Anglers –
August 12, 2017

It seems that with each passing day the weather is becoming more humid, increasing cloud cover, we have not had any rain recently, but presently we are feeling the remnants of Tropical Storm Franklin which had passed through the Gulf or Mexico and made land fall over Southern Mexico. Forecast are for possible thundershowers over the weekend. Winds have been very moderate, most likely will increase as this latest tropical system passes through and moves off to the west. Swells have been very light, though they are predicted to increase up to five or six feet by the start of this coming week. Ocean water temperatures have been up into the 85/87 degree range.

The main species of gamefish being found now has been yellowfin tuna, areas from the Gordo Banks to Iman Bank have been most productive, though schooling of fish have been found spread out throughout the region as well. Live bait has been limited to some mullet and caballito, also still a chance at obtaining sardinas in limited quantities, this is only because surf conditions have been so light, giving the bait netters a chance to find some scattered schools of the sardinas, also on some days fleets are bringing these baitfish down from areas further towards the East Cape. Using strips of giant squid is now becoming more of an everyday deal. Some chihuil and bolito have been jigged up at times on the offshore grounds and are being used for slow trolling.

The yellowfin tuna are ranging in sizes from small footballs, to over 80 lb. The larger fish have been striking on strips of squid, sardinas or trolled whole baits, on the Inner Gordo Banks and north on the Iman Bank. Bite varied from day to day, some days fish bit early, some days later, overall they proved to be more finicky and line shy, leaders not heavier than 50 lb. were best. The full moon is now waning and these darkening nights should help the bite get back on track. Average catches have ranging from 1 or 2 tuna, up to 10, depending on size and where you happen to be on a given day.

As it commonly occurs in August, it can be hard to find much variety, besides the yellowfin tuna, a few scattered mostly small dorado, as well as a handful of sailfish, an occasional wahoo sighting or missed strike, angler’s did land one 35 lb. wahoo early in the week. Not much off the bottom, strong current has been persistent and this made it even hard to affectively work the bottom, a couple of dogtooth snapper, huachinango, cabrilla, bonito, amberjack and triggerfish rounded out the structure action.

Not many charters fished along the shoreline now, late in the season for this, though we did hear of a few roosterfish being caught and released. Billfish action was limited, though one black marlin of about 360 lb. was landed and another couple of big marlin strikes were lost, also more sailfish moving in with the warmer currents and of course some striped marlin stragglers still hanging in the area, while most of these cooler water marlin have moved towards Northern Baja.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 88 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black marlin, 3 striped marlin, 4 sailfish, 16 dorado, 2 wahoo, 3 amberjack, 3 dogtooth snapper, 12 bonito, 8 yellow snapper, 238 yellowfin tuna, 11 leopard grouper,2 pinto cabrilla, 18 huachinango, 9 roosterfish and 38 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
Aug. 5, 2017

Light summer time crowds of anglers enjoyed calmer weather patterns this past week, with no new tropical storms presently forming to the south, it appears conditions will be favorable at least through the later part of next week. It is hard to predict tropical weather forecast too far in advance this time of year. Humidity has increased, August is always a muggy month, there is more could cover, though heat is intense, with the combined heat index nearing 110 degrees. Ocean water temperatures are warming daily, up to an average of 87 degrees now, ocean swells are moderate, as no storms are near at this time.

The main target species which has been cooperating is the yellowfin tuna, with action now being found from the Gordo Banks, Cardon, Iman, San Luis to Vinorama. Sizes for the tuna has ranged from 10 lb. to 80 lb. Most all of this action has been found while drift fishing with various baits, from live and dead sardinas, caballito, chunks of skipjack and strips of squid. It is always beneficial to have as many bait options as possible for this style of fishing. Some days these fish were hitting early, other days late, so you also need to know how to ration your bait supplies accordingly. Just in recent days the yellowfin have been more active on the Gordo Banks, this will be a welcome relief for local fleets, which have had to travel as far as Vinorama to find action and then compete with all of the East Cape fleets that were traveling south to the same grounds. Numbers of tuna were not huge, but many charters were accounting for up to five fish, with many of these in the 40 to 70 lb. class, nice quality fish. A bit line shy as well, so using 30 to 50 lb. tackle has produced more action, though also many bigger fish have been broke off.

Wahoo and dorado were very sporadic, a scattering of mostly smaller sized dorado and wahoo which had bit well last week, tapered way off this week, as they often do become more sluggish when the water temperatures reaches into the upper 80s. Billfish bite was slow as well, who knows what is up with that. Plenty of sharks in the area, as many of the hooked up tuna were being bit into as they neared the boats, from the size of the bite marks, these were not small sharks.

Bottom action was not consistent, but produced a mix of huachinango, amberjack, pompano, bonito and various cabrilla species. Highlight were a few amberjack in the 40 to 50 lb. range. These fish were striking more often on yo-yo style jigs, some on whole and cut baits.

Not much inshore fishing action being dome now, some anglers did scout this option out, but did not have much to report, a few roosterfish, jack crevalle and at least one dogtooth snapper.

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: 4 striped marlin, 2 sailfish, 22 dorado, 6 wahoo, 7 amberjack, 3 pompano, 1 dogtooth snapper, 8 bonito, 12 yellow snapper, 202 yellowfin tuna, 14 leopard grouper, 4 spotted cabrilla, 55 huachinango, 11 jack crevalle, 6 roosterfish and 72 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
July 29, 2017

We are really starting to feel like the tropical desert climate is dominating. With a series of tropical storm system developing in succession from the south, before following western paths. The latest on the list being Hurricanes Irwin and Hilary, both moving further off to the west and now downgraded to tropical storms. In Los Cabos the impact felt was increased ocean swells, to 8 to feet or more, more cloud cover, higher humidity and some isolated rai squalls on Thursday, moderately heavy in certain areas. Looks to be clearer in the coming days, though this time of year it is very hard to predict weather patterns more than a couple days in advance.

Ocean swells were definitely much larger early this week and will continue moderately for the next week, this commonly is the time of year that we see this. Though winds have been mainly increasing later in the morning or afternoon, morning hours on the water were relatively nice. Water temperatures are now averaging 80 to 84 degrees throughout the region. Clarity a bit stirred up closer to shore, due to currents and swells, but clean blue water is being encountered within a few miles of shore. Early in the week there were sardinas found in limited quantities, as well as caballito and mullet. With increased wave activity it is has been not possible to safely reach where the sardinas were schooling, though there are some sardinas found inside of the marina channel area. Other bait options has been using strips of squid, which is just beginning to prove to be a successful option.

Most common areas now being targeted by local sportfishing fleets have been from off of Chileno Bay and north towards Vinorama, for the most part during summer months the waters are calmer in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, rather than on the Pacific. In recent days the billfish action has improved, decent numbers of blue and striped marlin were being hooked into while trolling lures in open offshore waters most of the stripers being under 100 lb., blues were averaging 150 to 200 lb., with one blue marlin, estimated at 500 lb., lost due to tangling lines of a commercial fishing boat, not a good way to lose a trophy fish like that. Dorado have still been slow, but most days we are seeing some do-do’s striking on various trolled lures, small in size, ranged up to 15 lb. Wahoo became a bit more active for first time in a while, as more hook ups on the ’hoo were reported later in the week, as these fish were striking on trolled lures in the La Fortuna to Vinorama, so this is encouraging, A possible good chance now for another quality option.

Bottom action has been slim recently, strong current being part of the issue, also warmer waters, this often means certain species move to deeper and cooler zones. Most common species now being targeted for panga, cruisers and center console charters, was the yellowfin tuna action. This week the best bite was near Vinorama and on most days later in the morning was better than early. Perhaps the currents slacked near higher tide, you never really know when fish will be more aggressive towards feeding. These yellowfin tuna ranged from 5 lb. to 80 lb. Most consistent action was found on sardinas, as well as on caballito, some strikes on strips of squid. Trolling small to medium Rapalas and hoochies produced mainly the smaller grade of yellowfin, with the larger specimens taken on bait. You also had to fish persistently, with patience, waiting for your chance when the fish would come up and be actively feeding. Also these yellowfin were also line shy, finicky, often anglers needed to go down to 30 lb. line to buy a strike, some of these larger tuna can take close to two hours to land when using such light line. Catching one, two or three of these nice tuna was average, some boats had up to five or more, these fish are definitely on these grounds, using more chum was better to help entice them, but being there when they actually would come to the surface and feed was the key factor

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 84 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 16 striped marlin, 8 blue marlin, 42 dorado, 18 wahoo, 4 amberjack, 12 bonito, 18 yellow snapper, 6 barred pargo, 175 yellowfin tuna, 7 leopard grouper, 73 huachinango, 16 jack crevalle, 18 roosterfish and 38 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric