August 14, 2022  

We continue to feel tropical weather patterns in the Los Cabos area. At this time there is another tropical depression passing off to the west of the Peninsula, only impact we felt locally is some more cloud cover and increased humidity, no rain to speak of except early in the week some isolated rain showers near Cabo San Lucas. Ocean swells have been moderate and winds have not been much of a factor this past week. Ocean water temperature has been reaching the upper 80s, also now we are just past the full moon phase, which can often change fish feeding patterns during the daytime.

Bait options have been similar, with caballito found inside marina channel and sardinas along the beach stretch just to the north of marina entrance. Ballyhoo and slabs of squid were another option, as were looking for bolito schools on the offshore grounds. Center of activity this past week was near the Cardon, La Fortuna and Iman Bank areas. This is where yellowfin tuna are now schooling, many fish seen boiling on the surface, but actually getting these finicky fish to strike was difficult. Though with persistence and patience everyday some of these yellowfin are being hooked up, some charters landing as many as three.

Best choice of bait seemed to be sardina, while drift fishing, live and dead bait both worked. Anglers were going down to 30 lb. and 40 lb. leaders to help entice bites, using any lighter was not worth it, since these tuna are averaging in the 50 to 70 lb. class. Mid week there was one tuna of 160 lb. landed, two hour battle on 40 lb. outfit. So this is encouraging news to see these tuna here in good numbers, optimistic that bite will improve as moon darkens. Though the pressure has also increased since news travels fast these days.

Dorado action continues, though more smaller fish ahve moved in, not nearly as many of the large bulls that we had been seeing in recent weeks, remember to always release the smaller dorado, especially the females (smaller head), these fish grow very fast and are always filled with eggs, give them a chance to reproduce.

With the water temperature so high now fish can become sluggish, especially wahoo, these fish are in the area and a few are being caught, but hard to target them specifically because bite is limited.
Billfish action was limited, with most charters trying for the possible tuna action. Though we did see a handful of striped marlin and one 200 lb. blue marlin brought in. More marlin action is now being found on the grounds off of Cabo San Lucas. This is the time when we usually see some black marlin showing up on the Gordo Banks, though you really need to target these specifically to have a chance, long hours of trolling larger sized baitfish.

Not much going on now close to shore or off the bottom, mainly just looking for the surface action. A few leopard grouper, bonito and snapper. Also saw a few late season roosterfish this week.

Good Fishing, Eric

August 7, 2022  

Southern Baja is definitely feeling more like the tropics this past week. Presently there is another Tropical Depression passing off to the west of the Southern Peninsula, again no impact with land is forecast, though swells will increase some and there are reports of isolated thunder showers. Last Sunday afternoon we felt thunder showers for an hour. on and off full blast, some areas recorded up to two inches of rainfall. Any moisture received now is much welcome, as the desert landscape has been scoring dry through the previous six months. Ocean water temperatures has been averaging in the 80’s, up to 86 degrees was reported.

We saw light numbers of anglers this past week, again the highlight was large bull dorado which have been found on local fishing grounds the last several weeks. This had been the best bite for larger size dorado we have seen in many years. Mixed sizes of dorado are being encountered, larger fish to over 50 lb. Most success has been while using bait, but a percentage of these fish are striking lures. Live caballito and sardina have been available, another option has been ballyhoo and jigging up bolito on offshore grounds and using them for trolling baits.

Dorado action was spotty, sometimes better than others.A few stray wahoo were reported, tuna were scarce as well, one monster yellowfin was hooked on the San Luis Bank, only to be lost after a several hour battle on heavy equipment, this tune had hit on a trolled bolito.
Not much inshore or bottom action going on now, as this is now more the season for targeting the offshore surface action.

A huge congratulations goes out to Team Stella June, along with with local La Playita legendary angler Hugo Pino, with their 375 lb. Black Marlin they won top honors and highest payout of over one million dollars during this past week’s Bisbee’s East Cape Offshore event.

Good Fishing, Eric

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July 31, 2022  

Despite airports and Resorts being fairly crowded, we are not seeing many anglers arriving at this time. On and off breezes from the south have helped keep summer conditions more comfortable. Though with Hurricane Frank now paralleling the Baja Peninsula some 500 miles offshore, this has increased the humidity, as well as slightly larger swells over the weekend. Water temperature has ranged from 77 to 84 degrees, cooler currents closer to shore. Clean blue water is now being found close to shore.

Bait supplies consisted of caballito, sardinas and anchoveta, when surf conditions were not too large, other options being ballyhoo and slabs of squid. Fishing action has included surface action, as well as a mix of bottom species. No particular type of fish being found in abundance. Overall action was scattered. Chance at yellowfin tuna, though this option remains far offshore, out of normal range for morning charters, yellowfin associated with porpoise and average size ranged 10 to 20 lb. 

Striped and blue marlin are being encountered on the normal grounds such as the 1150 spot. Dorado of mixed sizes, including some bulls to over 50 lb. were being accounted for, the majority taken while searching farther offshore, though some larger dorado were also accounted for closer to shore where juvenile dorado were found in small schools.

Wahoo were hard to entice, though a couple were taken on trolled lures, these fish are definitely in the area, but are finicky at this time, spear fishermen have had much better results, on Sat. on dive boat came in with 11 wahoo up to 50 lb., sure would be nice if they changed regulations so the spear fishermen could only harvest one fish of each species and say no more than three total. Something needs to be adjusted so that this area can sustain this type of pressure.

As normal the inshore action starts to fade out at this time of year, we still did see a few late season sierra, jack crevalle and roosterfish. Locals have been surf fishing, but the bite has been tough recently, a few fortunate anglers landing snook, corvina and tripletail.

Good Fishing, Eric