March 21, 2021

Well the official start of spring season has arrived, weather conditions are ideal, with clear sunny skies and high temperatures of 80 degrees, light crowds of tourists, making this a perfect time to visit. North winds slacked over the weekend, we do expect that these patterns to continues and should stabilize during this transition period as days progressively become warmer. Ocean temperature is now averaging 70 to 72 degrees, warmer areas found outside of Cabo San Lucas. Swells are slight.

In the vicinity of the Puerto Los Cabos marina bait supplies remained steady for caballito and sardinas were also obtainable, requiring a bit more patience while waiting for them to be netted each morning. The majority of the limited charters going out each day have been fishing the areas from La Fortuna, Iman Bank and north to Vinorama. Still mainly inshore and bottom action now, with this warming trend we do expect to see more surface activity pick up.

There are now reports of some scattered striped marlin action being found on the outside, some 15 miles or more offshore, where cleaner currents were encountered, this should only improve as conditions become more favorable. Also in recent days a handful of yellowfin tuna to 80 lbs. were landed near the Iman Bank, this was mainly by commercial pangeros bringing large quantities of bait and putting in over time, as the tuna they did hook up with were later in the day while drift fishing with sardinas and also chumming with strips of squid. We did not hear of any wahoo or dorado to speak of, but it is encouraging that these yellowfin are on the local grounds and we expect them to become more prevalent as spring season progresses.

Off the bottom the action was good early in the morning, main species being the bonito, which ranged to 10 lb., also in the mix were a handful of yellowtail and amberjack, with a couple of nicer sized specimens to 50 lb. reported. A mix of cabrilla and grouper as well, a few to 25 lb. plus, as well as some red snapper to round out the action. Off the deeper rocky high spots some of the prized baqueta were accounted for. It does seem that in recent days the all-around bottom action has improved, besides the yo-yo jigs, soaking bait down deep was working.

Along the shoreline we saw more roosterfish action, juvenile fish, but some to over 20 lb. Also quite a few sierra being found along the beach stretches towards the south.

Good fishing, Eric

March 14, 2021

We are still seeing light crowds of tourists, though people do seem to now be showing more interest in possibly making travel plans during the coming spring season. Weather has been in transition, though another cold front swept through over the weekend, with strong gusting winds from the north. Ocean temperatures are in the 68 to 70 degree range. Water clarity is spotty greenish, starting to clear up some around the Iman Bank, though this recent cold front did not help stabilize conditions. This entire winter season it seems we have dealt with more wind than usual. Typically with the arrival of spring time we also see progressively warmer and calmer conditions.

Anglers were using some caballito and various sardina species for bait, also a lot of the action off the bottom structure has come on yo-yo jigs. Charter fleets have been fishing areas from Chileno to the Iman Bank and even as far north as Vinorama when weather allowed. With the cooler conditions the most productive action was found down over rocky high spots, up to 200 ft. deep.  There was a wide variety of quality eating species found, though none of them in great numbers, except for the bonito. Highlights were some nice grouper, amberjack, red snapper and an occasional yellowtail.

Inshore there was good sierra action found near Chileno, but also a lot of boat pressure, as this was one of the main options going, especially on windy days, sierra were of nice size, a handful of fish to 8 lb. Chance at pompano, pargo, triggerfish and jack crevalle as well.

Early in the week some of the commercial pangeros and private boaters landed some yellowfin tuna near the Iman Ban, these were quality fish in the 70 to 90 lb. class. These guys were experimenting with the kite and helium balloon techniques, using the gummy flying fish, with the lighter boat pressure they got into some nice fish. Though as weather turned, this action faded out later in the week.

Still quite a few whales in the region, though this is normally the final month we see numbers of these mammals, before they head back on their northern migration.

Good fishing, Eric

March 7, 2021

As we are now only a couple of weeks away from official start of the spring season, we are already starting to feel the transitional warming trend develop and days are progressively lengthening. Local daylight light savings time will change on April 4, one hour ahead. As vaccinations are becoming more obtainable we have noticed an increase of persons making reservations to visit during the coming months, we expect it will be a slow process, but at least things appear to be swinging in the right direction.

This week started out wild, as a major wind front from the north swept through all of Baja, this had been forecast, they were not wrong, as gusts to 30 mph plus picked up Sunday night, creating dangerous ocean conditions and both local ports were closed to all navigation, included all sportfishing. By Monday afternoon the front had crazily passed on through and conditions settled down quickly, enabling port authorities to reopen activities starting later than same day.

With the conditions still persisting of on and off winds, ocean turned greenish and cooler, average water temperature in the 68 to 70 degree range, very slight swell, but there have been strong currents pushing through on the fishing grounds. Anglers found a mix of baitfish available in the marina area, caballito and a couple varieties of sardinas in sporadic numbers.

With minimal numbers of charters even going out recently, most have been fishing Chileno, Palmilla, Gordo Banks and north to Vinorama, spread out trying different areas. The better inshore action was being found towards the south, mainly for sierra, while the more productive bottom action was to the north, when weather permitted. Anglers were using yo-yo jigs and various baits while drift fishing over rocky high spots, more often in depths ranging 120 to 200 ft. There were more numbers of bonito on certain deeper grounds, especially earlier in the day. Swift currents made fishing more challenging, but with persistence some quality species such as yellowtail, amberjack, leopard grouper and red snapper were accounted for, some of these to over 30 lb. The more exotic species for the week was a golden jack, which are not very common in recent years as well as another golden cabrilla.

Did not hear of any dorado found recently, there were reports of a few stray wahoo being seen as well as a handful of yellowfin tuna, smaller fish hanging on same high spots as were the bottom species. No billfish seen on local grounds either, the green water not to their liking. We did hear of scattered striped marlin action from Cabo San Lucas. We expect that as soon as the ocean clears and warms up, as daytime temperatures increase, winds settle, that the all-around fishing action will improve significantly.

Good fishing, Eric