November 19, 2011

Sizable crowds continue to arrive in Southern Baja, ideal weather patterns now prevalent, mostly sunny days, highs reaching the low 80s. Early in the week there was one nighttime rain flurry, did not account for much, besides making the roads muddy. Winds were strong out of the north, first real blow of the season, later in the week conditions settled. This is the time of year where day to day, weather patterns can change rapidly. Water temperatures are now averaging 79 to 81 degrees, cooling trend should continue through winter.

Anglers found limited bait options and supplies, live caballito and sardinas. Ballyhoo were available, being rigging for trolling. On the fishing grounds pangeros were catching chihuil and skipjack, using these for targeting larger gamefish. The week started off with steady action for wahoo, the best area seemed to be around the Iman Bank, anglers reported many strikes, while trolling live baits and various lures, average strike to actual landing ratio, was not high. Some charters did report multiple fish in the box, sizes ranged from 20 to 60 pounds.

The same fishing grounds of Iman produced scattered numbers of dorado, sailfish, striped marlin and some yellowfin tuna. Lots of live sardinas were necessary in order to entice the yellowfin tuna into feeding on the surface. Most action was found near the surface, not much going off the bottom now, more triggerfish than anything else.

The yellowfin tuna bite steadily slackened off since the first week of the month, but this week we did see the action get hot on the Gordo Banks, especially on Wednesday. At least six tuna in the 200 pound class were accounted for and one super cow over 300 pounds was landed. This monstrous yellowfin was weighed in unofficially, with discrepancies ranging from 365 pounds, up to 378 pounds, depending on which story you believe. This fish was taken from a 22 ft. panga by legendary La Playita pangero Hugo Pino, his son and long time friend from Greece, angler Apostolo Poulos. On Saturday, the father son team of John and Jordan Williamson, from California and South Carolina respectably, battled for three hours on eighty pound tackle a 249 pound yellowfin tuna while fishing with Gordo Banks skipper Chame Pino.

After a good day all around on Wednesday, the very next day, Thursday, anglers found very scarce fishing action, in all directions, there were very few fish accounted for. Hard to say, conditions seemed favorable, bait schools were plentiful, winds and currents minimal, just the fish did not want to cooperate.

Anglers were now finding some close to shore action for sierra and medium sized roosterfish. Trolling with live baits, hoochies and rapalas all worked, this inshore action will peak in the coming months.

Billfish is now in between main seasons, no significant numbers, but it is the time when sailfish, black, blue and striped marlin are all found in local waters. This week there were several large marlin hook ups reported from the Gordo Banks, extended battles resulting in broken lines.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 178 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for, 1 blue marlin, 7 striped marlin, 17 sailfish, 66 wahoo, 205 dorado, 84 yellowfin tuna, 6 dogtooth snapper, 4 yellowtail, 24 pargo, 36 triggerfish, 25 bonito, 9 pompano, 38 sierra, 28 roosterfish and 10 hammerhead shark.

Good Fishing, Eric

 

 

November 5, 2011

The Los Cabos area is now bustling with tourists, they have been enjoying pristine weather conditions and this week visitors are being entertained by the main event of the annual WON Jackpot Tuna Tournament. Scores of sportfishing teams will be in search of the cow sized yellowfin that could win them a big pay day.

In recent weeks the ocean water temperatures had warmed back up to 85/86 degrees, but now it is to back down in to the 82/83 degrees. This season the water temperatures have averaged higher than normal, this created different migration patterns for baitfish and the gamefish alike. Overall the Fall Season has not been producing as consistent catches as would normally be expected. We do anticipate as conditions normalize the action will become steadier. Winds have become more predominant from the north and should maintain this pattern through winter.

Out of San Jose del Cabo there were bait shortage issues, with anglers having to travel out of their way and patiently wait in order to purchase very limited quantities of sardinas. Schools of sardinas were now congregated mainly on the beaches close to Cabo San Lucas. We should start to see more caballito and then mackerel before too long.

Yellowfin tuna have been schooling now for a couple of months on the fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks to Iman Bank, these concentrations of fish have proved to be exceptionally hook shy this season, perhaps it has to do with warmer waters, abundance of food sources found at deeper depths, hard to say exactly what the reason is? One thing for sure, is that the fish are on the grounds, making good showings on the surface and everyday there have been numbers of tuna landed. The fish coming from the Iman area are weighing 20 to 40 pounds on an average and the fish found on the Gordo Banks are mainly starting at about 80 pounds, ranging up to cow sizes. Slow trolling with various baits, chihuil, bolito, skipjack produced strikes, as did drift fishing with dead and live sardinas and chunk baits. The key was consistent chumming, light leaders and being ready when the opportunities were there, lots of patience needed.

Dorado action was a bit more spread out, but once schools were encountered, anglers could put several in the box in a hurry. Most of the dorado found recently were weighing in the 5 to 15 pound range, with a percentage of larger bulls reported. Wahoo are showings signs of coming to life, as they became more active in recent days, anglers reported strikes while slow trolling trap hooked baits and on the high speed troll with various lures, areas from Santa Maria, Red Hill, towards Punta Gorda and Iman all reported ‘hoo strikes. Wahoo to over fifty pounds were landed, we do believe we are going to have a great run of late season wahoo, from what we have seen the fish are larger sized this year.

Billfish opportunities included sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin, typically this is the end of the big black and blue season and the migration of striped marlin will be moving back with the cooling currents. At this time, with warmer water temperatures, you could hook any given species any day. This week there was a 340 pound black marlin caught by Dennis Powell from the Lake Tahoe area while fishing with local pangero Chame Pino. There was a larger blue marlin lost the next day from the same area, there were quite a few sailfish reported and some striped marlin found surprisingly close to shore. A handful of early season whales also reportedly seen in local waters.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 192 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for: 1 black marlin, 8 striped marlin, 18 sailfish, 17 wahoo, 242 dorado, 94 yellowfin tuna, 9 dogtooth snapper, 9 amberjack, 16 cabrilla, 8 yellowtail, 8 rainbow runner, 12 hammerhead shark and 8 pompano

Good Fishing, Eric

 

 

October 29, 2011

Large crowds of anglers continue to arrive in the Los Cabos area, with the big marlin tournaments now all completed everyone is gearing up in anticipation of the WON Tuna Jackpot, which is scheduled for this coming week. With big yellowfin tuna now on the local fishing grounds, surely to win this event, a team will need a cow or super cow sized tuna to sweep jackpot honors. Days are still quite warm for this time of year, highs near 90 degrees, evenings are cooling off, actually very comfortable weather, winds have been more unpredictable, coming from all directions and then laying down. Water temperatures are on a slow cooling trend, now averaging in the 83 to 86 degree range.

Supplies of sardinas became scarcer this past week, heavy pressure and just not as many schools of these baitfish being found along local beaches. These fish also migrate, maybe the warmer than usual currents have changed their patterns as well. Charters had to wait for up to an hour at times for limited amounts of bait. There is no bait farm here and charters rely on what can be found on a daily basis.

It has been the same story for yellowfin tuna action for the past month, lots of fish being seen on the Gordo Banks and north around the Iman Banks, but these fish were finicky in the clear blue water, freely gorging on the available food source on these fishing grounds and just not that interested in biting the baits with hooks in them. Most of the fish found near Iman Bank were in the 20 to 40 pound range, while the tuna on the Gordo Banks started at about 80 pounds and went on up over 200 pounds. Patience was the key, slow trolling larger whole baits that could be caught on the grounds or drift fishing with sardinas and chunk baits produced strikes that did result in some quality catches each day, just no big numbers to speak of, catching one nice sized tuna proved to be a fortunate catch at this time. The largest yellowfin tuna weighed in out of La Playita this week was that of Neil Berkley’s 220 pound cow that he caught while using a chunk bait on the Outer Gordo Bank.

Dorado numbers declined from last week, but most boats were still catching several per day in their combined catch. Trolling with medium sized feathers or cedar plugs was a good way to find the schools of dorado, which most of the time were closer to shore. Average dorado were in the 5 to15 pound class. Wahoo were in the area, but so far only a few fish here and there are being hooked into, rapalas and dorado type feathers have seemed to be the best bet for this. Of the few wahoo accounted for, they were nice sized, 30 pounds to over 50 pounds.

Scattered billfish action, more sailfish were showing up on the same tuna grounds, a few striped marlin here and there, not much heard about for blue or black marlin in recent days, a couple of missed strikes on the Gordo Banks.

Only mixed success for any bottom action, currents, winds, warmer waters all seem to be part of the problem with finding any consistent bite off the bottom. A few pargo, amberjack, cabrilla and yellowtail, but no numbers, just one or two scattered fish, the Gordo Banks did produce some nice dogtooth snapper on a couple of days early in the week, but then this bite turned off.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 208 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for: 5 striped marlin, 16 sailfish, 8 wahoo, 580 dorado, 155 yellowfin tuna, 12 dogtooth snapper, 15 amberjack, 17 cabrilla, 2 yellowtail, 8 rainbow runner, 8 hammerhead shark and 12 roosterfish.

Good Fishing, Eric