Anglers –

March 7, 2015

We are seeing fairly good sized crowds of tourists visiting the Los Cabos area now, though not a great percentage of these people were interested in sportfishing. So fleets were not all that busy, though with the new month arriving, we all know that spring break is just around the corner and even greater numbers of visitors will be arriving. This time frame is a time of transition, when we start to have warmer days, up into 80s, scattered cloud cover at times, fluctuating winds, often picking up stronger later in the day. Can feel like late spring one day and then be a bit cooler the next, even feeling a bit wintry early in the morning.

Every season can be a little different, it does feel like the worst of the north winds are now over, we have seen signs of marine cloud layer developing, cooler ocean currents meeting with warmer land masses can cause this. Throughout most of the region ocean temperatures are averaging 74 degrees, up to 76 degrees outside of Cabo San Lucas, near the Jaime Bank. This is still several degrees warmer than what we normally might expect to have at this time. Baitfish migration, as well as striped marlin action seems to be affected. No mackerel or sardinetas now being found, these are one of the main food sources for the striped marlin. No concentrations of squid either, so if there is not the sustainable food source, the fish will scattered and be on the move, searching. Water clarity had been good for the most part.

Sardinas continue to be found schooling close to shore near Vinorama, a long run for the bait suppliers, not worth their while unless a certain numbers of charters are going to need this resource, on other days the low tides and increased swell activity made it a tough go for netting any of these baitfish, which were in close proximity to the rocky outcroppings. The majority of days though the sardinas were available, other option were caballito.

The all-around fishing action was less consistent this past week constantly changing conditions have things a bit unsettled, we are optimistic conditions will begin to stabilize soon and this should help put things back on the right track. Most local charters are fishing areas from the Gordo Banks, to Cardon, La Fortuna and as far as Vinorama.

Inshore sierra action became more hit of miss, this had been a sure bet bite in previous weeks. A few smaller sized roosterfish were found close to shore as well, particularly near Punta Gorda and the La Laguna area. These jacks were striking best on slow trolled bait, same for the sierra. Bottom action had been showing some promising signs, with more red snapper, yellow snapper, cabrilla and even some nice amberjack and yellowtail. But, then as weather changed the bite all dropped off, best bet now is either close to shore or over the various rock piles. No surface action now for yellowfin tuna or dorado, only a handful of small dorado being encountered. The Eastern Pacific bonito had been a mainstay recently, providing the most consistent action, with some bonito to over 10 pounds being accoutered for. This bite dropped off to a standstill and all we can do is wait for things to improve.

Off of Cerralvo Island towards the East Cape. We had heard of reports of out of season wahoo activity, the same things happened for one super panga out of La Playita earlier in the week, one boat landed six wahoo up to 25 pounds from an area just north of Vinorama, this was an isolated incident, as no one else reported getting into the action, which was kind of a fluke and also out of normal range for local charter fleets. Of course the next day these wahoo did not decided to bite. It just proves that anything can possibly happen on any given day.

Still many whales in the area, as these mammals have been entertaining people that are based on land and ones boats.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 67 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 6 yellowtail,  6 wahoo, 21 dorado, 34 sierra, 120 Eastern Pacific bonito, 11 amberjack, 14 cabrilla, 15 huachinango, 24 roosterfish, 22 yellow snapper, 1 thrasher shark and 45 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

February 28, 2015

As the month of February comes to an end we have seen unpredictable crazy weather patterns continue. This week has been more like we would expect at this time, cooler currents, off colored ocean conditions, variable winds, predominately from the north. Though the climate has been very comfortable, lows in the mid-50s and high temperatures about 80 degrees, with plenty of sunshine. Whale watching is now at its peak, as scores of whale sightings are being spotting on any given day throughout the region.

Anglers encountered changing conditions and this meant tough times when looking for yellowfin tuna or dorado, those species have scattered and now we are finding more of the cooler water species as we would expect during the winter season. Catches have included bonito, sierra, roosterfish, pargo, red snapper, cabrilla, grouper, yellowtail, skipjack, triggerfish and others. The Eastern Pacific bonito has been one of the more abundant fish, striking off the high spots north of Punta Gorda on both sardinas and yo-yo jigs, average size is about 5 lb, some going as large as 12 lb. Good fighting fish and excellent eating, similar to tuna or even albacore. Supplies of sardinas were a bit harder to find, mainly because of the early low tides and the rocky areas where the schools of baitfish are now concentrated. They are finding some live sardinas, but supplies are not what they have been as in previous weeks.

A handful of nice yellowtail are just starting to show up, all of the fish landed have been in the 25 to 30 lb. class, from the Gordo Banks to San Luis Bank, these jacks should start showing in greater numbers. Live bait off the bottom and yo-yo jigs have both worked. A few sharks on the same grounds to deal with. Also the ongoing sea lion problem. The all-around bottom action is improving, we are now seeing red snapper (huchinango), barred pargo, yellow snapper, leopard grouper, pinta cabrilla, flag cabrilla, bonito and triggerfish.

Sierra have continued to be the main species running close to shore, most of these fish are averaging in the 2 to 5 pound range, though we saw one 15 lb. trophy brought in this week, also a couple of others near the ten pound mark. A few roosterfish in the mix, mostly smaller sized juvenile fish. Slow trolling with sardinas have proved the best bet for these fish.

Billfish action has been slow, a few scattered striped marlin, no feeding frenzies, as offshore bait schools have been hard to find, no concentrations, we expect the coming months will bring more consistent offshore action. There has been a lack of mackerel this season so far.

We have seen significant progress on rebuilding efforts of the panga dock area in Puerto Los Cabos Marina, in another month or so we are hoping things will be much improved. Local road crews in La Playita had dug up and closed the main access road, beginning work on the final long overdue pavement section from the Marine Group to Hotel El Ganzo, planned to install new drainage, water pipe work etc… Though the crew completely abandoned all efforts of this project and have left us with an embarrassing mess. Someone has got to step in and fix this situation. Another disaster is the gill and drift net operations going on in local waters, reports of netters filling pangas with thousands of pounds of so called protected species such as juvenile roosterfish, this just does not make any sense at all, where are the authority’s priorities, is there any thought at all about the state of the future fishery?

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 96 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 5 yellowtail, 18 dorado, 1 yellowfin tuna, 235 sierra, 310 Eastern Pacific bonito, 9 amberjack, 55 cabrilla, 58 huachiango, 12 roosterfish, 35 yellow snapper, 12 hammerhead shark and 80 skipjack.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

February 22, 2015

Last weekend a weather front sept in from the south, on Friday there were scattered thunderstorms through the afternoon, though nothing really developed from this system, after forecasts were calling for rain through Monday, it never happened, mainly just cloud cover and winds, which created choppy ocean conditions. Water temperatures are ranging from 72 to 75 degrees, slightly higher than what we usually see this time of year. Fishing action slowed over the weekend, mainly due to the weather condition factor.

The new week started off great, with increased numbers of anglers enjoying the weather as it settled down, with clear skies and high temperatures in the upper 80s. Calm ocean conditions and immediately the fishing action picked back up. Anglers were finding decent supplies of live sardinas from the commercial fleet near Vinorama. Center of the most consistent bite was found near La Fortuna and the Iman Bank. This is where yellowfin tuna, averaging 15 to 30 lb. were found schooling, a bit line shy and finicky, striking best on lighter size leaders on fly lined baits. Mixed in with the yellowfin were black skipjack, white tuna and Eastern Pacific Bonito. A handful of larger tuna from 75 lb. to 100 lb. were also reported. This has been an incredible bonus for anglers visiting during the month of February, normally a tough time to find any tuna action locally.

Dorado were still more numerous on the Pacific grounds, though they have been found closer to shore at times off of San Jose del Cabo grounds. A few nicer sized dorado to over 20 pounds were weighed in. A few wahoo were landed as well, blind strikes on lures, as well as on baits being targeted for the tuna action. Strange season, anything could happen on any day. Bottom action has been slow to pick up and become consistent, a lot has depended on the current, some days it has been just too swift to even get down and hold the bottom, but at times when currents did slack there were some nice fish found, including cabrilla, grouper, snapper, pargo, amberjack and bonito. We saw one 50 lb. amberjack, a couple of yellowtail, but still no numbers on these jacks. Anglers were using yo-yo jigs and various whole and cut baits for the bottom action, which has been found on the same fishing grounds as where the yellowfin tuna action is.

Billfish action was slow, scattered fish being encountered anywhere from three to twenty miles offshore, no concentrations or feeding frenzies to speak of. There were reports of swordfish sightings off of the 1150 spot, so these prized gladiators will be sought after for serious offshore enthusiasts.

Great time for whale watching now, with both humpbacks and grays in the area, there were also whale shark sightings reported.

Sierra have continue to dominate the inshore action, averaging 2 to 4 pounds, sardinas have been the bait of choice for this early morning bite.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 91 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 2 yellowtail, 385 yellowfin tuna, 4 wahoo, 88 dorado, 145 sierra, 56 bonito, 18 white tuna, 19 amberjack, 26 cabrilla, 35 huachiango, 30 yellow snapper and 450 skipjack.

Good fishing, Eric