March 20, 2022

This week marks the official start of spring season, weather conditions are perfect now, with clear sunny skies and high temperatures of 80 degrees, moderate crowds of tourists, making this an ideal time to visit. Very busy times in downtown San Jose del Cabo, as this is the week of the annual traditional fiestas. With carnival set up in town and many other outdoor activities and contests scheduled.

Winds were moderate all week, mainly just increasing later in the day. Ocean temperature is now averaging 70 to 72 degrees, warmer areas found further offshore. Swells were very slight and the full moon period created high tidal movement. During the week along the inshore zone, from San Jose del Cabo and further north, the water conditions turned over, as a green colored current pushed in and made finding any dorado or wahoo impossible.

Early in the week we saw some quality dorado to over 30 lb. accounted for, only a couple fish here and there, but very nice sized, particularly for this time frame. As the week progressed the availability for live bait vanished, over the weekend in local PLC Marina no bait was even found. 

The caballito in the marina area disappeared, the mackerel and chihuil which were found on the Gordo Banks for the past few weeks also disappeared. Hopefully this is just a full moon deal and we will see bait sources rebound shortly. Ballyhoo remained another option.

Mid-week we saw a thick marine layer fog swept in and visibility closed out to zero in zones towards the north, always a dangerous deal. Bottom fishing showed some better signs, highlight being a handful of 30 lb. plus yellowtail taken off the Gordo Banks, we also saw a few amberjack, up to 40 lb., also a mix of leopard grouper, red snapper, barred pargo and more of the Pacific bonito  than anything else, especially productive was the San Luis Bank.

The striped marlin action continued to dominate offshore action, though as baitfish schools became scattered, so did these billfish.  The marlin action has been going red hot now since early December.

Good Fishing, Eric

March 13, 2022  

We are starting to see the first wave of spring breakers arriving into the Los Cabos area, again quite a few tourists now, but not a high percentage of these are serious anglers. Weather was a bit cooler this week, relatively by local standards, still the skies were clear and sunny, with highs most days reaching close to 75 degrees, early morning lows were down in the mid 50s. North winds increased through the later part of the week, creating rough ocean conditions and water temperature was now averaging 70 to 73 degrees. Greenish currents swept through the inshore zone.

Anglers were using mainly caballito and ballyhoo for bait, with some mackerel also found on offshore grounds, still no sardina activity to report. Sportfishing fleets were searching out all directions, most local fleets concentrated on the grounds from Red Hill/Palmilla and north to La Fortuna and Iman.

The highlight offshore has been the continued strong bite for striped marlin, with the Outer Gordo Banks being one of the top producers. Though striped marlin are being found throughout the region, concentrated more where bait schools were found. These billfish are striking lures well, but even more so on dropped back or trolled baits.
Dorado were scarcer in the cooler off colored conditions, though everyday we are seeing some of these prized gamefish accounted for, just not in the numbers we saw during previous weeks. Same deal for wahoo, that action that had been so good a couple of weeks ago, considering it was not the normal season for these pelagics, now has stalled out as water color turned over on the inshore grounds where these fish had been holding.

Bottom action just has not done much up to this point, windy, rougher conditions did not help. Though some days there were some decent caches produced, most notably were leopard grouper, red snapper, amberjack and bonito, but no significant numbers or size.

Whales continued to be seen in good numbers, as well as sea lions, manta rays, porpoise and turtles, all adding to the all around adventure.

Inshore we have not seen much, very few sierra so far this season, some small sized roosterfish, but the highlight has been some hog sized jack crevalle.

Good Fishing, Eric

March 6, 2022  

Large numbers of tourists in town now, though not a high percentage seem to be fishermen. Vacationers are being greeted with sunny skies and warm temperatures, reaching the upper 70s. Winds have been variable, but mainly picking up from the north later in the day, there seems to be a calming trend now and also we are feeling warmer all around climate, first hint of spring season being right around the corner.

Striped marlin continue to be the highlight offshore, more often five to ten miles offshore, striking on lures, ballyhoo and caballito, which continue to be plentiful in marina area. The billfish bite was a bit up and down from day to day as to where the best action was encountered. Sizes ranged from 70 lb., up to 140 lb., a handful of very nice stripers were accounted for. A handful of sailfish were hooked into as well, off season ow for the sails, which prefer the warmer waters.

Dorado were found more often closer to shore, striking best on bait, numbers varied from single fish, up to boat limits, depending on location on a given day. Water temperature varied from 69 to 72 degree, color fluctuated some, later in the weekend current became a bit greenish on these same grounds and bit was a bit tougher accordingly.

Through much of the week the wahoo action was very good, close to shore off of Punta Gorda and Palmilla, sizes ranged up to 35 lb., though average wahoo was more in the 10 to 20 lb. range. Slow trolling caballito and casting chrome pattern jigs proved most effective. 

  
Other species close to shore were jack crevalle, sierra and juvenile sized roosterfish. Off the bottom there was a mix of species, though sporadic action and made more difficult by strong currents running throughout area. A few smaller sized yellowtail were found, hopefully this is prelude to some of the larger yellows to come soon.

Still many daily whales sightings, these mammals will be heading north later this month.

Good Fishing, Eric