Anglers –
July `11, 2015

As school sessions end for the summer break we are now seeing more family vacationers arrive in Los Cabos, they have been greeted with calm, warm and humid patterns this past week. Distance tropical low pressure areas off to the west have created more tropical conditions, though winds have been light and skies very clear, moderate swells and clear blue water being found close to shore. Only rainfall reported has been to the north of San Jose del Cabo, near Miraflores and Santiago, vegetation is lush green in this region, compared to the parched desert landscape south of the airport, this is the normal pattern July through September, while coastal rainfall is more often associated with storm systems from the south, not like local thunderstorms that develop over the mountains north of San Jose del Cabo.

Ocean water temperatures have risen up to 85 degrees in areas, clear blue water for the most part, varying currents, raging at times, fleets are fishing over a wide span, searching for more productive waters. Billfish action slowed, warmer water can make striped marlin very sluggish and the majority of these stripers migrate towards California during the summer. A handful of sailfish are now moving in, and there have been blue marlin hook ups as well, though these fish are very scattered and not very active at this time. The offshore fishing grounds are holding schools of bolito and this past week we have seen more and more small football sized yellowfin tuna arrive, they are usually a good indicator for attracting large predators such as black and blue marlin. On the local Gordo Banks, this action usually peaks during the months of August, September and October.

Dorado are even more scattered than the billfish are, only an occasional fish being encountered, mixed sizes up to 20 lb., striking mainly in open water on lures, this is the time of year where we normally see larger concentrations of these popular gamefish. Wahoo have been elusive as well, but everyday a few of these speedsters have been accounted for off of the spots ranging from Red Hill, La Fortuna, to Iman Bank. The majority of the wahoo strikes were taken on trolled Rapalas.

Panga fleets out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, continue to target early morning action on the San Luis Bank for red snapper (huachinango), anglers working yo-yo jigs off of the structure were hooking into quality snapper weighing in 6 to 12 lb. class. This bite has tapered off compared to the past couple of weeks, though there is still a good chance at landing four or five of these snapper, with the only real productive time being early in the morning, after the sun starts to rise these fish shut down and most charters will then scout out other options offshore or inshore.

This season we have seem very limited activity for dogtooth snapper along the rocky shoreline, only an accessional story being told, most of them involving massive strikes that results in broken lines. The main action being targeted along the shoreline now has been for roosterfish, though this action became more difficult the past week, water clarity was crystal clear in many stretches and this can make these fish spooky. Anglers that went further north near Vinorama did report great action on larger sized roosterfish, apparently they witnessed some truly epic feeding frenzy activity.

An unusual catch was made by a commercial pangero the other day as he was returning into the marina channel area and was slow motoring, while leaving a moonfish out on a line, he hooked and landed a 30 lb. snook, all in front of local crowd hanging at the La Playita fillet stations, not an everyday catch.

The past couple of days we have seen some sardinas being found and then sold by the bait suppliers to charters operating in the direction of Iman Bank, these baitfish were found along the beach north of Vinorama, smaller in size, but are the first sardinas we have seen in at least two months and were being used to catch good numbers of smaller sized yellowfin tuna, most in the 5 to 8 lb. range, though a few tuna in the 30, 40 to 50 lb. range were also landed, some of these on yo-yo jigs or strips of squid. It is now the time of year where we see larger yellowfin moving on to the local Banks such as the Gordo Banks, Iman and San Luis. Last year there was a flurry of big tuna action in early August, time will tell what happens this season.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 75 charters, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 sailfish,14 striped marlin, 16 dorado, 17 wahoo, 135 yellowfin tuna, 3 amberjack, 8 cabrilla, 14 yellow snapper, 12 jack crevalle, 24 bonito, 24 roosterfish and 105 huachinango (red snapper).

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
July4, 2015

We are now settling into the new month of July, weather on the horizon remains calm at this time, no new tropical storms threatening, there are a pair of low pressure areas far off towards the west, heading in the direction of Hawaii, nothing to worry about in Southern Baja. With ocean water temperatures ranging into the low 80’s, these conditions can be ripe for tropical storm systems to develop rapidly, so we will all be monitoring forecasts closely.

Swells remain very moderate, currents are stronger that normal, winds were somewhat unpredictable, at times picking up from the north and then just as quickly shifting from out of the south, mainly from mid-day and into the afternoon, early in the day ocean conditions were much calmer. Sportfishing fleets have been concentrating on the grounds from outside of Cabo San Lucas and north towards San Luis Bank.

Bait supplies often become more scattered during the full moon phase, though at this time there have been both caballito and moonfish available. On the offshore grounds there have been bolito, skipjack and some smaller yellowfin tuna showing up, these can all be used for live bait as well. There have been limited numbers of larger sized yellowfin tuna found by sportfishers traveling anywhere from 25 to 40 miles offshore, these tuna, up to 200 pounds, were traveling with pods of porpoise, striking on a variety of lures, as well as available baitfish. A handful of yellowfin also were hooked into off of the San Luis Bank by anglers that were targeting the red snapper action that has been happening early morning on these grounds. These tuna were ranging from smaller sized footballs, up to about 40 lb. No significant numbers though, more tuna were seen at times, but it was another story trying to entice them into biting, especially on days where winds increased and currents were swift.

