Anglers –
February 11, 2017

This past week we saw moderate crowds of anglers visiting and they were enjoying what felt more like spring time weather patterns, ideal climate now, clear sunny skies with 80 degree temperatures. Lighter winds compared to previous weeks, ocean temperatures were in the 70 to 71 degree range, light swells and water clarity was clean and blue within a couple of miles from shore. Very favorable signs for this early in the season.

Schooling sardinas continue to be found, though the baitfish are now moving further south off of Chileno, they had been near Palmilla. The main fishing action found this week was for yellowfin tuna off of the Cabo San Lucas arches, without sardinas you did not have much of a chance, the bite was on and off, lots of boat pressure after the word got out, this being the best option going on. Also there was the problem with sea lions, tuna were seen in big numbers on the surface, but proved to be very finicky, some days anglers were lucky to catch one fish, other days average catches were up to five or six tuna. Sizes ranged to over 30 lb., average fish more in the 15 to 25 lb. class.

Most charters were opting to fish in the direction of Cabo San Lucas, since this is where the sardinas were being found, very long back tracking run to travel to where the sardinas were and then return back to Iman Bank where yellowfin were also being found. Same situation on Iman, lots of tuna were seen in the area, but getting them to bite was another problem, often they would not want to strike anything until later in the day. Some of the tuna off of these grounds were as large as 45 lb., but anglers were fortunate to land one or two fish. Not much going on off the bottom, an occasional leopard grouper or amberjack. Off of the Santa Maria area there were some smaller sized yellowtail being found, most of these in the 3 to 5 pound range, striking best on sardinas close to shore, similar to where sierra and smaller sized roosterfish were found. There were reports of yellowtail off of the Pacific grounds as well, so this is encouraging news, we are hoping to see some larger sized yellowtail show soon, this is the time of year for these popular gamefish, it has been a few years now since we have seen any significant numbers of these fish.

Still good numbers of whales in the area, by the end of this month these mammals will begin to move back on their northern migration. The way the climate has been recently, it appears that spring will be arriving early this year. Great time to visit Los Cabos, perfect weather and crowds are light.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 65 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 striped marlin, 136 yellowfin tuna, 5 dorado, 12 bonito, 14 yellow snapper, 8 leopard grouper, 10 huachinango, 15 misc. pargo, 48 sierra, 8 roosterfish, 15 yellowtail, 4 amberjack and 35 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
February 3, 2017

Entering the month of February now, always known for having unpredictable, often being cooler and windy, we are hoping with so much wind during this past January that maybe patterns will shift and now settle down. So far this first week of the new month has been very nice, north winds have laid down, days have been clear, with high temperatures in the mid 70’s, early morning low temperatures are down near the 50 degree mark, so be prepared with proper clothing for early in the day before the sun warms things up. Crowds of tourists have been light, local businesses are feeling the crunch on fuel prices and other increasing operating costs, fuel rates are slated to be marked up again this coming week, not an easy situation, compounded by the devaluation of the Peso.

Supplies of sardinas are limited off of Palmilla Point, though with lighter crowds the bait vendors have been able to work hard to net enough bait for the number of charters. After obtaining bait boats are back tracking north to area from Cardon, La Fortuna and Iman Bank. This is where the action for yellowfin tuna has been found, drift fishing with sardinas, both live and dead bait is being used, still some squid strips being rigged as an options as well. The action has been respectable considering this is not the normal time we find a lot of yellowfin tuna. We have seen tuna in the 10 to 50 lb. range, most fish are in the 20 to 35 lb. class. Average catches per charter has been ranging from two fish, up to six or more. Not much variety now besides the yellowfin tuna. Only an occasional snapper, pargo, cabrilla or triggerfish off the bottom. No dorado to speak of, just a couple of smaller fish. We did see one nice 40 lb. class wahoo caught from the same grounds as where the tuna were schooling, hit on a sardina, lucky catch on mono leader, other wahoo have been seen free swimming, so these fish still are hanging around, though with water temperatures now in the 70 degree range, they are not very aggressive at all.

Strong currents have been running, though water clarity is still very good considering the cooling waters. Mackerel and sardineta are holding on local bait grounds, though very few striped marlin are being encountered, still better chances for billfish at this time on the Pacific Banks.

Not much going on inshore, an occasional juvenile sized roosterfish and a handful of sierra. Lots of whales remain in the area, also plenty of hungry sea lions on the fishing grounds, waiting to have the chance at easy picking of a hooked and struggling fish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 72 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 2 wahoo, 225 yellowfin tuna, 6 dorado, 8 bonito, 18 yellow snapper, 5 leopard grouper, 15 huachinango, 54 sierra, 2 roosterfish, 1 island jack and 28 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
January 29, 2017

Visitors to Southern Baja are enjoying warm sunshine, with high temperature of around 75 degrees. Much of this past week there were strong northern winds that made for some rougher days on the water for anglers, early morning there as the wind chill factor to deal with until the rising sun helped warm the day up. Fortunately there were still some yellowfin tuna fond close to shore off of Punta Gorda, this was the highlight of catches in recent days.

The schools of sardinas which had just recently appeared in local waters for the first time in over a year, are already starting to vanish, recently the commercial bait netters are working hard to find minimal quantities and anglers were waiting for an hour or more to sometimes not even get the sardinas. So this is a bit discouraging to see this resource collapsing so quickly, we will hope that more schools of these preferred baitfish will move into the region soon. Other bait options have included sardineta, mackerel, caballito and slabs of squid. Just not much action being found by trolling lures, so bait has been the better choice to find action.

Anglers were drift fishing for the yellowfin tuna, using various baits, but sardinas were the favorite if you were able to obtain them. The tuna were ranging in size from 15 to 40 lb., average catches being one or two or up to six or more, depending if you were at the right place at the right time. These yellowfin were hanging close to shore over rocky structure where anglers were also catching a mix of bottom species, though no significant number, except for possible triggerfish. A few nicer sized amberjack were accounted for, in the 50 to 60 lb. class, also a handful of red snapper and leopard grouper.

Ocean clarity actually improved in recent days, as greenish current were pushed aside by bluer water within a mile of shore. Water temperatures now averaged 70 to 71 degrees, which is back to around normal for this time of year. We are hoping to see more yellowtail start to move in, there were increased numbers of striped marlin being seen off of the normal fishing grounds out of San Jose del Cabo, though still only a handful were actually hooked into.

Sierra are dominating the inshore activity, moderate numbers of fish averaging 2 to 4 lb. A few roosterfish were also accounted for, up to 15 lb. Not the normal season that we find many roosterfish, normally the ones we do see are smaller juvenile sized fish. The north winds have limited where charters could reasonably have a chance to fish in comfort, need some calmer days in order to work the grounds of Iman to San Luis, this is where there can be more bottomfish opportunities during the winter season.

Whales continue to entertain viewers, as they are now in peak season. Also some sea lions hanging around the fishing grounds taking their share of the catch.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 62 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 7 striped marlin,120 yellowfin tuna, 7 dorado, 11 bonito, 21 yellow snapper, 18 leopard grouper, 34 huachinango,124 sierra, 5 roosterfish, 5 pompano, 12 mojara, 6 amberjack and 85 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric