June 22, 2013

Anglers –

Well the official summer season has now started, though the weather patterns seem all mixed up and it still feels a bit like spring, with breezes off the ocean keeping conditions comfortable. Days have been mostly sunny, a mix of marine haze and some tropical cloud cover formation, high temperatures have been moderate, averaging in the upper 80s. The climate has been ideal, sure would be great if the entire summer was this mild. Great time to travel to Southern Baja now, airline tickets have been discounted and crowds are relatively light, perfect time to come have fun in the sun.

Ocean temperatures have stabilized from Cabo San Lucas to Los Frailes, where water temperatures now ranged from 75 to 78 degrees. Swift currents have swept inshore and even though the water is warmer, it has turned over once again and is a murky greenish color through most of the inshore zone. Clean blue water has been spotty offshore, most often found 8 to 15 miles from shore. Swells are moderate now, variable winds have been predominately out of the Northeast and then switching directly out of the east, before turning from out of the south. Common pattern that affects the Southern Baja region each season during this transition period from the spring season into the tropical summer, by next month these Pacific air flows and marine moisture normally give way to the sultry tropical patterns.

Anglers continued to enjoy perhaps the best roosterfish action in the past ten years, with many trophy sized fish of over fifty pounds being accounted for. Trolling baitfish such as caballito, mullet and moonfish, which have been plentiful around the PLC marina jetties, have resulted in epic action for the past several weeks now. Just yesterday the action did taper way off, as the current switched and brought in green water along the coastal stretches where the roosterfish had been so plentiful, as conditions rebound we expect to see more of these jacks providing trills to anglers. We do encourage practicing the sport of catch and release on these particular gamefish, not renown for favorable eating qualities, but more so as an aggressive inshore adversary which sport anglers can only encounter in certain parts of the Pacific coast.

The marlin action improved this past week, as good numbers of striped marlin were found in the blue water, most of the time about 8 to 15 miles from shore, many charters were accounting for multiple billfish days, often up to five per boat, most all boats targeting the billfish accounted for one or two. The stripers were readily striking on lures, many reports of multiple hook ups, also striking trolled or cast baits. No consistent counts of dorado being reported, but these gamefish are scattered throughout the offshore blue water fishing grounds, bull dorado to 40 pounds were weighed in, this is the time of year where we normally can find larger sized dorado, but more often they are solitary fish or in small groups, unless you happen upon some floating debris which could be attracting large concentrations of dorado of all sizes.

Other action found close to shore included amberjack, dogtooth snapper, pompano, jack crevalle, cabrilla and pargo colorado. This action was best early in the morning and was hit or miss from day to day, but some quality sized fish were accounted for anglers while slow trolling live baits over shallow water rock outcroppings, often in only 30 or 40 feet of water, one 80 pound amberjack was accounted for, snapper to 40 pounds, of course many hook ups resulted in cut lines due to the close proximity of the sharp rock piles.

Last weekend the local Father’s Day Tournament based out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, saw 32 teams compete for three qualifying species, yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo, first place fish was a 42 pound wahoo, runner up was a 40 pound dorado and there were no tuna accounted for. This week there were a few reports of fleets spotting tuna on the surface while trolling offshore waters, but these fish disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, also quite a bit more porpoise activity being reported offshore, this is always a favorable sign that we should start to see some more yellowfin move into the region.

The combined panga fleet launching out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 112 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of, 7 sailfish, 26 striped marlin, 15 dorado, 1 wahoo, 24 amberjack, 16 pargo colorado, 20 yellow snapper, 15 barred pargo, 14 dogtooth snapper, 19 cabrilla, 14 pompano, 8 sierra and 230 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

June 15, 2013

Anglers –

We are entering the last week of the spring season, crowds of tourists have been slightly lower than expected, as family’s are now going through school graduation events and planning their summer schedules. We expect to see more visitors arriving soon for summer vacation time.

There was a cooling trend of the weather this past week, we felt more Pacific air flow and strong ocean currents pushed cooler murky colored water into the Los Cabos area. This pattern helps to keep the climate very pleasant, most days the high temperatures reached the upper 80s and the nights are about perfect at 70 degrees. This transition period always produces rapidly changing up and down climate patterns, hot, cool, cloudy, windy, then ideal and very calm, we see fluctuating ocean currents sweeping through the area, anglers find fishing action varying daily, just like the weather. These patterns contributed to anglers not finding consistent offshore action, though there was excellent fishing found close to the shore and this is where the majority of sportfishing fleets have been concentrated in recent days.

Ocean conditions are now rebounding after turning over last weekend, we are now on a warming trend, water is still a bit off colored, ocean temperatures ranging from 66 degrees off of Cabo San Lucas to about 80 degrees near Los Frailes, off of San Jose del Cabo it is now in the low to mid 70s, this is an extreme variance for a 30 to 40 range.

Anglers targeting offshore action out of Los Cabos reported limited counts of striped marlin being found, not like it had been, with multiple billfish days being common. The East Cape area has reported much better numbers at this time for billfish, with lots of sailfish mixed in with the striped marlin. Not much activity being reported in the way of yellowfin tuna or dorado at this time, as conditions do eventually stabilize offshore we expect to see action break wide open.

In the mean time, with limited offshore action being found the majority of charters are targeting the epic roosterfish bite that is happening along much of coastline. This year the season for these prized gamefish began early and it has peaked this past week, as we saw the best action we have seen in many years for larger trophy sized fish, with big numbers of roosterfish in the 30 to 70 pound class reported every day. The roosters were striking on caballito and moonfish, slowly trolled along the beach stretches, just outside the breaker zone. With practically the entire fleet now targeting this bite, it will be interesting to see how long this fishery can remain productive, heavy boat pressure seems to result in negative impact.

