Anglers –

September 7, 2019

Tropical weather conditions now upon us, we are seeing on and off sporadic afternoon thunder showers, which are common during this month. The passing of Hurricane Juliette was barely felt, as it had followed a path far off to the west, humidity did increase and there was more afternoon southern breeze. Overall ocean conditions were favorable, moderate swells, though the wind did pick up later in the day. No new storm system on the horizon at this time, though with ocean water temperatures now ranging 80 to 86 degrees, we do need to watch forecasts closely the next few weeks. Light crowds of visitors now, normal slack period, as children are back in school and summer season winds down.

In recent days there have been quality sized sardinas being netted and brought down from the north, anglers are meeting these bait vendors on grounds such as La Fortuna and Iman Bank. Other bait options were slabs of squid, caballito, ballyhoo, as well as bolito and skipjack found on offshore grounds. These same grounds is where the most consistent action has been found for the past month and charters from East Cape are even making the long two hour run daily, guess they must have no better opportunities in closer proximity.

Main action has been for dorado and yellowfin tuna, an occasional wahoo, limited mix of bottom species and some scattered billfish action. Significant boat pressure on these same grounds and combined with large concentrations of natural food sources, the yellowfin tuna proved to be more finicky from day to day. Best chances for the tuna was with sardinas and strips of squid, a few also striking on larger baitfish. Catches ranged from one tuna, to over five per boat, sizes ranged from 15 to 70 lb., a lot of fish in the 20 to 60 lb. class.

More numbers of dorado were found a bit closer to shore than where the yellowfin bite was, still big numbers of very small sized dorado, with a smaller percentage of keeper sized dorado in the mix. Sardinas for bait was best bet, also trolling hoochies and feathers, as well as drift fishing with strips of squid.

Off the bottom the highlights were a few hog sized amberjack, up to 95 lb., one 57 kilo grouper hauled up by local hand liner. A scattering of pargo, pompano and triggerfish rounded out bottom action. A few smaller sized roosterfish were found trolling inshore stretches near the local marina.

Marlin anglers were limited, as more anglers were now targeting the tuna, though a couple of black  marlin hook ups were reported, big fish that ended up being lost after hours of battling. Some smaller sized blue and striped marlin were also reported, no big numbers, but every day these billfish are being encountered.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 68 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 6 striped marlin, 5 blue marlin, 275 dorado, 8 wahoo, 145 yellowfin tuna, 6 leopard grouper, 14 Mexican bonito, 15 yellow snapper, 8 barred pargo, 8 pompano, 15 amberjack, 12 roosterfish, 4 jack crevalle and 38 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Anglers –

September 1, 2019

Since the passing of Tropical Storm IVO last week, where the Los Cabos region did receive some much needed rainfall without too high of wind, weather patterns have been stable, though just now there is a new T S Juliette brewing to the southwest, this system is forecast to follow a path further away from the Baja Peninsula new storms developing at this time. The next three weeks is historically the time frame with the highest chance of hurricanes striking Southern Baja, so we are all hoping that this year we do not have any disasters. We have felt a very slight cooling early morning, but days have been warm and humid with heat index over 100 degrees.

Starting last weekend there was decent action for yellowfin tuna up to 100 lb. on the Iman Bank. Through this week the bite became more sporadic, lots of boat pressure on this one area since this has been location where the best chances of catching nice fish has been. Boats from as far away as the East Cape are making the long run south to fish these same grounds. Drift fishing with strips of squid was the main deal, some limited availability of sardinas, the tuna also were hitting on the live caballito. Anglers were feeling fortunate to land just one yellowfin, a handful had as many as three, and average size were 35 to 60 lb. anglers had better success using leader material of 50 to 60 lb., many of the larger tuna were lost after extended battles. Also one black marlin estimated to be well over 400 lb. was battled for over three hours before finally being lost due to lighter leader.

Dorado were found a little closer to shore than were the tuna, off of Cardon, La Fortuna, Punta Gorda, many juvenile sized dorado in the area, had to search to find any over 10 lb. Overall numbers of dorado were down from previous weeks. Wahoo are in the area, as they were seen free swimming and feeding in the chum, though these fish proved finicky and only a few were actually landed, these fish can become sluggish when water temperature are over 80 degrees.

Off the bottom there was limited action for yellow snapper, red snapper, cabrilla, amberjack and triggerfish, more snapper on yo-yo jigs early in the day, after that tough pickings. Only a few roosterfish found trolling closer to shore, smaller sized, mixed in was an occasional jack crevalle, not much inshore trolling this time of year.

Billfish action also slowed down, more smaller sized striped marlin, a couple of larger black marlin that were lost after long battles. Weather is looking good for the time being, slight swells, warm blue water with lots of baitfish in the area so we are optimistic that reports will improve soon.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 62 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 3 blue marlin, 185 dorado, 6 wahoo, 70 yellowfin tuna, 6 leopard grouper, 26 Mexican bonito, 14 yellow snapper, 4 barred pargo, 1 amberjack, 2 dogtooth snapper, 3 roosterfish, 5 jack crevalle and 38 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

Anglers –

August 24, 2019

The week started off with calm weather patterns, though far off of Southern Mexico there was a low pressure system that was developing, this season has been very quiet for tropical storm strikes on the Los Cabos region, so everyone was anxious, watching forecasts closely. Starting Thursday morning through Sat. there were local Port closures due to stormy ocean conditions, though this system was name Tropical Storm Ivo stayed over 300 miles away, off to the west, paralleling the Baja coast towards the north. Seas were up to three meters, sporadic wind gusts ranging 15 to 30 mph, scattered thunder showers, with several inches of measurable rainfall received and even more in isolated areas. Great to actually final receive the rainfall, though also unfortunate for anglers who were not able to fish during shut down conditions. Ever ting does look clear for this coming week.

This was a shortened week for sportfishing operations, though the first half of the week was decent, there were caballito, ballyhoo, moon fish and slabs of squid available for bait. Also large schools of baitfish on the same popular fishing grounds, bolito, small skipjack, etc…Main target species were dorado, yellowfin tuna and billfish. Not much off the bottom except some early morning jig action for various pargo, cabrilla and a few amberjack. Most charters were targeting the surface action, with clean blue water being found close to shore and ocean currents in the 80 to 84 degree range. The majority of the charters were working areas from off of Palmilla Point to the Gordo Banks, Iman and San Luis, a few venturing to Vinorama.

Yellowfin tuna were congregated around the Iman Bank and to the inside, though getting them the bite was not easy, seemed he best chances came early in the day, while drift fishing strips of squid, these tuna are finicky, lots of natural food source to gorge on and also becoming wiser to the boat pressure every day, fleets as far away as Buena Vista are fishing these same grounds. Most of the yellowfin tuna were in the 20 to 65 lb., chances at larger though. Anglers were fortunate to land one or two. More numbers of dorado, while trolling various lures and baits, not as numerous as previous weeks, the majority were juvenile sized, with many were being released, a handful of nicer sized keeper dorado in the mix. Also even an occasional wahoo lurking on these same areas, no numbers, but they are in the area.

There were now chances at very large marlin, this is the time of year when the blue and black marlin are found in local waters, attracted by all of the food fish, such as black skipjack, bolito, dorado and smaller yellowfin tuna. There were at least a couple of black marlin up to 400 lb. landed early this week, quite a few blue marlin as well, most were in the 120 to 250 lb. range, striped marlin were hanging around, many small 50 to 70 lb. stripers, trolling lures or bait was the main techniques, on the high spots of covering open blue water.

So we are hoping for more days on the water with better weather and steadily improving action this coming week

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 38 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 2 black marlin, 9 striped marlin, 7 blue marlin, 115 dorado, 3 wahoo, 22 yellowfin tuna, 4 leopard grouper, 7 Mexican bonito, 5 yellow snapper, 2 barred pargo, 2 pompano, 2 amberjack, 2 dogtooth snapper, 2 roosterfish, 6 jack crevalle and 24 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric