April 21, 2012

Anglers –

Ideal spring conditions are now progressively warming and there was an noticeable increase of visitors this past week. Ocean conditions were churned up and choppy early n the week, particularly offshore, but as the week progressed the winds resided and anglers encountered smoother seas. Ocean temperatures were now ranging from 67 degrees on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas to about 72 or 73 around the Gordo Banks area. With days now becoming progressively longer and warmer, we should see water temperatures  rebound accordingly.

For the past several months the most consistent angling action has been close to shore, most of the time for smaller sized roosterfish and sierra, there was some great yellowtail fishing found close to Cabo San Lucas, but no consistent numbers of these fish ever were encountered on the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo, though to the north, off of the East Cape region, they reported a bonanza on yellowtail, maybe we will see a late yellowtail season off of SJDC? The good news now, is that offshore is showing signs of life, particularly for striped marlin, from Chileno, 95 spot, to the 1150 and north to Desteladera, sportfishing charters were finding very good numbers of billfish, many charters were scoring multiple fish days, often these fish were seen free jumping and  tailing on the surface, at times they proved to have lock jaw and would not strike on anything, acting as if they just were not hungry, probably feeding down deeper.

A few swordfish sightings and hook ups were reported during the past couple of weeks, this is the same period as last year when the swords were really starting to be spoted off shore of San Jose del Cabo and towards the East Cape, most of the time some 15 to 20 miles from shore. The year of 2011 turned out to be the best season in recent memory for these prized and elusive billfish, Southern Baja is one of the few spots in the world where will bite on the surface during the daytime. Often found late in the day, lazily swimming on the surface, this fishery is suited more for larger sport fishing boats, as compared to panga style skiffs.

Caballito have been the main larger baitfish now available, being used offshore for billfish and close to the beaches for roosterfish. Sardinas were available as well, this week the pangeros found the bait schools near the San Luis area. This is the time we usually see more small squid and bolito congregating in the region, both of which are favored food sources that inturn attract greater numbers of pelagic gamefish.

Most panga charters are still finding their best opportunities closer to shore, for roosterfish, sierra, pargo, grouper and amberjack and a few yellowtail. Palmilla Point had been a good early morning spot for yellowtail and amberjack, but this bite came to a standstill and now most of the small boat charters are headed towards the grounds north of Punta Gorda, where a variety of fish were accounted for, though still no consistent big fish bite on a daily basis.

Not many dorado recently, just an occasional fish here or there, some of them larger sized bulls. Encouraging news were recent reports of seeing yellowfin tuna appear on the grounds outside of San Luis, for the past several days yellowfin tuna in the 60 to 90 pound class were hooked into while trolling with bolito, only a few fish a day were now accounted for by the local fleet, but this bite could break loose at anytime, tuna were seen sporadically coming up on the surface, just a matter of them becoming a bit more hungry and aggressive.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 90 charters for the week and anglers reported a fish count of: 18 striped marlin, 12hammerhead shark, 4 mako shark, 1 thresher shark, 9 yellowfin tuna, 14 dorado, 8 yellowtail, 3 wahoo, 19 amberjack, 96 pargo, 34 cabrilla, 7 grouper, 52 sierra, 205 roosterfish, 16 jack crevalle and 7 pompano.

Good Fishing, Eric

April 14, 2012

 

 

San Jose del Cabo Weather Links Find more about Weather in San Jose Del Cabo, MX
Click for weather forecast

 

 

Water Temperature > http://tempbreak.com/index.php?&cwregion=cb

 

 

 

Wind Report >http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=130&regionProductID=30&timeoffset=0

 

 

Anglers –

As the extended spring break comes to an end, crowds of tourists are now lighter. The weather is practically perfect, clear sunny skies with highs in the low 80s. There was still some unpredictable winds coming from various directions, but for the most part anglers found ocean conditions to be pleasant. Water temperatures are now ranging up to about 72 degrees offshore of San Jose del Cabo and towards Los Frailes, much cooler currents are found in the direction of the Pacific.

 

Charters found a mix of caballito and sardinas for bait, though in recent days the supplies of sardinas became very scattered from Palmilla to Chileno where they had been so plentiful and now the bait netters will need to search out new sources, perhaps in the direction of Vinorama once again.

 

Clarity of the water has improved to the north of Punta Gorda, there were good numbers of striped marlin encountered from the Gordo Banks to Desteladera, most charters targeting the billfish were having multiple opportunities while trolling lures and casting baits to tailers and feeding stripers. A handful of dorado were also found on the same fishing grounds, some of them up to 30 pounds, most of the time just single fish.

 

Not much being heard about yellowfin tuna, there were occasional sightings of tuna on the Iman Bank, but only a few of these fish were actually hooked into, the yellowfin would vanish as quickly as they appeared. Last weekend there was one 120 pound tuna reported by a panga from La Playita, several other fish over 40 pounds as well. It is now the time when we should start seeing more tuna action associated with traveling porpoise.

 

There were a few wahoo to report in recent days, strikes on baits and lures on the fishing grounds from La Fortuna to San Luis, smaller sized fish up to 20 pounds, but nevertheless an encouraging sign. Surprisingly there were still many whales being sighted in the area, this is the tail end of season, most are headed north now.

 

Along the shoreline anglers are finding sierra, roosterfish and jack crevalle, as well as some yellowtail. Most of the roosterfish are in the 5 to 12 pound class, fun fighters on light tackle. Please remember that these fish should be released to mature and provide future stock, many anglers are not aware of this and many of the local skippers just do not seem to think about the future much.

 

Palmilla Point saw increased action for yellowtail, fish ranging up to 30 pounds, still no huge numbers, but more productive than it had been, drifting live caballitos down deep was most successful, though some anglers also had strikes on yo-yo’s. Towards Cabo San Lucas there were areas where anglers reported good action on the yellows while trolling deep diving Rapalas. It appears the bottom action is improving, more larger fish showing up, there were some amberjack starting to bite, one 80 pound fish was taken mid week and others in the 30 to 60 pound range, again no big numbers, but at least they are starting to appear in the counts. These amberjack were mainly taken while working yo-yo jigs off the structure. Various snapper, pargo, cabrilla and grouper rounded out the action off the bottom.

 

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 64 charters this past week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:

4 wahoo, 6 yellowfin tuna, 26 dorado, 16 shark, 18 striped marlin, 18 bonito, 16 amberjack, 24 yellowtail, 11 pompano, 58 pargo, 84 roosterfish, 33 cabrilla, 12 grouper and 185 sierra.

 

Good fishing, Eric

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 7, 2012

 

 

San Jose del Cabo Weather Links Find more about Weather in San Jose Del Cabo, MX
Click for weather forecast

 

 

Water Temperature > http://tempbreak.com/index.php?&cwregion=cb

 

Wind Report > http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=130&regionProductID=30&timeoffset=0

 

April 7, 2012

Anglers –

This week is the official spring break locally, schools are out of session and as tradition follows, thousands of families are heading on extended camping trips along the many beaches. Crowds of tourists are moderate, though some resorts are reporting 100 % occupancy, while many other cannot say the same. Weather is ideal, sunny skies, with high temperatures in the low 80s, winds have been light and swells have resided compared to earlier in the week. Ocean currents are now on a gradual warming trend, averaging 67 off of Cabo San Lucas, up to 73 and even 75 degrees offshore of San Jose del Cabo, clean blue water was found within close proximity of shore. In early spring conditions change rapidly, historically the warmer currents push into the East Cape area first and then swift in the direction of Los Cabos by late spring.

 

With increased swells this past week, the commercial bait netters had to work harder to find available sources, in recent days the area of Cabo Real has been where more concentrations of sardinas were found. This was a long back track for Puerto Los Cabos Marina charters, if they planned on fishing in the direction of Iman or San Luis. So the majority of the charters who traveled to where the sardinas were now schooling, also ended up fishing in this same direction, off of Chileno to Red Hill. There were caballito available from the marina areas and on the offshore fishing grounds there were skipjack, which some anglers used for marlin or grouper bait. Fresh frozen ballyhoo where being rigged for trolling on the offshore grounds, mainly for either striped marlin or dorado. Lots of marlin now off of the San Jose del Cabo region, 5 to 20 miles offshore, these fish became more finicky with the full moon, the stripers were seen lazily tailing on the surface, but often were not interested in striking on any of the angler’s offerings. We expect with the waning moon these billfish will again bite like they did last week, ocean conditions are favorable, cleaner warm currents with quite a few flying fish starting to appear, this is always a favorable sign.

 

Dorado has been found in very limited numbers, most of the time just single fish, striking lures or bait, encountered on the same grounds as where the striped marlin were found. Of the few dorado accounted for, several were over 30 pounds, the next several months is normally when we find larger sized dorado, not as numerous as the schoolies can be during the summer months, but this can be the time to land a trophy sized bull. No wahoo being talked about in recent days, though with warming weather patterns prevailing we do expect that these sought migratory pelagics, will start to make their presence along the inshore drop offs.

 

Anglers found that sierra were the most common inshore species, ranged to five pounds, also a mix of roosterfish, most of these under ten pounds, a few jack crevalle pushing twenty pounds, these freight trains will definitely test your light tackle skills. Bottom action has not producing big consistent catches, most of the time just a mix of smaller sized pargo, cabrilla and bonito, but there were a few big grouper in the mix, most of these being hooked into around the Iman Bank by serious anglers using whole skipjack for bait, commercial style, using extra heavy weight gear in order to have a chance at battling these brutes away from the sharp rocky reefs. We are still seeing an occasional yellowtail from these same San Jose areas, though more numbers of yellows continue to be caught off of the East Cape grounds, as well as around the corner off of the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas.

 

Only an occasional encounter with yellowfin tuna being reported, at times encountered traveling with porpoise, a few nice tuna up to 100 pounds were landed this way and another few fish were hooked into around the Iman area while drift fishing with sardinas, these yellowfin ranged in the 30 to 70 pound class, pangeros reported seeing the tuna come up sporadically, disappearing fast and rarely interested in biting, surely they have acquired a taste for red crabs that are holding deeper, along with the full moon, not an easy target species at this time.Quite a few sharks throughout the area now, thrashers and makos offshore and hammerhead and reef sharks off of the structure, this makes bottom fishing more challenging. Outside of the Gordo Banks anglers reported seeing many thrashers free jumping, a few anglers were successfully hooked up while drifting baits down deep, landing sharks to 140 pounds.

 

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 66 charters this past week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 6 mako shark, 4 thresher shark, 14 hammerhead shark, 16 striped marlin, 4 yellowfin tuna, 20 bonito, 8 pompano, 16 jack crevalle, 32 pargo, 56 roosterfish, 10 grouper, 28 cabrilla, 4 yellowtail and 365 sierra.

Good fishing, Eric