Fish More Finicky, Scratchy Action ~ May 23, 2015

158_tunawahoo

Anglers –
May 23, 2015

Now starting the final week of the month of May, weather conditions continue to be very pleasant, warming days, highs around 85 degrees, moderate breezes and light swells, all combine to create comfortable ocean conditions for visiting anglers. Crowds are much lighter than we would expect for this time frame, many anglers who regularly fish out of the panga area of Puerto Los Cabos Marina are waiting for rebuilding efforts to be completed, progress is moving along, though priorities are not aimed towards repairing the damaged docks, so far crews are only working on all of the other surrounding infrastructure, people are having to park or be dropped off out on the far perimeter and carry supplies much longer distances than pre-Odile days.

There have not been any sardinas available for the past several weeks, anglers have been relying on what available baitfish that are being found in the marina area, mainly caballito and some moonfish, also ballyhoo. Other charters are spending time catching chihuil and some people had success on strips of giant squid that they purchased ahead of time from local super markets. Ocean temperatures has been ranging from 74 to 77 degrees and blue water is being found within several miles of shore.

Striped marlin has been the most common species found offshore, straight offshore of San Jose del Cabo, anywhere from 3 to 15 miles from shore, concentrations of stripers are being found, free jumping and at times feeding on balled up bait sources. At times the marlin proved very finicky, though with persistence anglers were hooking up, many boats accounted for one or two marlin, while other seen many fish, but could not entice any strikes, with so much food on the fishing grounds, the marlin would just not be hungry at times. Only an occasional dorado being encountered, this is the time where we do expect to start seeing more larger sized dorado move into the area.

Wahoo were fairly active throughout this past week, most of the time found near shore, off of Palmilla and north to Cardon and La Fortuna, anglers using lures and baits were accounted for as many as two or three wahoo in their combined catches, weights ranged up to 40 lb. Many wahoo could be seen following baits as they were being trolled slowly, but they would be shy at actually striking, lighter leaders proved to be an advantage. Encouraging to have so many wahoo being reportedly sighted, even though the numbers of fish actually landed have been limited. Something could happen at any time now to trigger a wide open bite for these fish.

Yellowfin tuna bite was limited to just one or two tuna here or there, many of these hit of strips of squid, some were hooked on small hoochies and other on chihuil or caballito, sizes averaged 20 to 40 lb. Lots of yellowfin in the area, but these fish are just not that eager to strike on what the anglers are able to offer.

After having some excellent bottom action last week, this week has been a different story, one factor being the swift current that has been running, this will put the fish off the bite faster than anything. A handful of amberjack, cabrilla, yellow snapper and triggerfish were accounted for, no significant numbers though, with the areas of La Fortuna and Iman being the best bet for this. If the currents slacks on any given day this action can produce some quality catches.

Along the shore only a few sierra being encountered, some larger sized roosterfish are now moving in, we saw roosterfish up to 40 lb. landed and of course there are jack crevalle in the mix as well. In the coming weeks we expect increased numbers of larger roosterfish to continue to move through our area, mid-June is normally the peak season for these prized gamefish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 30 striped marlin, 14 yellowfin tuna, 27 wahoo, 18 dorado, 15 amberjack, 22 huachinango (red snapper), 15 cabrilla, 22 yellow snapper and 16 bonito.

Good fishing, Eric

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