November 9, 2013
Anglers –

Weather patterns in Southern Baja California can often be unpredictable and this past weekend we witnessed a surprise formation of a late season tropical storm develop off to the west, before shifting directions and heading east, passing just offshore of Cabo San Lucas on Sunday afternoon. Tropical Storm Sonia made landfall near Culiacan, Sinaloa and was then downgraded to a depression. This was an unusual event for this time of year, though not unprecedented; remember the monsoon rains 20 years ago on November 4, this drenched 25 inches of rainfall in 12 hours over San Jose del Cabo. This latest system did drop up to 2 to 3 inches of rainfall in isolated areas and there were steady winds of 30 mph plus, but this did not last long and as the storm quickly moved past conditions cleared rapidly. Ocean swells never did increase very much, winds apparently were not strong enough to generate high swells. Conditions became stormy through Sunday morning the local ports were officially closed to all smaller crafts and did not reopen until about 7 a.m. on Monday. This was an inconvenience to hundreds of anglers who were all set to go fishing on Sunday, this was an act of Mother Nature and we were all fortunate that this only shut down operations for one day.

The local climate has now settled and conditions are nearly perfect, sunny skies, temperatures ranging from lows in the upper 60s to highs of about 84 degrees. Breezes were now predominately blowing out of the north, ranging up to 15 mph. Ocean water temperatures were in 80/82 degree range throughout the region, not much variance. Baitfish were now in extremely high demand with so many numbers of charters to supply. Live caballito were available, sardinas were very limited, schools of these baitfish are now being found near Cabo San Lucas, only a percentage of charters were able to obtain these baits. Other options for anglers were slabs of squid for strip bait fishing and ballyhoo for troll rigging.

Local fleets were finding more consistent action on the fishing ground from Santa Maria to Vinorama, versus the grounds on the Pacific. Overall the action has been below normal standards, factors related to the relentless winds and lack of sardinas, strong currents and gamefish migration patterns all seem to play into this situation. We have seen signs of improvement the past couple of days, more dorado being encountered than other species, most of these fish under 15 lb., with an occasional bull up to 20 pounds. Charters were using a mix of trolled lures, as well as drift fishing and slow trolling various baits. Average catches ranged from 2 to 8 fish per boat. Wahoo were scarce this past week, though everyday a handful were accounted for. Areas near Iman to San Luis seemed to provide the best chances for wahoo, anglers trolling rapalas and live baits reported strikes, these fish have been averaging 25 to 50 pounds. We anticipate a full other month of wahoo action, as water temperatures are still in favorable range.

Yellowfin tuna action was not as consistent as would be expected, though these fish are schooling in several areas, winds have not helped, the lack of sardinas seems to be the main issue, but these factors can also change on a daily basis, just as the weather can. Squid has been available at the dock area most mornings and this has been used for chumming and strip bait fishing for the yellowfin tuna, as well as dorado and others, even billfish have been hooked into on these strips of squid. There are smaller grades of yellowfin on the Iman, San Luis and Vinorama grounds, these fish ranged 10 to 20 pounds, though most anglers were fortunate to hook into these tuna, they proved finicky this past week.

The larger yellowfin are congregated on the Gordo Banks, though they have not been nearly as numerous this season as they have been in recent years, though this is still the spot where you have the best chance at hooking into a cow. Everyday there are reports of a handful of larger tuna hook ups, many of which are lost after extended tug of war battles. Last cow we weighed for the local panga fleet area was a 314 lb. on Saturday, Nov. 2. We typically see these cow sized tuna stay in the area into the first half of December, water temperatures and food source seem to determine when these schooling fish migrate south.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 210 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 13 striped marlin, 11 sailfish, 16 wahoo, 32 bonito, 18 pargo, 12 rainbow runner, 20 triggerfish, 12 cabrilla, 22 sierra, 460 dorado and 145 yellowfin tuna.

Good fishing, Eric

November 2, 2013
Anglers –

Visitors to Los Cabos are enjoying exciting times, as we are now in the midst of the peak fall sportfishing season. The largest of all fishing tournaments, Bisbee’s Black and Blue, was held this past week and once again this event ended with the jackpot marlin being caught in the final moments on the last day and more exciting yet, the top two largest marlin were landed by women anglers.

Busy schedules now for all sportfishing fleets, though local weather has seen an unusual late Tropical Storm developing off to the southwest, this contributed to creating windy and choppy ocean conditions, which have plagued the region now for several days and is forecast to continue through the weekend and into next week. This storm front is an unfortunate situation for the hundreds of anglers who plan their annual trips during this period when you normally expect to find much calmer comfortable conditions. Despite the bum conditions people are keeping their spirits high, knowing that all this is out of everyone’s control, the luck of the draw, weather patterns are becoming harder to predict worldwide.

Fleets have been traveling in all directions, scouting out all of the possible fishing grounds within range, ocean water temperatures are now averaging about 84 degrees throughout the area, not much temperature variance, though we do expect that a cooling off trend will begin during this next week. Bait situation has been day to day, with very small sized sardinas being netted off rocky stretches near Santa Maria, there were caballito available and even some mackerel were offered earlier in the week, as well as ballyhoo and slabs of squid at the dock area. There were options of catching larger baitfish on the grounds, overall the bait resource has been sufficient, main problem now was dealing with the relentless north winds that were swirling from out of the southwest as well.

