Anglers –

February 15, 2015

Weather patterns continue to vary greatly, we had felt the first signs of spring, with nearly 90 degree sunny days, now as the weekend arrives we are dealing with a storm front blowing in from the south that is forecast to bring scattered thundershowers possibly through Monday. We do not expect any significant measurable rainfall, but nevertheless this will make the roads slippery and put a hamper on planned outdoor activities.

Ocean water temperatures have been in the 72 to 75 degree range throughout most of the region. Winds have been swirling from the north and then shifting from the south, averaging 10 to 20 mph. These conditions have been a factor for where charters could practical fish on any given day. Recently the most consistent local fishing grounds have been found north of Punta Gorda, Cardon, La Fortuna to Iman. Anglers have been obtaining sufficient supplies of sardinas from bait boats that have been netting the schooling baitfish near Vinorama and hauling them back towards the same grounds where the fleet has been concentrated.

Early in the week some decent yellowfin tuna in the 15 to 30 lb. class were being landed, at a ratio of anywhere from 2 to 6 per boat, not bad for the heart of winter, this is normally not even yellowfin tuna season, the fish were striking on sardinas while using lighter leaders, they would bite in flurries, becoming quite finicky and not whiling to compete with the skipjack and bonito at times. As the weather deteriorated, so did this tuna action. Hopefully after this system passes through and as conditions settle back down, the action will rebound. While good numbers of dorado continue to be found on the Pacific, these fish have been more elusive in the directions of San Jose del Cabo, though actually a few more dorado were being found in recent days, often very close to shore, practically where the sierra bite has been happening, dorado sizes improved some, a handful of bulls up to 20 pounds or more were accounted for.

Bottom action was sporadic, quite a variety of species in the area, but no consistency or big numbers of any given species. A few yellowtail are starting to show up on the various rock piles, most of the yellows that were caught have hit on yo-yo style jigs and have been quality fish in the 25 to 35 lb. range. We will be anticipating more of these powerful jacks to arrive in the coming months, as this is the time when these fish migrate through the Southern Baja region. A handful of pargo, cabrilla, bonito, triggerfish and white tuna have been rounding out the action over the rocky structure.

Sierra have been the dominate fish found close to shore, also a few snapper, roosterfish and other jacks. Two separate incidents of whales being trapped in commercial net gear were reported from areas north of San Jose del Cabo, never did we hear what became of any rescue attempt, though hopefully this puts increased pressure on these bands of reckless commercial co-ops to relocate back to their mainland headquarters. Overall we have not been seeing as many whales as would be expected, maybe more are still on their way south, or have decided to stay on the Pacific side of the Peninsula.

Not much in the way of billfish activity being reported, though we have heard that striped marlin are being encountered in spread out numbers offshore, searching for their food source, this has been mainly 5 to 10 miles from shore, but still no large concentrations, they are on the move now, looking for schooling baitfish.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 69 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 striped marlin, 6 yellowtail, 47 yellowfin tuna, 82 dorado, 110 sierra, 8 roosterfish, 44 bonito, 22 white tuna, 20 cabrilla, 10 huachiango, 16 yellow snapper, 14 mojarra, and 160 skipjack.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

February 8, 2015

Weather patterns continue to be changing daily, actually starting to warm up and feel like spring time already, after cloudy rainy days last week, we are now seeing clear sunny days and high temperatures to 85 degrees. Actually nearly a perfect climate now, winds have lighted up and anglers enjoyed more comfortable days on the ocean. Lots of whale activity, as well as dolphins, manta rays and sea lions.

Water temperatures have continued to be a cooling trend, but have stabilized now in the 70 to 76 degree range, still pretty warm considering that we are in the midst of winter. Clarity fluctuated accordingly to currents and wind cycles, especially on the inshore fishing grounds to the north of Punta Gorda.

The yellowfin tuna action came to standstill at the start of the week, but then started to show increased activity later in the week. Often times the tuna were seen feeding on the surface, but just would not be interested in striking a bait that had a hook placed in it, just a few yellowfin were being hooked into, most of them on either sardinas or strips of squid, average weights were in the 15 to 30 lb. range. The Gordo Banks became the best spot for a chance at landing a tuna in recent days, the other area of La Fortuna the fish were even more finicky. We must remember that any yellowfin tuna action at this time of year is a bonus, this is not the season that we would normally expect to find active yellowfin on the local grounds.

Same can be said for dorado and wahoo, still quite a few dorado being encountered, most of them have been juvenile sized, under 15 lb. and being found close to shore, often near where the inshore sierra action was. Supplies of sardinas remained steady, now being netting near Vinorama and delivered to the Cardon or La Fortuna areas.

There was a discouraging situation being dealt with now, as more Mainland commercial operations, which specialize in various forms of net fishing and have equipment capable of stripping both inshore and offshore reefs of all forms of sea life. These camps are set up in unpopulated zones where they do not seem to receive much negative responses by the unknowing public. This is an extremely destructive method of commercial fishing, even though these groups do supposedly possess legal permits, none of it make any sense at all and should be eliminated so that continued destruction of the ecosystem does not result in a complete collapse of a fishery that was always thought as an unlimited resource.

Bottom action has just begun to show signs of more consistency, still dictated by what the weather allows. Shallow water structure was producing a wide variety of fish, most of which were under ten pounds, with an occasional larger specimen mixed in. Various pargo and snapper species, triggerfish, mojarra grunt, bonito, skipjack, cabrilla, a few amberjack and at least one yellowtail. These fish were striking on yo-yo jigs, sardinas and strips of squid.

Sierra was the most common catch close to shore, best action was early in the day on slow trolled sardinas. Also in certain area near the marina jetties anglers found some roosterfish up to ten pounds.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 2 striped marlin, 1 yellowtail, 2 wahoo, 34 yellowfin tuna, 165 sierra, 14 roosterfish, 88 dorado, 24 bonito, 26 cabrilla, 35 pargo, 24 yellow snapper, 18 mojarra, 6 amberjack and 32 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

Anglers –

January 31, 2015

This past week we saw more crowds of tourists traveling to the Los Cabos resort destination, airport activity was bustling and patience was necessary to get through International Customs. Lots of visitors, escaping the cold wintry conditions across much of the United States, despite this influx of people, not a high percentage of them were anglers and sportfishing fleets reported that though the fishing was very good, there were not many numbers of charters going out. That time of year, off season now for certain pelagic gamefish, spring time will be here soon enough.

Weather patterns were unpredictable, going from cold, cloudy, rainy, windy, to calm and quite warm, up to 90 degrees. Now we are starting the new month and as the local saying goes, “Febreo loco and Marzo otro poco”.Translated to “Crazy February and March even more”.

Actually in recent days the water clarity improved along the stretches north of Punta Gorda, ocean temperatures have dropped now into the 70/74 degree range, which might still be slightly higher than normal seasonal averages. Last week anglers were dealing with a challenging situation, having to wait for long as two hours for supplies of live sardinas to be delivered. Problem was that the baitfish schools shifted with the currents, in the direction of Cabo San Lucas, near Santa Maria, pangeros netters worked in the surf zone to net sardinas and then motor back to Puerto Los Cabos, where charters would obtain bait and head to the more productive northern fishing grounds. Bait supplies are no longer as abundant as in previous decades, more patience is needed, or later departure times arranged, there were not many options available for anglers to catch fish while waiting for this bait to arrive. Local pangeros were forced to regroup and now have found sardinas schooling north, near San Luis and Vinorama, they are hauling supplies to meet local sportfishing charters on the grounds such as La Fortuna, Iman and Cardon.

Yellowfin tuna are hanging around late into the season, or maybe this is the start of the new season, results will be dictated on what exactly happens with the ocean conditions and various food sources preferred by the gamefish. Spotty action, depending on what the weather and currents allowed. Tuna are being encountered on various grounds, most not far from shore, including the Gordo Banks, to La Fortuna, Iman and Vinorama. The bite was at random, sometimes early and often later in the morning, major issue with sea lions on other days. Average tuna was in the 15 to 30 lb., though the larger grade of fish was still lurking around the Gordo Banks, favorite choices for bait was sardinas or squid strips.

Dorado were found in decent numbers, La Fortuna and Cardon were good spots, fish ranging to 20 lbs., a handful even larger, slowly trolling or drift fishing with sardinas was a good bet, watch out for needlefish and skipjack.

Not much reported off the bottom, a mix of pargo, cabrilla, bonito and triggerfish for the few anglers that gave it a try when weather and currents allowed. Inshore action continued to be dominated by sierra, striking most readily on sardinas and earlier in the day, also some jack crevalle and juvenile roosterfish roaming the shoreline, remember to release these roosterfish, as they are a prized fighting gamefish that are only encountered and a limited natural range and need to be protected.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 52 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 striped marlin, 76 yellowfin tuna, 220 sierra, 18 roosterfish, 88 dorado, 20 bonito, 16 cabrilla, 34 various pargo and snapper species, 10 jack crevalle and 8 amberjack.

Good fishing, Eric