Roosterfish are a migratory species, following their food source, they are members of the jack family, extremely powerful fighters, unpredictably acrobatic at times, reaching sizes up to 100 pounds and they are native to a limited range on the west coast of Pacific waters. Anglers travel from around the world to target these prized fighting gamefish. This is a unique fishery, very fragile and needs protection. This year with so many of numbers of roosterfish schooling in the area we have witnessed a over kill of these economically valuable sport fish, these fish are not known for the eating qualities, but rather for their powerful screaming runs and after these fish are landed they should always be released as carefully as possible. Local residents do really enjoy eating these dark fleshed jacks and this has created a profitable commercial market. Combined with a lack of other normal commercial species recently available, fleets have been exploiting this fishery to the limits, hauling in crate after crate of roosterfish to be shipped off to markets.

As ocean currents are warming again, we are seeing improved action over the inshore rocky structure for a mix of other species, such as pompano, cabrilla, amberjack, dogtooth snapper and pargo cororado, this action tapered way off during the recent water, but the past few days we have seen some amberjack to 65 pounds and quality snapper as well. Bait supplies have remained steady for caballito, moonfish, some mullet, but no sardinas are available. This available bait source is being netting in the marina channel.

The combined panga fleet launching out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 72 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of, 1 sailfish, 9 striped marlin, 8 dorado, 31 amberjack, 18 pargo Colorado, 22 yellow snapper, 18 barred pargo, 22 dogtooth snapper, 20 cabrilla, 8 pompano, 12 sierra, 45 jack crevalle and 350 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

June 8, 2013

Anglers –

Late spring crowds of tourists are relatively light, as many families are busy preparing for school graduation events and in planning stages for their summer activities. Ideal time to travel to Southern Baja, weather is not too warm yet, highs near 90 degrees and Pacific breezes have kept conditions comfortable. Southern swells are now steady and are attracting surfers from around the world. Ocean water temperatures are on the rise, now ranging from the mid to upper 70s throughout the zone, from Cabo San Lucas to north of Los Frailes. There were some unpredictable shifting winds on some days, but for the most part anglers found very comfortable offshore conditions. Most of charters fleets are concentrating efforts in the direction of warmer currents, the water temperatures on the Pacific Banks remain in the 60s.

There are more mullet moving along inshore stretches, but not in massive schools as we have seen in past seasons, most common baitfish available through the commercial bait suppliers were caballito, being found in the marina area, with some moonfish, jurelito and mullet mixed in. Ballyhoo are being sold by suppliers, they were good offshore baits to rig for striped marlin or dorado.

Striped marlin action has been found scattered all throughout the zone, most of the time from 5 to 20 miles from shore, the stripers were striking on lures and various baits. No huge numbers, but some charters were accounting for multiple fish days. On the Gordo Banks and other high spots, anglers were able to find bolito and skipjack, trolling small hoochies early in the morning was the best chance, these preferred baitfish were working well for surface trolling. Dorado are being encountered in limited numbers, scattered throughout offshore grounds, there were isolated reports of finding larger concentrations of dorado associated with floating debris, but other than that most charters did well to find just one dorado. This is the season when we typically see a greater percentage of large sized dorado and recently there have been a few nice bulls to 35 pounds accounted for.

Only an occasional report of any yellowfin tuna action, mostly smaller sized, found while trolling on the normal offshore marlin grounds. With the ocean conditions shaping up how they are, we do expect to hear more reports of tuna activity. Same story for wahoo, only a handful of these elusive speedsters were being reported, though you never know, these fish do really prefer ocean currents that average in the upper 70s, we are nearing that now, so anything could happen if anglers are at the right sport at the correct time.

Roosterfish action remained steady inshore, every day we are hearing of fish in the 40 pound or larger class being hooked into while slow trolled just outside of the surf zone. The season started early for these prized fighting gamefish and is still going strong. Despite locals enjoy capturing and eating these jacks, these fish have dark red meat, can grow to 100 pounds, they are not known for eating quality, but rather for their aggressive surface strikes, unpredictable acrobatics and powerful runs, anglers need to take the future protection of this species into their own hands and practice the sport of catch and release.

Same story should be mentioned for striped marlin, this so called protected gamefish species is being blatantly exploited, sold commercially as though there are not even any laws against this illegal black market business. Whatever the problem, lack of official personnel or particular priorities, lead to this sad situation, while costs of local fishing licenses have reached inflated rates, certainly there should be funds to enforce existing regulations. Further thoughts also have to go in the direction of why authorities continue to allow commercial inshore gill netting to be practiced, this form of fishing does irreversible damage to this fragile fishery, something has to be done to abolish these gillnets before they completely destroy this unique and diverse World Class fishery.

This is now the season when dogtooth snapper, pargo colorado, amberjack, pompano, leopard grouper and other species follow baitfish schools close to shore and this action had showed great early season promise, but with recent sightings of expanses of set gill nets, this has coincided with a sharp drop off on inshore action for anglers. Global population increases commercial pressure on this fragile inshore fishery, the situation needs to be monitored and given a chance to survive.

The combined local panga fleets launching from La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 70 charters this past week and anglers reported a fish count of:

4 sailfish, 22 striped marlin, 2 wahoo, 9 hammerhead shark, 5 yellowtail, 18 amberjack,

16 cabrilla, 24 dorado, 55 various pargo species, 18 dogtooth snapper, 14 sierra, 4 yellowfin tuna, 16 pompano, 32 jack crevalle and 135 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric