Anglers –
February 17, 2018

This week began with light crowds of visiting anglers, ended up being very busy, particularly on Friday, when everyone decided to go fishing. Weather patterns were a little up and down as well, some wind early in the week , then laying down, before picking up swiftly again from the north on Friday. Water conditions are now more stable in the direction of Cabo San Lucas, cooler greenish water has steadily been pushing in the from the north, water temperature ranging from 67 to 74 degrees.

The majority of the fishing action centered from off of Santa Maria, to Palmilla and north to San Luis. The yellowfin tuna action slowed down progressively throughout the week, early on there were decent reports of yellowfin being encountered with moving porpoise, at times within a few miles of shore, then they moved further offshore and were hard to even find and often when the porpoise were found there were no tuna associated with them, that type of action can often prove to be sporadic. Most of these yellowfin that were found weighed in the 20 to 30 lb. class.

These fish were striking best on various baitfish. The sardinas became a bit more scattered, but these baitfish were still being netting near the rocky beaches from Palmilla and to the south. Mackerel also proved to be a good option, these had to be jigged up off of the San Jose del Cabo hotel area, several miles offshore, not a guarantee with the sabiki’s, though at times proved to be the more productive bait.

Dorado numbers were down, as can be expected for this time of year, scattered fish in small schools and many of these were very juvenile, under five pounds, should really be released if at all possible, just an occasional dorado now being landed that are over ten pounds. Did not hear of any wahoo, which is also expected during this out of season period.

Only a handful of striped marlin being found on the local grounds, surprising since their favored food source, the mackerel, are present. Not much action being found offshore now, most charters are having more success closer to shore for species such as sierra, pargo, snapper, cabrilla, island jacks, triggerfish, etc…Not a lot of trophy sized fish now, but there has been a variety of smaller good eating specimens to be had. Soaking bait off the bottom, produced, as well as yo-yo and casting jigs. No yellowtail to report, it is the time of year we should start to see some of these fighting jacks, there have been some smaller sized amberjack found and the highlight off the bottom rock piles have been leopard grouper, ranging in sizes up to 20 lb. Drift fishing with live mackerel proved to account for the best chances for these prized eating cabrilla. Other bottom action included miscellaneous yellow snapper, bonito, triggerfish, island jack, barred pargo and surgeonfish. We did not hear of any red crab activity recently, hard to predict when these crustaceans will drift to the surface.

The better sierra numbers came from Palmilla to Chileno, sardinas and casting small jigs worked for these, average weight was 2 to 4 lb. Lots of whale activity continues, as we are now in peak season for these migrating mammals.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 76 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 18 yellowfin tuna, 85 dorado, 9 amberjack, 24 yellow snapper, 12 island jack, 6 surgeonfish, 12 barred pargo, 16 Eastern Pacific bonito, 135 sierra, 25 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 65 huachinango (red snapper) and 55 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
February 10, 2018

Moderate crowds of tourists now, though not many of them are actually anglers looking to go sportfishing. The weather continued to be a bit unpredictable from day to day, as is normal for this month of February. Recently we have seen warmer conditions, earlier in the week we had much morning cloud cover, finally burning off later in the day, by Friday we saw more sunshine, highs up into the 80s. Wind was lighter as well and anglers had great ocean conditions most days. Ocean water temperatures are still ranging from 70 to 75 degree. Clarity was a bit off colored on the Gordo Banks and towards the north. Most fishing action centered from Iman Bank, Punta Gorda, straight off of San Jose and towards Santa Maria.

Sardinas were being netted near Cabo Real and towards Chileno. Strips of squid and some rigged ballyhoo were also being used. Mackerel and sardineta schools were still on local grounds and have been another bait option.

The action for the larger grade of tuna to over 100 lb. faded out on the Gordo Banks, mainly due to the conditions turning over, greener water. There were some yellowfin tuna coming up on the Iman Bank earlier in the week, but these fish proved very elusive and not many were hooked up. Mid-week there were sizable pods of porpoise encountered, from 2 to 4 miles outside of San Jose del Cabo and towards La Laguna, the yellowfin tuna were traveling with them. Charters were able to land from one or two, up to 10 tuna, in the 20 to 35 lb. class, all depending on where you were at a given time, these schools were moving quickly and had to be chased around. Dropping various baitfish into the action was the best bet, very few were striking on lures.

Dorado action continued, the majority of these fish found within a couple of miles of shore, most of these were under 10 lb., with an occasional exception up to 15 lb. Striking on bait best, a smaller percentage on lures. Along the shoreline, particularly near to Cabo San Lucas, off of Chileno, there were some nice sized sierra hitting on slow trolled sardinas, a few up over 8 lb. Also a handful of juvenile sized roosterfish.

Some more activity with the pelagic red crab, some days they were found drifting to the surface and were netted and used for bait, with some decent catches of red snapper coming in. Though this was not a for sure consistent deal from day to day. Commercial fleets were eager to get a supply of the red crabs, at times saving some in make shift live tanks to be used for the next day, in case they were not found on the surface. So we will follow this action closely, this was the same scenario last year during approximately this same time frame.

Other bottom action was slow, besides the red crab bite with the huachinango, red snapper. A few bonito, cabrilla (leopard grouper), barred pargo, medium sized amberjack, yellow snapper and triggerfish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 61 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, a wahoo, 76 yellowfin tuna, 105 dorado, 3 amberjack, 9 yellow snapper, 8 barred pargo, 14 Eastern Pacific bonito, 68 sierra, 6 roosterfish, 11 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 110 huachinango (red snapper) and 40 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
February 3, 2018

We have started the new month of February, which locally is always known to be full of unpredictable weather patterns and sure enough we had a crazy start to this week. We felt strong north winds out of the north for most of the week, cooler green water pushing in from Los Frailes towards the Gordo Banks, ocean currents were down in the 70 to 71 degree range, then winds resided and we felt calmer conditions. Low morning temperatures were up to 68 degrees and the water temperature warmed back up into the 74 degree range, as well as clearing back up to a nice blue color within a couple mile of shore. On the Pacific the water was up to 75 degrees. So conditions were changing daily, daytime high temperatures reach up to 85 degrees on some days. On Thursday we actually had a surprising amount of rainfall on Thursday, as moisture sweeping in the from the southwest brought much needed relief to the dry landscape.

Light crowds of visiting anglers were finding decent supplies of sardinas, which are now being netted off the beach stretches from Cabo Real to Chileno. There were other bait options including mackerel, sardineta, caballito and strips of squid. Fleets were fishing areas from the Pacific Banks, Santa Maria, Gordo Banks and north towards Iman. Most common catches were for dorado, which were found close to shore, as well on the offshore grounds, striking more often on baitfish, but also on trolled artificials. Average size fish was under 10 pounds, though on the Pacific there were reports of a larger grade of dorado up to 20 lb. Getting late in the season now, though the warmer water has kept these gamefish hanging around in local waters.

Wahoo were scarce, only a few fish reported off the East Cape areas, a few more reports of these fish being found on the Banks off of the Pacific, where the warmest currents are now holding, very late in the season for these fish as well.

More billfish activity straight out of Cabo San Lucas and towards the Pacific, though a bit slower during this full moon period, only a scattering of the striped marlin are now being encountered off of San Jose del Cabo, should start to swift this direction in the coming months.

Yellowfin tuna were being found through the region, from on the Pacific Banks to the Gordo Banks, no big numbers at all, though the yellowfin were a nice grade, most of them ranging from 40 lb. to 130 lb. The largest tuna seem to be coming off of the Inner or Outer Gordo Banks. Drift fishing with various baits was the main technique, finicky fish, often they could be seen in numbers breezing on the surface, but would be difficult to entice into striking the hooked baits, also continued heavier boat pressure on the Gordo Banks, since within that range this was one of the more productive areas now providing opportunities at quality fish.

Inshore had not produced much more that a scattering of small roosterfish, a few sierra, with more numbers reportedly on the Pacific. The bottom action was spotty, strong current much of the week, most common catches were smaller sized pargo, a few cabrilla and amberjack, as well as the ever present triggerfish.

Plenty of whale action now, peak season for both humpback and gray’s

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 59 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 8 striped marlin, 2 wahoo, 74 yellowfin tuna, 115 dorado, 5 amberjack, 13 yellow snapper, 5 barred pargo, 16 Eastern Pacific bonito, 12 roosterfish, 15 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 22 huachinango (red snapper) and 40 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric