Anglers –
March 5, 2016

As we near the official start to the spring season, people now visiting the Los Cabos area are being greeted by ideal weather conditions, low temperature in the 60 degree range with daytime highs reaching in the upper 80s. Next week is forecast to be slightly cooler. Skies are clear, plenty of warm sunshine to enjoy all of the available outdoor activities. Ocean temperatures are averaging 73/74 degrees throughout the region, swells were moderate, currents not as strong as they had been and winds have been much lighter, not much from the north at all, mainly from the southeast later in the day.

Schools of mackerel and sardineta are congregating several miles offshore of San Jose del Cabo, increasing numbers of striped marlin are showing up on these same grounds, still no wide open bite by any means, encouraging signs though, with all of the baitfish in the area, also with ocean conditions now much more favorable.

Species such as dorado, yellowfin tuna and wahoo have been extremely limited, though these fish are in the area, and with progressively warming days we should see more activity for these surface gamefish. In the meantime fleets are now finding more action for a variety of great eating species off of the bottom structure. Areas from Punta Palmilla, to La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis Banks have all been showing better production. Anglers have been doing well on yo-yo style jigs, as well as on various available baitfish. This bottom action is really just starting to develop and has been somewhat sporadic as to where the best bite is found on a given day. Daily catches have included, amberjack, yellowtail, yellow snapper, huachinango, barred pargo, bonito, sierra, leopard grouper, hammerhead shark, triggerfish, parrot fish and others. No huge numbers of any particular species, though there has been great variety available.

Early in the the week there was good action for sierra up to six pounds off of Palmilla and Red Hill, also some medium sized roosterfish were patrolling the normal inshore sandy stretches. A few local anglers reported hooking into a larger grade of yellowfin tuna, up to 150 lb. while fishing late in the afternoon on the Gordo Banks, but these fish are not showing themselves during normal charters earlier in the day. Perhaps with warmer steady conditions this will get something more consistent going. The smaller class of yellowfin tuna, up to 30 lb., have been hanging around the Iman Banks, though getting any big numbers of hook ups has not been a regular situation, though some charters did account for one or two tuna in their combined catch, most of these yellowfin hit on striped squid, with a handful on yo-yo jigs.

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: 9 striped marlin, 3 wahoo,1 baqueta grouper, 2 yellowtail, 28 yellowfin tuna, 32 amberjack, 68 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 21 huachinango, 44 yellow snapper, 18 barred pargo, 28 sierra, 14 roosterfish, 6 rainbow runner, 8 parrot fish, 14 bonito, 9 hammerhead shark (released) and 80 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
February 27, 2016

This past week conditions cooled off slightly over the previous week. Still plenty of warm sunshine for the moderate crowds of visitors, highs reaching into the mid 80’s, lows in the 50’s. North winds resided some, switched from the south at times. Currents were very strong at times, water was clear and blue within a mile of shore, water temperatures, ranged from 72 to 75 degrees, warmer currents found offshore.

Last weekend and through the start of this week we saw pelagic red crabs appear on the local fishing grounds, this created excitement, especially for the commercial fleets, these little crustaceans make excellent baits for red snapper, which is the bread and butter of the local commercial panga fleets. They were first seen on the Outer Gordo Bank, later on further north, but then current became swifter and these crabs did not come to the surface, which is the only way they can be caught, with nets when they are up top. So bottom action was the main deal this past week, even the sportfishing fleets were getting in on this action. A handful of nice amberjack to over 50 lb. were also accounted for, quite a few leopard group as well, a few of them over 20 lb. Many variety of snapper, the huachinango (true Pacific red snapper), yellow snapper, barred pargo, tijaretas, etc… Lots of triggerfish. Also one black sea bass of 45 b., a very rare catch for our area, this sea bass ate a red snapper that was being reeled in.

Very few dorado or wahoo, just an occasional fish or two being found. Inshore water where these fish had been holding cooled off, and we were dealing with a bright full moon. Striped marlin became very scattered, just a few fish being found, no larger concentrations. The schools of mackerel and sardinetas became more scattered this week as well. Most charters were using either strips of squid, caballito, ballyhoo, with some mackerel and sardinetas when available.

Little inshore action found, mainly smaller sized roosterfish and a few stray sierra. Not much inshore bait activity to attract numbers of gamefish at this time. Still no signs of any sardinas in the area.

Yellowfin tuna were limited to a few fish in the vicinity of Iman Bank or La Fortuna, these fish were hitting on striped squid, the ongoing sea lion problem continued, most of these inshore tuna were in the 15 to 25 lb. range, anglers were fortunate to land one or two. This whole winter we have had a bonus of finding yellowfin tuna, this during the season when we would normally not see many of these fish, this has been an odd year, with water temperatures being warmer than normal, has changed all of the normal migrations, even the whales are scarcer this season.

In recent days there have been a few yellowfin taken offshore of San Jose del Cabo, associated with rapidly moving schools of porpoise, these were a nicer grade of yellowfin, in the 100 to 150 lb. class, though only a few fish all together were landed, but it is encouraging that we are seeing this, could be the start of something more consistent.

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: 1 black sea bass, 4 striped marlin, 4 wahoo, 40 yellowfin tuna, 5 dorado, 9 amberjack, 35 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 185 huachinango, 56 yellow snapper, 12 barred pargo,7 sierra, 16 roosterfish, 12 rainbow runner,14 parrot fish, 12 bonito, 15 hammerhead shark (released) and 110 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
February 20, 2016

Warm wintertime sunshine is now attracting more tourists and they are enjoying temperatures reaching close to 90 degrees, feels like spring already. Winds have continued to be unpredictable, mainly from the north, but also switching out of the southeast, not as strong as during weeks past. Strong currents have been an issue, but they now seem to be slacking way down.

Crazy season, even the whale migration seems off, not as many being seen off of the San Jose del Cabo area as would be normal for this time of year. Plenty of sea lions on the fishing grounds, awaiting their opportunity at an easy meal, grabbing fish that are hooked on angler’s lines. The bait situation remains the same, sardineta continue to school offshore and can be caught on sabiki rigs early in the morning, caballito, cocinero, squid strips and ballyhoo are also available, though we heard of no reports at all of any sardinas being found.

Ocean clarity became a bit more greenish close to shore, north to Los Frailes, water temperature was also coolest closer to shore, about 72/74 degrees on the average, while five or more miles offshore there was 75/76 degree water reported. All around the fishing action was more scattered this past week. Yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo action became very limited. A few tuna were being hooked, most of these found from La Fortuna to the Iman Bank, and best chances were early in the day, also getting a hooked yellowfin actually in the boat was a challenge with the ever present sea lions lurking nearby. Most of these tuna were in the 15 to 25 lb. range and anglers were fortunate to land one or two of these fish. Dorado were almost nonexistent, who knows where they have gone, wahoo were still around, but fewer were being hooked up, more action early in the week, with very few of these speedsters being reported later in the week. Water temperature cooled off where these wahoo had been schooling off of Punta Gorda, also a bit off colored, with winds settling down these fish could decide to become more active again as conditions improve.

Bottom action was spotty, most common catches being triggerfish and smaller sized snapper/pargo species, with a handful of cabrilla (leopard grouper) in the mix. More hammerhead moving in on the structure, where we commonly bottom fish, makes for an additional challenge. On at least a couple of occasions, anglers reported that something very large grabbed on to their hooked up tuna, only to head for the rocks and break the line, sounds like some grouper or dogtooth snapper are moving in.

The action for striped marlin continues off of San Jose del Cabo, mostly centered from 3 to 5 miles offshore, changing daily, most charters targeting these billfish are having chances, some several per day, majority of hook ups came while drift fishing with the available larger baits, sizes on the marlin ranged from 70 lb. to 120 lb.

Inshore there was some roosterfish and sierra action, a few nicer sized roosterfish were accounted for, up to 25 lb., impressive for this time of year. There was a reported 25 lb. class snook landed from a panga charter while trolling close to shore for roosterfish, off of the Estuary area, definitely an unusual catch.

A few more sierra in recent days, the lack of sardinas has really hurt the sierra season, fun fish on light tackle, scrappy and very fast fighters.

Just no big numbers of any particular species at this time, though spring is now right around the corner, transition time can be like this, but things can also change very fast.

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: 1 snook,18 striped marlin, 7 wahoo, 16 yellowfin tuna, 2 dorado, 6 amberjack, 8 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 16 huachinango, 22 yellow snapper, 15 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 12 parrot fish, 8 bonito, 10 hammerhead shark (released), 2 thrasher shark, and 28 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric