December 14, 2019

Anglers –

Limited number of tourists now arriving, as Christmas time and New Year nears we do usually see greater numbers of people arriving, especially family groups. Now is the perfect time to visit, ideal weather, despite dipping down to 55 degrees early morning, daytime highs have averaged in the upper 70s, plenty of warm sunshine. Early in the week there was more wind from the north, but by the weekend we saw much calmer ocean conditions. Average water temperature was about 77 degrees, with some isolated areas up to 80 degrees, surf was minimal, though tides were extreme with passing of recent full moon, the last one of this decade.

Bait vendors are finding caballito in the marina area, also offering ballyhoo and slabs of squid. Off of the San Jose del Cabo Hotel Zone the schools of baitfish, mackerel and sardineta, are moving in and this will become an option for the next month or two. The overall fishing action was more scattered this week, perhaps the moon was affecting feeding habits, also there was a noticeably stronger current sweeping through local grounds, as well as winds being a factor at times. The majority of local charters were working the grounds from the Gordo Banks, to La Fortuna, Cardon and close off of Punta Gorda.

Main target species continue to be yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo, also some billfish and limited bottom action to round out the options. Yellowfin tuna varying in sizes up to 75 lb., the larger fish were found on the Gordo Banks and other mixed grade of yellowfin off of La Fortuna. Though there was a major issue with sharks attacking hooked fish and they got more than their share, these were not little sharks either, we saw quality sized tuna bitten completely in half or swallowed whole, they were even attacking wahoo or dorado if they had the chance. It has been a while since so many aggressive sharks were found on these same fishing grounds, hard to say how long they will be around, they now know that they are able to find some easy tasty meals. Hopefully when the water temperature cools off the sharks will move on.

Wahoo were more finicky this week, though they have not gone anywhere, just were more wary about striking. Some hit on strips of squid while anglers targeted tuna, other on trolled baits, a smaller percentage were striking on lures. The largest we weighed in recently was a 48 lb. specimen. Sunday is the local wahoo tournament, which was original set for Nov. 17, but had to be rescheduled due to Tropical Storm Raymond. Will be interesting to see how many teams enter, since it is now during a not so busy tourist time frame.

Numbers of dorado were down compared to last week, though these fish are still scattered through the area in smaller sized schools, the larger sized dorado were now found on the Pacific, though off of San Jose del Cabo we did see some fish up to 20 lb.

Billfish action now seems to be transitioning from the Pacific to the direction of San Jose, these fish follow their food source. Though the bite is spotty, has not been wide open yet, there are striped marlin being found within several miles of shore, the majority were in the 70 to 120 lb. range. Also saw at least one sailfish in recent days.

Not much going off the bottom, an occasional leopard or baqueta grouper, various pargo, bonito and triggerfish. More whales definitely now showing up, peak season will be here now any week, as these mammals are now arriving for their winter’s stay.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 70 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 1 sailfish, 9 striped marlin, 38 dorado, 78 yellowfin tuna, 14 wahoo, 5 yellow snapper, 3 pompano, 4 golden eye tile fish, 6 barred pargo, 9 cabrilla, 2 amberjack, 8 bonito, 5 sierra, 5 roosterfish, 6 baqueta, 2 surgeonfish and 45 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

December 7, 2019

Anglers –

Noticeable lighter crowds of visitors arriving, after Thanksgiving we do normally see a decline of anglers, as people now are beginning to prepare for  the Christmas Holidays, now just around the corner. Weather patterns did finally stabilize and this week we saw much calmer ocean conditions, no crazy rain fall, mostly clear sunny skies, temperatures into the low 80s, really an ideal climate for this time of year.

Ocean actually warmed back up a couple of degrees, averaging about 80 degrees now. Bait situation is that sardinas are scarce out of San Jose del Cabo, now being found schooling near Cabo San Lucas, makes it tough to have to back track so far. So local fleets are mainly relying on caballito, ballyhoo, slabs of squid and if fortunate enough to find some chihuil, they proved the best for wahoo. Some mackerel started to appear now off of the Hotel Zone, still not consistent from day to day, as water temps cool some more, we expect more of these mackerel and sardineta will move in.

Over all anglers found the bite to be tougher to start the week, mainly due to north wind, though later in the week the wind laid down, water cleared up and bite was good for yellowfin tuna, wahoo and dorado. Most of the action was from Gordo Banks, Cardon, La Fortuna and off of Punta Gorda. Best action was on bait, some having to be worked for, especially the chihuil, they proved to be the candy for wahoo. The Gordo Banks produced yellowfin tuna up over 200 lb., larger fish lost, though numbers were not great, but with patience and persistent effort there were some quality fish. Strips of squid, small skipjack, chihuil and caballito all produced.