Anglers were finding a mix of dorado, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and billfish, none of which were especially numerous. With ocean temperatures holding warm this late, we are expecting the action to become more consistent after these weather patterns stabilize. Recently the action has been limited to an average of several fish in combination per charter, though there were exceptions for other anglers that happened to be at the right place.

The large yellowfin tuna are still on the Gordo Banks, everyday there have been a couple of hook ups reported, not many of these larger tuna were actually landed, tuna up to 314 lb. were accounted for by the local panga fleet, with others lost after extended battles. Smaller football sized yellowfin were found near Santa Maria and on the Gordo Banks or Iman Bank, though this action was sporadic and most boats that did land these fish would only catch a few fish. Dorado were mixed in, found in medium sized schools spread out, most of these fish were weighing less than fifteen pounds, with an occasional specimen to 20 pounds being reported. The main factor for fewer all around numbers of fish was the relentless winds which limited where boats could comfortable and practically concentrate their efforts.

Wahoo were hiding out most of the week, only a handful of these fish were landed, with other numerous strikes missed. This is now the time we expect to see these fish make their presence known. Once again, as this weather front passes through we do expect things to get back on track.

Not much bottom action was even attempted during these winds times, anglers found it hard enough to troll or drift fish the surface, let alone try to hold the bottom.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 205 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 black marlin, 4 blue marlin, 16 striped marlin, 18 sailfish, 13 wahoo, 4 amberjack, 14 bonito, 14 pargo, 2 surgeonfish , 35 triggerfish,10 cabrilla, 15 sierra, 260 dorado and 125 yellowfin tuna.

Good fishing, Eric

October 26, 2013
Anglers –

Los Cabos is bustling now with visiting anglers and vacationers from various countries, peak fall season is now happening, with high stake tournaments being the main events. Weather conditions are now ideal, as Tropical Storm Raymond remained far to the south, heading on westward path. Southern Baja felt no effects from this system, besides moderately increased swell activity. Days have been clear and sunny, high temperatures in the mid 80s, with lows dropping into the upper 60s, there is a chill in the air early morning, so remember to dress accordingly.

Sportfishing fleets are now very busy and charters have been searching the fishing grounds in all directions to find best possible opportunities. Anglers encountered breezy conditions at times, normal fall patterns, with wind off the land early, then later switching out of the north after the sun comes up, but overall the ocean conditions were favorable, water temperatures averaging 85 degrees from the Golden Gate Bank on the Pacific, all the way to Los Frailes in the Sea of Cortez.

Bait suppliers are working overtime in order to find available bait sources for the scores of charter boats. Sardinas were now found schooling near Cabo San Lucas, limited amounts for the demand required from such large numbers of charters. There have been caballito, other small jacks and ballyhoo available, squid were not found in local waters, but some super market do stock slabs of the giant squid, this can be an option for anglers wishing to drift fish for tuna.

Wahoo went on the first real active bite of the season this past week, actually was very good over last weekend and through early this week and then tapered off towards the end of the week, that can be the story when targeting the elusive wahoo. The best spot recently was the San Luis Bank, anglers reported early morning strikes on trolled lures and then later as the sun rose in the sky, slow trolling with the larger baits was more productive, lots of boat pressure, creating a noisy commotion, which can cause these wahoo to be more finicky. Many charters were reporting landing two of three wahoo, with other missed strikes, sizes averaged from 25 to 45 lb. Rapala diving plugs in purple were one of the more productive lures for the week.

Dorado have been found on all of the same fishing grounds, on some days more than on others, catches could vary from maybe one dorado to over a half dozen, depending where the schools were found. Trolling with lures and various baitfish were working well for locating dorado, average sizes ranged from 5 to 15 lb.

Good numbers of football sized yellowfin tuna could be caught if live sardinas were obtained, even if the baits were super small, the fish were still hitting on them, particularly on the Gordo Banks and north to the Iman Bank. Though without the sardinas it was hard to get the smaller tuna to bite, a handful were taken on yo-yo style jigs and strip squid was working at times as well, but the sardinas are what these yellowfin really prefer. The cow sized yellowfin tuna are still lurking around the Gordo Banks, no big numbers of these tuna are being hooking into, but everyday there have been at least a couple of big hook ups, one local boat brought in 237 lb and 270 lb. cows on consecutive days, so it seems this action for the cows is heating up just in time for the upcoming WON Tuna Jackpot.

Billfish have been scattered recently, but as is normal during the fall season, on any given day there is always a chance at hooking into either a sailfish, a striped marlin or a much larger black or blue marlin. All of these species can be encountered on the same general fishing grounds.

With increased surface action opportunities, there was not much bottom action going on, though for anglers that did target bottom species, there was limited success found, a mix of snapper, bonito, cabrilla and pargo, though no consistent bite and breezy conditions created faster drifts, which made this form of fishing more difficult.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 176 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 3 blue marlin, 12 striped marlin, 15 sailfish, 36 wahoo, 1 pompano, 5 dogtooth snapper, 16 bonito, 38 pargo, 12 cabrilla, 92 dorado, 2 roosterfish and 185 yellowfin tuna.

Good fishing, Eric