Anglers –
May 27, 2017

Ideal weather patterns now, cool for this time of year, high temperatures in the lower 80s, great time to visit before the serious summer time heat arrives, also very light crowds now, normally the month of May is much busier, who knows what is up with the lack of visitors. Some south wind still to deal with, calmer ocean conditions in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, this is also where the warmer ocean currents are, ranging up to 77 degrees now, while on the Pacific it has been down to a chilly 68 degrees.

With the cooler climate, this delays seasonal transition periods further, until we have several weeks of calm and warmer temperatures we expect similar fishing reports. Billfish action has mainly been straight outside of Cabo San Lucas and towards Chileno, still hit or miss, but better than it had been, with most charters reporting at least a couple of opportunities per day. Dorado still very scarce, but there have been a few landed and other hook ups lost, same report for wahoo, though in recent days there were more wahoo strikes reported from areas near Chileno and Santa Maria, this is where the water was a bit warmer and clearer, one wahoo reportedly of 70 lb. was landed on Thursday.

Inshore action consisted of sporadic roosterfish action, one day these fish could be found trolling caballito or mullet outside of the surf line, though other days they could not be found at all, changing currents and baitfish movement may be factors. Still decent numbers of sierra being encountered, as well as a few jack crevalle. We need to see more mullet activity to really bring in the main run of roosterfish. Supplies of sardinas are now very limited, vanishing, more charters are starting to use chunk baits and strips of squid, particularly for the yellowfin tuna opportunities.

The yellowfin tuna action was concentrated from the Iman Banks, San Luis and Vinorama areas, drift fishing or slow trolling with various baits is how these tuna have been enticed, some days action was found early, other times later in the day, but the yellowfin are definitely holding on these grounds. No significant numbers, sometimes just one or two fish per charter, other anglers were more fortunate, landing a half of dozen, sizes ranging from 15 to 45 lb., with the majority of the tuna being in the 25 lb. to 35 lb. class.

The bottom action was a decent option now, since surface bite was somewhat limited, working various rock piles produced a mix of quality eating species, not many large fish, but all are excellent table fare. Most common were triggerfish, yellow snapper, barred pargo, leopard grouper, island jack, pompano and flag cabrilla. A few amberjack and a couple of grouper, one weighing about 80 lb.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 56 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 2 wahoo, 2 dorado, 68 yellowfin tuna, 2 grouper, 3 amberjack, 25 yellow snapper, 16 barred pargo, 19 leopard grouper, 22 island jack, 1 sculpin,12 surgeonfish, 12 African pompano, 6 jack crevalle, 1 dogtooth snapper, 8 roosterfish, 24 sierra and 55 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric