Anglers –
July 9, 2016

We are now in the second week of July, weather patterns forming from the southwest continue to push in cooler off colored currents from the Pacific. A pair of hurricanes developed in the past week, both following paths far off to the west, no impact on land was felt. Swells were now minimal, though south winds were more prevalent, most days picking up by mid-day, some days earlier, this keeps the climate bearable, more pleasant with some Pacific breeze, though it does not help the inshore water conditions to improve. Ocean temperatures are ranging from about 71 degrees to 80 degrees. With a distinct temperature line some 30 miles offshore now. A lot can happen in matter of a week or two this time of year, patterns sometimes settle down early in the month, other years not until the end of the month.

Bait situation remains much the same, caballito, moonfish and at times mullet, no smaller sardinas reported from any local resources. Not many anglers using the slabs of squid now either, as there is more trolling starting to go on, as well as the option of jigging over the structure. Inshore action for jacks, roosterfish, snappers, pargo, cabrilla, amberjack, bonito and others, continue to be the more productive option for the local panga fleets. The better action being found from Cardon to Vinorama, often within one mile of shore, though water clarity and temperature has varied from day to day and this has affected the bite accordingly, also lots of sharks on these same grounds, on some days too many, spooky the more sought after species. Dogtooth snapper, amberjack and other snapper or cabrilla species were being accounted for daily, some fish up to 50 lb., though average catch was more in the 8 to 25 lb. range. Yo-yo jigs were working best early in the day, then the more productive option seemed to be with bait, either drift fishing or slowly trolled on the surface.

Not many dorado or wahoo being reported now, though yellowfin tuna are schooling on the grounds from Iman to Vinorama, with three or four miles of shore, scattered action while trolling hoochies and rapalas, these tuna weighed in the 5 to 20 lb. class, many charters accounted for 2,3 or 4 fish, some catching as many as ten. We also heard of some yellowfin tuna to over 200 lb. found some 30 miles offshore on the blue water temperature break outside of Cabo San Lucas, traveling with porpoise, though this was hit or miss and the numbers of fish landed were limited. Also a increased numbers of blue marlin being reported from these same waters further offshore, blues to over 300 lb. were landed, most of these were from larger sportfishers. Striped marlin bite dropped off, though they are still are in the area and an occasional stray dorado is being reported as well, most of these fish being under 15 lb.

Crowds of visitors continue to be only moderate, not very busy, but we have seen some family groups arriving, as this is when many school session are just finishing for the semester. Pacific breezes have kept the climate comfortable, though we all know that the serious summer heat will arrive at any time, we have already had felt the heat, now we are having a slight relief before the real tropical weather patterns set in, so all in all a great time to visit.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 66 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 5 striped marlin, 22 dogtooth snapper, 105 yellowfin tuna, 18 bonito, 7 dorado, 28 amberjack, 15 leopard grouper (cabrilla), 16 pargo colorado, 22 huachinango (red snapper), 19 yellow snapper, 9 barred pargo, 32 jack crevalle and 12 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
July 1, 2016

As we now progress further into the summer season, we are seeing more stable weather patterns, southern hemisphere swell has diminished and winds are moderate from the south, mainly picking up later in the day. There is a low pressure system now developing further south, forecasts expect that this system will head towards the west and not do much off Southern Baja, except increase humidity some, possible rain shower next Tuesday, which would be nice actually. Crowds of visitors are light, great time to visit for anglers to enjoy lighter pressure on the local fishing grounds, this means more fish for everyone. Ocean conditions are continuing to rebound quickly, clarity is improving daily, as cleaner water is now being found within a couple of miles from shore, water temperature through the region is now in the 74 to 78 degree range continues on a warming trend. Most sportfishing fleets are now fishing in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, from Chileno to Vinorama.

Daily catches have included billfish, yellowfin tuna, roosterfish, jack crevalle, pargo, snapper, amberjack, bonito, cabrilla and also there are limited numbers of dorado and wahoo being encountered. With the conditions improving daily, anything could develop on any given day. Bait supplies remain steady for caballito, mullet, moonfish, jurelito and there are options of squid slabs or ballyhoo also being offered, though the live bait has proven to be the better option in recent weeks.

Local panga fleets have been concentrating mainly on the grounds from Cardon, Iman, San Luis and to Vinorama, within one to four miles from shore. Fleets found schooling football sized yellowfin tuna in this area while trolling with lures such as hoochies, Rapalas and cedar plugs, on some days charters were catching limits of these small yellowfin, while on other days fish were more scattered. Only an occasional dorado or wahoo being reported, but these gamefish are in the area, at times being seen free swimming and not wanting to strike. A few larger yellowfin tuna were accounted for as well, these tuna hit on larger whole live bait, with bolito being the best choice and these bait fish were being caught on small hoochies and then immediately pinned on and trolled slowly over the same grounds. Tuna to over one hundred pounds were hooked and landed, with other hook ups lost. With all of the small tuna and bolito in the area and the warming waters, there were a handful of larger sized back and blue marlin strikes reported, these fish were lost due to various reasons.

