May 7, 2023

Well the first week of the new month is now past us, it was a busy week for local residents, with Mexican Labor Day held on the 1 st, then Cinco de Mayo coinciding with San Jose del Cabo being the designated finish line for two offroad races, back to back, first the Norra 1000, a five day rally, starting in Ensenada, then over the weekend in was the Dos Mares 500, an annual event held in Southern Baja, covering from the Sea of Cortez to the Pacific and back. Anyway, the downtown streets and local resorts were all very busy accommodating the hundreds of racing enthusiasts. 

As for numbers of actual anglers, still lighter than we would expect for this time of year, but some encouraging fish reports from this week and all around ideal climate, we do expect to have more people visiting in the coming weeks. Day time temperatures averaging in the lower 80s, more marine layer cloud cover this past week, keep conditions very pleasant, though there was stiff wind out of the north which some days made for a tough go on the fishing grounds north of Iman Bank and especially off of Vinorama, which in recent days was showing encouraging signs of more consistent action for the yellowfin tuna. 

Ocean currents were changing dramatically from one day to the next, longer than normal transition period, still waiting for conditions to become more stable, which usually would contribute to more consistent action day to day.

Ocean temperatures are slowing warming, now in the 72 to 75 degree range. Another full moon period now passing, bait options were that much more limited, earlier in the week there were sardinas available, but be the weekend they were much scarcer, caballito also vanished, there were a mix of juerlito, small jacks, as well as ballyhoo and slabs of squid.

Besides smaller sized roosterfish being found in closer proximity along the inshore beach stretches, the better fishing action was being found much further north, off of Vinorama, a long 20 mile run, which will most likely be a factor in having to impose extra fuel cost fees in the near future. Drift fishing with sardinas or the jurelito baits was best bet to entice the yellowfin tuna, as normal these fish proved finicky, often biting best very early and then other days not until 9 or 10 a.m. The yellowfin were ranging in sizes from 20 lb up to near 100 lb. Anglers were fortunate to land one or two, some people were luckier than others.

A couple of nice sized wahoo were brought in, taken over the high spots while anglers were actually targeting bottom species, as the ocean warms up, we should see more wahoo in the fish counts. A handful of dorado were accounted for as well, a few of them over 30 lb., nice size for this time of year.

Not many bonito now found over the high spots, like they had been in previous weeks, we did see some more yellow snapper, barred pargo, amberjack, pompano, triggerfish and red snapper, though this action was sporadic and depended greatly on how the morning shaped up, as with the north wind and the availability of live sardinas etc..

Good Fishing, Eric

April 30, 2023

We saw similar patterns this week, light crowds of anglers, ideal weather conditions and a wide variety of fish species available for the fishermen that were out giving it a try. Mostly clear sunny skies, lows of about 65 and highs near 85 degrees Slight ocean swells, variable currents, swift at times and water temperatures were in the 72 to 74 degree range. Earlier in the week there was some north wind to deal with, later on and through the weekend conditions were better.

Bait supplies consisted of caballito, some mullet, sardina, anchoveta, ballyhoo and slabs of squid. Sardinas were limited from day to day. 

The majority of the more consistent fishing action was now being found from Cardon, La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis.The most common species remains the white bonito, taken over the various high spots on yo yo style jigs, ranging up to 6 lb. On the same grounds there was a wide variety of other species encountered, though in much more limited numbers compared to the bonito. We saw a variety of pinto, leopard & broomtail groupers, yellow and red snapper, barred pargo, spotted rose snapper, pompano, triggerfish, amberjack, fortune jack, even a couple of wahoo and dorado. These fish were taken while drift fishing, using both jigs and various baits. Over the weekend on Saturday, there was an amberjack weighing over 70 lb. landed, most ambers were more in the 10 to 25 lb. class.

Striped marlin are being found scattered throughout the area, no significant numbers, better odds at finding them a bit further offshore, 15 miles or more, near the 1150 grounds., striking on trolled lures, rigged ballyhoo and dropped back baits.

The few yellowfin tuna we saw were taken from San Luis Bank, everyday it seems a few of these yellowfin are being hooked into early in the morning, then they become spooky after more boats arrive. Sizes of these fish landed ranged from 30 to 80 lb. The tuna had a preference for the live caballito this week, as compared to strips of squid or sardina.

Inshore now the main deal was for roosterfish and jack crevalle, only a few sierra were coming in. Most of these roosterfish have been juvenile sized, up to 15 lb., being released as they should be. A few of the hog sized jack crevalle in the area.

Good Fishing, Eric–