August 3, 2013

Anglers –

With the start of a new month we have finally seen more stable weather patterns and the summer season is now feeling more like we would expect, increased tropical humidity and warmer days. The next couple of months is when forecasters will closely monitor the progress of any low pressure areas, which can that quickly form into tropical storms. At this time there is Hurricane Gil which is now far off to the west and there are no other new systems developing that appear to threaten land. Ocean water temperatures are now averaging 80 to 85 degrees and clean blue water is moving within a couple of miles of shore, winds have resided and conditions are very favorable for offshore gamefish action.

Moderate crowds of anglers are now taking advantage of the much improved ocean conditions, no more having to travel far offshore to find blue water. The fishing grounds from Palmilla to the Gordo Banks, from 3 to 8 miles offshore have been consistent this past week for billfish, dorado and yellowfin tuna. Besides good numbers of striped marlin, were some sailfish, blue and black marlin. Schooling bolito and skipjack are now congregating on these same grounds and are attracting the normal variety of pelagic gamefish. Angles found action while trolling with lures and various baits. Yellowfin tuna were found throughout this area, much of the time without any presence of porpoise activity, these tuna were ranging in the 8 to 15 lb. class, striking mainly on smaller hoochies type lures, this is the first time this season where the tuna have made a presence in close proximity offshore of San Jose del Cabo. Dorado are increasing in numbers as well, with many charters accounted for several dorado per day, weights ranged to over 40 pounds, anglers now have a good chance at hooking into a trophy sized bull now.

There were some larger sized yellowfin reportedly seen breezing on the surface, but only the smaller football models are striking recently, we do expect something to develop for the larger yellowfin as the season progresses.

The commercial pangero fleet continues to find supplies of baitfish in the Puerto Los Cabos Marina channel, caballito, mullet and moonfish are all available. Though with the added pressure of having to supply the Cabo San Lucas fleet as well as local fleets, this bait source has become less plentiful. It is a good thing that we are now seeing quantities of other baitfish appearing on the fishing grounds. Migration patterns have been running behind schedule this season, nice to see things get back on track.

Inshore action has tapered off, though there is still some quality roosterfish striking early in the day in the vicinity of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina jetties. Not much bottom action being found now, strong currents had been a contributing factor in not finding any consistent bite off of the normally productive rock piles found north of Punta Gorda. Though August is a month known more for offshore surface activity, rather than bottom or inshore, it is a time when anglers can find dogtooth snapper, amberjack and grouper on these high spots where other surface pelagic are being targeted.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 77 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 3 blue marlin, 1 black marlin,11 sailfish, 70 striped marlin, 82 yellowfin tuna, 68 dorado, 84 roosterfish, 18 jack crevalle, 5 amberjack, 3 dogtooth snapper, 10 yellow snapper, 12 huachinango (red snapper) and 12 cabrilla.

Good fishing, Eric

July 27, 2013

Anglers –

Weather patterns have stabilized this past week and conditions are feeling more like we would expect during mid summer season. Tropical cloud cover is forming over the mountainous areas in the afternoon, that is always a sign that summer season is progressing normally, increased humidity with high temperatures in the 90s. Winds were moderate, has shifted from the north, east and the southwest, ocean water temperatures are now in the 80 to 84 degree range, from Cabo San Lucas to Los Frailes. Clean blue water is now being found as close as several miles from shore. There is presently Tropical Storm Flossie located far off to the west, appears to be heading in the direction of the Hawaiian Islands, and is forecast to weaken as it does. No other storm systems are forming on the horizon at this time.

During the recent full moon baitfish such as caballito became harder to find, moonfish were plentiful, though they are not the best offshore baitfish. Lots of ballyhoo now schooling on the offshore grounds, occasionally these baitfish were chased into meat balls and pushed to the surface by feeding porpoise. There were more encounters in recent days of yellowfin tuna found traveling offshore with porpoise, most days this action was found 20 or more miles offshore and the tuna were more often than not of the football sized variety, 5 to 15 pounds, though a local La Playita pangero did account for one 40 pound fish, so that was encouraging, there were reports of larger yellowfin tuna being seen in the swells. The East Cape area has been seeing some larger sized tuna, the East Cape Bisbee Tournament now has a 192 pound yellowfin tuna leading the tuna jackpot category, with a 46 lb. dorado also at the top board, so far no qualifying marlin over 300 pounds have been landed. Though on Wednesday there was a black marlin in the 500 pound class that was caught off of a sportfishing charter trolling outside of San Jose del Cabo, however they were not participating in the ongoing tournament.

Good numbers of striped marlin now spread out throughout the region, most commonly found 5 to 15 miles from shore, striking on lures and various rigged baitfish, sizes averaged in the 70 to 120 pound range, a few sailfish were mixed in. An occasional wahoo is striking on the same marlin type lures on the offshore grounds, traveling through the blue water, one wahoo weighed 65 lb., it was taken off a La Playita panga. Many charters accounted for multiple billfish days, two or three fish was not uncommon. Dorado were being found most days just as random single fish, some trophy sized catches to over 45 pounds were weighed in, no significant numbers of these fish.

Inshore action was mainly for late season roosterfish, the action has tapered way off compared to previous weeks, which is the normal pattern for late July, but there were still some larger roosters to over 50 pounds accounted for, some boats accounting for up to a half a dozen big fish. The inshore amberjack action that had been so good, has come to a standstill and the deeper rock piles where we would normally be concentrating on, have been harder to fish due to a very strong current sweeping through, when this does slack we expect to find some better opportunities for the spots around La Fortuna, Iman and San Luis Banks. One local panga charter accounted for a 57 lb. dogtooth snapper on Thursday, angler Jason Shipman was trolling bait inshore, near Vinorama.

Shore anglers have reported a handful of very impressive snook catches in recent days, they were all reportedly hooked into near the Puerto Los Cabos Marina and Estuary area, fish up to 46 lb. were caught, also several other in the 20 to 30 pound range. These fish were taken on available baitfish and on cast and retrieved jigs. One was actually caught from a panga while trolling a bait for roosterfish, all others were from the beach.

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 snook, 5 wahoo, 29 yellowfin tuna, 32 dorado, 48 striped marlin, 7 sailfish, 4 dogtooth snapper, 7 amberjack, 15 jack crevalle, 7 broomtail grouper, 15 cabrilla and 86 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric