Anglers –
February 2, 2019

We are now into the month of February, locally known for being very unpredictable, we are hoping that with so much persistent north wind already this season that maybe things will stabilize and this month will not be as crazy as usual. Crowds of tourists remain light, weather has been very pleasant for winter time, lows of 55 degrees and highs into the upper 70s. Scattered early cloud cover, burning off later in the day, plenty of warm sunshine.

Striped marlin action is now heating up off of the San Jose del Cabo area, anywhere from 3 to five straight out from the marina. On these grounds is where schools of mackerel and sardineta are congregated, attracting good numbers of billfish. Many charters are drift fishing baits down deeper where the stripers are feeding, there have been some surface going on as well. Many boats were reporting multiple chances for marlin, these fish are ranging in sizes from 60 to 100 lb. A few dorado also coming from these same grounds. Water temperatures have been in the 70 to 75 degree range, fluctuating currents moving in and out.

Other bait options in the marina have been caballito, ballyhoo and squid. Also many of the super panga charters are catching their own chihuil on the Inner Gordo Bank. The Inner Gordo Bank is where there has been quality grade of yellowfin tuna holding, though the bite has been sporadic, though every day we are seeing a handful of these tuna accounted for by the combined fleet, these fish have been in the 60 to 100 lb. class. Anglers were having success while drift fishing with strips of squid, as well as on chihuil.

The action closer to shore off of Punta Gorda had faded out, but this week this action rebounded for both wahoo and dorado. The key was to have the live chihuil for bait, slow trolling within one mile of the point, still hit or miss, but some boats did account for multiple wahoo as well as dorado. Wahoo were of mixed sizes, some less than ten pounds, to fish near 50 lb. Most of the dorado were in the 5 to 15 lb. class, a few pushing 20 lb. Good action considering that we are now in the midst of winter and these species are not always a normal catch for this time of year.

Bottom action remain spotty, more triggerfish and small snapper than anything else. Some commercial pangeros had connections for imported red crabs and they reported some nice hauls of red snapper. Maybe we will start to see these crabs on our local grounds, the best for snapper action. This coming month we usually start seeing some more consistent activity for nicer sized fish off of the bottom structure. Hoping for improved yellowtail migrations this season.

Inshore there were a few sierra, jack crevalle and some juvenile roosterfish, still early in the year for these species, no sardinas makes it tough to find schooling sierra.

The combined sportfishing fleet out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina reported an estimated 55 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 32 striped marlin, 58 dorado, 18 yellowfin tuna, 38 wahoo, 16 bonito, 48 red snapper, 5 cabrilla, 8 yellow snapper, 4 barred pargo, 8 roosterfish, 7 jack crevalle, 28 sierra and 45 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

Anglers –
January 26, 2019

Similar to last week, lighter crowds of anglers ow arriving. Windy conditions prevailed most of the week, gusts from the north. Water clarity was more stirred up, also cooler currents pushing in, ranging 72 to 74 degrees. Daytime highs continue near 80 degrees, morning cloud cover, burning off md day.

Bait options were for caballito, slabs of squid, chihuil, ballyhoo and mackerel, no sardinas reported. Hard to say where the sardinas are, this time last year we did have a steady supply.
Majority of local charters were fishing grounds from Red Hill to Iman and La Fortuna, as well as the Gordo Banks. No particular hot spot, very scattered action from day to day.

The Gordo Banks was producing a quality grade of yellowfin tuna, a few fish brought in weighing near 100 lb. The problem being that there were very few of these fish being landed, on a normal day we were just seeing a handful of these yellowfin brought to the fillet tables. The offshore action for the tuna associated with porpoise faded out some and was out of range of most boats anyway, being 30 to 40 miles offshore.

With passing of recent full moon the billfish action also became scattered, still being found, but not in any frenzy like past months. Despite cooler waters, there were even a couple of sailfish hooked into, though most common has been the striped marlin, averaging 60 to 100 lb.

Early in the week we saw a few wahoo landed, from the La Fortuna area, squid and chihuil was the main bait being used. Only an occasional dorado seen in the mix, scattered, no particular location.

Bottom was limited, with lack of charters, swift currents, choppy and windy conditions, did not make for ideal conditions. More triggerfish and small snapper seen, only an occasional, cabrilla or amberjack. One day the commercial fleet imported some red crabs and had good catches of red snapper (huachinango.

Just an occasional smaller sized roosterfish, sierra, or misc. snapper being found close to shore, also a chance at finding a stray dorado close to shore.

The combined sportfishing fleet out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina reported an estimated 61 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 11 dorado, 24 yellowfin tuna, 4 wahoo, 84 bonito, 18 red snapper, 6 cabrilla, 8 yellow snapper, 4 mohara, 18 tijareta, 3 amberjack, 5 roosterfish, 10 sierra and 75 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

Anglers –
January 19, 2019

The crowds of tourists were lighter this last week, which can be a typical lull, as school semesters begin again and vacation time is used up. We except with chilly conditions across much of North America, that more people will be coming to Los Cabos looking for warm sunshine. Despite there be being morning cloud cover, days have been mostly sunny, with high temperatures averaging near 80 degrees. Winds were still predominately from the north, but not as strong is previous weeks, hard to predict from day to day, a lot of the better fishing action was found closer to shore on calmer grounds.

This is peak season now for whale activity, also sea lions and porpoise being spotted. Ocean water temperature was holding in the 72 to 75 degree range, clarity was good, clean blue water found within a mile of shore. There were supplies of caballito in the marina area, also ballyhoo and slabs of squid. Some charters are catching some mackerel, sardineta or chihuil, a bit day to day as to what exact baits are available and which end up working the best.

The great action we had the previous week for wahoo and dorado faded out this week, hard to say why, water conditions are similar, no drastic changes, we are optimistic that these fish are still in the region. There had been very limited action for yellowfin tuna, tuna are starting to be encountered traveling with porpoise, much of this found 25 miles plus offshore. Just in recent days the yellowfin are becoming active on the Inner Gordo Banks. This bite had become a late afternoon local commercial deal, hooking tuna only late in the afternoon, returning to the docks in the dark. There was a 200 lb. yellowfin brought in earlier in the week. Other fish of 150 lb. or more. These yellowfin are now finally striking in the morning as well, drift fishing with squid has been the main thing these fish have been striking consistently on. Most of these fish are weighing in the 30 to 90 lb. class, but there are tuna much larger on these same grounds now. No huge numbers of these fish are being brought in, but there is a fair chance now at catching one or two, at least we are seeing yellowfin again, especially since the wahoo and dorado action came to a standstill.

Besides looking for these tuna, the main bite being targeted are the Eastern Pacific bonito off of La Fortuna. Striking readily on jigs, Rapalas, hoochies, etc.. Good action on light tackle, ranging 4 – 8 lb., good eating as well, different than the California bonito. A few pargo, red snapper, cabrilla, amberjack, but no numbers, more triggerfish off the bottom structure than anything else.

Striped marlin has been on and off of San Jose del Cabo, still a better chance south, closer to Cabo San Lucas. As more baitfish move in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, then we will see the marlin more prevalent.

Along the inshore stretches there has been some sierra and roosterfish found, without any sardinas it makes it more limited inshore.

The combined sportfishing fleet out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina reported an estimated 68 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 9 striped marlin, 12 dorado, 24 yellowfin tuna, 5 wahoo, 225 bonito, 13 red snapper, 4 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 12 yellow snapper, 6 mohara,10 tijareta, 8 roosterfish, 4 surgeon fish, 12 sierra and 80 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric