August 22, 2021

The Southern Baja landscape has now turned from being a parched dry desert scene to a lush green vibrant tropical look, this all transformed after the recent rains. Presently we continue to feel very humid conditions, scattered cloud cover, another storm, this one being remnants of Grace that was in the Gulf of Mexico, crossed mainland Mexico, has reformed and is forecast to pass just to the southwest of Cabo San Lucas Sunday night. Most likely we will see more rainfall, which is needed and welcome when not associated with too high of winds. Chance that the local Ports will be closed on Monday. We are not expecting too much out of this latest tropical system, other than additional rain and stirred up ocean swells.

Light numbers of anglers now, probably will be similar deal through the end of September. At this time the bait netters are still finding sufficient supplies of sardinas and caballito, other options have been slabs of squid. Sport fishing fleets are traveling in all directions, though the majority are working the various high spots and Banks, from the Gordo Banks to Iman, San Luis and Vinorama. Fishing has been tougher than we would normally expect for this time frame.

Anglers were finding yellowfin tuna on the Gordo Banks, smaller football sized fish mixed with big numbers of black skipjack. The tuna were hitting on the sardinas best early morning, after that it was then mainly the skipjack. Working the bottom on these same grounds produced a handful of nice dogtooth snapper and grouper up to 40 lb. Some days more sharks were being reported, putting a damper on the fishing.

Near Vinorama, el Farito, is where the larger grade of yellowfin tuna are being found, ranging 20 to 50 lb., Striking while drift fishing with sardinas or strips of squid. Overall this action was a tough bite,  few fish hitting early, then shutting completely down, though some boats were accounting for two or three tuna. Not much else on these inshore grounds after the tuna disappear it was more triggerfish than anything else. A few sailfish and striped marlin hanging around.  Scattered around we only saw a few dorado being hooked into, most of these small fish.

We saw at least one 30 lb. class wahoo brought in from near Vinorama, a few other ‘hoo were reportedly hooked and lost. Wahoo seem to be around, but they are also known to become very sluggish when ocean temperatures are in the upper 80s.  

Overall action has been slower, though there has been a handful of quality fish coming in. We also know that this is the time of year that things can bust loose on any given day, just like the weather, fishing action is ready to turn on quickly.

Good Fishing, Eric

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August 15, 2021

Tropical conditions continue, this week, on Tuesday, we received the season’s first real significant rainfall, where even areas along the coastline felt sporadic on and off heavy thunder showers. No major high winds, so that was nice, the rain was welcome, caused some moderate flooding, but overall not too bad. The latest storm this weekend is major Hurricane Linda, following a path far off towards the west, some increased ocean swells, scattered cloud cover, higher humidity, not much else in the way of more precipitation. This is the time of year where local weather patterns form afternoon rain squalls on almost a daily basis, most of these over the mountainous region north of the International airport. The rain squall did shut down all Port activities on Tuesday, not reopening until Wednesday at 10 a.m.

After the passing of the storm system baitfish became more scattered, as surf conditions made it tougher for the netters to find the schools. Though as the week progressed the bait situation did rebound some, mainly for sardinas and caballito. The San Jose del Cabo Estuary opened to the ocean, sweeping a huge population of talapia fish into saltwater and creating a major kill off, with these dead fish ending up on the beaches as wells as jammed into the marina, creating a stinky mess.

Recent fishing action centered from the Gordo Banks and north near Vinorama. The Gordo Banks is where schools of football sized yellowfin tuna up to 15 lb. are being caught in good numbers. Though black skipjack are even more prevalent, especially near the high spot, tuna are more consistent off the deeper drop offs. A few nice snapper and cabrilla were also accounted for from these grounds. A couple of reports of lager marlin striking on trolled tuna, but hookups were lost.

Only a few dorado seen, most smaller sized, should see some more schoolies showing up, being attracted by floating debris.

Further north near Vinorama is where the chance at yellowfin tuna to 50 lb. has been. Though bite is hit or miss, most action coming early. Lots of boat pressure here, since East Cape fleets are now on these same grounds every day. Also this is a long run for normal charters, if fortunate maybe a chance at one or two fish. Off the shallow rock piles triggerfish have dominated things. A few roosterfish have been landed on offshore grounds, rather than close to the beach stretches, this happens more frequently now, after the baitfish scatter right along the beaches, the roosterfish go deeper looking for food.

Good Fishing, Eric

August 8, 2021

We are feeling the tropical weather conditions now, the Eastern Pacific is very active, with a series of storm systems developing, so far all of these have been following paths far off to the west, raising humidity and the heat index levels, as well as stirring up ocean conditions some. There are daily isolated thunderstorms developing over the more mountainous regions, though no rain as of yet right along the coastal zones. Next week it looks as though we will see more storms passing a little closer before heading off west. 

Light numbers of tourists now, so fishing charters have been more limited. Much of the week we felt swirling choppy ocean conditions, finally laying down some over the weekend. Water temperature has averaged 85 degrees, or higher in some spots. Very ripe for development of tropical storms, this will be the scenario for the next eight weeks or so, always following forecasts closely. 

Most of the fishing action recently has been found from the Iman Banks and north to  Vinorama. Anglers are using sardinas, caballito and some slabs of squid. Winds and swift currents played a factor for most of the week. Though some days were okay for early action. Yellowfin tuna were found within several miles of shore, sizes 20 to 70 lb., but numbers were very limited. A handful of dorado up to 30 lb. were accounted for, but again no large concentration, just occasional fish, taken on bait and lures.

Off the bottom the highlight were some dogtooth snapper to over 30 lb. taken off the Iman Bank while drift fishing bait. There were also other species taken off the rock piles, closer to shore the main action was for triggerfish, bonito and spotted rose snapper.

Roosterfish action has slacked way off as this is nearing the end of the season for these prized fighting gamefish. A huge congratulations to the Tiger Spirit and legendary local La Playita angler Hugo Pino for walking away with the overall winner in this week’s Bisbee East Cape event. Beating out 100 teams, all eyeing the 1.6 million dollars of prize money up for grabs. Late on the third and final last day of the tournament Hugo hooked and landed jackpot fish, a 597 lb. black marlin.

 Good Fishing, Eric