Anglers –
July4, 2015
We are now settling into the new month of July, weather on the horizon remains calm at this time, no new tropical storms threatening, there are a pair of low pressure areas far off towards the west, heading in the direction of Hawaii, nothing to worry about in Southern Baja. With ocean water temperatures ranging into the low 80’s, these conditions can be ripe for tropical storm systems to develop rapidly, so we will all be monitoring forecasts closely.
Swells remain very moderate, currents are stronger that normal, winds were somewhat unpredictable, at times picking up from the north and then just as quickly shifting from out of the south, mainly from mid-day and into the afternoon, early in the day ocean conditions were much calmer. Sportfishing fleets have been concentrating on the grounds from outside of Cabo San Lucas and north towards San Luis Bank.
Bait supplies often become more scattered during the full moon phase, though at this time there have been both caballito and moonfish available. On the offshore grounds there have been bolito, skipjack and some smaller yellowfin tuna showing up, these can all be used for live bait as well. There have been limited numbers of larger sized yellowfin tuna found by sportfishers traveling anywhere from 25 to 40 miles offshore, these tuna, up to 200 pounds, were traveling with pods of porpoise, striking on a variety of lures, as well as available baitfish. A handful of yellowfin also were hooked into off of the San Luis Bank by anglers that were targeting the red snapper action that has been happening early morning on these grounds. These tuna were ranging from smaller sized footballs, up to about 40 lb. No significant numbers though, more tuna were seen at times, but it was another story trying to entice them into biting, especially on days where winds increased and currents were swift.
There are a wide selection of gamefish now present on the local grounds, a time when offshore billfish grand slams are feasible, with there being striped marlin, sailfish, black and blue marlin all being hooked into this past week. Marlin have been found in close proximity to shore, most of this action from 3 to 10 miles from shore. Blue water has recently been encountered in close proximity on most days, fluctuating currents did move off colored water in on occasions and boats would then travel further to find cleaner areas. This is still the time of year when conditions are stabilizing, as the hot summer season progresses, usually by mid-July we do not have to deal with cooler Pacific currents working our direction, by this time we would expect water temperatures of 85 degrees for the rest of the summer.
One 400 pound class black marlin was reportedly landed by a charter based out of Palmilla, also some blue marlin making their presence this past week, most of these were in the 100 lb.to 200 lb. range. There are more numbers of striped marlin than of the other species, a handful of sailfish in the mix. Dorado were scattered, mixed sized, majority were smaller fish, not in the numbers we would expect for this time period.
Many charters were doing some early morning bottom jigging or targeting inshore roosterfish action, before trying some open blue water or outer banks activity, this time of year there are a variety of options to choose from and on any particular day a certain area can go off. The red snapper (huachinango) bite has continued on the San Luis Bank, this has mainly been an early morning bite on yo-yo jigs for snapper up to 12 lb., with Mexican bonito, a few cabrilla or amberjack mixed in. This action had been more consistent last week, but is still producing, we must remember factors such as fast currents and bright full moon phases can change feeding habits.
Roosterfish continue to patrol inshore waters, this is peak season for chances at finding trophy sized roosterfish, jack crevalle and dogtooth snapper can also found close to during this season.
Wahoo became a bit more active mid-week, as many charters accounted for wahoo while trolling Rapalas or smaller hoochie type lures on grounds north of Punta Gorda, though again no numbers, most charters were fortunate to land one of these elusive wahoo, weights ranged to 35 lb.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 73 charters for the shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 5 sailfish, 29 striped marlin, 1 island jack, 74 dorado, 11 wahoo, 14 yellowfin tuna, 9 amberjack, 14 cabrilla, 5 dogtooth snapper, 2 pargo colorado, 15 yellow snapper, 8 jack crevalle, 66 bonito, 58 roosterfish and 115 huachinango (red snapper).
Good fishing, Eric