February 20, 2022  

Appeared to be more tourists arriving this week into the Los Cabos area, perhaps wanting to escape chilly weather patterns sweeping across northern regions. Still no significant number of serious anglers, as we are a bit in between seasons now, waiting for spring time to arrive. Actually the local climate was ideal, mostly clear sunny days, with high temperatures averaging 75 degrees. Winds have been from the north, actually port authorities closed port activity for Friday morning, was not all that bad, and was reopened at 8 a.m., changed a lot of peoples plans, was a bit choppy in some areas, but not overly dangerous. Over the weekend the conditions calmed down, ocean swells were light and water temperatures were in the 70 to 73 degree range.

The marlin action around the Gordo Banks continued, as these grounds were holding large concentrations of bait fish. The week started off with a strong bite, though by the weekend baitfish were beginning to scatter some and marlin were not as numerous. Marlin were readily striking on live bait, as well as on rigged ballyhoo, lures and even fly anglers were enjoying great success.. Average sized striper was in the 70 to 90 lb. range, with larger fish to over 100 lb. were landed, as well as a few sailfish, hanging in the cooler water. A variety of sharks were now on these grounds, including mako, hammerhead and thrasher.

Dorado were still in the area, but only a few single fish here or there were encountered, sizes to 20 lb., anglers were fortunate to land one. A few smaller sized wahoo were landed as well. This is now off season for these warmer water pelagic species. No tuna to speak of.

Normally this is the season we do more bottom and inshore fishing, not having the normal stand by live sardinas for bait has really hurt this action. Along the shoreline now it has been mainly small sized roosterfish striking on trolled caballito, which should all be released with proper care. Surprisingly few sierra recently, but again their favorite food source is the sardinas, which are not in our area now, these fish typically follow their preferred food. Pacific bonito are being found spread out along inshore regions, striking best on trolled rapalas, smaller fish, most often 4 to 6 lb. , they are feisty and good eating as well, unlike the Californian variety.

Other bottom rock piles produced limited numbers of Pacific tile fish, cabrilla (leopard grouper), pargo, red & yellow snapper and amberjack. This is the time frame where bottom activity usually improves, we hope to see some yellowtail in the fish counts soon, been a few years now since we have seen a good run of these jacks, so we will keep our fingers crossed.

Whale migration is still in its peak, next month these mammals start to return on their northern migration.

Good Fishing, Eric

February 13, 2022 

We have seen light crowds of tourists recently, despite some chilly early morning conditions in the lower 50s the weather has been very pleasant, sunny skies warming up into the 70s. Winds have been on and off, predominantly from the north, swells have been slight, overall anglers found good conditions on the ocean. Fleets were fishing in all directions, currents switched around and brought back cleaner blue water right off of the San Jose del Cabo area and this in turn improved the action for striped marlin, dorado and even some wahoo. Ocean water temperature was in the 69 to 73 degree range.

Bait supplies remained the same, mainly caballito, ballyhoo and some mackerel. We heard reports of sardinas found schooling further to the north but so far the local bait netters have not been motivated to scout out these options, since business is limited for numbers of charters to supply and they are doing well selling the bait found right in the marina area. 

Striped marlin was the most active bite going on now, especially on the Pacific  Golden Gate Banks, where some boats were catching double digits of these billfish. Though in recent days the action also busted wide open around the Gordo Banks, good numbers of marlin in the 70 to 100 lb. range were being accounted for. Dorado were mixed in and spread out, found in limited numbers, mostly solitary fish or in small groups, on the same marlin grounds, as well as closer to shore, we actually saw a few impressive sized bulls over 30 lb. 

Big surprise was the wahoo going back on the bite, February not being the normal season for these pelagic gamefish. They were being found closer to shore off various points, such as Punta Gorda, Palmilla and Santa Maria. These were smaller size fish in the 6 to 15 lb. range, though they were still wahoo, striking best on baits and cast and retrieved jigs. Many of these wahoo were hooked and lost, bony mouths and they can easily spit out the hooks or cut lines, some charters did report up to five of these ‘hoo.

Not much off the bottom, more bonito than anything else, though a few amberjack up to 20 lb. were landed, as well as a handful of leopard grouper. Did see a few California sheepshead, Pacific tile fish, triggerfish and yellow snapper. Some red crabs were spotted and  commercial pangeros were able to use these for red snapper action.

Closer to shore it was mostly small sized roosterfish found while trolling baits, not many sierra being seen, we are missing having the smaller sized sardinas for this inshore winter time action, hoping something will happen with these baitfish moving into closer range for our local fleets.

Good Fishing, Eric

February 6, 2022

Start of a new month, this one is always known for being particularly unpredictable as to what the weather will do. Typically is the coolest time of year and we saw some of that already as we recorded a seasonal low temperature of 50 degree one early morning, days have been sunny and highs were up to about 74 degrees, which feels cool for this area, but compared to much of North America is quite pleasant, very comfortable. Crowds of tourists are light now, as political issues, covid threats, etc…all  are contributing factors for not as many visitors as we would normally expect.
Ocean temperatures are now ranging 70 to 73 degrees through most of the region, green cooler water is found further north past Punta Gorda. Bait supplies remained steady for caballito, ballyhoo and also some mackerel, though still no good word of anyone finding a new source of sardinas. Most local fishing action has ranged from Red Hill, Santa Maria, and north to La Fortuna and Iman. 

Striped marlin action continues to be the most productive action found on a daily basis, spread out through a wide zone, mainly striped marlin averaging 70 to 120 lb. though a couple of larger blue marlin have been landed near Cabo San Lucas in the last couple of weeks,so you never know what might strike on a given day. Marlin are striking lures, as well as slow trolled or drifted baitfish.

Dorado rebounded some last week but now again have become more scattered, though we are seeing some everyday, most boats have had chances at one or two, sizes ranged to over 20 lb. Everyone is still talking about one large bull of 25 kilos that was taken off of the Gordo Banks by a local commercial pangero. Only a couple of wahoo reported, smaller sized fish, though there still is a chance at hooking into one of these speedsters.

Bottom action had started to show better signs of improvement, as some nice cabrilla, snapper and amberjack were found off the high spots. Though in recent days this bite came to a standstill, as bonito was the main fish taken from these areas. The pelagic red crabs which had been showing on the surface have not been found again and the commercial fleet is waiting for more to be found so that they can get back into the snapper action.

Along the shore line there were sierra and roosterfish, mostly smaller sized juveniles, but fun sport on light tackle. Please remember to always release these roosterfish, which are prized gamefish and not known to be good eating, much better to let them grow and help reproduce depleted stocks.

Good Fishing, Eric

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