Wahoo action picked up, trolling live baits was best, fish up to over 45 lb., though some were taken on Repalas. Dorado were mixed in on the same grounds, but scattered, up close to 20 lb. Unusual to find some roosterfish action further offshore while trolling for dorado and wahoo, nice sized fish to 30 lb. Also a couple of yellowtail, one was an impressive 38 lb. and there was a 70 lb. amberjack, they were taken while chunk fishing for tuna on the Gordo Banks. If weather holds it looks like very promising opportunities for the rest of the month. So things are improving after recent rain squalls, landscape is a lush green, plenty of warm sunshine and great fishing.

Billfish was limited off of San Jose deal Cabo, a scattering of striped marlin and a couple small blues. Still better marlin action now on the Pacific. More whales are now being seen with each passing day, it will be peak season coming up for these migrating mammals. Sea lions, manta rays, porpoise, turtles and of course some sharks, which have been taking their share of the tuna catch, have added to entertainment.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 82 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 2 striped marlin, 66 dorado, 98 yellowfin tuna, 56 wahoo, 4 yellow snapper, 5 cabrilla, 16 bonito, 6 sierra, 9 roosterfish, 5 baqueta, 3 surgeonfish, 2 yellowtail, 3 amberjack, 2 pompano and 30 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

November 30, 2019

Anglers –

The crazy month of November has now ended, this is time when the big crowds of anglers diminish, as less people travel between holidays. After dealing with TS Raymond last week, this week we had yet another low pressure system develop and sweep through Southern Baja from the west, which brought more heavy rainfall, as well as some wind gusts that might have even reached 50 mph in areas, rainfall of anywhere from 4 to 8 inches, depending where you were. The local Ports were completely closed on Wednesday, reopening about 8 a.m. on Thursday. This has been a strange season, very unpredictable weather patterns, though the water table definitely has been filled up and the landscape will be staying green longer than normal. Be aware of the mosquitoes as well.

Ocean temperatures dropped a bit, now averaging about 77 degrees, this latest storm turned over water conditions, from all of the run off, dirty water for much of the inshore zone, though now with each passing day we are seeing clarity improve and the all-around fishing action quickly rebound. Baitfish were more scattered, schooling sardinas now closer to Cabo San Lucas, local fleets ere using mainly slabs of squid, ballyhoo and what other baitfish could be found on the fishing grounds, caballito vanished, it will be any week now that school of mackerel and sardineta appear on the ground off of San Jose del Cabo.

The better billfish action was on the Pacific, but in recent days we have seen more striped marlin showing in the direction of San Jose, which is usually the trend during this time frame. Dorado action improved, as more numbers of these popular gamefish are showing throughout the region, majority of these fish are in the 10 to 15 lb. class, some larger. Wahoo became a bit more elusive in the dirty conditions, as did most species, but as water began to clean up we did see a few more ‘hoo starting to show, the action early week had been near Vinorama, but by weekend the best areas were closer off of Cardon, La Fortuna and then on Saturday the wahoo bite broke open close off of Punta Gorda. If you get chihuil for bait, that was the hot ticket, some hit on ballyhoo as well. Wahoo up to 50 pounds were weighed in.

Yellowfin tuna action stalled out during the dirty conditions, but now we are seeing more tuna in the mix, some from Iman, San Luis, Gordo Banks and others further offshore associated with porpoise. Earlier in the week local pangeros brought in a cow yellowfin of about 350 lb., not returning to the docks until 9 p.m. Though most of the tuna we did see were from football size, up to 70 lb. Though the cows are lurking on the Gordo Banks, just you need to put in some serious time to have a real chance.

Off of the bottom we saw various snapper, pargo, bonito, a few cabrilla and of course more triggerfish than anything else. Along the shoreline there were roosterfish and some early season sierra, but with limited bait this was not a guaranteed option.

Still only sporadic sightings of whales, but these mammals are now arriving from their northern feeding grounds on their annual southern migration and will be in taking up residence in local waters through the winter months.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 76 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 3 blue marlin, 6 striped marlin, 3 sailfish, 108 dorado, 68 yellowfin tuna, 35 wahoo, 4 yellow snapper, 5 cabrilla, 4 amberjack, 22 bonito, 9 sierra, 10 roosterfish, 4 rainbow runner, 4 golden eyed tilefish, 14 glass eyed snapper and 40 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric