marlin. Anything can happen this time of year, just as weather conditions can change quickly, so can the fishing action from day to day, known as a period of big weather and big fish.

A few more wahoo were hitting the docks this past week, from on the offshore grounds, 10 plus miles out, to inshore areas such as Iman, La Fortuna to Vinorama, has produced wahoo to 50 lb. in recent days, striking on rigged ballyhoo, as well as rapalas.

Not much bottom action now, a few bonito, various snappers (pargo), an occasional cabrilla, swift current on some days made this option that much more challenging.

Local commercial panga fleets reported a great bite on yellowtail, just outside of the Gordo Banks, holding in cooler depths of 350 feet of water, all 30 pound class fish, very few sportfishing boats were trying this because of the extreme depths and currents, hand lining pangeros had the advantage for this bite.

Only limited inshore action for roosterfish, these prized fighting jacks are still in the area though, a couple of fifty pound specimens were reportedly landed and released in recent days.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 88 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
13 striped marlin, 9 sailfish, 21yellowfin tuna, 8 yellowtail, 11 cabrilla, 14 jack crevalle, 124 dorado, 15 wahoo, 2 dogtooth snapper, 16 yellow snapper, 5 amberjack,18 bonito and 12 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric