Anglers –
May 2, 2015

Starting another new month, May is a great time of year, progressively warming weather, as we get into the later part of spring, at times it can be quite warm, near 90 degrees, though evenings still cool off and all around the climate is very nice, normally anglers find calmer ocean conditions and action can include options from inshore, offshore and on the bottom structure.

This past week we saw the changing climate apparently affected how the fish acted, school of sardinas vanished near Vinorama where they had been, now we have larger sized baitfish available, caballito, jurelito, ballyhoo, bolito and chihuil. The yellowfin tuna action came to a standstill, dorado and wahoo were also very scarce. Best action for this past week has been for striped marlin, thrasher shark and miscellaneous structure species, with the prize being the true Pacific red snapper, locally named ”huachinango”. The snapper are striking best on small pelagic red crabs, which have been hard to obtain, limited supplies were being imported from the San Carlos region, none of the crabs locally have been drifting to the surface, so there is no way to catch them, they sure do make good baits for these snapper.

An occasional amberjack, yellow snapper, whitefish, bonito, triggerfish and cabrilla has been rounding out the caches off o the rocky reef areas. Anglers were using mostly various whole or cut bait, a handful of fish were taken on yo-yo style jigs.

Striped marlin were active all week, ranging from the 1150 spot to outside of the Gordo Banks, the billfish were striking on lures or rigged ballyhoo, as well as on chihuil or caballito. Anglers that drift fished with baitfish down deeper were hooking into thrasher shark, many of these hard fighting sharks were hooking into, fish to 200 lb. were landed, more fish were lost than were actually landed. Most of the striped marlin have been in the 90 to 120 lb. class.

Here was not much going on close to shore and with a large swell forecast to sweep through the area this weekend we expect this inshore bit to remain calm for the time being. A few sierra, jack crevalle, roosterfish, the majority were small fish. Baitfish could be seen congregated just north of the local marina jetties, but these were the clear soft sardinas, not the baitfish we prefer to use, do not seem to be attracting much.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 67 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
23 striped marlin, 4 wahoo, 21 dorado, 19 sierra, 10 jack crevalle, 12 roosterfish, 8 amberjack, 138 huachinango (red snapper) , 18 cabrilla, 16 whitefish, 25 yellow snapper, 24 bonito and 40 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
April 25, 2015

With weather conditions now ideal, hard to say why crowds of visiting tourists remain light, the climate is perfect, mostly clear sunny skies, with high temperatures up to 85 degrees. Winds fluctuated, calm through most of the week, increasing late week.

The bite for yellowfin tuna and wahoo was the highlight for local San Jose del Cabo fleets, also there was much improved action for striped marlin found on local fishing grounds. Supplies of sardinas were being netted near San Luis, though in recent days the commercial pangeros found less quantities compared to previous weeks, these batfish have been the bait of choice for the yellowfin tuna. Quality yellowfin ranging from 25 to 50 pounds have been testing the limits of angler’s light to medium equipment. The most productive grounds have switched from north of Vinorama, back south to the Iman Bank, but beware of the pesky sea lions, who have been getting more than their share of hooked tuna. With some larger sized tuna now in the mix another option for bait has been chihuil, which of course all gamefish will feed on, particularly wahoo. Some wahoo hit on ballyhoo or trolled Rapalas, but many more were taken on either chihuil or sardinas, sizes ranged up to 40 lb. The action for the tuna changed more towards later in the morning, early through mid- week was very good, Friday the north wind picked up and all around action was limited.

Dorado were not as numerous, though a handful of fish have been accounted for, no particular area seemed to be better than the other and most dorado hooked into were in the 5 to 10 lb. class, with the exception of a few fish larger to 30 lb. Striped marlin action was centered around the 1150 spot, with fish coming up on the lure spread and rigged ballyhoo. Stripers were also seen frequently on the same grounds where tuna and wahoo were found.

Not much along the shore now, roosterfish were harder to find this past week and sierra action was spotty as well. Bottom action improved some, anglers fishing the same grounds where tuna and wahoo were found near the surface, found a mix of species such as amberjack, pargo, bonito, cabrilla and plenty of triggerfish. Most of these action was on various whole and cut bait, not much going on while using the yo-yo’s. Yellowtail action was not reported, though not many people were trying the Outer Gordo Banks where these fish were previous found holding down in the cooler depths. With surface water temperature now ranging 74 to 77 degrees, this is a bit warmer than what would be ideal for yellowtail, so best chances would most likely be down deep where currents are cooler.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 78 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
3 surgeonfish, 32 striped marlin, 44 wahoo, 33 dorado, 176 yellowfin tuna, 22 sierra, 14 jack crevalle, 7 roosterfish, 6 pompano, 20 amberjack, 65 various pargo/snapper species, 120 bonito and 110 triggerfish

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
April 18, 2015

Crowds of tourists are lighter now that spring break has wound down, the visitors that are arriving to Los Cabos are enjoying great all around weather conditions, ideal climate now, scattered cloud cover, though plenty of sunshine, high temperatures around 85 degrees. With the exception of last weekend, when on Sunday the wind blew heavily out of the north, since then days have been much calmer, still unpredictable from day to day this time of year.

Ocean water temperatures fluctuated from 72 to 76 degrees throughout most of the region, swells were moderate and supplies of sardinas were sufficient, being netted by the commercial fleet near San Luis. Anglers found the most consistent action from areas near Vinorama, San Luis and Iman Bank. Last Saturday there was a wide open bite reported from the Tule area, just north of Vinorama, this is a longer than normal run for local charter fleets, though the action was centered very close to shore. Yellowfin tuna in the 30 pound class was the mainstay of daily catches, though there were dorado and wahoo mixed in. Drift fishing with sardinas for bait was the most productive technique. The very next day, on Sunday, high winds made conditions extremely difficult and also stirred up the sea, slowing the bite for a couple of days. Then the action improved by mid-week, before tapering off once again later in the week. Definitely an up and down deal, though conditions remain favorable and anything could happen on any given day.

More striped marlin are being seen around the Iman Bank and other nearby grounds, as well as a handful of larger dorado, wahoo action was elusive, though these speedsters are holding on local fishing grounds and with warming weather could go on a big bite at any time. Not much consistent bottom action being found, not many anglers were even trying the Gordo Banks, where yellowtail had previously found schooling down deep, this action was sporadic and most anglers opted to travel further north in search of better opportunities for tuna, wahoo and dorado.

Inshore there were sierra, roosterfish and jack crevalle, no big numbers, as spring progresses we expect to see improved inshore action soon as spring progresses. Have not heard of any great reports coming from the East Cape or outside of Cabo San Lucas, best bite appears to be out of the San Jose del Cabo area, which can be normal for this time frame.

Rebuilding efforts of the panga dock area out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina continue to progress, though more priority seems to be put towards fancying up the fillet station areas and perimeter of the parking areas, not towards actually rebuilding loading ramps, connecting docks, bathroom facility, lighting and fresh water wash down options for all of the moored pangas. Street work in the La Playita village area surrounding the docks continue at a snail’s pace, with no detour signs in place and this makes work conveniences limited. We do all hope that this project is someday completed, as the new tropical storm season is just around the corner.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 77 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 85 yellowfin tuna, 9 striped marlin, 11 wahoo, 58 dorado, 17 sierra, 32 Eastern Pacific bonito, 16 cabrilla, 8 pompano, 14 roosterfish, 5 amberjack, 16 jack crevalle, 22 pargo, 22 yellow snapper and 105 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric