January 31, 2021

With new international travel restrictions now in place we have seen a noticeable lack of tourists, though Los Cabos resorts are now offering the required Covid 19 tests easily on site, needed for return trip. So hopefully this will encourage more people to travel to Southern Baja in the coming months. Weather followed normal patterns, scattered cloud cover, though no precipitation this week, winds out of if the north, increased some over last week, but there are cycles of calmer conditions mixed in, high temperatures averaging 75 degrees.

Ocean conditions showed improvement from the Gordo Banks and towards San Luis Bank, water temperatures averaged 70 to 72 degrees and clarity was now cleaner than the previous week, there were also more signs of baitfish schools on the same fishing grounds. In the marina area bait vendors are offering sardinas, some caballito, mackerel and ballyhoo.

There was a lack of anglers though, not much activity for charters now. Most of the charters have been concentrating on the areas from straight offshore and north to Gordo and San Luis Banks. The highlight of the week was a few quality grade yellowfin tuna landed that weighed in the 80 to 100 lb. class. A lot of patience and persistent was needed, because these tuna were elusive, but at least a few more than previous weeks were accounted for. Many local skippers who do not have charter work now are giving these yellowfin a try. It is not always the normal time of year to find these tuna n these high spots, but every year can vary.

Not much activity reported for billfish, water has been green on the normal grounds, but we do see conditions improving now, winds were a contributing factor and then there is also a lack of anglers. A handful of dorado were found scattered throughout the region, a couple of them over 20 lb.  Limited numbers of sierra now along the shoreline, a mix of various snappers, pompano, bonito, triggerfish, cabrilla, amberjack, yellowtail found off of the rocky piles, though wind made this tough many days. We look forward to some more steady weather and a warming trend, this should help to improve the all-around action. February can be a very unpredictable month.

Good fishing, Eric