October 6, 2012
Anglers –

The Southern Baja weather this past week is consistent with normal early fall patterns. We have seen cooler early morning temperatures, scattered tropical clouds with strong sunshine, warm and humid through the afternoon. Trade winds are blowing offshore in the morning, then switch out of the north midday and then from the south late, just enough breeze to help keep conditions comfortable. No new storms seen to the south at this time, still a chance at late season systems developing, as ocean water temperatures are averaging 85 degrees of more through most of the region.

Swells were light this week, gave a chance for the inshore clarity to start clearing after all of the recent rain runoff. Much larger crowds of anglers are now arriving, as the coming weeks is always one of the busiest times of year in the Los Cabos area. Advance charter reservations are definitely recommended this time of year. Commercial pangeros are working hard to find sufficient supplies of live bait, particularly sardinas, which are the preferred all around baitfish. Inshore off of Palmilla and to the north of Punta Gorda they are finding scattered schools of these baitfish, though it was not easy to keep up with the supply and demand. There are caballito in the marina and on the fishing grounds there are bolito, skipjack, chihuil and cocinero, more skipjack than anything else.

The cow bells are ringing on the Gordo Banks.There were more larger yellowfin tuna caught this week, the Gordo Banks produced quite a few yellowfin tuna over 100 pounds and maybe ten tuna over 200 pounds were landed by the combined Puerto Los Cabos fleet of pangas and larger sportfishers, largest we actually weighed in was 245 lb. Most of these tuna were found around the Inner Gordo Bank, they hit on whole baits, as well as chunk bait. A handful of fish were hooked throughout the morning hours and then local private charters were having a bit more success dung the afternoon sessions. On Tuesday evening there was a black marlin brought in by a trio of local La Playita anglers that was weighed in at 640 lb., largest black we have heard about so far this season. Last week there was a blue marlin landed out of Cabo San Lucas that went 720 pounds.

The Iman Bank was holding schooling yellowfin tuna, though there was no consistent bite for these fish, some days they would come up and feed on sardinas late morning, other days just did not come up at all. Lots of skipjack competing for the same food source, tuna do not like feeding at the same time as the skippies. These tuna in this area were in the 12 to 20 pound class, with a few up to 40 pounds, on the good days charters were accounting for a handful of tuna, as well as dorado in their mix.

Dorado are being found spread out, there were greater numbers congregated around floating debris. Most of the dorado were under 20 pounds, though we did see a few trophy sized bulls up to 45 pounds. No run on wahoo yet, with all of the bait ball activity we expect to see more of these wahoo in the counts soon. A few wahoo to 40 pounds were landed north of Punta Gorda, striking on Rapala and bait, with many boats now trolling larger baits on the offshore grounds, this is good way to tell if the wahoo actually are around, because they really like to clip off these same baits, more often than not they do so without notice or even becoming hooked.

The bottom action consisted of miscellaneous pargo/snapper, cabrilla, amberjack, dogtooth, grouper and even roosterfish. As we have been seeing now for several fall seasons, out of their normal inshore habitat, the roosterfish at this time of year will hang around the offshore structure of Iman, La Fortuna and San Luis and all of these roosterfish have been larger fish, 30 to 60 pounds. Anglers told many stories of drift fishing while using live skipjack off the bottom, taking freight train strikes, resulting in cut off lines. Not many amberjack recently, but that could change at any time, though the fall season is the time when the majority of anglers would prefer to target the pelagic surface species.

We have not heard many reports on billfish, except the 640 pound black marlin out of La Playita on Tuesday afternoon. Just a few sailfish and smaller size striped marlin found while trolling the blue water, we expect to hear more reports of big marlin hook ups in the coming days, as this is the time the tournament teams really start to scout fish for the upcoming events.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 110 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:
1 black marlin, 7 striped marlin, 9 sailfish, 8 wahoo, 11 amberjack, 5 dogtooth snapper,
18 cabrilla, 194 dorado, 83 yellowfin tuna, 22 various pargo species and 5 roosterfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

September 30, 2012
Anglers –

As we have now officially began the Fall season, this last week has been more tropical than anything else. Hurricane Miriam swept past on the Pacific side of the Peninsula, some 400 miles from Cabo San Lucas, it was a category three storm and a strong swells developed, no winds from this, but as the system weaken, clouds shifted towards the east and brought up to four inches of additional rainfall to the area. At the same time Miriam was downgraded to a depression, there was TS Norman developing quickly, within 90 miles of Cabo San Lucas, bringing more thundershowers and wind gusts to 30 mph as it passed just south of the Baja as it continued towards the mainland Mazatlan region. The roads had just been cleared from the last storms, now we will all be busy once again cleaning up. Most all sportfishing activity was canceled for Thursday and Friday, hoping conditions improve for the weekend.

Before the weather turned for the worse charter fleets were catching good number of dorado and yellowfin tuna were also being found. Larger yellowfin are now in the area, including on the Gordo Banks, they have been more active in the afternoon for the past week, but a few nice tuna were also hooked earlier in the day. All strikes were coming on baits, preferably live cocinero, bolito, skpjack, caballito of chihuil. Everyday a handful of larger tuna from 80 to 250 pounds were being accounted for, most of these fish were taken by local pangeros specifically targeting these fish.

Sardinas were harder to obtain with the higher surf conditions, this is what the smaller sized yellowfin tuna around the Iman Bank have preferred, this action was also best later on in the morning. Lots of skipjack to deal with, some of them the species locals refer to as white skipjack, good eating, similar to yellowfin, most are less than ten pounds though. Giant squid have once again moved into the area, though they are north, off of Los Frailes, the commercial pangeros are catching them daily now and some of the sport charters from San Jose del Cabo were able to purchase them and had mixed success using them for bait.

Dorado were the most numerous fish found, scattered throughout the entire zone, ranging in sizes to over 30 pounds, though the majority of the dorado were in the 5 to 15 pound range. There will certainly be more floating debris found after these latest floods, this always help produce the food chain, which in turn can attract gamefish. A few wahoo were found early in the week, with ocean temperatures still in the upper 80s these fish prove to be sluggish and not as active as they become when the water drops into the upper 70s.

A few sailfish and striped marlin are on the offshore fishing grounds, no black or blue marlin really to speak of recently, this is the time we should hear about some black marlin be seen lurking around the high spots, such as the Gordo Banks. Not much off the bottom, a few dogtooth snapper and other miscellaneous pargo.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 38 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 4 striped marlin, 4 sailfish, 4 wahoo, 5 amberjack, 6 dogtooth snapper, 9 cabrilla, 114 dorado, 79 yellowfin tuna, 25 various pargo species and 3 roosterfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

September 22, 2012
Anglers –

There has been mixed crowds of anglers, surfers and just normal traveling sun worshipping tourists enjoying the clear tropical weather for the past week. The area is now lush green due to all of the recent rainfall, humidity is high, but there a hint of fall in the air now, as early mornings are cooler. Swells are moderate, there was very little wind at all, just a slight afternoon breeze. There is a new low pressure system forming at this time, should become Tropical Storm Miriam in the new few days, this is projected to follow a path off to the west, keeping it clear of any land. Ocean clarity has cleared up now along the coast, this is where it had been clouded by the entire desert run off. Blue water has been found within several miles of shore and water temperatures are averaging 88 degrees throughout most of the region.

The most exciting news of the week was on Wednesday morning, this is when a crew aboard the 61 ft. “EL Suertudo” brought in a new world record sized yellowfin tuna to Cabo San Lucas. The record catch was weighed in on two different scales, 421 lb. and 427 lb. respectably, after certification the final weight will be listed, either way this fish appears to be shoe in for the new all-tackle IGFA record. Congratulations go out to angler Guy Yocom, from Dana Point, Ca. and to the rest of his crew aboard his yacht, this is an unbelievable accomplishment. These anglers were specifically targeting big yellowfin tuna and appear to have also qualified for the “Hook a Million”, one million dollar prize sponsored by Mustad Hook Company for any new world record tuna caught worldwide before the end of September, 2012, this definitely added to their motivation of going the extra miles to the fishing grounds where the giants lurk.

Conditions are really shaping up nice now, as weather has settled, each day the water is looking better, there is an abundance of baitfish scattered throughout the area, more skipjack than anything else. Caballito are being found near the marina jetty and sardinas are now being netted along the shoreline, near Palmilla and north towards Vinorama.

For the panga fleets departing out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina they have encountered more consistent action near Iman Bank and north to Vinorama, though the bite has been up and down and below local late summer standards. There has been a recent trend of the better action coming later in the day. Mort common catches were dorado or yellowfin tuna, the majority of the fish ranged 10 to 20 pounds, a few larger specimens mixed in. Live sardinas was the best bet for this bite. There are big yellowfin on the Gordo Banks, but they have proved very elusive, at times they were seen feeding in chum lines, but they did not want to bite baited hooks. At least one tuna close to 200 lb. was accounted for this week, it was landed on an afternoon private charter. Tuna often become spooky on these shallow banks in clear water, but they can also all of a sudden decide to bite just like that on any given day, pressure is light now and we are encouraged to see this larger grade of tuna now present on the local grounds.

A few sailfish and striped marlin found on these same grounds, but no big numbers, basically just incidental catches. As well as a few wahoo now being seen free swimming around drifting boats, but several were landed in recent days, so we expect something to happen with these speedy fish to become more active as fall weather transitions.

Not much bottom action found now, besides dropping larger baits over structure for a chance at winning the battle against a dogtooth snapper. Should be the time we hear about some grouper as well and we also usually expect to see some amberjack in the mix. Just as we have seen now for the last few seasons, we heard about a handful of nice sized roosterfish being hooked into further offshore over the rocky high spots, this is out of their normal feeding zone close to shore, I suppose they are adapting to where they can find sustainable food supply.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 61 charters for the week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 6 sailfish, 3 wahoo, 7 amberjack, 8 dogtooth snapper, 12 cabrilla, 137 dorado, 78 yellowfin tuna, 43 various pargo species and 4 roosterfish.

Good Fishing, Eric