The rocky structure was producing decent action early in the day on yo-yo jigs, huachinango, amberjack, cabrilla and bonito being the most common catches. The depth of these grounds usually range from 100 to 180 feet, Other high spots closer to shore, in depths of 40 to 80 feet, these were producing various snapper and pargo species, as well as quality sized amberjack to 75 lb. This can be tricky fishing, some days fish would not become active until later in the morning as tides were shifting. Many of these fish were of the toothy dogtooth snapper variety, which once hooked near the surface would immediate freight train towards the nearest rock plie, more often than not resulting in frayed and cut lines. Can be very exciting fishing, but equally frustrating as well, even the most experienced of anglers can be brought to their knees by these powerful fighters.

Sharks continue to be presence on the same grounds, from offshore to these inshore areas as well, this can put a damper on the action in a hurry, if too many of these sharks invade the same grounds and spook the other gamefish.

Roosterfish continue to patrol the inshore beach stretches, as well as the hog sized jack crevalle, roosters to over 60 pounds were caught and released in recent days. We did not hear of much going with the porpoise and yellowfin tuna further offshore, that action seems to have faded away, of course all of the commercial purseiners that were also seen on these same grounds definitely could be one of the reasons why that action faded so quickly.

Local La Playita pangeros reported some quality action for snook this past week, fish were caught from the shore, as well as from pangas, which trolled in the surf zone, as close as they could safely do so. One snook of 60 lbs. was reportedly landed, this would have been a new official all tackle IGFA record if the angler had properly documented the incredible catch. Lots of sea life now, manta rays, turtles, sharks, seas lions and a few porpoise.

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: 14 striped marlin, 6 wahoo, 24 dogtooth snapper, 220 yellowfin tuna, 28 bonito, 8 dorado, 2 sierra, 59 amberjack, 19 leopard grouper (cabrilla), 25 pargo colorado, 27 huachinango (red snapper), 22 yellow snapper, 12 barred pargo, 35 jack crevalle, 3 snook and 85 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
June 25, 2016

With the officially start to the summer season we also saw the weather change to more of a tropical pattern. Increased morning cloud cover, burning off as the day progressed, higher humidity and heat index up to 100 degrees. The wind and swell patterns are now becoming more predominate from the south. This week there was a ocean swell from the southern hemisphere that pushed into Baja waters. Currents continued to be extremely strong, inshore areas are now cooler and greener, the clarity line had been within several miles of shore, but in recent days have shifted from 20 to 30 miles offshore, this is where there is a pronounced break from 74 degree water, up to 78 or even 80 degree currents.

This entire week had the ocean conditions rapidly changing, the week started with warmer clean water being found fairly close to shore, then water clarity deteriorated and the warm blue water shifted to much further offshore. All of this movement has limited what sportfishing fleets were able to do, basically it was down to two main options, either stay closer to shore and work the beach stretches and the structure within a couple miles of shore, other plan was to head out deep to where the clean water was found.

Bait supplies consisted of mullet, caballito, moonfish, or ballyhoo and squid slabs were also available. The majority of the local panga fleets were fishing on the grounds from Cardon to Vinorama, trolling or drift fishing with various baits, there were some great quality fish accounted for early in the week, as the week progressed the water became more stirred up with the increased swell and the action tapered off. One of the more significant catches was a 122 lb. amberjack that was landed near Vinorama on a live mullet from the super panga “Hooker” by skipper Tony Miranda’s son Axel, what a monster. There were many other amberjack landed that were in the 20 to 70 lb. class. Also a handful of dogtooth snapper and pargo Colorado, leopard grouper, barred pargo, yellow snapper, roosterfish, jack crevalle and at least one yellowtail.

Off the structure, in areas of 120 to 180 ft. there was some action encountered while using yo-yo jigs, mid-week there were some yellowfin tuna up to 75 lb. landed off of the San Luis Bank, then as the water became off colored, that put an end to that action for the time being. All week there were reports of larger cow sized yellowfin tuna being encountered while trolling among pods of fast moving porpoise, most days this activity was found some 20 to 30 miles from shore, near where the warm water break was. We saw one 170 lb. class yellowfin brought to the panga dock area, we heard of a fish over 300 lb. taken from a Los Barriles charter, there were many reports of big fish, though with the distance offshore and the combination of south wind chop, this was mainly a larger boat deal and for the boats that arrived on the scene first before the traffic created too much commotion and put the fish off the bite. Other action offshore besides encountered possibly tuna action was for scattered strikes on striped marlin or dorado, no big numbers but a few nice fish were being found, most of these just by trolling lures in open water. Not much talk of wahoo this past week, though as the water clears back up closer to shore these fish could become more active at any time.

The roosterfish action continued to be very good along a wide stretch of inshore zones, a couple of off days when currents became dirty and cold in certain regions, quickly changing from day to day now. We heard of roosterfish to fifty pounds that were caught and released, also scores of big jack crevalle are also patrolling these same inshore areas,

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 63 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 8 striped marlin, 1 yellowtail, 9 dogtooth snapper, 23 yellowfin tuna, 16 bonito, 9 dorado, 26 amberjack, 18 leopard grouper (cabrilla), 18 pargo colorado, 24 yellow snapper, 5 sierra, 10 barred pargo, 72 jack crevalle, 74 roosterfish and 55 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric