February 16, 2013
Anglers –

There continue to be lighter than normal crowds of tourists now visiting the Los Cabos area. This is a normal scenario for the month of February, cooler weather patterns, persistent winds, predominately from the north, unpredictably shifting out of the south. Air temperature ranged from lows of 50 degrees to highs in the lower 70s, most sunny skies, after some early morning cloud cover. Many travelers do not seem to realize that there are seasons in this tropical paradise as well, by spring break time the conditions will be rapidly warming, but for another few weeks we can expect similar forecasts.

With the recent cold front, ocean water temperatures plummeted down to 68 degrees and there was no significant warmer break found for a long distance, 15 to 20 miles offshore there are areas of 70 degree currents. Despite this rapid drop in water temperature, there were quite a few dorado remaining in the region, currents changed so fast, apparently these gamefish could not reach any warm areas, isolated in cold water, with nowhere to go. On Wednesday the charters fishing the normal fishing grounds from Red Hill to Vinorama found almost summer like numbers of dorado, some boats reported catching and releasing as many as 20 fish, impressive sizes up to 25 pounds. By Thursday this action had slowed, as ocean currents cooled by several degrees over night, though a handful of charters did account for five or six dorado, which for winter time has to be considered good.

Yellowfin tuna action was none existent in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, though on the Pacific Banks there were scattered reports of yellowfin tuna to 30 pounds being found offshore. Striped marlin are being encountered spread out throughout the area, with main concentrations now found on the Golden Gate Bank. There remain abundant schools of mackerel and other baitfish found on the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo, we expect the billfish action will shift in this direction as the weather returns to a warming trend.

Sierra remain the most common species being found close to shore, striking on a variety of smaller sized lures, as well as on live bait. Sierra are being hooked into by shore fisherman as well, this bite is best at first light in the morning. Roosterfish activity seemed to slow down in the cooler water, but there were some very strong 25 pound jack crevalle patrolling the beach stretches, these fish will test light tackle enthusiasts to the limits.

Other action included a variety of structure species, various pargo specimens, a few amberjack, cabrilla and triggerfish. Still no yellowtail to report, conditions are now just right for these jacks to migrate on to the local grounds. Lots of baitfish to attract larger fish now, even though the ocean is cold for local standards, the color is decent, not that dirty green color we can see at times. Bottom options have remained limited at this time, migration patterns seem to be running behind usual schedules.

The whales are definitely still in the area, putting on quite a show, we are seeing more juveniles this season, soon these whales will begin to migrate north. We have heard that there is a huge run of giant squid off of the East Cape area, the whole community is now out fishing at night for these, since there are practically no anglers in that area now, this is the only fishing going on, reports of over one ton of squid per panga each night has been reported, commercial value is not high, so you need to load the boat to the railings to make much profit.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, sent out approximately 59 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 265 dorado, 6 roosterfish, 24 jack crevalle, 9 amberjack, 15 cabrilla, 12 bonito, 20 pargo (various species) and 420 sierra.

Good Fishing, Eric

February 10, 2013
Anglers –

This is now a great time for people to escape the cold weather and travel to Southern Baja, where there has been plenty of warm sunshine, with high temperatures of 75 degrees, variable winds, predominately from the north, light ocean swells, perfect climate to take advantage of the many available outdoor activity, whether it be golf, sailing, tennis, hiking, snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing, beach combing, whale watching and of course sport fishing. All of these things to keep you occupied, they even offer camel rides and on the extreme side, you can rent off road race vehicles and head off into the open desert.

The whale season is now peaking, as these mammals can be spotted all along the coastal regions, on both sides of the Peninsula. All mariners must be especially cautious as they navigate crafts through these same waters. Local ocean temperatures were averaging 70 to 73 degrees, with warmer currents found outside near the 1000 fathom line. Water clarity has been variable, particularly near shore where water was greenish. Conditions further offshore were cleaner and baitfish schools continued to hold on local grounds. Mackerel, sardinetas and sardinas have all been available, the sardinas are being netting off the beaches north of Punta Gorda.

The most consistent offshore action has been for striped marlin, off of the Pacific Banks, where charters were accounting for multiple catch and releases, up into the double digits. The stripers were also off of Chileno, Santa Maria and in recent days more marlin were found within several miles straight off of San Jose del Cabo. The stripers were coming up on trolling lures and also readily striking baits, sizes ranged up to 130 lb. Most people have now heard about the 987 lb. blue marlin that was landed out of Cabo San Lucas on Super Bowl Sunday, an epic battle for four senior anglers, these gentleman were just out to catch a few medium sized tuna for dinner, proves that you never know when that monster will strike.

The panga charters have been catching big numbers of sierra, as these inshore speedsters have been dominating the early morning action. Anglers had fast action while using hoochies, rapalas, casting jigs and live sardinas, did not take long to limit out. It was much harder to find other cooperative fish, some dorado are still in the area, despite cooler conditions, majority of the do-do’s were smaller sized, scattered and there was no consistent area from day to day, some fish were found close to shore, while others were offshore on the same marlin grounds. Several nicer sized dorado to 25 pounds were accounted for, most charters were doing well is they had a few dorado in the mix.

Quite few roosterfish were reported, they were even taken on the fly, the majority were smaller sized juveniles, need to be cautious releasing these fish, we did hear of roosterfish up to 25 pounds being landed.

Anglers had to deal with an invasion of too many needlefish on the same grounds where they were trying to find dorado and sierra, this can be frustrating, having to constant retie leaders and pin on new fresh baits. Sea lions caused havoc on other spots, always another factor to deal with, hard work to locate and then hook fish to have them be robbed by the pesky lobos.

Searching out various rock piles has produced only minimal results for mainly pargo and cabrilla, only a few yellowtail heard about, great conditions for these jacks to move in, this is the start of their preferred season. As days progress towards spring, this warming trend typically means more consistent fishing action, for inshore offshore and bottom species.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, sent out approximately 73 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 17 striped marlin, 6 yellowfin tuna, 82 dorado, 28 roosterfish, 8 jack crevalle, 5 amberjack, 2 yellowtail, 17 cabrilla, 16 bonito, 28 pargo (various species) and 550 sierra.

Good Fishing, Eric

February 2, 2013
Anglers –

Winter time weather has persuaded more people to pack their bags and head south, travel in the direction of warm sunshine, more numbers of tourists are now arriving in the Los Cabos area. This week started off with warmer days, then a cool front swept in from the north, gusty winds, to over 20 miles per hour, tapering off by the weekend. This is the time of year we see rapidly changing weather patterns, daytime temperatures ranged from 68 to 82 degrees, lows to 56. Northern winds were persistent, creating choppy ocean conditions through most of the week, strong currents with very high tidal changes coinciding with the full moon all contributed to more difficult challenges for anglers. Ocean water temperatures ranged from 69 to 74 degrees, warmest zones found outside of the Cabo San Lucas area.

Despite not having ideal conditions, charter fleets did manage to find a variety of action for their anglers. Fleets were searching in all different directions, some days they stayed close to shore, in more protected areas, this was an option when offshore conditions were just too rough to be comfortable. Sierra were the most common fish schooling along the beach stretches, anglers found best success using live sardinas for bait, these baitfish were being netted daily by the commercial pangeros near Vinorama, most of the days they would deliver the bait to off of Cardon, this is where charters were finding very good action on the sierra, weighing to 4 lb. Same spot produced a handful of dorado, but dorado numbers are much lower due to cooler currents.

The water clarity seemed to improve later in the week, cleaner blue water was reported on the La Fortuna and Iman Banks. This is where yellowfin tuna were encountered in limited numbers, up to 20 pounds, striking on sardinas, windy weather limited this action, but this proved that there were still yellowfin in the area and the weather patterns in the coming weeks will dictate what happens with these fish. If ocean currents remain stable these yellowfin might just stay in the region through the winter.

Bottom action has begun to be another available option, but this action is greatly dependent on the ocean conditions and proves very difficult in high winds. We should see more consistent action off the rock piles in the coming weeks. Yellowtail should be moving into the area soon, snapper, cabrilla, grouper, pargo, amberjack and bonito can all be found on these same grounds, there can be a smorgasbord of quality eating fish. Recent catches have included pargo and leopard groupers, striking on whole baits and yo-yo style jigs, most of these fish are in the 10 to 15 pound range, some to 30 lb. and other much heavier fish were hooked and lost to the rocks in short notice.

Schooling mackerel and sardinetas are still abundant on the bait grounds off of San Jose del Cabo, same areas where commercial shrimp trawlers operate with drag nets during the winter months. With all of this food source on the local grounds, certainly this should attract more gamefish into the region. At this time the striped marlin action has been much more consistent for the boats launching out of Cabo San Lucas, but with the quantity of baitfish holding off of San Jose del Cabo, it will be only a matter of time for the billfish bite to break wide open, perhaps just as the ocean clarity improves slightly, could happen overnight.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 1 sailfish, 7 striped marlin, 12 yellowfin tuna, 68 dorado, 36 roosterfish,
1 yellowtail, 26 cabrilla, 136 pargo (various species) and 330 sierra.

Good Fishing, Eric