Anglers –
July 22, 2017

Another week with light crowds and increasingly warmer weather. The latest tropical storm which has developed off of Southern Mexico is named Greg, it is following the recent trend and heading on a westerly track offshore, all we felt from this system was perhaps more tropical climate with increased humidity. Winds were relatively light, morning calmer, with breeze picking up mid-day on. Ocean temperatures are back up in the 80 to 84 degree range on the Sea of Cortez side of the Peninsula and on the Pacific Banks it is about 78 degrees.

Sportfishing fleets have been fishing from Chileno, Palmilla, Gordo Banks, to Iman and San Luis. Action was spread out now. Largest fish we heard of was early in the week, a 428 lb. black marlin which was hooked into while trolling a lure around the Gordo Banks, other highlight was a 100 lb. class yellowfin tuna landed on Thursday. Most common catches were for a smaller grade of 10 to 20 pound yellowfin, these fish were scattered throughout the inshore region, striking on trolled hoochies and smaller Rapalas. This action started out strong early in the week, was more spread out by the weekend. These schooling tuna were not associated with porpoise, just found in open water, along the inshore drop off.

A few more numbers of dorado, though most of these were under 8 lb., only an occasional larger specimen seen. Tolling same type of tuna lures was the best bet to find these fish. Inshore there was decent action for roosterfish, hot spot perhaps off of the San Jose Hotel zone, fish to over 40 lb. were landed, also many juveniles mixed in.

The action off the bottom was up and down, one day good, next day slim, mainly targeting red snapper (huachinango), in the 4 to 12 lb. range, found near San Luis Bank and hooked up with yo-yo style jigs. Only a few amberjack were found. No dogtooth snapper to speak of either, only a couple of small ones. The months of July and August is when we normally to find the largest of amberjack and dogtooth snapper, so our fingers are crossed that these normal patterns are just running a little being typical schedules.

Bait supplies consisted of mullet and caballito, some anglers are starting to try their luck with strips of squid, but so far noting has been consistent with that, need a larger grade of yellowfin to move in, it is the time of year we do regularly see the quality grade tuna move in.

Some limited wahoo activity was reported this week, more strikes missed and lures cut off than fish caught, this happened while trolling for the tuna, though a couple of wahoo up to 25 lb. were landed. First of these we have seen in a while. With inshore waters cleaning back up, blue water is what wahoo prefer. If water temperatures become too much warmer these fish often become more sluggish.

We heard of one 45 lb. class snook landed off the beach in the evening, these world class fish are in the area, though you have to put in some serious effort and be fortunate to land one.

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: 1 black marlin, 24 dorado, 2 wahoo, 8 amberjack, 16 bonito, 11 yellow snapper, 4 barred pargo, 185 yellowfin tuna, 10 leopard grouper, 2 dogtooth snapper, 84 huachinango, 9 jack crevalle, 68 roosterfish, 2 pompano and 22 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

July 15 2017
Light crowds of tourists were feeling the real heat of the summer season now, as weather patterns have stabilized, feeling more tropical, higher humidity and lighter winds. Surf conditions were larger, as a result of two distant hurricanes, Eugene and Fernanda, which formed off Southern Mexico and headed off on northwesterly tracks. No impact on land was felt, except for larger ocean swells and high humidity. Ocean temperatures have warmed up into the 82 degree range on the Sea of Cortez side, the Pacific is still slightly cooler. Water clarity has continued to improve, green water inshore is showing improvement each day.

Live bait options consisted of caballito and mullet, some chihuil and bolito were being found and used for trolling on the offshore grounds. Inshore fishing action slowed with higher surf conditions, a scattering of roosterfish and jack crevalle. Most fleets are working the grounds from Iman to the San Luis Banks, this is where the most productive all around action was encountered.

With the warming currents, the fast action for huachinango has slowed down, though there were still some to be caught, all on yo-yo jigs, off of Iman and San Luis Banks, also a mix of Eastern Pacific bonito, up to 10 lb. These were the same grounds that quality sized yellowfin tuna were schooling, not in huge numbers, but tuna in the 30 to 80 lb. range were being hooked into on a daily basis. These yellowfin were also striking the yo-yo jigs well this past week, not something they commonly do, usually they prefer various whole or cut baits. Besides striking on yo-yo jigs, these tuna also would hit while drift fishing or slow trolling baits. Most charters were having chances at least for one or two tuna, other landed as many as three of four. Many fish were lost as well, because these yellowfin were a bit line shy, most anglers were using 40 to 50 lb. leaders in order to have better chances at hooking up, resulting in a greater percentage of lost fish as well.

As the ocean water temperature has warmed back up and as the present surf swell resides, this could be the opportunity for dogtooth snapper to finally go on the bite, so far this season we have seen very limited activity from these larger of all pargo species. We did see a couple of nice sized amberjack recently, this is the time of year when we see the largest of these ambers of the season, not uncommon to see fish up to 80 lb. or more this month.

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: 3 striped marlin, 16 dorado, 7 amberjack, 32 bonito, 11 yellow snapper, 3 barred pargo, 89 yellowfin tuna, 13 leopard grouper, 165 huachinango, 12 jack crevalle, 24 roosterfish and 26 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

July 7, 2017

We did see larger crowds of tourists arriving for the July 4 th holiday week. The weather remained very comfortable, though we are now seeing progressively warmer days, we saw daytime high temperatures range from 85 to 95 degrees. Mostly clear sunny skies, scattered tropical clouds, increased humidity, though no new tropical storms at this time and the crazy southern winds have let up some, so ocean conditions were more favorable. Water temperatures were back up to 78 degrees late in the week, though clarity was still greenish within five miles of shore, but with each passing day it is cleaning up some, a slow process.

Live bait supplies remained plentiful for caballito and mullet, very limited amounts of sardinas were also found. The mullet had become more scattered in the cooler water, but now have moved back into the Puerto Los Cabos channel area in large schools, where jack crevalle and roosterfish have also been seen feeding, we heard of at least one 25 lb. class snook that was also landed from the beach by a local angler.

Local charters have found the most consistent action from Iman to San Luis Banks. This is where there was quality action for huachinango (red snapper) being landed daily, while drift fishing over the high spots and working yo-yo style jigs, same areas produced a handful of amberjack, leopard grouper and Eastern Pacific bonito, the good eating variety. Yellowfin tuna of 30 lb.to 70 lb. are lurking on these same grounds, but not many are being landed, an average of a few a day for the combined fleet, most of these were taken on baits such as live caballito. Later in the week charters also reported finding yellowfin tuna in the 5 to 15 lb. class scattered on the outer perimeter of these same banks, striking on smaller sized hoochie skirted lures. As the water conditions continue to improve we expect the all-around action to break wide open.

There were reports of schooling dogtooth snapper seen, not wanting to bite, as well as larger sized amberjack, this is now the time when both of these prized gamefish can become most active close to shore, look for this to happen possible in the coming week, just a matter of water cleaning up slightly and warming up another couple of degrees.
Roosterfish and jack crevalle have become more active again, most of the roosters we saw were in the 15 to 20 lb. range, surely there are some much larger fish patrolling the shorelines.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 74 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin, 7 dorado, 9 amberjack, 55 bonito, 22 yellow snapper, 5 barred pargo, 82 yellowfin tuna, 15 leopard grouper, 1 yellowtail, 280 huachinango, 35 jack crevalle, 13 roosterfish and 34 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric