October 17, 2021 

Early last week we saw Hurricane Pamela develop south of Southern Baja before swigging back from the west on an easterly path. Luckily this system weakened and shifted  just far enough south, without causing too much damage. Main effects were the closure of Port activities, including sportfshing, on Tuesday and Wednesday, ocean conditions were stormy and there were on and off downpours of rain, never felt much more than 20 to 30 mph wind gusts, which is always good to get some nice rainfall without high winds.

Busy times now, streets are bustling with groups of anglers, tournaments are ongoing and the largest event of the year, the Bisbee’s Black & Blue, is planned for later this coming week. There will be millions of dollars in prize money at stake.

After the recent storm the ocean became stirred up and murky green in areas, lots of current pushing in and out, clarity is now improving daily, as weather has settled down. Ocean temperatures are still quite warm, in the 84 to 87 degree range.

Bait supplies are under heavy pressure now, mainly sardinas, caballito, ballyhoo and slabs of squid being offered, on a limited basis at times. Overall action remains slow, boats are searching in all directions, scouting out all options. The majority of local charters are fishing from Punta Gorda, to Iman and San Luis grounds, others are heading in southern directions. Yellowfin tuna bite locally is still at a standstill, some fish are being marked and even at times seen flashing near the surface, just have not been on the bite. Dorado were scattered in small schools, fish mostly under ten pounds, very fortunate to land a limit of nicer sized fish.

Wahoo are now being seen most everyday, found on grounds the north, ballyhoo, rapalas and chihuil all produced strikes, though the ‘hoo are still just starting to become more active, as water drops a few more degrees that should help trigger this action. Of the wahoo we saw, they averaged 30 to 40 lb.

A handful of nice dogtooth snapper are still being hooked into from off the high spots north of Punta Gorda, We saw one fish weigh in at 72 lb., others over 50 lb. very tough fighters, more often than not these fish win the battle. A few misc. species being found off the bottom, cabrilla, bonito, black skipjack, amberjack and triggerfish, again more triggerfish than anything else.

With conditions on and off we are going through a tough stretch now, now as all anglers know things can turn around at any time.

Good Fishing, Eric
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October 10, 2021

We are seeing larger numbers of anglers now arriving, from now through Thanksgiving is always the season’s most popular time. Weather is still quite warm now during the heat of the day, averaging 90 degrees, early mornings are just starting to have a bit of a chill. We are now following the formation of a tropical storm system off of Mainland, Mexico, could pass close to the Southern Baja Peninsula on Wednesday. Late morning winds are starting to blow from the north, weather patterns going through a transition period into the fall season.

Anglers have been able to obtain sardinas near the marina entrance, though schools are not as abundant as in previous weeks. Option options have been the slabs of squid and ballyhoo, which have proved to be productive when trolling for wahoo, dorado and billfish. Earlier this week, all on the same day, we saw sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin landed. One black marlin over 350 lb. was brought in, it hit on a rigged ballyhoo and skirt set up. Most productive action was found on the grounds from off of Punta Gorda and north towards La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis Banks. With most charters doing a mix of drift fishing and trolling.

Yellowfin tuna came to a stand still, only an occasional hook up being reported. Ocean water temperatures have been high in the 84 to 88 degree range. As cooling trend continues to develop this usually helps the overall bite on local grounds.

The wahoo have definitely started to become more active, everyday we are seeing a handful of these fish brought in, no big numbers yet, some anglers getting lucky and accounted for a couple of fish. Sizes we have seen ranged from 30 to 50 lb. Rigged ballyhoo and chihuil was the best bet, though rapalas should start to work as well.
This week we also saw more dorado than previously, fish up to 15 lb., some boats landed limits, we heard of even better action for the dorado off of the Pacific side.

The highlight off the bottom has been dogtooth snapper as large as 50 lb. striking on chunk bait over the high spots, these brutes will test even the most experienced of anglers, a challenge to keep them way from the sharp rocks. A mix of snapper, cabrilla, triggerfish, amberjack and bonito eere found over the structure.

We are also now starting to see some sierra show up, it will not be long before whale migrations return.

Good Fishing, Eric

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October 3, 2021

We now enter the new month and also the beginning of the fall season. This past week we have been feeling the weather patterns change rather quickly, mornings are now significantly cooler, relatively, on Saturday early morning we had some major rain squalls swept through from the southwest, dumping several inches of rain, also shutting down the majority of fishing charters, though some of the larger boats were able to brave the conditions, actually finding calm and dry conditions further north once they got through the dark clouds and down pour. Sunday we woke to clear skies and fleets were back in full action.

Through most of the week the ocean conditions were very favorable, very light breeze and moderate swells. Ocean temperature was very warm though, up in the 85 to 88  degree range, perhaps this contributed to slowing the surface activity down. We do believe that this week the water will steadily start to cool off into the low 80 degree range, which is usually  more suitable for the all around action. Once again the sardina schools are being found near the local marina jetty’s, they had scattered the past couple of weeks, we will see how these supplies last during the higher pressure of the coming weeks. Slabs of squid has been the other main option, particularly for the chances at getting lucky for the yellowfin tuna. Chihuil are becoming more active on these same grounds and will be yet another bait option in coming weeks.

The yellowfin tuna became very scare this week, not showing as they had been on the grounds from Iman to San Luis Banks. Everyday we were seeing a handful of tuna in the 50 to 70 lb. brought in, though anglers were lucky to hook up. We are hoping the cooling off trend will help trigger the bite. Dorado were scattered trough the zone, in very limited numbers, most of the fish we saw were smaller in size, with an exception of a few over ten pounds. We heard of some better dorado action found on the Pacific grounds. Changing conditions should help push these fish in the direction of the San Jose del Cabo areas. A few wahoo were reported, again cooling of water temperatures should entice these elusive fish to become more active.

Strong currents were running, this never seems to help anything, especially the bottom opportunities. More triggerfish and bonito than anything else, though we did see at least one 60 lb. grouper and a handful of nice dogtooth snapper over 40 lb. A few miscellaneous pompano, snapper and cabrilla.

Billfish action was limited , but we did see a mix of striped, blue and black marlin, as well as sailfish, though no numbers to speak of. These fish are in the area, we really did not have many anglers that were specifically looking to target these species. No inshore action reported, as is usual for this time of year, when action is concentrated on offshore high spots.

Good Fishing, Eric