December 19, 2021

One week before Christmas Holiday, fairly quiet in town this past week, noticeably less tourists, during the holiday and through New Year we do expect to see larger crowds. Weather remains very pleasant, highs near 80 degrees, scattered light clouds, burning off early and then plenty of warm sunshine. On and off winds predominantly from the north, though was not much of a factor most days, anglers would have to adjust plans on where they could comfortably fish. Ocean temperatures are still in the 77 to 79 degree range.

Schools of mackerel, chihuil and sardinetas are now moving in on the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo. This has brought the striped marlin run along as well. Great marlin action now being found straight off of the hotel zone anywhere from 3 to 8 miles. Sizes ranged up to occasional 100 lb. plus fish. Most all charters targeting these billfish were having multiple chances per morning. In fact it was now easier to hook into a marlin compared to other species such as wahoo, tuna and dorado. A handful of dorado were mixed throughout the region, some as large as 25 lb, the average more like 10 lb. Though they are not consistent from day to day, and are not being found in large schools.

Yellowfin tuna action has been out of range of most daily charters, being found associated with moving porpoise an average of 30 miles or more offshore. For the few that have ventured out, mainly on private boats, they have reported nice quality fish of 25 to 50 lb., even a few larger. We are hoping that these fish  come closer into our normal range soon. Of course the commercial purseiners have now found these schools as well. It is a shame this area never had been simply designated as a sportfishing only zone, with restrictions of such commercial activity.

Wahoo action slowed down dramatically for rod and reel anglers, even though conditions appear to be ideal, as far as clarity, water temperature, etc… as the main area where wahoo were now found schooling was close to shore off of Punta Gorda and the spear fishermen have literally taken over this area. Harvesting way too many of these sought after gamefish. This heavy pressure has made these already spooky fish that much more finicky as for actually chasing down a lure or striking a bait. Wish they would enforce some kind of quota for these spearos and give the conventional anglers a chance.

Not much going along the shore or of the bottom, a mix of mostly smaller species, again we are missing not having the sardinas for bait. At least some mackerel and sardineta are showing up, they will open up some more options for anglers.

Good Fishing, Eric

December 12, 2021 

As much of Northern America has settled into winter-like weather patterns, here in Southern Baja the climate has been very pleasant, high temperatures near 80 degrees with plenty of warm sunshine for vacationers to bask in. Crowds were noticeably down compared to the past couple of months, as is usual during this time frame before the Christmas holiday season. 

Ocean temperature is now in the 77 to 80 degree range, winds are predominantly from the north, most days picking up late morning, typical pattern of several days of wind and then laying down for a couple before repeating the cycle. Water clarity is much improved, blue water being found within a couple miles of shore. Bait sources included caballito, ballyhoo, slabs of squid and some panga charters were able to find chihuil on high spots such as the Gordo Banks or near La Fortuna. Still no reports of schools of sardinas being found within range of the local bait netting fleet. 

Most popular fishing grounds recently were from Red Hill/Palmilla to Punta Gorda, Cardon and La Fortuna. Daily catches include dorado, wahoo, striped marlin and misc. smaller sized bottom species. Wahoo bite was on and off, striking on various baits, trolled lures and on casting jigs. Sizes ranged from small juveniles up close to 50 lb. Mid week the action was good for a couple of days, word travels quickly these days and wahoo are always weary with increased boat pressure and even more so when hordes of spear fishermen collide on the same grounds where rod and reel anglers are concentrated. Dorado were spread throughout the area, some days in greater numbers than on others, sizes were up to 20 pounds, average fish in the 8 to 15 lb. class.

Striped marlin bite was very good straight out of San Jose del Cabo and towards the south, most charters have multiple chances, anywhere from 3 to 10 miles offshore, readily striking lures and bait. Sizes averaged smaller than we would normally expect, average marlin in the 50 to 80 lb. range, with the exception of a handful reaching more than 100 lb.

We  had some encouraging reports for yellowfin tuna, one 80 lb. yellowfin was taken off of the grounds near La Fortuna, hit on a live chihuil, a couple others were lost. Further offshore, mainly 15 to 30 miles there have been other tuna schools found traveling with porpoise, most of these fish we saw were in the 15 to 40 lb. range, still hit or miss and on windy days not a normal charter option yet, but encouraging to at least see some tuna moving in closer to our normal grounds.

Not much off the bottom besides a mix of smaller sized species, more triggerfish and bonito than anything else. Closer to shore some smaller sized roosterfish and sierra were being found. This action could be much better if live sardinas would become available, we will keep our fingers crossed on that. Peak whale season now provided viewing opportunities throughout the region.

Good Fishing, Eric

December 5, 2021 

Many tourists headed home after Thanksgiving vacation, though this week  remained quite busy with a new wave of vacationers. Weather patterns have been very pleasant, highs close to 85 degrees, with lows in the upper 60s, plenty of warm sunshine. As normal the winds from the north often can pick up later in the morning, this was pretty much the pattern through the week. Ocean temperature is now on a cooling trend, ranging 78 to 81 degrees. Water clarity was much improved throughout much of the zone. Main bait sources were caballito, ballyhoo and slabs of squid. Some charters were able to find chihuil, which be a bonus when targeting wahoo. Large mackerel schools now on the Pacific grounds and this migration should shift in the direction of San Jose del Cabo very soon. We have heard of reports of sardinas found near Cabo San Lucas, but none of these baitfish have been located within range for the San Jose del Cabo commercial bait fleet.

The majority of local sportfishing charters have been concentrating efforts on areas from Red Hill, Palmilla, Punta Gorda, Cardon, La Fortuna and Iman Banks. The overall action has been spread out, no particular hot spot, most common surface species were dorado, striped marlin and a handful of wahoo. Better chances at the wahoo were on the grounds north of Punta Gorda, anglers were using various baits and rapala type lures, the bite was very spotty, though some anglers were fortunate to land a couple of nice wahoo, largest we saw was a 58 lb. fish, with the average being in the 30 to 40 lb. class. We are seeing a few very small juvenile sized wahoo as well. Largest dorado we saw was about 20 lb., the majority were in the 10 to 15 lb. range. Most charters had only a few total fish per morning, tough overall bite. No yellowfin action found at all, only reports were from further offshore of Cabo San Lucas associated with porpoise, but very hit or miss as well.

Billfish were more abundant near Cabo San Lucas, though we are seeing striped marlin off of San Jose everyday as well, found throughout the offshore grounds, most within 5 miles of shore, sizes averaged from 50 to 100 lb., We saw a couple late season black marlin of 300 to 400 lb. brought in, as well a a few sailfish.

Inshore there were decent numbers of smaller sized roosterfish, most under 15 lb. this time of year, also some sierra showing close to shore. Off the bottom it was mainly triggerfish, a few misc. smaller sized snapper, cabrilla, bonito and tile fish.

Good Fishing, Eric