October 10, 2021

We are seeing larger numbers of anglers now arriving, from now through Thanksgiving is always the season’s most popular time. Weather is still quite warm now during the heat of the day, averaging 90 degrees, early mornings are just starting to have a bit of a chill. We are now following the formation of a tropical storm system off of Mainland, Mexico, could pass close to the Southern Baja Peninsula on Wednesday. Late morning winds are starting to blow from the north, weather patterns going through a transition period into the fall season.

Anglers have been able to obtain sardinas near the marina entrance, though schools are not as abundant as in previous weeks. Option options have been the slabs of squid and ballyhoo, which have proved to be productive when trolling for wahoo, dorado and billfish. Earlier this week, all on the same day, we saw sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin landed. One black marlin over 350 lb. was brought in, it hit on a rigged ballyhoo and skirt set up. Most productive action was found on the grounds from off of Punta Gorda and north towards La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis Banks. With most charters doing a mix of drift fishing and trolling.

Yellowfin tuna came to a stand still, only an occasional hook up being reported. Ocean water temperatures have been high in the 84 to 88 degree range. As cooling trend continues to develop this usually helps the overall bite on local grounds.

The wahoo have definitely started to become more active, everyday we are seeing a handful of these fish brought in, no big numbers yet, some anglers getting lucky and accounted for a couple of fish. Sizes we have seen ranged from 30 to 50 lb. Rigged ballyhoo and chihuil was the best bet, though rapalas should start to work as well.
This week we also saw more dorado than previously, fish up to 15 lb., some boats landed limits, we heard of even better action for the dorado off of the Pacific side.

The highlight off the bottom has been dogtooth snapper as large as 50 lb. striking on chunk bait over the high spots, these brutes will test even the most experienced of anglers, a challenge to keep them way from the sharp rocks. A mix of snapper, cabrilla, triggerfish, amberjack and bonito eere found over the structure.

We are also now starting to see some sierra show up, it will not be long before whale migrations return.

Good Fishing, Eric

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October 3, 2021

We now enter the new month and also the beginning of the fall season. This past week we have been feeling the weather patterns change rather quickly, mornings are now significantly cooler, relatively, on Saturday early morning we had some major rain squalls swept through from the southwest, dumping several inches of rain, also shutting down the majority of fishing charters, though some of the larger boats were able to brave the conditions, actually finding calm and dry conditions further north once they got through the dark clouds and down pour. Sunday we woke to clear skies and fleets were back in full action.

Through most of the week the ocean conditions were very favorable, very light breeze and moderate swells. Ocean temperature was very warm though, up in the 85 to 88  degree range, perhaps this contributed to slowing the surface activity down. We do believe that this week the water will steadily start to cool off into the low 80 degree range, which is usually  more suitable for the all around action. Once again the sardina schools are being found near the local marina jetty’s, they had scattered the past couple of weeks, we will see how these supplies last during the higher pressure of the coming weeks. Slabs of squid has been the other main option, particularly for the chances at getting lucky for the yellowfin tuna. Chihuil are becoming more active on these same grounds and will be yet another bait option in coming weeks.

The yellowfin tuna became very scare this week, not showing as they had been on the grounds from Iman to San Luis Banks. Everyday we were seeing a handful of tuna in the 50 to 70 lb. brought in, though anglers were lucky to hook up. We are hoping the cooling off trend will help trigger the bite. Dorado were scattered trough the zone, in very limited numbers, most of the fish we saw were smaller in size, with an exception of a few over ten pounds. We heard of some better dorado action found on the Pacific grounds. Changing conditions should help push these fish in the direction of the San Jose del Cabo areas. A few wahoo were reported, again cooling of water temperatures should entice these elusive fish to become more active.

Strong currents were running, this never seems to help anything, especially the bottom opportunities. More triggerfish and bonito than anything else, though we did see at least one 60 lb. grouper and a handful of nice dogtooth snapper over 40 lb. A few miscellaneous pompano, snapper and cabrilla.

Billfish action was limited , but we did see a mix of striped, blue and black marlin, as well as sailfish, though no numbers to speak of. These fish are in the area, we really did not have many anglers that were specifically looking to target these species. No inshore action reported, as is usual for this time of year, when action is concentrated on offshore high spots.

Good Fishing, Eric

September 26, 2021

Calm conditions through the week, we do not see any forecast of any new tropical storms developing at this time. Most areas have now moved on from Hurricane Olaf damages and the majority of the cleanup has been completed. We are feeling the start of fall weather pattern, sightly cooler early mornings, though days are still quite warm and humid. Swells resided as the week progressed, water temperature ranged from 83 to 87 degrees throughout the zone. Currents were strong and days after the full moon often throws off the bite.

The main action now for local fleets has been found from the Iman to San Luis Banks, boats have scouted out the Gordo Banks with nothing much being found, a lot of skipjack and a couple of 25 to 30 lb. class home guard yellowtail. Drift fishing with strips of squid was the best bet for hooking into a nice yellowfin tuna, a handful were also hooked while slow trolling live baits such as chihuil. Sardinas were available in limited quantities from near the marina entrance and off of Palmilla Point.

The tuna were very finicky, at times showing on the surface, often not appearing at all. Chumming with sardinas seemed to help at times, but major of fish hooked up were on the strips of squid. Most days the best chances were early in the day, fish sizes ranged from 50 to 150 lb. Anglers were doing well to land one of these yellowfin, though chances for multiple fish are there. Moving further back away from the full moon now, if currents slack some, water temperature cools slightly, all of these factors could trigger better action on any given day.

On these same grounds a few dogtooth snapper were landed as well, up to 45 lb. also misc. other snapper, pargo, bonito species and of course triggerfish. Strong current was not helping bottom action and not much at all going along close to the shore now. We were only seeing a few dorado here or there and most of these being small juvenile fish, the exception was a handful of dorado we saw over 10 lb. No wahoo in recent days, but heard of some being hooked north of San Luis, as water temperature soon begins to cool off this should help increase odds of finding any ‘hoo.

Billfish are lurking around these same fishing grounds, this is where the food source is. This week we saw fair numbers of sailfish, as well as striped, blue adn black marlin, No significant numbers, blues of over 300 lb and blacks over 400 lb. were landed in recent days. This is the season where odds of being able to land an offshore grand slam is at its greatest.

This month now ending, with the fall season now upon us, things are shaping up to be very busy though the next several months, tournament attractions and groups of anglers trying to make up time for lost out travel adventures during Covid times.

Good Fishing, Eric