Anglers –
January 21, 2017

Frigid temperatures sweeping across much of North America is sending fair numbers of tourists in a southerly direction, many choosing Los Cabos as their convenient destination. This past week we felt cooler winter weather patterns, low temperatures down to 50 degrees and daytime highs near 75 degrees, light cloud cover, giving way to sunshine, winds were moderate out of the north, swells were minimal as well, overall conditions were still very pleasant compared to northern regions.

The cooling air temperatures contributed to ocean water temperature dropping into the 70 degree range. The clarity actually was blue in most areas, with some splotchy green areas. The whale migration is definitely peaking now and should continue for the next month. Big news for the bait situation is that for the past week now there has been schooling sardinas found off of the Palmilla Point area, will be interesting to see how long this resource will hold up, very fragile fishery, we had not seen these baitfish for well over one year. Congregations of mackerel and sardineta are being found spread throughout the area as well, always a favorable sign.

More sierra are moving in along the beach stretches now and with sardinas being available, this has opened up another option inshore, though we have not seen big numbers of the sierra yet. Cooling waters also put the bite on roosterfish on hold, wahoo seem to be moving out as well, with numbers of dorado declining as well, that time of year, when gamefish that prefer warmer water move south, while other species which do prefer cooler currents move into local waters.

Yellowfin tuna continue to be the most common fish being found, at least for the fleets out of San Jose del Cabo. In recent days the most consistent fishing grounds were back in the vicinity of the Iman Bank. The bite was sporadic most days, with boats averaging one, two or three yellowfin in the 15 to 40 lb. class, drift fishing with sardinas for bait proved to be the best bet. On Wednesday the action went wide open, with most charters accounting for limits for their anglers, while the very next day the bite was very slow, the tuna could be seen on the surface, but proved finicky once again. We are really fortunate to have these yellowfin tuna hanging around so late in the season, they have been a savior since the bottom action has not developed into much so far. A few snapper and amberjack were landed, but the snapper bite of last week slowed way down. We are hoping to see some yellowtail moving in with the cooling water.

Not much going on for striped marlin off of San Jose del Cabo at this time, though some stripers were being hooked into near Iman where the yellowfin tuna action was found. We believe we will see more numbers of billfish move in soon, following the mackerel food source.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 290 yellowfin tuna, 16 dorado, 18 bonito, 16 yellow snapper, 12 leopard grouper, 46 huachinango, 24 tijareta, 145 sierra, 8 pompano, 7 amberjack and 90 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
January 14, 2017

As we progress into the New Year we have seen many tourists arriving, most of them to escape frigid northern winter season temperatures and to relax in Los Cabos’s pleasant climate. With daytime highs nearing 80 degrees and mostly sunny skies, this is a great choice for a quick getaway trip. Not many anglers in town now, though often these vacationers are looking for outdoor activities and many do decide to go fishing on late notice. With the annual whale migration now peaking, this is also another reason to get out on the water and see what the area has to offer.

The north winds were light throughout the week, swells were minimal, though there were strong currents running, pushing in cooler water temperatures, as currents are now in the 70 to 74 degree range, we expect this cooling trend to continue throughout the next month. Sportfishing fleets are fishing in different directions now, trying to find the best possible all around action. We finally can say that some schools of sardinas are appearing off of Palmilla Point in recent days, this is favorable news, these baitfish have been absent from local waters for over one year, we hope that this is sign that we will see this bait source rebound, fragile fishery that needs to be cautiously protected. Lots of mackerel also being found on the normal bait grounds, mixed with sardinetas. Slabs of squid and caballito are also being offered by commercial bait vendors, so the overall bait situation is better at this time, hopefully this will be a trend throughout the season.

This is another transition period, where we see warmer water species start to move out of the area and others that prefer cooler waters begin to move in. It appears that the El Nino current of the past couple of years is vanishing and we will see more normal patterns for the coming months. In recent days we have seen sporadic action for a variety of fish, many of them smaller sized structure species, being found in the same area where anglers are still targeting yellowfin tuna, most consistent places have been off of Punta Gorda to the Iman Bank, though things have changed from day to day, cooler waters, strong currents, off colored greenish at times, all normal patterns for this time of year. Some day’s action was early, other days late, and on other days the fish did not seem to cooperate at all. Most of the yellowfin tuna landed were in the 15 to 30 lb. range, we heard of the big cow sized yellowfin landed off of the Finger Bank on the Pacific last week, but that is a long range charter in order to reach those grounds.

Dorado were a bit more numerous this past week, though the majority of them were smaller sized female fish that in reality should be released to help this species have a chance to rebound. We are heard reports about an occasional dorado to 20 lb., but these were an exception. Wahoo were almost nonexistent this past week, a few reported lost strikes, but did not see any landed, these fish will be heading south soon, if most of them have not already done so.

Best bottom action now was for red snapper (huachinango), with Punta Gorda being the most productive spot for this action. Snapper up to ten pounds were striking on various baits near the same place where late season tuna were schooling. Only a few leopard grouper, yellow snapper or other pargo species in the mix. Of course there have been decent numbers of triggerfish.

Billfish are mainly on the Pacific Banks now, even though we are seeing congregations of mackerel off of San Jose del Cabo, very few striped marlin have moved in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. With the food source at hand, anything could happen on any given day. With sardinas now appearing we are hoping to have chances at having a good season for inshore sierra as well. Roosterfish action seems to come to a halt with the cooling waters.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 68 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 64 yellowfin tuna, 32 dorado, 6 bonito, 16 yellow snapper,11 leopard grouper, 150 huachinango, 25 tijareta, 16 sierra, 2 yellowtail, 1 sheepshead, 2 amberjack and 80 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

January 7, 2017

We are now settling into the New Year, the large crowds of visiting tourists have lighten up and normal routine continue. A very controversial newly instigated 20% fuel hike is causing uproar throughout Mexico and people are anxious over this ongoing situation. Weather patterns cooled off over the previous week, as winds from the north continue to prevail. Ocean swells were minimal, water temperatures are now holding in the 73 to 74 degree range, with greenish water being found pushing into certain areas. Whale migration now seems to be in full swing, after having been late to appear in significant numbers, these mammals are now in local waters for their winter migration.

Anglers were using strips of squid, caballito and some mackerel to target a variety of gamefish Still no big marlin bite going on, despite mackerel moving in. Best chances to find the striped marlin now has been on the Pacific, only a scattering of billfish found in the direction of San Jose del Cabo now. Most local fleets have been fishing the grounds from straight off of San Jose Estuary, to Punta Gorda and north to the Iman Bank. Most common species has been the yellowfin tuna, which has been somewhat of a bonus for this late in the season. No huge numbers, but charters have accounted for one or two, or even up to six yellowfin per outing. Average sizes were in the 15 to 30 lb. class, but also quite a few tuna to 50 lb. are being accounted for. There was a recent trend for the yellowfin to strike more readily on either mackerel or caballito, instead of exclusively on strips of squid like during previous months. Either drift fishing or slow trolling the live bait has proved to be most successful technique recently.

Dorado continue to be quite scarce, only an occasional single fish, we saw a couple of dorado as large fifteen lb. More dorado were actually found closer to shore than further out, also later in the day, nothing much early. Wahoo have been very quiet for a few weeks now, though late this week we saw a few of the wahoo up to 45 lb. landed, these were found near the Iman Bank, so we are hopefully with the moon phase being favorable in the coming days that the wahoo will become more active, Water temperature surely will cool off more as winter season progresses, this normally sends wahoo on a southern migration.

Roosterfish action became very quiet this past week as well, a few sierra were found, no numbers though, also some jack crevalle. Bottom action was limited to mainly triggerfish and a mix of smaller pargo and snapper species. No grouper, amberjack or yellowtail to speak of.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 82 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 168 yellowfin tuna, 9 dorado, 5 wahoo, 15 bonito, 5 pompano, 15 yellow snapper, 12 leopard grouper, 28 huachinango, 22 tijareta, 32 sierra, 6 rainbow runner, 5 barred pargo and 90 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric