January 24, 2021

We enjoyed variable winter time conditions in Southern Baja this past week. High temperatures averaging 75 degrees, more cloud cover and even had some measurable rain fall on Wednesday, generally lighter winds, predominately from the north, though not as persistent as they were in past weeks. Light crowds of tourists now arriving, looks to be the predicted pattern for the coming months, until Covid induced regulations are simplified or eased and vaccinations are made readily available to the general public. In the meantime all local businesses supported by the tourist industry will be optimistically waiting for the situation to improve.

In the direction of the Sea of Cortez the ocean currents been green, as the same East Cape conditions have now swept onto local grounds. Clarity has fluctuated, but overall water color has been very greenish, though off of Cabo San Lucas currents have been much cleaner.  Over the weekend though there were reports of slight improvement north of the Gordo Banks to around San Luis, a couple of wahoo hook ups were reported. On the Gordo Banks there was a showing of yellowfin tuna and at least one 80 lb. class yellowfin was landed, other hook ups were lost, not many boats were on the spot when the tuna did show up, drifting with sardinas was the method they used to entice the strikes. So maybe something will develop with this, providing conditions do stabilize some more. Ocean water temperature has varied on areas, day to day as well, ranging from 67 to 74 degrees.

There has been plenty of bait in the area, charters are reportedly seeing large concentrations of baitfish on local grounds, though this did not mean that the gamefish were easy for anglers to find. Bait vendors are offering sardinas, caballito, mackerel and ballyhoo. Dorado are being found in limited numbers, mainly around concentrations of baitfish and often on the same offshore billfish grounds. With a handful of these dorado being bulls over 20 lb.

We saw a little more variety and size of fish found off of the shallow rocky structure. Though this action just now seems to be showing signs of activity, this week we saw amberjack, cabrilla, bonito, red snapper and triggerfish. We do anticipate that this type of action improves the next couple of months. Along the shore we saw a little more action for the sierra, they had become scarce in past seeks, so hopefully this is a favorable sign that these cold water fish will rebound.

Billfish action was more scattered now, main species is the striped marlin, sizes averaging 70 to 100 lb. No great concentration in any particular area, we should see steady improvement with greater numbers of stripers, as ocean conditions improve with more steady weather patterns.

Good fishing, Eric