Merry Christmas!
Anglers –
December 22, 2018

We have seen lighter than normal crowds arriving for this Christmas Holiday week. Though it is feeling more like winter time now, cooler days, low temperatures of 55 degrees, highs in the mid-70s. Some scattered cloud cover, with mostly sunny skies. North winds continued to blow all week, finally letting up Saturday. This has contributing to pushing in greener ocean currents, of 73 to 75 degrees off of San Jose del Cabo, while off of Cabo San Lucas they reported 78 degree water.

All around fishing action was slower on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to Vinorama. Bait supplies consisted of caballito, slabs of squid and some ballyhoo, still no sign of sardinas showing up along local beach stretches. Wind has been more relentless this season, last year at this time we had good action for wahoo, dorado and tuna, this year is a different story, as green water and cooling currents has turned over conditions.

Very few yellowfin tuna were striking this week, most of the tuna found were between Iman and Vinorama, drift fishing with strips of squid, sizes averaged 15 to 20 lb., on Friday there was an 80 lb. yellowfin landed off of the Gordo Banks. Also we saw one nice 30 lb. yellowtail brought in, as well as a few deeper water grouper in the 25 to 30 lb. class. Of course triggerfish continue to dominate all bottom fishing done closer to shore, a few snapper, amberjack and pargo species in the mix.

Billfish action was very good through the first part of the week on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas, off San Jose del Cabo there has been only a scattering of striped marlin seen, one late season black marlin was hooked into off of the Gordo Banks, but this fish eventually broke off.

Dorado and wahoo activity was almost nonexistent, just an occasional fish being found. Early in the week several wahoo were hooked into north near Vinorama, on Friday a 45 lb. wahoo was brought to the tables. We are hoping for nicer calm weather conditions, which would give the water a chance to clear up some, then wahoo and dorado action could rebound, before water becomes too cold and sends these gamefish migrating to warmer southern waters.

Along the shore, especially off of the San Jose del Cabo Hotel zone, there was good action for roosterfish ranging in sizes up to 20 lb. Slow trolling with live caballito was the best technique, some jack crevalle and sierra also in the same inshore area.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 51 charters for the week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 8 dorado, 2 wahoo, 35 yellowfin tuna, 9 bonito, 7 white skipjack, 10 red snapper, 12 yellow snapper, 2 amberjack, 1 fortune jack, 1 yellowtail, 6 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 6 baqueta grouper, ocean whitefish, 9 flag cabrilla, 11 sierra, 42 roosterfish, 5 jack crevalle and 110 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
December 15, 2018

There continues to be a noticeable lack of visiting tourists now, as families prepare for Christmas and are not doing much raveling now. We do anticipate more people arriving over the upcoming school vacation period. Weather was cooler this week, persistent north winds continued as well, so far to date we have seen more wind than we normally do, just one of those years. Scattered cloud cover, high temperatures of 75 to 80 degrees. Ocean water temperatures has been ranging from 75 to 78 degrees, we expect to see more of a cooler trend with the northerly winds pushing in cooler currents.

Still no signs of a new resource for sardinas, caballito continue to be netted in the marina channel, other bait options for anglers have included strips of squid and ballyhoo. Local sportfishing fleets are searching out the fishing grounds from Chileno to Vinorama, most consistent action has been found from Iman to Vinorama, the problem is that this is where the wind has been blowing the grounds out of shape and making it more difficult to drift fish for the yellowfin tuna. Anglers were doing well to land two or three tuna, these yellowfin ranged in sizes from 10 to 80 lb., most being in the 10 to 20 lb. class. The highlight catch for the week definitely was the super cow sized tuna that was brought in by a team of local anglers on Monday, this yellowfin tuna was weighed in at 313 lb. and was hooked into on the Gordo Banks on a piece of squid, quite an impressive tuna for this late in the season, it took the team close to an hour and a half to bring the monster to gaff.

Besides the sporadic bite for the tuna, dorado and wahoo proved to be even more elusive. Only a scattering of these gamefish were encountered. Hard to say what the coming weeks will bring, cooler, off colored greenish ocean conditions now, seasonal transition time. Should start to see schools of mackerel and sardineta move in, this migration brings in more fish.

Off the shoreline charters were doing well for roosterfish, not normally the known season for these fish, but they are around at this time, particularly in front of the San Jose del Cabo hotel zone. Most of these roosterfish are smaller sized juveniles, under ten pounds, with an occasional larger specimen in the mix. Please remember to always release these prized fighting gamefish, they are known more for trophy fish, take a photo and release, not known for their eating quality.

Not much bottom action being done, swift currents and dominance of triggerfish the main deal. We did have one nice Californian sheepshead, island jack, some pargo and a couple of amberjack and bonito.

Billfish is mainly going on the Pacific now, very little marlin action off of San Jose del Cabo now, when there food source moves this direction the marlin will follow.

Whale migration is now moving in the direction of peak season, more of these mammals are being seen daily.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 71 charters for the week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 1 sailfish, 3 striped marlin, 12 dorado, 4 wahoo, 105 yellowfin tuna, 10 bonito, 5 white skipjack, 14 red snapper, 10 yellow snapper, 2 amberjack, 1 sheepshead, 6 cabrilla, 4 mohara, 1 island jack, 12 sierra, 48 roosterfish and 55 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
December 8, 2018

Crowds of tourists remain lighter, though there were some anglers arriving in town wishing to get into some classic Baja game fish action. Weather patterns have been mild, still some north winds through much of the week, some scattered light rainfall late in the week. Mostly clear sunny skies with high temperatures in the upper 70s. Ocean currents were strong, water temperature ranged from 76 to 79 degrees, cooler water towards Los Frailes, warmer currents on the Pacific grounds.

Schools of caballito continue to be found in the PLC marina channel, though not quite as abundant as they had been, no sardinas seen at all, slabs of squid and ballyhoo were the other available options. Would be nice to find a new resource for sardinas, these baitfish have been scarce since early October. Catching chihuil has proved to be harder this season, and there are limited bolito or small sized skipjack being found.

Billfish action has been more active on the Pacific, though off of San Jose del Cabo there has been more signs of striped Marlin appearing, though spotty from day to day. Also we saw a couple of late season sailfish landed, as well as a monster 500 lb. class black marlin that was lost on Wednesday after an extended battle as the fish was nearing the smaller center console, the rod and line ended up breaking at the same time and the big black won the battle.

Yellowfin tuna action slowed way down this week, the Gordo Banks to Iman, San Luis and Vinorama were all scouted out, Iman Bank seemed to produce more numbers of tuna, though anglers were lucky to land one or two, sizes averaged 15 to 70 lb. Drift fishing with squid was the most successful technique, though with swift currents and a lot of natural food source on the grounds, the yellowfin were not easy to entice. Some white and black skipjack were on the same grounds, as were the ever present triggerfish, which has been the main species found now found off of the structure. Only an occasional cabrilla, amberjack or pargo being found, though with swift currents, not many anglers have concentrated on bottom action.

Dorado were concentrated closer to shore now, at times seen chasing flying fish or ballyhoo, under diving frigate birds, changing daily and moving fast. Dorado to 20 lb. were landed, no big numbers, but more than we had seen previous periods. Areas from Red Hill to Punta Gorda were holding dorado now, but again this proved sporadic from day to day.

Wahoo were found from Punta Gorda to Vinorama, though anglers were fortunate to land one or two or these fish. Using caballito or ballyhoo proved the most successful, not many lure or jig strikes. The wahoo are very finicky as to when they will bite. Spear fishing pressure has been unprecedented and seems to play a factor as to why these popular gamefish are increasing shy when they hear any boat motor noise.

Along the shoreline near Punta Gorda there have been roosterfish, most of these under 15 lb., a few jack crevalle, needlefish and sierra in the mix, with live sardinas this bite could be better, but at this time they are using caballito, often these are larger sized, the smaller sized bait seem to be more enticing for these inshore fish.

Whale migration in now arriving, no huge numbers yet, but they are arriving, both humpback and grays, this usually peaks more in January and February.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 92 charters for the week. Anglers reported a fish count of: 2 sailfish, 9 striped marlin, 105 dorado, 16 wahoo, 96 yellowfin tuna, 16 bonito, 26 white skipjack, 6 red snapper, 8 yellow snapper, 4 amberjack, 8 cabrilla, 4 sierra, 26 roosterfish, 8 jack crevalle and 125 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric