August 10, 2014
Anglers

Southern Baja California official kicks off Tournament season with the Bisbee event out of East Cape now going on. Weather patterns remain very tropical, no new storm systems threatening at this time, though forecasts have anticipated scattered thundershowers throughout this week, so far we have seen little moisture fall near the the coast, though over the mountainous terrain they have received more and at times some serious hard rainfall with lightning and thunder, though in isolated areas. Very warm temperatures persist, though we have felt slight relief with increased cloudiness and breezes from the south, off the Pacific.

Swells increased some and then dropped off just as quickly. Ocean water temperatures are now averaging in the upper 80’s throughout the region. Water clarity varied, southern breezes will push in off colored currents, though for the most part blue water has been found within a few miles of shore, which is normal for the summer season.

Bait situation has consisted of limited amounts of sardinas, these schooling baitfish are just moving back in to the Puerto Los Cabos Marina jetty area, small juvenile sized, but have been the ticket to getting into a local yellowfin tuna bite that has developed off of Red Hill and Palmilla, football sized tuna, found close to shore, striking on the live fly lined baits. Hard to say how long this bait resource will hold up, they should actually close this zone from commercial netting of these baitfish, in order to give them a chance to mature, spawn and reproduce, a lot easier said than done, when anglers are relying on these baitfish to provide them action for larger gamefish and particularly when these inshore tuna do want to hit on any other offering besides these small sardinas..

The bite for the larger grade of yellowfin tuna continues far to the north, near Los Frailes, not within range of a normal charter from San Jose del Cabo, actually closer for the East Cape fleets, though a handful of charters from the San Jose are making the long trek, be prepared for gas surcharges if wanting to fish those grounds, where tuna ranging up to 50 pounds have been accounted for. Limited sardinas being offered and more charters were looking for slabs of giant squid, sold at times in local super markets.

Dorado schools were scattered, mostly small sized fish, lots of females, good practice to always release these juvenile dorado to give them a chance to mature, reportedly these popular gamefish are one of the more rapidly growing fish, gaining five pounds per month.
This past week these fish became scarcer, though at times were found in schools, striking on lures and various baits. Wahoo remain in the area, though often become more sluggish in such warm ocean conditions, every day we are seeing one or two of these speedsters mixed in the fish counts. Trolled lures accounted for more of the wahoo strikes, though a handful were hooked into for anglers using chunk or whole baits.

Bottom action remain slow, an occasional snapper, cabrilla, amberjack, with more triggerfish than anything else. A few dogtooth snapper found off the rock piles, deep water grouper and snapper keeping commercial fleet busy, rapid currents making this a tough option for drift fishing. Best chance at hooking into fish while using yo-yo style jigs has been very early in the morning, after the sun comes up this action completely comes to a standstill.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 69 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
1 blue marlin, 6 striped marlin, 9 sailfish, 175 yellowfin tuna, 6 cabrilla, 12 jack crevalle, 36 dorado, 11 wahoo, 3 dogtooth snapper, 11 red snapper, 4 amberjack,10 bonito and 2 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

August 2, 2014
Anglers –

The last week of July was uneventful as far as any tropical storm threatening land, there was the formation of Hurricane Hernan, which quickly weakened to a depression as it passed within 300 miles of Cabo San Lucas, ocean swells did increase for a few days, surfers were happy, no winds to speak of, no rainfall either, definitely increased humidity, with heat index in the triple digits. Now we have distant Tropical Storm Iselle that is gaining some strength, though way to far to cause any impact on the Baja Peninsula.

This next week there are forecasts for scattered thundershowers, it is that time of year, where weather patterns become increasingly tropical. With recent moisture accumulated, the local landscape is rapidly transforming from the parched desert to lush greenery. Ocean water temperature have been averaging in the upper 80’s, strong currents sweeping through, moderate swells, overall great conditions for anglers, remember to bring plenty of liquids to keep hydrated.

No source for sardinas this past week, very limited sized schools of these baitfish were found in local waters, anglers have been using ballyhoo and a mix of live moonfish and caballito. Some anglers are bringing slabs of squid purchased from local super markets as an additional option for trying to entice the yellowfin tuna, there have been plentiful skipjack and some bolito on the fishing grounds, which are commonly used as bait during the summer months. Anglers found a mix of species, most common catch were dorado, with average sizes ranging 5 to 15 lb. with a handful of much larger bulls encountered, including at least one reported 50 pound fish. The dorado were striking on about any type of medium sized lure or baitfish, once the schools were located.

Yellowfin tuna action slowed way down from the previous week when live sardinas were found north near Los Frailes. This week numbers of the yellowfin were limited, some football sized models striking on hoochies type lures between Iman and San Luis Banks and a handful of tuna to 40 lb. were accounted for north of Vinorama, hitting on limited sources of sardinas, dead or alive, also skipjack used for chunk bait worked for some people. Mid week there reports of yellowfin tuna found traveling with large porpoise pods, off of Chileno to straight outside of San Jose Del Cabo, these fish were in the 10 to 50 lb. class.

There was good action for billfish, more striped marlin than other species, though also sailfish and blue marlin were lurking, as well as possibilities of a black marlin. Anything can happen this time of year, just as weather conditions can change quickly, so can the fishing action from day to day, known as a period of big weather and big fish.

A few more wahoo were hitting the docks this past week, from on the offshore grounds, 10 plus miles out, to inshore areas such as Iman, La Fortuna to Vinorama, has produced wahoo to 50 lb. in recent days, striking on rigged ballyhoo, as well as rapalas.

Not much bottom action now, a few bonito, various snappers (pargo), an occasional cabrilla, swift current on some days made this option that much more challenging.

Local commercial panga fleets reported a great bite on yellowtail, just outside of the Gordo Banks, holding in cooler depths of 350 feet of water, all 30 pound class fish, very few sportfishing boats were trying this because of the extreme depths and currents, hand lining pangeros had the advantage for this bite.

Only limited inshore action for roosterfish, these prized fighting jacks are still in the area though, a couple of fifty pound specimens were reportedly landed and released in recent days.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 88 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
13 striped marlin, 9 sailfish, 21yellowfin tuna, 8 yellowtail, 11 cabrilla, 14 jack crevalle, 124 dorado, 15 wahoo, 2 dogtooth snapper, 16 yellow snapper, 5 amberjack,18 bonito and 12 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

July 26, 2014
Anglers –

We are now in the later part of the month of July, this is always a warm time of year, very humid, muggy, days are long and tropical weather can rapidly change overnight. Crowds are a bit below average this month, perhaps the great fishing now being found off of Sothern California is a factor, as many anglers are taking advantage of their local bite, where yellowtail, bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna and yellowtail are all providing epic action.

This past week the highlight for the San Jose del Cabo sportfishing fleet was the yellowfin tuna bite that developed north of Vinormama, some 20 to 25 miles north of Puerto Los Cabos Marina, a bit further than what normal panga or local cruiser charters travel on a regular basis. We could see fuel surcharges soon, if this continues. This is the same fishing grounds where the East Cape fleet has been concentrated on and they are located closer to these grounds than Cabo fleets. The key has been the availability of live sardinas, which are being found schooling near Los Frailes. Anglers were drift fishing with these baits and hooking into yellowfin tuna in the 25 to 45 lb. class. This area where the fleet is finding these fish is very close to shore, so close that triggerfish are thick and skipjack are also out numbering the tuna. With persistence and the proper baitfish, charters were able to land, one to five of these yellowfin per morning. Rigging with forty pound main line spliced to 40 or 50 lb. fluorocarbon leader material has been the most productive technique.

Dorado have been found more spread out, the majority being juvenile sized fish, but there are some much larger fish mixed in, bulls weighing up to 50 lb. were reported, though no big numbers, trolling larger baitfish such as bolito was one method than was producing a larger grade of dorado.

Open water trolling saw a mix of billfish, actually last week there was sailfish, striped, black and blue marlin caught from local waters, again no big numbers, but these gamefish are present and an offshore grand slam could happen on any given day.

Ocean conditions are very warm, averaging 85 to 87 degrees, even warmer further offshore, this is the time of year where charters do not need to travel very far offshore to find pelagic gamefish species. Winds were relatively mild most days, with the exception of Thursday, when a tropical squall flared up, moving in from the east and closing charter operations for the morning, not before many charters had already launching into what appeared to be moderate conditions, only to have the breeze switch and turn this squall into a major situation for an hour or two, all boats had to return as quickly as possible to the Marina, but seas became extremely rough quickly, wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph, accompanied by driving tropical storm force thunder showers. Everyone did return safely, storm system passed on through and by mid day, skies were sunny again. Lengthy local power outages, wind and minor flood damage was reported. The landscape will surely turn tropical green from this deluge.

Not much bottom action reported some early morning pargo, bonito, cabrilla action on yo-yo jigs, but nothing red hot. Only an occasional roosterfish or jack crevalle found along the shoreline, no signs of much mullet activity to attract the inshore gamefish, getting late in the season now, it appears that we might not see the large schools of mullet as we would normally expect. Last season we witnessed one of the best roosterfish bites on record and this season has been the complete reverse.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 63 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
1 black marlin, 2 blue marlin, 4 striped marlin, 8 sailfish, 48 yellowfin tuna, 6 amberjack, 5 cabrilla, 4 jack crevalle, 58 dorado, 3 wahoo,1 dogtooth snapper, 10 bonito, 230 black skipjack and 2 roosterfish.
Good fishing, Eric