Anglers –
September 5, 2015

The Eastern Pacific has remained calm near the Southern Baja Peninsula, while the recent hurricanes have been forming further to the west and heading in the direction of the Hawaiian Islands. Presently there is Tropical Storm Kevin, it is far off the Baja Coast and appears that this system will stay offshore, before downgrading rapidly to a Depression. With the one year anniversary of the devastating Hurricane Odile nearing, we all anxiously following all weather forecast with close interest.

We are now in the final month of summer, conditions are now very tropical and humid, there has been little rainfall felt along the coastal stretches, though mountainous regions have received more scattered afternoon thundershowers and the desert landscape has turned a brilliant lush green.

Crowds of visitors remain light, families are preparing for new school semesters and Southern Californian anglers are taking advantage of epic pelagic gamefish action in their local waters due to the affects of the el Niño current. Ocean conditions have been great, mostly calm, with breezes picking up later in the day. Light to moderate swells, fluctuating currents and clean blue water now found very close to shore. Water temperature has ranged from 86 degrees on the Pacific to 89 degrees in the direction of the Sea of Cortez.

Schooling sardinas have been remaining in the same place to the north of the marina jetty, caballito have also been another bait option. Offshore fishing grounds are attracting bolito, skipjack, small yellowfin tuna and flying fish.

Red Hill and Palmilla Point was the spot early in the week where charter fleets found good action on the smaller grade of yellowfin tuna, up to 15/20 lb. This bite fading out later in the week. Other tuna action was found on the Gordo Banks and Iman Banks, on these grounds the action varied from day to day for the larger sized yellowfin tuna.

Dorado and wahoo were now in the daily reports, most of the dorado encountered were small to medium sized. The wahoo were the highlight in recent days, often very elusive, these prized gamefish went on a great bite on the known grounds from Cardon, La Fortuna to Iman Banks, most wahoo weighed in the 20 to 40 lb. class. Some charters have had five or more fish in the box, with many other strikes lost. Trolling with Rapalas and skirted lead heads in order to find the fish, then anglers were having many strikes while slow trolling rigged baits, such as caballito, chihuil, ballyhoo or bolito.

These same grounds were producing a mix of bottom species, no significant numbers, though a handful of quality fish were being accounted for, dogtooth to 50 lb., amberjack, yellow snapper, rainbow runners, cabrilla, etc…

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 45 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 7 sailfish, 12 bonito, 16 rainbow runners, 38 dorado, 49 wahoo, 320 yellowfin tuna, 4 dogtooth snapper, 5 amberjack, 11 cabrilla, 16 yellow snapper and 14 barred pargo.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
August 29, 2015

Now into the final month of the summer season and weather patterns have remained calm off of the Southern Baja Peninsula, at this time there is Hurricane Jimena now gaining strength, positioned over 1000 miles to the west of Cabo San Lucas, this system is nearing major hurricane status and we are all fortunate that it is heading in a direction far from land. Crowds of tourists remained light, though vacationers are enjoying the clear and calm conditions, though it is very tropical, warm and humid now, need to remember to stay hydrated. We are seeing some afternoon thundershowers over the mountains to the north, though not as concentrated as in past weeks. We will be following weather forecasts very closely for the next month, this is historically when storm systems can develop rapidly.

Water temperatures have ranged from 84 degrees on the Pacific, to an average of 87 degrees in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. Swells have been light for this time of year, strong currents on occasions and calm seas early in the day, with breezes picking up in the afternoon, but no heavy winds to report. Overall the ocean water conditions have steadily improved throughout the week, no more greenish water to report, clarity is clean and blue to within a mile of shore. With these improving conditions we have seen more numbers of dorado, wahoo and even bottom species biting. Most fleets have been finding the most consistent action from the Gordo to the Iman Banks.

Bait supplies near the marina consisted of sardinas and caballito, sardinas were plentiful, but often were not able to be netted until about 7 a.m. when schools moved close to shore. On the fishing offshore grounds there have been chihuil, bolito, skipjack and small sized yellowfin tuna, all of which can be used for bait targeting larger gamefish. Strips of giant squid also remained an option, found in some of the local super markets. Yellowfin tuna have been found in a wide range of sizes, from 5 lb. to over 300 lb. Best chances for the largest yellowfin tuna has been mainly around the Gordo Banks, no big numbers, but this is the best it has been so far this summer, while Iman Bank has produced greater numbers of fish in the football to 60 pound size. This is also where dorado action has come alive in recent days, most do-do’s weighed under 15 lb. Wahoo action has really come to life with the cleaner inshore ocean conditions, hot spot just to the north of Punta Gorda. Several anglers reported having up to a half dozen solid wahoo strikes while trolling Rapalas and other favored lures, sizes were in the 20 to 40 lb. class, bite was not only early in the morning, some days best action was encountered late morning.

Anglers found mixed success off of the bottom structure, there were dogtooth up to 55 lb. landed, amberjack to 50 lb., a few yellowtail to 35 lb., grouper to 40 lb., barred pargo to 15 lb., quality yellow snapper as well, surgeonfish and rainbow runner. Great variety for quality species, no significant numbers, but great to have this option, all in the same area as where the other highly sought after surface fish were being found.

Billfish are hanging around large concentrations of baitfish, chances at a offshore grand slam now, with sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin all being hooked into on any given day, something you do have to target and put some time into, but the opportunities are definitely there.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 50 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 6 striped marlin, 3 blue marlin, 3 black marlin, 9 sailfish, 17 wahoo, 58 dorado, 530 yellowfin tuna, 7 dogtooth snapper, 6 amberjack, 3 yellowtail, 9 cabrilla, 2 broomtail grouper, 15 bonito, 18 rainbow runners, 13 yellow snapper, 16 barred pargo and 2 surgeonfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
August 22, 2015

Tropical Storm activity remains calm in the Eastern Pacific, last week there was a substantial southern swell, this has now weakened and ocean conditions have been calm in recent days. We are seeing typical summer time tropical weather patterns, practically every afternoon there have been local thundershowers developing over the mountainous area to the north of San Jose del Cabo, rarely do these squalls ever reach the coastline. Always a bit unpredictable this time of year, we need to monitor all weather forecasts closely. With no new storms presently seen on the horizon it appears that this coming week should be favorable.

With reports coming out of Cabo San Lucas and the East Cape region, apparently the most consistent fishing action has been centered on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to Iman Bank. With the ocean swell residing, the commercial fleet was able to find better supplies of sardinas, these have been the preferred baitfish available for targeting the yellowfin tuna action, the tuna have dominated all of the activity recently. On the Gordo Banks is where the largest sized yellowfin have been lurking, though this action has been hit or miss, with only a few of these tuna actually being landed. The area where greater numbers of the yellowfin are being accounted for, is on the Iman Bank, situated north of the Gordo Banks and within several miles of shore. Water temperatures have been in the 86/88 degree range and clarity has improved since the passing of the swells. Currents remain strong at times. Anglers had good success while drift fishing with sardinas, strips of squid and on cut bolito or skipjack. Most of the tuna on the Iman Bank were in the 8 to 15 lb. class, but there have been some 40, 50 and to over 70 pound fish mixed in. Also some Eastern Pacific Bonito, also referred to as white tuna and are normally a cold water species reaching to over 15 pounds.

Dorado action remained at a standstill, but actually for the past couple of days now we have finally seen a few numbers of medium sized fish accounted for, these fish were accounted for on the same grounds as were the tuna. Billfish action is scattered now, you could have multiple chances per day or not even have a hook up, depending on which grounds being targeted on a given day. It is the time of year that sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin are all found on the same traditional grounds. Wahoo were being found sporadically on trolled lures, more often closer to shore, from La Laguna to La Fortuna not many were landed, more often missed strikes, damaging skirted lures, not many anglers actually targeting wahoo now, these fish are known to become less active in very warm currents, they are also one of the more unpredictable fish, so you can never tell when they might become aggressively active.

Off the bottom structure, there have not been any big numbers of a particular species, though there have been some quality catches accounted for, even a couple of yellowtail off of the Gordo Banks, as well as amberjack, cabrilla, grouper, dogtooth snapper, bonito, yellow snapper and red snapper (huachinango).

Light crowds of tourists and visiting anglers this summer, as long as the weather holds, it is the perfect time to try to land a personal best super cow yellowfin tuna.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 54 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 7 sailfish, 8 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 1 black marlin, 11 dorado, 385 yellowfin tuna, 5 dogtooth snapper, 3 amberjack, 4 wahoo, 2 yellowtail, 11 cabrilla, 1 broomtail grouper, 34 bonito, 22 rainbow runners, 14 yellow snapper, 6 barred pargo and 18 huachinango.

Good fishing, Eric