July 17, 2022
Warm and humid now, presently we are following the path of Hurricane Estelle, forecast to reach category three strength soon, but fortunately appears to be passing some 300 miles or more off to the southwest of Cabo San Lucas, far enough away to not cause much of any impact to the Los Cabos area besides higher surf conditions and increased humidity. Light crowds now apparently high inflation rates are keeping people from making their normal summer travel plans.
With water temperatures now 80 degrees and higher, conditions are ripe for tropical storm development, so we will be following forecast closely the next couple of months. We had on and off south winds to deal with this past week. Majority of local fleets are fishing grounds from Cardon to San Luis. Bait supplies continued much the same, with caballito, sardinas and anchoveta being offered. Schooling bolito were found on offshore grounds and were being used for bait as well.
There has been a mix of inshore, bottom and surface action. Best chances of catching fish was off the bottom, snapper, grouper, dogtooth, leopard grouper, amberjack and others, using mainly bait, but some on yo-yo jigs in the deeper water. changing daily as to where better action was found.
Only a handful of yellowfin tuna were found, most these near the San Luis Bank, sizes to 45 lb.. Slow trolling caballito seemed to be the most effective bait, and anglers were fortunate to catch tuna. More yellowfin were encountered offshore, but being some 40 miles out, this was not a normal practical deal for morning charters. Dorado were scarce, but most of the fish being encountered were nice size, several bulls over 40 lb. were accounted for and over the weekend the Dorado Tournament out of the East Cape produced a sinning 57 lb. Bull, worth over $250 K.
No reports of wahoo action on our local grounds. Billfish were centered offshore around the 95 and 1150 spots, with many boats accounting for multiple fish. Mainly striped marlin, but a few blues and sailfish mixed in. As this warmer water settles in we expect to see more of the blue and black marlin soon.
Roosterfish action is still available, but seems to be tapering off, as it normally does at this time. Still some late season sierra around, also pargo colorado and dogtooth snapper chances close to the inshore rocky reefs.
Good Fishing, Eric