Anglers –
January 23, 2016

We are seeing increased crowds of visitors, though not that high of percentage of these visitors are serious salt water anglers. Many people are escaping the winter chill and heading south, we expect this will continue, as the eastern section of United States are in the midst of a serious blizzard now, many flights are being canceled, though expect people will be ready to get out of town when they are able to. Local weather has been cooler in the early morning, down around the 50 degree mark, though days have been clear and sunny, with high temperatures reaching up to 85 degrees. Winds continue to blow predominately from the north, 10 to 20 mph, switching to the south on some days. Ocean temperatures are avenging 76 degrees throughout Southern Baja region, swells have been moderate, fluctuating currents, quite swift at times.

The local bait situation remains much the same, slabs of squid, ballyhoo, caballito and just in recent days some charters found schooling sardinetas offshore. With ocean temperatures now being about 4 degrees higher than normal, hard to predict what might happen with fish migrations this winter season. Plenty of whales now in the area, also more than enough hungry sea lions, creating even more competition for anglers.

Sportfishing fleets were spread out in all directions, we heard reports of larger cow sized yellowfin tuna being encountered traveling with porpoise on the outside of the Pacific Banks, marlin were scattered, some days charters could find one or two striped marlin, while on others days there were none to be found, as more concentrations of baitfish move in we do expect to see more billfish activity. Some stripers were even striking on the stripped squid that anglers used for targeting tuna on the grounds from Punta Gorda to Iman Bank. This action was on and off, wind was a problem on the grounds further to the north, sizes of the yellowfin averaged in the 15 to 50 lb. range, for the most part there were np significant numbers, anglers did well accounting for two or three tuna in their combined morning catch.

Dorado action dropped way off on the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo, we did hear of more do-dos being found on the Pacific, these pelagic fish are just now returning from Southern California, where they had followed the warm El Nino current this past summer and fall. So we do expect to see more dorado appearing in the next month, especially if this warm water situation continues. Wahoo did become more active in the past week, especially early in the week, there was good early morning action found close off of Punta Gorda by anglers trolling both lures and trap hooked larger batfish, sizes ranged up to 40 lb. This bite became more sporadic as the week progressed, though these elusive gamefish are definitely still holding in the temperate conditions and we expect continued action for these fish until water temperatures become too cool for their liking.

More bottom activity being found now, rock piles north of Punta Gorda were producing leopard grouper (cabrilla), yellow and red snapper, rainbow runner, bonito, amberjack and triggerfish. No really big numbers, but more than we have seen so far this season, anglers had success on yo-yo jigs, as well as on whole or strip baits.

Not much reported along the shore, no sierra to speak of, a few roosterfish north of the marina jetty, the majority being smaller sized fish which should always be released with care.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 57 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 6 striped marlin, 26 wahoo, 144 yellowfin tuna, 6 dorado, 21 rainbow runner, 22 cabrilla, 35 huachinango, 16 yellow snapper, 4 amberjack, 14 bonito, 2 roosterfish and 110 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
January 16, 2016

Quiet week in Los Cabos, as light numbers of tourists were arriving, as we are now in the normal lull period immediately following the New Year’s Holiday. Winter time conditions are even being felt locally, as low temperatures dipped to 50 degrees and though days were mostly sunny, high temperatures were hovering around 75 degrees. Actually very pleasant climate for the midst of winter time, be hard to convince the locals though, as they are bundling up like there is no tomorrow.

The week started off with gusty northerly winds, settling down later, nice ocean conditions for anglers, besides the early morning chill. Ocean Temperatures averaging 75 degrees, warmer currents are being found on the Pacific Banks. Anglers continue to rely on the available bait sources of caballito, cocinero, ballyhoo and slabs of squid. No reports of anyone finding schooling sardinas within local range. Local San Jose del Cabo fleets continue to concentrate their efforts on the Grounds from Cerro Colorado/Red Hill to the Gordo Banks and north to La Fortuna and Iman Banks.

Really there has been no particular hot spot recently, everyday certain areas produced a mix of species in limited numbers. Very few dorado or wahoo reported, though free swimming wahoo were sighted on several occasions, not many were actually hooked and landed, same with dorado, they seemed to be taking the week off. Yellowfin tuna were holding around the twenty five spot off of La Fortuna, but with often rapid sweeping drifts created by winds, this spot was not always easy to fish. There was an ongoing problem with nuisance sea lions, waiting for their chance at an easy meal. Most of the yellowfin accounted for were under 20 lb. and were elusively hooked while using strips of squid for bait. The Gordo Banks were also attracting a larger grade of yellowfin tuna, but only a handful of these fish were actually landed, this fishery was a late afternoon deal, done pretty much elusively by local commercial pangeros, fishing the late twilight hours, reported that the yellowfin to over 100 pounds would start feeding as the sun was just about setting, makes for a late day, fighting fish into the darkness and then arriving back to the dock area in the pitch black of the moon less evening.

Billfish action was also very scattered, most common catch being smaller sized striped marlin, no larger concentrations of offshore baitfish to attract any major feeding frenzies. With all of the normal fish migration patterns being abnormal this year, we are expecting later than usual arrival of sardineta and mackerel this season, hard to predict when this will happen, it is time now, these are mostly unprecedented events that are now occurring.

Bottom action was showing encouraging signs the past couple of weeks, more red snapper, amberjack and cabrilla started to appear, then we saw stronger currents slowing down this action, we expect to see steady improvement for this structure activity as weather conditions stabilize. Winds have been more consistent than normal through this past Fall and now into our Winter season, should be time that we start having the calmer days and this will help open up more bottom opportunities.

Very little inshore action, spotty action on smaller sized roosterfish, no sierra to speak of without the preferred sardina bait source.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 56 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 7 striped marlin, 10 wahoo, 88 yellowfin tuna, 11 dorado, 1 island jack, 10 rainbow runner, 14 cabrilla, 26 huachinango, 22 yellow snapper, 8 amberjack, 2 sierra, 12 bonito, 4 roosterfish and 85 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
January 9, 2016

With the holiday season now coming to a close we are seeing lighter crowds of visitors arriving, we do expect as winter sets in across the United States, more people will be looking to travel south in search of some warm sunshine. We have seen scattered cloud cover, early morning lows in the 50s, with daytime highs reaching into the upper 70s. North winds have been variable, not as strong as during previous weeks, so anglers have been enjoying favorable conditions on the water. The annual migration of whales is now in full swing, after being a little late arriving in such numbers, these mammals can now be seen on a regular basis every day.

The bait situation continues much the same, no new resource for sardinas, nor have we seen any mackerel or sardinetas, we have been relying on slabs of squid, caballito and ballyhoo. Hard to say when we might see sardinas move back within our range. Anglers are finding better action using the available bait, versus trolling artificial lures. San Jose del Cabo fleets are concentrating on the fishing grounds from Red Hill, Gordo Banks and north to Iman Bank. One of the more productive areas in recent days has been La Fortuna, or the 25 spot. This is where yellowfin tuna in the 15 to 30 pound class have been striking on strips of squid. Action has been a bit sporadic from day to day, some days the fish bite early and some days later, the key is to be in the right place at the correct time. This same area is also producing decent catches off the bottom for huachinango (red snapper), some amberjack, cabrilla and bonito.

The action off of Punta Gorda had been good for tuna, but then switched north to La Fortuna, huachinango have been hitting on these grounds early in the morning, and anglers were using strips of squid for these quality snapper, which ranged up to 12 pounds. Dorado were scattered, best chance for these gamefish seemed to be closer to shore, more baitfish close in now to attract these fish, dorado were hitting best on rigged ballyhoo, more often later in the morning, finding circling frigate birds has been the best way to find the dorado. Most of the dorado we have seen were ranging in the 10 to 20 lb. class.

Not much going on with wahoo now, though they are still in the area, some are being seen very close to shore, which is fairly common for this time of year. Actually more anglers were targeting the tuna action, chances are if you did specially target the wahoo with larger trap rigged baits is that you could find one or two of these fish and we do expect to see these elusive fish become more active as we enter the coming favorable moon phase. Ocean water temperatures are now averaging 75 degrees.

There has been inshore opportunities for roosterfish, though the majority of the roosterfish this time of year are smaller sized, not easy to hook with larger baits, these juvenile fish can be fragile to safely catch and release. Sierra action has been slim with the lack of sardinas, though surf anglers have been catching fair numbers of these feisty fish at first light off of the local beaches.

The marlin action off of San Jose del Cabo dissipated, food source must have moved on, now some striped marlin are being found scattered offshore, no particular hot spot and in limited numbers, best bet was to troll lures and look for signs of fish, then try and drop a bait back. With cooling water temperatures we have not heard of any more black marlin hook ups around the Gordo Banks.

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: 5 striped marlin, 11 wahoo, 225 yellowfin tuna, 32 dorado, 13 cabrilla, 132 huachinango, 30 yellow snapper, 19 amberjack, 4 sierra, 23 bonito, 16 roosterfish and 65 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric