July 23, 2011

Just like across most of the United States, we are also dealing with high temperatures and humidity here in Southern Baja. The main interest this week has been following the development of Hurricane Dora and closely watching its projected path. Dora had become an extremely powerful category 5 storm before encountered cooler water temperatures and upper sheer that has caused it to no rapidly weaken. It is just over 200 miles from Cabo San Lucas now, Cabo San Lucas Marina was closed Friday, but a handful of charters did launch from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina on Friday, though for Saturday both Ports are slated to be closed. Dangerous surf conditions of 12 feet or more are pounding local beaches, but there has not been any rain or wind to speak of yet. It looks like we have escaped another close call, though some rainfall as the system dissipates would be welcome.

Schooling dorado moved in throughout the region this past week, the majority of the fish were juveniles under ten pounds, but there were larger fish mixed in, so remember to release the young fish and fill your limit with larger specimens. The dorado were striking on a combination of lures and bait. There were mullet, caballito and jurelito available for bait, as well as some small sized sardinas that have showed up in the last few days, these sardinas need to grow some, at this size they plug the filters on the bait tanks.

The yellowfin tuna bite was hit or miss, some tuna were found further offshore traveling with porpoise, but this was no guarantee and often over 20 miles out. Yellowfin tuna were only found in limited numbers near Iman and San Luis Bank, early in the week there was one tuna caught from a local panga that was in the 170 pound class, a handful of other yellowfin in the 20 to 50 pound range were accounted for, but anglers were lucky to catch one of them.

Water temperatures were above 80 degrees in most areas, strong currents caused water clarity to change from day to day. Southern swells made for choppy conditions much of the week. Schools of bolito and some smaller yellowfin are now found on the offshore fishing grounds and this has attracted some larger sized black and blue marlin. Several black marlin were hooked into this week, problem was that the majority were on lighter tackle and were lost after extended battles, at least a couple of medium sized blacks were landed out of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina. There are a few sailfish and striped marlin to round out the billfish action, several of the stripers were of impressive size.

Inshore action for roosterfish and dogtooth snapper is tapering off, in fact just like last week, there were several large roosterfish landed while trolling bolito on the offshore banks. The few dogtooth snapper that were accounted for also came from deeper rock piles. Cabrilla, grouper, snapper and amberjack were being hooked into, no big numbers, but some quality fish, striking on yo-yo jigs and various baitfish.

The local panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 48 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of, 1 black marlin, 13 striped marlin, 4 sailfish, 19 yellowfin tuna, 260 dorado, 58 various pargo, 9 dogtooth snapper, 18 cabrilla, 15 grouper, 17 amberjack, 16 roosterfish and 22 jack crevalle.

Good fishing, Eric

July 16, 2011

No new tropical storm systems at this time, we did have a day earlier in the week with a few scattered showers and for much of the past week we have seen more tropical cloud cover. With the little moisture that did fall, the parched local landscape does seem a bit greener and humidity has noticeably increased. Southern swells have been steady, as have winds from the south, fluctuating currents, but overall the ocean conditions seem to be improved in recent days, water temperatures averaging 80 to 84 degrees.

Mullet, caballito, jurelito and moonfish have been available for bait and schooling bolito are being found on the fishing grounds. Anglers have been waiting patiently for this summer season’s action to take off, everything seems to be happening late this season.

The fishing has still not been consistent from day to day and the fish counts have been below Cabo standards. With the way the water clarity and temperatures are looking now, we do expect the action to break open at any time. We have seen encouraging signs in recent days, lots of bolito on the fishing grounds is always a favorable, just a matter of more numbers of gamefish showing up.

Local fleets have concentrated most of their efforts from the Gordo Banks to Iman and San Luis. The Gordo Banks produced dorado and marlin action on the surface, trolling with larger live baits resulted in strikes from dorado up to 40 pounds, though the majority were fish of 5 to 20 pounds. Quite a few striped marlin also hitting in this same area, a couple of stripers were landed that weighed close to 200 pounds. There was at least one blue marlin and one black marlin reportedly landed, as well as a few sailfish, this billfish action should remain steady the rest of the summer. Off the bottom on these same banks there were some quality species accounted for, dogtooth snapper, yellowtail, amberjack and grouper. These fish hit on yo-yo jigs and drifted baits, many fish were lost, as they could not be turned before reaching the rocks and cutting the line. No huge numbers here, but definitely a chance at hooking into a big fish, it is another matter to actually land them.

Near Iman and San Luis anglers were using a combination of jigging, soaking baits off the bottom or slow trolling larger baits on the surface. Bolito has been the most productive bait for this, but jurelito were also working, patience was needed and making sure to capitalize on the few strikes taken. This is the spot where a handful of the larger grade yellowfin tuna were encountered, the tuna ranged from 30 to 200 pounds, no significant numbers at this time, but on any given day this bite could break wide open. One local La Playita panga hooked into a 70 pound class roosterfish while trolling a bolito on the surface over the Iman Banks, close to four miles offshore, this is not your normal everyday occurrence for roosterfish, as they prefer to patrol the inshore beach stretches for mullet or ladyfish.

