Anglers –
February 13, 2016

The month of February has always been thought of as unpredictable and a bit crazy, we have seen a bit of this already. Last week was cooler and windy, now we have seen a warmer trend like spring is already here, daytime highs reaching 90 degrees, plenty of clear skies and sunshine, the wind patterns and unusually swift currents still persist, but it does feel like days will only be getting warmer as we progress towards spring break. Ocean water temperatures are holding at 74 degrees throughout most of the region, warmer 76 degree water found outside of Cabo San Lucas and around the Gordo Banks.

The all-around fishing action remains scattered, a lot of variety in the area now, but no particular species is overly abundant. Clear blue water is being found within a few miles of shore, though there is greener conditions towards the north near Los Frailes. Schools of sardinetas are now congregated off of San Jose del Cabo, always a good sign that these will be attracting more gamefish, particularly striped marlin. Still no reports of the normal smaller sardinas being found, word has spread that this species will be under stricter regulations to help this stock rebound once the environmental conditions are to their liking so that they return to their normal migration patterns. With ocean temperatures remaining warmer than normal, this has contributed to changing oxygen levels and plankton growth, which these baitfish feed on, El Nino has all normal patterns all mixed up.

A sign that anything could happen on any given day was confirmed when local pangero legend Hugo Pino from La Playita landed a 350 lb. black marlin off of the Gordo Banks mid- week, Hugo was trolling a live caballito when the black struck. Very unusual to find black marlin hanging around these grounds during mid-February. On these same grounds there have been yellowfin tuna, some of these tuna are over the hundred pound mark, many have been seen of all sizes, feeding on what look like an abundance of flying fish, hard to entice them to strike on anything else, though a handful of these yellowfin to 120 lb. have been landed, some on normal morning charters, other on afternoon trips by the selective few commercial and private boats that do go out later in the day. Problem has been finding a calm enough afternoon, these anglers are stock piling slabs of squid as well, the more chum the better, to help entice these finicky tuna.

Not all that much going off the bottom, wind earlier in the week, combined with persistently stronger currents and then the ever present hungry sea lions, all has added up to few numbers of snapper, cabrilla and amberjack. There was a report of a couple of yellowtail, so maybe more of these popular jacks will move in. If conditions do continue to stabilize, we should see improved bottom action, anglers have been using whole and cut baits, as well as yo-yo jigs, some charters are starting to use down riggers.

Wahoo are hanging around into winter season again, though bite has been sporadic, more chances now there a favorite food source of sadinetas have showed up. Punta Gorda seems to be holding more numbers of the wahoo now, but the word has also spread, putting added pressure on these already elusive and shy fish.

Very few dorado being found, just a few single fish, no particular place better than the other. Inshore there were some roosterfish and a few sierra found, a few roosterfish to 20 lb., good sized for this time of year. With the warmer water and lack of sardinas for bait there have been no big numbers of sierra

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 74 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black marlin, 17 striped marlin, 14 wahoo, 35 yellowfin tuna, 11 dorado, 10 amberjack, 16 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 1 thrasher shark, 16 huachinango, 52 misc. pargo/snapper , 6 sierra, 24 roosterfish and 55 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
February 6, 2016

The first week of February brought light crowds of tourists, the all-around climate was very pleasant considering this is the midst of winter time and daytime highs were reaching 85 degrees. The period started out with calmer days, but quickly these calm ocean conditions deteriorated, as the north winds picked up to near gale force, on Wednesday it blew 30 mph, with even higher gusts, then weakened later in the week to about 15 to 20 miles mph., this continued through into the weekend. As a result we saw ocean water temperatures drop suddenly into the 74 degree range and it appears this cooling trend might continue.

This sudden change did not help the fishing action at all, in fact not many charters were even braving the elements. Bait fish became scattered, though local bait vendors did make the extra effort to travel to the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas at night where they found good numbers of schooling mackerel, though with the stirred up conditions anglers did not find much with these lively bait fish. There were limited supplies of caballito, ballyhoo and slabs of squid also available.

No particular species of fish was very active at all this week, even the triggerfish were not eager to eat. Yellowfin tuna were still hanging around the Iman Bank, but not many were landed, these grounds were practically unreachable for several days and the hungry sea lions were more aggressive than ever. The tuna that were landed ranged up to 25 lb., striking on strips of squid. A handful of yellowfin also were taken from other areas. Dorado became even scarcer than they had been, the few that were accoutered for were in the 10 lb. range.

Striped marlin action slowed compared to last week, though these billfish are still being found in varying numbers throughout the region. The ocean clarity is still good and these marlin to not mind cooler currents, they just need to have their steady food supply.

Wahoo became more finicky with cooling waters, also the word was now out, as to where most of these wahoo were hanging out off of Punta Gorda and the pressure was heavier on these grounds. Too many spear fishermen these days, not easy to fish where there are also people spear fishing. Many of the wahoo they hit with spears end up ripping free, only to die of their injuries and this makes the entire school of wahoo even that much spookier. The large needlefish have returned in force, striking on trolled baits and making a mess of things as they like to do.

Bottom action was showing improvement last week, before this latest blow, maybe cooling waters will get some yellowtail action going. Inshore there were some sierra caught, trolling baits and lures, hard to really get these fish going without the sardinas available.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 38 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 11 wahoo, 18 yellowfin tuna, 8 dorado, 18 rainbow runner, 4 amberjack, 6 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 17 huachinango, 26 other pargo/snapper species, 8 bonito, 9 sierra and 12 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
January 30, 2016

We are seeing fewer visiting anglers arriving during the past couple of weeks, this is not unusual, as this is never peak season for any particular gamefish species on our local grounds. Weather patterns remain much the same, mostly sunny days, some marine layer cloud cover, winds still predominately from the north, varying up to 20 mph or stronger on some days, high daytime temperatures have been reaching into the lower 80s. These winds can limit on where fleets can fish comfortably. Ocean temperatures are averaging 76 degrees and clean blue water is being found within one mile of shore. Anglers have been using a mix of caballito, striped squid and ballyhoo for bait, no reports of any sardinas being located within local range, nor has any consistent offshore baitfish source been happening. There were reports of large concentrations of flying fish being seen, with fish spotted chasing these flyers, acquiring a taste for them and not too aggressive for other offerings.

Local sportfishing fleets were scouting out fishing grounds in all of the normal directions, most productive grounds recently were from Santa Maria, Palmilla, Punta Gorda, La Fortuna and Iman Bank. Yellowfin action was reported on the more distant Pacific Banks for a larger grade of yellowfin. The Iman Bank was producing tuna to over 30 lb., though with the northern winds and sea lion presence, this was a tough bite for the past five days or so, need calmer conditions to effectively drift fish these grounds.

Wahoo have been playing elusive hide and seek games as usual, though actual these fish have become more active in recent days, found close to shore, trolling lures and baits, best bet early in the morning, but there were chances at all hours of the day, you have to just be in the right place at the precise time when these finicky feeders decide to strike. The wahoo now being landed have been in the 15 to 40 lb. range. Anglers reported wahoo action off of Santa Maria, Palmilla, Punta Gorda and Iman Bank. With water temperature still temperate, we expect these ‘hoo to stay in the area into February. Remember last season, some of our best wahoo action was found mid-February.

Striped marlin action improved this past week, decent number of stripers were found straight outside the Puerto Los Cabos Marina, anywhere from one to four miles from shore, most strikes were on caballito, soaking down deep, slow trolling baits on the surface, or occasional gun and run to feeding fish.

Not much going on for sierra or roosterfish, sporadic action found, though some dorado were encountered very close to shore, attracted by available baitfish, more dorado this week than last, sizes ranged up to 20 lb. Anglers were fortunate to find one or two, no big numbers of any particular species now.

Bottom action was tough, mainly due to the windy days, hard to reach the more productive areas to the north, closer inshore, where it was more protected from gusty winds, most common catches were for triggerfish, a handful of snapper, bonito and cabrilla.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 61 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 22 striped marlin, 19 wahoo, 38 yellowfin tuna, 19 dorado, 8 rainbow runner, 9 cabrilla (leopard grouper), 8 huachinango, 14 yellow snapper,10 bonito, 2 sierra and 80 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric