July 4, 2021

Another active week for weather patterns in Los Cabos. First we were following development of Hurricane Enrique, this system had once been forecast to take a path directly towards the Los Cabos region, fortunately the storm weakening and moved further east and never amounted to much at all, though local Ports were closed for two days as a precaution. Very little rain was recorded, only isolated showers reported, with some areas feeling none at all. Ocean swells did increase, but also quickly dropped. After the storm had swept by, on Wednesday, we did have a major blow from the south, with gusts to 40 mph., definitely a good day not to be on the water. On Thursday morning winds resided and Ports had been reopened. That first day out the ocean conditions were stirred up and much cooler once again. Though by week’s end ocean was back up near 80 degrees and clarity had much improved.

Fleets were scouting out in different directions to find best possible action, there were now opportunities from along the beach stretches, to off the bottom rock piles, as well as further offshore.

Most consistent action remained over the bottom structure, often in as shallow as 60 feet. Using bait and yo-yo jigs there was a variety of species accounted for, most impressive were a few amberjack ranging to over 50 lb., also a handful of nice leopard grouper, yellow snapper, pompano, barred pargo, pargo colorado, bonito, island jack, flag cabrilla, rose snapper and others, all excellent table fare.

The chances for yellowfin tuna has been near Vinorama, close to shore, spotty action, but at times would come up and bite, sardinas the best. Other tuna were found 15 to 25 miles offshore of San Jose del Cabo region, traveling with porpoise, striking on lures and bait. Most of the tuna we saw this past week were in the 15 to 25 lb. class. This is the month when we do normally see some larger size yellowfin appear on local grounds.

Dorado continued to be fairly scarce, though this week we actually had a couple of true 50 lb. monster bulls show up on the fillet tables, have not seen such large dorado in a while, not as common as in years past. Nice to see the big bulls, they are very impressive fish. A few other dorado were found scattered throughout the zone, as summer conditions continue to warm we should see more of the schooling size dorado move in on local fishing grounds.

The billfish action was mainly for striped marlin, a few sailfish and one small blue marlin. Seen more smaller juvenile sized stripers, some as small as 40 lb., other up to 120 lb. Found a bit further offshore in greater numbers, where water was cleaner, though some marlin were also inshore, near the Iman and San Luis Banks.

A couple reports of wahoo seen free swimming around, but they have not been interested. There were still a few sierra hanging around, most of them good sizers, up to 14 lb. Roosterfish were also now showing in more quantity, mixed sizes, also lots of jack crevalle, many of these 25 lb. plus hogs. Bait supplies now consist of sardinas, caballito and mullet.

Surf anglers accounted for a handful of snook, triple tail and even totoaba. Though more jack crevalle than anything else, wide open at times.

Good Fishing, Eric

June 27, 2021

This past week we saw a wide variety of weather patterns swept through the Southern Baja region. As we continued to have moderate crowds of tourists arriving as summer vacation periods are now in full swing. Last weekend, namely on Sunday, Father’s Day, we had a major south wind blast through the entire region, gusts to over 30 mph, this was a one day event, many charter boats did go out, catching a variety of fish, though everyone got wet and bounced around wildly before safely returning to port. This major blow really turned over the water, on Monday water temperatures had dropped some ten degrees or more, also turning greenish. This shocked the fish, bait also scattered and all around action was slim pickings. Though on Tuesday conditions began to quickly rebound with a calm ocean lasting through the rest of the week. Though over the weekend everyone was closely following the development and projected path of Hurricane Enrique. Looks as though this system will pass very close to the tip of Baja, though as it arrives is supposed to weaken some into a TS and depression. We surely will see stormy seas with high swells and a high chance of some rain. High probability of Port Closure, possibly on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, though overall we are not expecting any major damage from Enrique. Of course these storms are always unpredictable, we will be glad when it passes through and we get back to our normal schedules.

After water settled, clarity and water temperature rebounded, we saw the yellowfin tuna bite pick up, this was a early bite on the grounds near Vinorama, within a couple miles of shore, for yellowfin in the 10 to 40 lb. class. Striking on sardinas early in the morning, then as sun rose higher the action would stop, some charters reporting up to ten tuna. We heard of some other tuna action found far offshore, over 25 miles, associated with porpoise, this was more of a private boat deal. This tuna action was probably the highlight of the weekend, important to get an early start.