It seems that the inshore bite for roosterfish and dogtooth snapper has tapered off and is now switching back to the offshore rock piles. The inshore season for dogtooth snapper never really happened much this year, now we are starting to see more of these larger sized snapper on the rock piles, this is the normal pattern, as they move from inshore out to the deeper banks.

We do expect to see increasing activity for dorado, the same type of action that has been found off of the East Cape region should shift in a southern direction in the coming weeks. There has not been consistent dorado action yet, but this week we did see increased numbers, so that is encouraging. No wahoo have been reported, a few cut off baits here and there, so there is always a chance.

Surf fishing activity has been hit of miss, a few snook being reported by the group of local anglers who put in their time near the San Jose Estuary, also a few reports of roosters, jack crevalle and snapper as well.

The combined panga fleets launching from the La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 62 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a total fish count of: 6 sailfish, 17 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 28 yellowfin tuna, 58 dorado, 28 amberjack, 8 dogtooth snapper,18 huachinango (red snapper), 22 yellowtail pargo, 20 jack crevalle, 13 yellowtail, 21 cabrilla and 26 roosterfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

July 9, 2011

Summer time is definitely here, temperatures are reaching 90 degrees, scattered tropical cloud cover with high humidity.. At this time there is the season’s third storm system brewing off of Manzanillo, named TS Calvin. It appears that Calvin will not become too strong and will not have any impact with land, higher swells and humidity is about all we expect.

Conditions are stabilizing with the warming days, but there were times when winds picking up from the south. Inshore waters are still off colored, clear blue water was found further offshore. Ocean currents have been swift with moderate swells, expecting to increase in coming days. Water temperatures are now averaging 80 to 85 degrees throughout most of the Southern Baja. Most abundant inshore baitfish were mullet, jurelito and caballito, sardinas were found north towards the East Cape and La Paz. This week there were immense schools of bolito moving onto the fishing grounds, at times they proved very finicky to catch, but they were choice trolling baits for larger sized gamefish.

Fleets were reported mixed success 15 to 30 miles offshore looking for yellowfin tuna, most of the time associated with porpoise, fish averaged 20 to 40 pounds, a few larger tuna encountered as well. This bite was hit or miss, one day the concentration of porpoise and yellowfin would be in one area and the very next day they were nowhere to be found. Once the tuna were located, multiple strikes were the rule. A scattering of billfish are being accoutered for, sailfish, striped and blue marlin. These fish were striking on trolled lures and various baits. There were reports of blue marlin over 500 pounds caught off of the East Cape in recent days, so we expect these fish will be in our local waters soon.

Panga fleets found steady action for various snappers and amberjack off the bottom structure, San Luis Bank was one of the more productive areas. The bite was best first part of the week and then tapered off towards the weekend. Jigging with yo-yo jigs was the technique used. The larger grade of yellowfin tuna are congregated on the same grounds, from Iman, San Luis to Vinorama. They are not being seen much on the surface, but anglers are taking blind strikes while slow trolling larger sized baits, with the preferred offering being bolito. At times they would only strike these baits, shying away from mullet or small jacks. The fleet hooked into these tuna every day, with combined counts ranging from several fish, up to fifteen in one day, all of these yellowfin were in the 30 to 150 pound range. There was such an abundance of food source on the grounds now that the fish do not appear that enticed to bite baited hooks. No great numbers yet, but encouraging to see this quality and there is a good chance that you can hook into a couple of these yellowfin per morning. The key is having the right bait and plenty of patience and then hoping that the fish takes the bait deep enough for a solid hook up. With such quantity of bolito now on the local banks, we do anticipate that these quality yellowfin will continue to provide action for the rest of the summer.

On Friday there was 194 lb. yellowfin tuna landed by Frank Harbin of Chico, Ca. Frank hooked into the monster on the Iman Bank while drift fishing with a jurelito. Aboard a 22 ft. panga and using a lighter and lengthy flexible rod, he battled this fish for some six hours, with help from the crew, was finally able to bring it to gaff, but on the first attempt the fish took the gaff out of the mates hands and headed back towards the bottom, close to an hour later on their second gaff attempt they had success.

We have not been finding schools of dorado, only small groups, a few bulls to 40 pounds in the mix. No particular hot spot with big numbers, but most all fish are of quality size. Roosterfish and jack crevalle dominated the gamefish action close to shore, it is peak season now for these species, with many specimens over 40 pounds being landed.

Surf fishing activity is now in full swing, mid week there was a 40 pound class snook caught off the beach near the San Jose Estuary, there were reports of roosters and snapper as well, watch the high swells though.

The combined panga fleets launching from the La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 67charters for the week, with anglers reporting a total fish count of: 9 sailfish, 13 striped marlin, 1 wahoo, 69 yellowfin tuna, 64 dorado, 49 amberjack, 3 dogtooth snapper, 115 huachinango (red snapper), 13 yellowtail pargo, 45 jack crevalle, 22 cabrilla and 64 roosterfish.

Good Fishing, Eric