July 6, 2013

Anglers –

The summer season has just begun and we are now seeing increased numbers of tourists arriving in Southern Baja. The climate has been different this year, more Pacific breeze and marine layer, keeping temperatures bearable, tropical conditions, highs near 90 degrees, mild compared to the record heat Wave sweeping across parts of the western U.S. Tropical storm season has started with a flurry, in the past week we saw the formation of Hurricanes Cosme and Dalia, both of which had no impact to land, following a westerly path. Presently on the horizon and gaining more strength, is T.S. Erick, this system is forecast to pass closer to the tip of the Baja Peninsula, possibly bringing some moisture, surely some higher swells, along with the associated humidity.

Ocean water temperatures have rebounded and in the direction of the Gordo Banks and towards Los Frailes currents have been averaging 80 degrees or warmer. Still some spotty off colored areas, but there has been clean blue water found within 5 to 15 miles from shore. Striped marlin have been the most common catch found offshore, lots of stripers encountered from the Gordo Banks and to the north, anywhere from 5 to 15 miles from shore. Found in schools, the billfish are readily striking trolled lures, majority of these fish are now running smaller sized, 50 to 80 lb., some specimens are ranging up to 130 lb.

Dorado are now scattered on the same fishing grounds where the marlin are, striking on the same type of lures or bait, no significant numbers, though the dorado they are finding are mostly larger sized 20 to 40 lb. fish. Anglers had the chance at finding schools of dorado if they found any type of floating debris or set buoys.

Just this past week we received more reports of yellowfin tuna activity, these fish were being found traveling with porpoise farther offshore, anywhere from 20 to 30 miles out. Off of the San Jose del Cabo grounds most of these yellowfin were in the 15 to 20 pound class, while off of the East Cape there are now some reports of yellowfin over one hundred pounds being accounted for. This is some encouraging news, there has been a long absence of any tuna action.

Inshore, it remains the same, with roosterfish being the most common catch, the incredible wide open action we enjoyed in June has tapered off some, currents had turned over the inshore conditions, but now the clean warm water is back and the roosters are back on the prowl, patrolling the sandy beach stretches, fish to over 50 pounds are still being hooked into almost daily. These fish are a trophy catches, not known for eating qualities and should be released as carefully as possible.

Rounding out the action were some quality sized amberjack, some weighing as much as 80 pounds, they are now being found over shallow rock piles to the north, similar shallow rock piles that attract dogtooth snapper and grouper. There have been more amberjack than these other species, hit or miss on the ambers though, traveling long distances to the more remote spots, highly susceptible to too much boat pressure, not the type of spot where the fleet can all congregate, too shallow, fish spook easily. Soon this action will shift back on to the normal grounds such are Iman or San Luis Bank, areas that can accommodate more numbers of boats and anglers.

Live baits supplies have been holding inside of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina channel, caballito, moonfish and mullet are available. Though quantities were scarcer this past week, the fact that commercial pangeros from La Playita have been netting and selling hundreds of bait to Cabo San Lucas vendors, who have had no bait source in their own area, they have special salt water reservoirs in the back of pickup trucks, all rigged with pumps, for quick transport back to the CSL Marina. Problem is this has added heavy impact on this fragile bait source. Not a good deal when local charters are facing bait shortages due to lack of resource, there is not an endless supply of baitfish to support two marinas worth of sportfishing charters.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 92 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 4 sailfish,15 yellowfin tuna, 20 dorado, 64 striped marlin, (many released), 11 dogtooth snapper, 34 amberjack, 22 jack crevalle, 15 cabrilla and 310 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

June 29, 2013

Anglers –

The summer season has just begun and on the Eastern Pacific we have already seen the third named tropical storm, as this week Hurricane Cosme developed off the coast of Manzanillo, before heading on a westerly path, coming within 300 miles of Cabo San Lucas and quickly encountered cooler water causing it to dissipate, never did threaten land. We never did feel more than a few sprinkles of rain, though the ocean swells quickly rose up to fifteen feet high on Tuesday and Wednesday, before residing on Thursday and Friday. Local ports of Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Los Cabos were closed to all boating activities, red flag conditions, by late Thursday morning the ports were reopened for operations.

This latest storm system brought in more tropical and humid weather, high temperatures were staying in the 80s, mild for this time of year, thick marine haze, almost fog, has been hanging over the Southern Peninsula and Pacific breezes are keep conditions comfortable. Anglers had encountered turned over inshore water conditions prior to this recent storm, which stirred things up even more and it could be a while before the water cleans and warms back up. In the mean time more consistent action was being found offshore, in the direction of the warmer currents north of the Gordo Banks and towards Los Frailes. This is where sportfishing charters have been finding decent numbers of striped marlin, a few sailfish and dorado also on these same fishing grounds. Offshore trolling with lures, looking for signs of activity, seeing some marlin on the surface and taking blind strikes by a few larger sized dorado that are starting to move into the area, also a few wahoo in the mix. Dorado to over 40 pounds were accounted for, just there are no numbers to speak of yet, though if you happened to encounter any type of floating debris you could be in for a wide open bite. This is definitely the time of year where anything could happen on any given day.

The epic roosterfish action that had been happening close to shore has come to a standstill as the water temperatures fell, water turned greenish and baitfish scattered. There is warmer water near 80 degrees now on the offshore grounds towards the north. The inshore rock outcroppings from Cardon to Vinormama have produced some quality sized amberjack, weighing up to 80 pounds, these fish are striking on surface trolled live baits, preferably moonfish, mullet or caballito. Shallow water areas of less than 50 ft., these fish migrate close to shore during this early part of summer, searching for congregated baitfish, also these are the same rock piles that hold dogtooth snapper and various grouper, good luck keeping them away from the rocks after hooking up. These are fragile reefs, susceptible to heavy boat pressure, not an area where the entire fleet can successfully target, with increased tourism and local population there is added pressure, additionally there are many more spear fishermen targeting these easily accessible spots. This is now the peak season for this inshore fishery, within several weeks this action typically would start to shift onto the deeper, more spread out rocky structure, such as the Iman and San Luis Banks, these grounds are much larger and can handle more pressure.

The combined panga fleet launching out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of, 1 wahoo, 25 striped marlin, 13 dorado, 16 amberjack, 12 pargo colorado, 10 yellow snapper, 6 dogtooth snapper, 14 cabrilla, 15 jack crevalle, 5 hammerhead sharks, 4 sierra and 12 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric

June 22, 2013

Anglers –

Well the official summer season has now started, though the weather patterns seem all mixed up and it still feels a bit like spring, with breezes off the ocean keeping conditions comfortable. Days have been mostly sunny, a mix of marine haze and some tropical cloud cover formation, high temperatures have been moderate, averaging in the upper 80s. The climate has been ideal, sure would be great if the entire summer was this mild. Great time to travel to Southern Baja now, airline tickets have been discounted and crowds are relatively light, perfect time to come have fun in the sun.

Ocean temperatures have stabilized from Cabo San Lucas to Los Frailes, where water temperatures now ranged from 75 to 78 degrees. Swift currents have swept inshore and even though the water is warmer, it has turned over once again and is a murky greenish color through most of the inshore zone. Clean blue water has been spotty offshore, most often found 8 to 15 miles from shore. Swells are moderate now, variable winds have been predominately out of the Northeast and then switching directly out of the east, before turning from out of the south. Common pattern that affects the Southern Baja region each season during this transition period from the spring season into the tropical summer, by next month these Pacific air flows and marine moisture normally give way to the sultry tropical patterns.

Anglers continued to enjoy perhaps the best roosterfish action in the past ten years, with many trophy sized fish of over fifty pounds being accounted for. Trolling baitfish such as caballito, mullet and moonfish, which have been plentiful around the PLC marina jetties, have resulted in epic action for the past several weeks now. Just yesterday the action did taper way off, as the current switched and brought in green water along the coastal stretches where the roosterfish had been so plentiful, as conditions rebound we expect to see more of these jacks providing trills to anglers. We do encourage practicing the sport of catch and release on these particular gamefish, not renown for favorable eating qualities, but more so as an aggressive inshore adversary which sport anglers can only encounter in certain parts of the Pacific coast.

The marlin action improved this past week, as good numbers of striped marlin were found in the blue water, most of the time about 8 to 15 miles from shore, many charters were accounting for multiple billfish days, often up to five per boat, most all boats targeting the billfish accounted for one or two. The stripers were readily striking on lures, many reports of multiple hook ups, also striking trolled or cast baits. No consistent counts of dorado being reported, but these gamefish are scattered throughout the offshore blue water fishing grounds, bull dorado to 40 pounds were weighed in, this is the time of year where we normally can find larger sized dorado, but more often they are solitary fish or in small groups, unless you happen upon some floating debris which could be attracting large concentrations of dorado of all sizes.

Other action found close to shore included amberjack, dogtooth snapper, pompano, jack crevalle, cabrilla and pargo colorado. This action was best early in the morning and was hit or miss from day to day, but some quality sized fish were accounted for anglers while slow trolling live baits over shallow water rock outcroppings, often in only 30 or 40 feet of water, one 80 pound amberjack was accounted for, snapper to 40 pounds, of course many hook ups resulted in cut lines due to the close proximity of the sharp rock piles.

Last weekend the local Father’s Day Tournament based out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina, saw 32 teams compete for three qualifying species, yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo, first place fish was a 42 pound wahoo, runner up was a 40 pound dorado and there were no tuna accounted for. This week there were a few reports of fleets spotting tuna on the surface while trolling offshore waters, but these fish disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, also quite a bit more porpoise activity being reported offshore, this is always a favorable sign that we should start to see some more yellowfin move into the region.

The combined panga fleet launching out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 112 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of, 7 sailfish, 26 striped marlin, 15 dorado, 1 wahoo, 24 amberjack, 16 pargo colorado, 20 yellow snapper, 15 barred pargo, 14 dogtooth snapper, 19 cabrilla, 14 pompano, 8 sierra and 230 roosterfish.

Good fishing, Eric