No wahoo to speak of, though we were seeing a scattering of dorado, mixed sizes, including bulls up to 30 lb., though no big numbers, just a couple fish here and there. Actually some charters ran into schools of baby sized dorado, all catch and release. Billfish action was also scattered, more small sized striped marlin, we are talking very tiny, as small as 40 lb.,up to 70 lb., a few sailfish in the mix as well.

As far as catching numbers of good eating fish, the best bet continued to be off the shallow water structure, a great variety of fish were accounted for, triggerfish, pompano, island jack, surgeon fish, red, yellow and rose snapper, barred pargo, bonito, amberjack, leopard grouper and more. One very impressive amberjack of 90 lb. was weighed in. Along the shore there were more jack crevalle than roosterfish, though we are now seeing more roosterfish show up. The few sierra that are still hanging around have big monsters for the most part, a few pushing the 13 to 15 lb. mark.

Good Fishing, Eric

June 20, 2021

Happy Fathers’ Day

Again this week we are seeing increasing crowds of tourists arriving for the first wave of summer vacations. We are now officially starting the summer season, the climate has been steadily warming, as is normal for this time of year, but overall conditions have still been bearable, with some afternoon Pacific breezes prevailing. With distance Tropical Storm Dolores developing below Manzanillo on the mainland we felt a bit more humidity, more cloud cover and larger ocean swells, but nothing more, as anglers for the most part were finding favorable ocean conditions, particularly in the direction north of Punta Gorda. South winds picked up late weekend, which also contributed to pushing in cooler greenish currents in the same direction. Ocean temperature has ranged in the 74 to 80 degree range.

Bait netters are finding sardinas, caballito and mullet all near the marina area now, they are also offering slabs of squid and ballyhoo, so bait has remained plentiful. The majority of local sportfishing charters are fishing on the grounds from Cardon, La Fortuna, Iman, San Luis and north to Vinorama, with offshore billfish action continuing to be found near the 1150 or 95 spots. Striped marlin were spread out, also being found within a few miles of shore, depending on currents on a particular day, also a couple of sailfish accounted for, as well a small sized blue marlin and mid-week there was a swordfish brought in by a trip of commercial pangeros, smaller sized, about 130 lb., but impressive anyway.

Yellowfin tuna action was hit or miss, continually fluctuating water conditions making the action sporadic. Best chances in recent days has been north near Vinorama, close to shore, 100 to 200 ft. of water, early bite on sardinas or striped squid, a smaller grade of fish 12 to 25 lb., though earlier in the week other schools of tuna encountered had yellowfin to 30 to 70 lb.

Dorado were even less numerous than were the tuna, some days we are seeing a few dorado up to 20 lb. in the mix, but other days we are not seeing them, once conditions do stabilize more, we surely will seeing more schooling dorado show on local grounds. Not much at all going on with wahoo either, early in the week there were reports of wahoo seen free swimming and a couple of hook ups, but as the week progressed nothing more.

Most consistent fishery now continues to be concentrating on the bottom rocky structure, from as shallow as 50 ft., to depths of 200 ft. A wide variety of species are being landed, while anglers are using yo-yo style jigs and bait, mainly sardinas. A few impressive amberjack to over 50 lb., leopard grouper to 20 lb., yellow snapper, red snapper, rose snapper, pompano, bonito, barred pargo, triggerfish, island jack and even had a batch of blackfin jack, which are not a very common local catch. All of these fish are excellent eating, including the local Mexican Bonito, which is unlike its California relative.

Along the shoreline there are more hog sized jack crevalle than there are roosterfish, as roosters are running a bit later than usual this season. We are still seeing some quality sized sierra along the shore, though not as many now as water is warming, the sierra eventually move out. Shore anglers have had some impressive catches recently, including snook to over 40 lb. and tripletail, those these anglers are dedicated and put in their time, but they know that this is now peak season for the better shore action.

Good Fishing, Eric