November 14, 2021 

We are now in the later weeks of the busy fall season, crowds of tourists starting to wind down a notch. Weather patterns have been nearly ideal, very comfortable, lows of about 65 degrees, with mostly sunny skies and highs hovering about 85 degrees.  Breeze is now more predominant out of the north, most days increasing later in the morning. Ocean clarity has fluctuated daily off of San Jose del Cabo and towards the north, just north of Punta Gorda there has been green water circulating the zone for the past month. Some days are worse than others, hard to say when new current will sweep the dirty water out. As winds become stronger in coming weeks this should help move stagnant currents some. Water temperature is still in the 82 to 83 degree range, warmer than average for mid November.

With local yellowfin tuna action not going on at all now,most local charters have been mainly targeting dorado and wahoo, with some looking for billfish and others doing some inshore or rocky bottom options. Bait supplies remained steady for caballito, ballyhoo and slabs of squid, though still no sardinas schools seen, we expect as charter pressure lightens up some the sardinas should start to rebound. 

The most common grounds that fleets are now concentrated on are from the Red  Hill, Palmilla area to Gordo Banks, Punta Gorda and north to Iman and San Luis. In recent days Red Hill produced more numbers of dorado, with many boats catching limits. Water was clear blue on these grounds, compared to further north. Sizes ranging 5 to 15 lb, with a few larger bulls in the mix. Water clarity was actually cleaner near Punta Gorda than it was five miles out on the high spot. Crazy current lingering through this zone.

Wahoo bite was just starting to show better signs of activity. Best chances recently have been while trolling live baits, both Chihuil or Caballito. Punta Gordo was a hot spot later in  the  morning. Though the word travels quickly anymore and wahoo can be very finicky under even moderate pressure. Many reports now of wahoo seen wearily following baits, but just not wanting to strike. Lots of patience needed, keeping gear as light profile as possible. Average size wahoo has been 30 lb., a few were near 40 lb. With warm water still on local grounds, we expect we will have chances for wahoo into the New Year.

Not much going off the bottom, a mix of bonito, snapper, pargo, cabrilla, tilefish, etc… With average size small, a few nice bonito to over 10 lb. and a handful of quality baqueta grouper from the deep water surrounding the Gordo Banks. This week we did not see any significant number of billfish, though we saw a variety, black, blue and striped marlin, as well as some acrobatic sailfish.

Some anglers did well slow trolling baits near shore for roosterfish up to 20 lb. A handful of sierra are now being found as well. More and more whales are arriving, as annual migration is just beginning the peak season in coming months.

Good Fishing, Eric

November 7, 2021

Very busy times now in Southern Baja, last of the high dollar tournaments was just completed this week. Large turn out of nearly 200 teams, no record numbers of tuna, wahoo or dorado were landed, but lots of prizes were given out and everyone seems to enjoy themselves.

Ideal weather now, clear sunny skies, highs in the upper 80s, with lows down to 65 degrees. Breezes from the north picking up most day later in the day. Ocean water is averaging 81 to 83 degrees throughout the region, a few degrees warmer than normal for this time frame. Swells are moderate, currents have slacked, greenish water which has swept in the past few weeks, particularity on grounds off San Jose del Cabo and north, are now just kind of stagnant and not moving out, need some new clean water to move in. Rent days the clear water from off of Los Frailes was moving south and the grounds of San Luis and Iman were much improved. Strange year, at this time there are two late season tropical depression developing far off to the southwest, warm water, which can be ripe for development, though we are not expecting anything from these systems, they are forecast to stay far away before dissipating.

Overall the fishing action has been tough and in all directions, most of the tournament qualifying yellowfin tuna were found much further offshore and associated with porpoise. We expect the action to return on San Luis and Gordo Banks as ocean conditions rebound and stabilize some. This not an overnight happening, but at least we are encouraged how things seem to now be on improving trend.

Dorado had been the main stay for the last couple of weeks, but they became a bit more scarce this past week, scattered fish averaging 10 to 15 lb. Wahoo were harder to find than dorado,early in the week several ‘hoo up close to 40 lb. were brought in, others were lost as well. Then through the rest of the week these fish were jsut not biting. We are optimistic that as conditions come in to shape the wahoo will be much more active, as this is now into their normal peak season.

Billfish were very scattered as well, though once again we had a week we where did see sailfish, striped,blue and even one black marlin, though in limited numbers. A few sierra and roosterfish were found near shore, could be much better if sardinas had not become so scarce. Main bait source now has been caballito,ballyhoo and slabs of squid.

Bottom action produced a wide variety, from triggerfish, tile fish, sheepshead, bonito, barred pargo, yellow snapper, red snapper, amberjack, yellowtail, cabrilla and others, though the large majority of these fish were five pounds or less.

While fishing was slower than we would expect, the whale watching is now happening daily, also many many rays being seen as well.

Good Fishing, Eric

October 31, 2021

Crowds continue to arrive in large numbers to the Los Cabos area. Peak season now for sportfishing operations. Weather seems to have settled in to typically fall patterns, breezes from the north becoming a regular late morning pattern, treats of tropical storms seem to be over now, mostly clear sunny skies, heat index reaching close to 90 degrees, with morning lows of about 70 degrees, ideal all around climate. Ocean water temperature continue to be slightly warmer than seasonal average, now most of the region is still ranging 80 to 84 degrees. Swells have been moderate, though currents are strong and off colored greenish water has swept in on the grounds from Punta Gorda and north towards Los Frailes. Need the current to shift direction and push back in the cleaner water.

The off colored dirty water to the north has shut down the yellowfin action and has stalled out the wahoo bite as well. This past week the most production was towards the south off of Palmilla and Red Hill. These grounds were producing decent action for dorado while trolling lures, rigged ballyhoo and caballito. Sardinas were scarcer than previous weeks, being later a bit later in the morning near marina jetty, many anglers are not waiting around and going with other bait options. Always heavy pressure this time of year on all local and natural resources.

Many charters are landing limits of dorado, two per fishing license, average sizes were 5 to 15 lb. Only a couple of wahoo reported for the entire week, several other hook up were lost. We expect as ocean conditions clean back up on our favored northern grounds the bite should progressively develop, as November and December typically produce the best opportunities for hooking the elusive wahoo.

Not much going off the bottom, a handful of bonito, triggerfish, yellow snapper, a few smaller grade dogtooth snapper and a handful of amberjack, one weighed a hefty 75 lb.

A few charters reported catching juvenile sized roosterfish and early season sierra while trolling close to shore. Billfish action was limited on our local grounds, we did see one 150 lb. blue marlin over the weekend and some sailfish landed from the same grounds where dorado were schooling.

We remain optimistic that the season will turn around, it definitely has been tougher than we would normally expect for the past several weeks. Whales are now being spotted everyday, first wave of their annual southern migrations arriving from their northern summer trek.

Good Fishing, Eric