Anglers –
September 17, 2016

As summer season now is entering its final week we continue to see light crowds of visitors, though our busy fall season will be upon us soon. We continue to follow weather forecast closely, this week there was Hurricane Orlene which headed far off to the west, making no impact at all on land, except for increasing the already high humidity. Now we are watching a newly forming low pressure system off of the mainland coast, they are forecasting this system to travel offshore, paralleling the west coast of Baja, far enough away to not cause any problems, hopefully this will be the case. Most of the area is now finishing up cleaning the debris and damage caused by Newton, though our local panga dock area will require more rebuilding than most areas, clean up has begun, but will be an ongoing process.

Ocean conditions are great now, practically no winds, light swells, clear blue water of about 85 degrees, lots of baitfish activity on the local fishing grounds. Anglers were fishing the spots from the Gordo Banks to San Luis, using strips of squid, some caballito, bolito, skipjack and chihuil for bait, finding a variety of species, but no great numbers of any particular fish at this time. Yellowfin tuna are being seen feeding and breezing on the surface, but with all of the natural food source available on the same grounds, they are tough to entice into striking. A handful of tuna in the 100 to 150 lb. class were accounted for and other yellowfin in the 10 to 60 lb. range, best bet has been on the Iman Bank, though the Gordo Banks is producing some fish as well. Most charters were fortunate to land one or two tuna in their overall catch.

Overall catches averaged a few fish per boat, tuna, dorado, snapper being the most common catch, a few billfish encountered as well. Large numbers of tuna are in the area, just a matter of them going on the bite, with so much food on the grounds, they are not that hungry to aggressively attack anglers offerings at this time, a lot can happen though from day to day, week to week.

Off the bottom there were yellow snapper, triggerfish, leopard grouper, barred pargo, amberjack and dogtooth snapper, though limited numbers, except for the triggerfish, which were plentiful as usual. Dorado were scattered, some fish up to 20 lb. landed. Wahoo were scarce, but one quality sized wahoo of 60 lb. was landed from a panga on Thursday on a lure near Punta Gorda.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 54 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 57 yellowfin tuna, 17 dorado, 1 wahoo, 8 yellow snapper, 1 dogtooth snapper, 8 leopard grouper,55 triggerfish, 3 amberjack and 5 rainbow runner.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
September 10, 2016

At last report we were following forecasts of tropical storm develop off of mainland Mexico, this was all with good reason, as Hurricane Newton quickly formed and gained strength as it headed directly for the Southern Baja Peninsula and the resort towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, making direct impact on Monday night and causing widespread flooding and property damage. Newton hit land as a strong category one hurricane, packing sustained winds of 90 mph, with gusts to over 115 mph. Five crewmen aboard a shrimp trawler which had departed from Ensenada and was heading towards Mazatlán sank in local waters and all men drowned, No deaths were reported on land. Although the damage left behind was nothing compared to that of Hurricane Odile two years ago, nevertheless it was substantial. The panga dock area in Puerto Los Cabos Marina was hit particularly hard, having just been rebuilt after the devastation of Odile, now major work will be needed once again. This area needs to be re-engineered or this appears to be an ongoing problem we will see for any large storm that strikes this vulnerable docking area. Throughout the region there were no basic utilities for most of the week. So everyone will be in clean up and recovery process during the coming weeks, hoping that this is it for the season and that no other storms come our direction.

Before Newton hit, sportfishing charters were concentrating their efforts on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to as far north as Vinorama. Anglers were using baits such as caballito, strips of squids, as well as bolito and small skipjack which were found in large schools on the same fishing grounds. Water temperatures were 85 degrees or more, clear blue water being found close to shore. The Gordo Banks was the one area where larger sized yellowfin tuna were seen, though hooking into one was not a sure bet by any means, though fish of over 200 lbs. were spotted and another class of tuna in the 40 to 60 lb. range were breezing the surface. These medium grade yellowfin did bite sporadically, with some charters landing two or three, or even up to eight yellowfin tuna. Yellowfin tuna were also found on the normal grounds north of Gordo, Iman to San Luis, striking more often on strips of squid, though no huge numbers. Same areas produced some decent numbers of dorado up to 20 pounds.

Off of the offshore Banks there were a mix of striped, blue and black marlin being encountered, but again no big numbers, but everyday some billfish action was being found. We saw one black marlin of 380 lb. accounted for. A couple of wahoo reported, but these fish have been off the bite for the most part. Bottom action was spotty as well, though a few nice dogtooth snapper and amberjack were accounted for, more triggerfish than anything else off of the structure now. After the latest storm there could be many changes to which fish are biting best. So far in the first couple of days that the fleets have back in operation, the action has been slow, off colored water conditions, slowly improving each passing day. Yellowfin tuna of 30 lb. has been the common catch, a few scattered dorado, but only an average of a few fish per boat in combination. We do anticipate improved action in the coming week, as forecast looks favorable and will give the ocean conditions a chance to stabilize.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 44 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 black marlin, 1 striped marlin, 2 blue marlin, 36 yellowfin tuna, 15 dorado, 2 wahoo, 6 yellow snapper, 3 dogtooth snapper, 5 leopard grouper,38 triggerfish, 9 amberjack, 6 rainbow runner and 8 jack crevalle.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
September 3, 2016

We are now into the first week of September, historically the one month where there are greater chances of Hurricanes making direct contact with the Southern Baja Peninsula. Presently the weather has been stable for this past week, no rain, minimal wind, moderate swells, scattered tropical clouds, with very warm and humid conditions, early mornings continue to be slightly cooler, lows of 74 degrees, daytime high near 100 degree heat index. Most recent storms were Madeline and Lester, both following paths far off to the west, narrowly missing direct strikes on the Hawaiian Islands. Now we are closely monitoring a newly forming low pressure system south of Acapulco, forecast to strengthen in Tropical Storm Newton and head in the direction of Baja, we will hope for the best, but need to be prepared for anything that might happen. With ocean temperatures now ranging from 82 to 87 degrees, these are favorable conditions from tropical storm development.

This past week anglers found much more productive all around action than during the previous week. Majority of the charter fleets are concentrating on the fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks to Vinorama, where they have found a variety of surface gamefish as well as opportunities off of the bottom structure. There are no huge numbers of billfish now, but there is a chance at hooking into either a sailfish, striped, blue or black marlin, as all of these species are presently in local waters. We do know of black marlin landed in recent days weighing in the 350 lb. class, hooked into off of the Gordo Banks, where there has also been an occasional larger grade of yellowfin tuna encountered, so far this bite has been very hit or miss, lots of concentrations of schooling bolito and skipjack, major natural food source, fish can become finicky at times with so much food available. In recent days there was one 130 pound tuna landed. On these grounds the best bet has been to slow troll either bolito or skipjack.

In the marina area the bait suppliers have been offering caballito, moonfish and slabs of squid. The most consistent action has been centered on the Iman Bank, good number of smaller grade yellowfin tuna, most in the 10 to 15 lb. range, an occasional tuna to 50 lb., drift fishing with strips of squid has been most productive for this bite. Lots of schooling dorado arrived this week, striking on lures and a variety of baits, the majority of these fish have been under 15 lb., though we do know of one 40 pound bull dorado that was landed off of the Gordo Banks, the big ones have been scarce recently. Early in the week there were a couple of days when a handful of wahoo up to 40 lb. were landed, striking on baits and trolled Rapalas, this bite shut down as fast as it had begun.

The swift current slacked up and this opened up the bottom action, which in the past couple of weeks had produced mainly triggerfish. In recent days off of Iman Banks there has been quality action for species such as leopard grouper, dogtooth snapper and amberjack, we saw one 80 lb. amberjack and dogtooth snapper to over 50 lb. were accounted for. This is normally the time of year when we do expect to see some impressively large gamefish, though it is also the period when weather can turn for the worse very rapidly, so following extended weather forecast is a must.

Not much action reported close to shore, though we did hear of a couple of late season roosterfish, as well as some jack crevalle. Local beach anglers have hooked into a few snook and tripletail, both prized summertime catches.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 60 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 black marlin, 5 striped marlin, 4 blue marlin, 4 sailfish, 325 yellowfin tuna, 210 dorado, 9 wahoo, 10 huachinango, 11 yellow snapper, 9 dogtooth snapper, 14 leopard grouper, 75 triggerfish, 16 amberjack, 2 roosterfish and 12 jack crevalle.

Good fishing, Eric