November 20, 2010

The Fall Season of 2010 is now in its final stretch as we near the Thanksgiving Holiday, after this there is always some down time, as people prepare for the Christmas and New Year’s period. The weather has continued to be great, clear skies, temperatures in the 80s and only moderate winds out of the north. Anglers do need to remember jackets for the early mornings, as it had been in the upper 50s early in the a.m. Local panga fleets remain very busy, most charters have concentrated either on the Gordo Banks or near Iman and San Luis. Water temperatures have varied from 76 degree towards the Golden Gate Bank on the Pacific to 80 degrees on the Sea of Cortez side of the Peninsula. Clean blue water has continued to be found close to shore and most charters are now fishing within 2 to 8 miles from shore.

Bait supplies have barely been able to keep up with the high demand, as schools of sardinas also migrate along coastal areas. There have been limited supplies of caballito available and chihuil is another option that pangeros have been able to catch themselves on the fishing grounds, these mackerel sized baits are particularly enticing to wahoo.

Yellowfin tuna, wahoo and dorado are the most targeted species now, with yellowfin most numerous. The key to success for the tuna has been drift fishing with sardinas, either dead or alive. The Iman Bank has been holding schooling yellowfin tuna in the 15 to 20 pound class. While a larger grade of tuna has been concentrated on the Gordo Banks, the outer bank in recent days has been most active, particularly early in the day. Most of the tuna on these banks ranged 40 to 90 pounds, some boats had as many as four or five of these fish. The first super cow sized yellowfin accounted for the last couple of weeks was taken on Thursday by none other than local pangero legends Hugo Pino and his son Agustine, they were key members of the “Fisherman” team of 2009 who won the WON Tuna Jackpot with the near record 383 lb. tuna. This latest fish they caught from the Gordo Banks while drift fishing with sardinas, weighed in at 302 pounds, they also had another tuna which weighed in at a not too shabby 185 pounds.

Wahoo continue to be found throughout the inshore areas, from Palmilla Point, Punta Gorda, San Luis to Vinorama. Everything is shaping up for the local wahoo tournament to be held this Sunday, Nov. 21. In recent days there have been several wahoo caught that weighed in to 60s and even 70s pounds. With the heavy boat pressure there have been more wahoo strikes coming recently on various baitfish, versus trolled lures. Many charters had multiple chances at wahoo, but the actual strike to catch ratio for ‘hoo usually averages out to about one fish landed per three strikes, you name it and it will happen with these elusive speedsters.

Dorado are spread throughout the area in small schools, no particular hot spot, most of the dorado are under 20 pounds, with a few exceptions of larger bulls being encountered.

There have been encouraging reports from the Pacific of more striped marlin moving onto the banks such as the Golden Gate, with many boats reported multiple catch and release marlin days. Mid week there was a 400 pound class black marlin taken form a 22 ft. panga out of La Playita, also a few sailfish here and there.

The combined panga fleets out of La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 204 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 black marlin, 3 striped marlin, 7 sailfish, 655 yellowfin tuna, 82 dorado, 102 wahoo, 16 sierra, 15 rainbow runner, 26 amberjack, 8 dogtooth snapper, 17 cabrilla, 22 bonito and 18 hammerhead shark.

Good fishing, Eric

November 13, 2010

The Los Cabos area is now bustling with visiting anglers who are enjoying pristine weather conditions, sunny days, reaching 85 degrees, early mornings are starting to become cooler, but as the sun rises conditions warm quickly. The northern winds are becoming more predominate, though have been moderate compared to the rough conditions of last Thursday and Friday during the WON Tuna Jackpot Event. Ocean currents are averaging 79 to 81 degrees, clean blue water still being found close to shore, there are only moderate swells and currents have weaken. Overall the conditions are ideal for the peak of the Fall Season.

With the increased crowds of anglers we always face the situation with issues such as; limited and scattered bait supplies, slow fishing license purchase process, increase angler pressure on the local hot spots, also more time consuming to have your fresh catch filleted. Despite these draw backs the majority of people are having a good time.

Local La Playita fleets have been fishing several main areas, from the Santa Maria, Cabeza de Ballena region where there has been a consistent bite close to shore for yellowfin tuna for anglers using live sardinas for bait, these fish ranged up to 25 pounds, a few dorado, sierra and wahoo were mixed in, as well as a handful of sailfish. The Gordo Banks has been the spot where a larger grade of yellowfin have been found, no monsters this week, average tuna from the Banks recently has been 30 to 60 pounds, a few fish close to 100 pounds were accounted for this past week. Seemed the time of day when the best action could be found varied day to day, some days very early was best and other times later in the day the tuna became much more active, never can tell, the added pressure seems to be an contributing factor, anglers reported success while using lighter and longer fluorocarbon leaders.

On the Iman Bank catches included yellowfin tuna, wahoo, amberjack, dogtooth snapper, rainbow runner, sailfish, dorado, sierra and bonito. There was the option of dropping larger baits near the bottom while the same time targeting tuna closer to the surface with sardinas. A handful of dogtooth snapper up to 35 pounds were landed, as well as amberjack the same size, of course there were many stories of break offs by large fish. Sierra were surprisingly found several miles offshore on the high spots, mixed in with small schools of wahoo that were attracted to the sardina food source. Every day a couple of wahoo were being landed on straight mono, no leader, while using sardinas.

Anglers wishing to target wahoo have headed towards the San Luis Bank, this has been the place now for the past two weeks where wahoo have been congregating and providing some thrills for anglers trolling various higher speed lures and rigged baits.

Trap hooked caballito, chihuil, moonfish, bolito and ballyhoo all worked, problem at times was obtaining enough of these larger baits. These wahoo also prove tricky to actual hook, fight and then successfully land, with their incredible bursts of speed and rapid change of direction, along with a very boney jaw, all makes the battle more cautious. Lures such as Rapalas, Yo-Zuris, Marauder and skirted lead heads all accounted for their share of strikes. Most wahoo that were brought to the scales weighed in the 20 to 35 pound class, with an occasional fish in the 40 to 50 pounds category. On November 21 the planned La Playita Wahoo Tournament is scheduled, a one day event with various jackpot categories, also the keys to a new VW Pick Up will be up for grabs in a separate raffle. This year all sizes of boats are invited to participate, sign up will be held the afternoon of Nov. 20 at the Panga docking area in La Playita, should be a fun event.

Mid week there was a impressive blue marlin landed by Carl Nelson, from California, it was hooked while trolling a medium sized Zuker clone near the Gordo Banks and officially weighed in at 648 pounds. This marlin succumbed during the two hour battle on fifty pound tackle and could not be released, the meat was distributed throughout the local fishing village.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 220 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for, 4 striped marlin, 12 sailfish, 138 wahoo, 112 dorado, 804 yellowfin tuna, 15 dogtooth snapper, 32 amberjack, 19 cabrilla, 38 rainbow runner, 24 sierra, 7 roosterfish and 25 hammerhead shark.

Good fishing, Eric

November 7, 2010

The Los Cabos area is now busy greeting visiting anglers, this is now peak fall season, the WON Tuna Jackpot took place this past week. The two day event brought swirling gusty winds, tough conditions, one yellowfin tuna over 200 pounds was landed late the final day and proved to be the winner for the team of Reel and Deal. The fishing was very good for yellowfin in the 30 to 150 pound range. Fleets were heading in all directions, trying to find the most favorable conditions for finding the jackpot fish.

There were many heartbreak stories as well, probably none of them more spectacular than that of Team Killer, consisting of local pangeros Jaime Pino, Eduardo Guluarte and long time friend Michael Angeles from Santa Barbara, Ca., who just happens to be a member of the team that won the inaugural WON Tuna event. This year the same team was entered with a 24 ft. super panga named “Como Quieras”. While drift fishing early in the day on the Gordo Banks they hooked up with what appeared to be a big tuna and while battling the fish in choppy seas, trying to keep from being spooled, they had their hands full, it was then they realized the intake hose for the bait tank had come loose, rapidly flooding the back compartment of the panga to the railings. Quick thinking is what saved the boat from sinking, the team went into action, Michael went all the way to the bow for ballast, the other guys all bailed with buckets, at the same time they had to accelerant the motor and try to get up on a plane enough to bail the rest of the hull and reconnect the loosened hose. Instinctually thinking, the crew attached a buoy to the rod & reel that had the big tuna hook up and threw it overboard, in hopes of finding it later.

The crew worked quickly to bail out the water and hurriedly fixed the hose, now they had the chore of finding the buoy that was hopefully sill connected to the tuna, all this in victory at sea conditions. They trolled in grids for what seemed like eternity in search of the drifting buoy, finally spotting it being hauled through the swells by the still very alive quarry. Hooked solidly on stout tackle they battled the fish for another hour and a half before noticing that it was tailed wrapped, but it was very much alive. The six foot long cow sized yellowfin was right under the panga where they could see that it would be in the 300 pound class, only to witness the circle hook pull free and watch their jackpot sink into the blue depths. Talk about tough luck, makes for a hell of a fish story though.

Early in the week anglers found much more pleasant ocean conditions, with areas such as Santa Maria, Iman Bank and the Gordo Banks all producing a mix of yellowfin tuna, dorado, wahoo, as well as other miscellaneous catches. Most consistent action was for schooling sized yellowfin up to 25 pounds, these fish were hitting on live sardinas, which remained plentiful, despite the heavy pressure. The tuna would come up to chum and at times the action would be wide open, then just as quickly the fish would disappear, other times the yellowfin could be seen all over on the surface, but proved very finicky to hook up. Plenty of black skipjack also in the feeding frenzy, often out numbering the yellowfin tuna.

Another story of a lifetime was witnessed by Mike Mahoney from San Leandro, Ca. and Frank Porter of Oakland, C., they were fishing with local skipper Sergio Carillo when they had a black marlin estimated at 900 pounds or larger attack a 80 pound class yellowfin tuna that Mike was battling. The black marlin inhaled the tuna then spit it back up and attacking it yet again, bill slashing the entire side of the yellowfin, what a show, watching this magnificent pelagic predator in action, all light up it her neon striped body armor.

There was one black marlin weighed in by a team of La Playita pangero, they battled the fish from two different boats for a total of about five hours, it weighed in at 653 pounds. Overall the billfish action has been spread out, though we did notice that more sailfish were now being found on the local fishing grounds. Dorado still are not up to normal counts, but anglers have been encountering smaller sized schools and when this happens they are accounting for two, three or four fish in the 10 to 20 pound class, only a scattering of larger sized bulls being encountered.

Wahoo were less active the second half of the week, still predominately found in the area of San Luis Bank, slow trolling live or dead larger baits resulted in most numerous strikes, actual strike to landing ratio was about one wahoo landed per three baits strikes. The wahoo ranged up to 50 pounds, most fish were 20 to 30 pounds. They also hit on Rapalas, skirted lead heads and rigging ballyhoo. The upcoming weeks is when these highly sought after elusive gamefish become more active. Clean blue water continues to de found close to shore, water temperatures are cooling and are now ranging from 78 to 82 degrees.

Strong currents limits most forms of bottom fishing, though a few dogtooth snapper and amberjack were accounted for, these fish were hooked on either whole or chunk bait, more action was found earlier in the week before seas became wind chopped.

The combined panga fleets launching from La Playita/Puerto Los Cabos sent out approximately 149 charters for the week, with anglers accounted for: 7 striped marlin, 1 black marlin, 14 sailfish, 22 wahoo, 84 dorado, 744 yellowfin tuna, 8 dogtooth snapper, 18 amberjack, 15 cabrilla, 34 rainbow runner, 16 sierra and 18 hammerhead shark..

Good fishing, Eric