There are a wide selection of gamefish now present on the local grounds, a time when offshore billfish grand slams are feasible, with there being striped marlin, sailfish, black and blue marlin all being hooked into this past week. Marlin have been found in close proximity to shore, most of this action from 3 to 10 miles from shore. Blue water has recently been encountered in close proximity on most days, fluctuating currents did move off colored water in on occasions and boats would then travel further to find cleaner areas. This is still the time of year when conditions are stabilizing, as the hot summer season progresses, usually by mid-July we do not have to deal with cooler Pacific currents working our direction, by this time we would expect water temperatures of 85 degrees for the rest of the summer.

One 400 pound class black marlin was reportedly landed by a charter based out of Palmilla, also some blue marlin making their presence this past week, most of these were in the 100 lb.to 200 lb. range. There are more numbers of striped marlin than of the other species, a handful of sailfish in the mix. Dorado were scattered, mixed sized, majority were smaller fish, not in the numbers we would expect for this time period.

Many charters were doing some early morning bottom jigging or targeting inshore roosterfish action, before trying some open blue water or outer banks activity, this time of year there are a variety of options to choose from and on any particular day a certain area can go off. The red snapper (huachinango) bite has continued on the San Luis Bank, this has mainly been an early morning bite on yo-yo jigs for snapper up to 12 lb., with Mexican bonito, a few cabrilla or amberjack mixed in. This action had been more consistent last week, but is still producing, we must remember factors such as fast currents and bright full moon phases can change feeding habits.

Roosterfish continue to patrol inshore waters, this is peak season for chances at finding trophy sized roosterfish, jack crevalle and dogtooth snapper can also found close to during this season.

Wahoo became a bit more active mid-week, as many charters accounted for wahoo while trolling Rapalas or smaller hoochie type lures on grounds north of Punta Gorda, though again no numbers, most charters were fortunate to land one of these elusive wahoo, weights ranged to 35 lb.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 73 charters for the shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 5 sailfish, 29 striped marlin, 1 island jack, 74 dorado, 11 wahoo, 14 yellowfin tuna, 9 amberjack, 14 cabrilla, 5 dogtooth snapper, 2 pargo colorado, 15 yellow snapper, 8 jack crevalle, 66 bonito, 58 roosterfish and 115 huachinango (red snapper).

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –
June 27, 2015

This week we had persistent warmer weather conditions, no storms brewing on the map at this time, warm and humid conditions prevail and with warmer ocean currents pushing 80 degree plus water in our direction, anything could develop on the horizon any day. Ocean swells are minimal now, after the big blow last Saturday winds were now light, which turned water conditions over for a couple of days, water temperatures cooled by ten degrees overnight, also clarity became greenish closer to shore. Though now water has cleaned back up and conditions appear favorable.

The action became more scattered after the gusty winds, as water was cooler, the colder water species, such as Eastern Pacific Bonito and huachinango, the true Pacific red snapper went on a good bite on the San Luis Bank, striking mainly on yo-yo style jigs. By mid-week this action tapered off as warmer clean water returned. Though there was a decent mix of bottom species accounted for, pargo, amberjack, cabrilla and a few dogtooth snapper. Some fish to 30 lb. were landed.

Roosterfish action had really picked up the previous week, then as colder water pushed in this shut down the action, but by the later part of the week the monster sized roosterfish started to bite again, with the stretch near Punta Gorda producing roosters up to 70 lb. Please do remember to release these prized fighting gamefish with care.

Live bait sources remained the same inside the marina entrance area, with both caballito and moonfish plentiful. Bolito have been found schooling on the offshore grounds and make a very good extra bait option.

Dorado remain scarce, considering this is the time of year we should be seeing larger size do-do’s moving into local waters. Only an occasional wahoo being talked about, one 35 lb. ‘hoo was landed during last weekend’s Father’s Day Tournament out of La Playita.

There were a few larger sized yellowfin tuna found traveling with porpoise further offshore, anywhere from 24 to 40 miles out, not really a practical deal yet for panga charters. One yellowfin tuna of 183 lb. won the heavy fish honors during last weekend’s tournament, landed from a 40 ft. sportfisher far offshore, hard for the smaller pangas to compete against boats of size when the cleaner warm water had shifted some 40 miles offshore and seas were a bit choppy, this event was originally a panga event, but has opened up to any size boats, not really fair for the smaller boats to compete against these larger vessels, maybe different classes should be formed.

Billfish action tapered off during the first part of the week, though by late week striped marlin returned in force to within close range and many charters were accounting for multiple fish days, a few stripers were weighed up to 160 lb., larger grade fish moving in.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 70 charters for the shortened week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 23 striped marlin, 16 dorado, 1 wahoo, 2 grouper, 8 amberjack, 19 cabrilla, 9 dogtooth snapper, 5 pargo colorado, 18 yellow snapper, 14 jack crevalle, 155 bonito,
115 huachinango (red snapper) and 25 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric