Happy New Year’s!

January 3, 2021

The busy Holiday Season is now winding down, just as quickly as it had begun. Vacationers are returning to work and schools are resuming classes, though the majority doing so on line. We will all hope that this New Year brings greater fortunes and that we can return to more normalcy. Winter like conditions did arrive in Southern Baja, as mid-week we registered lows as chilly as 46 degrees and high temperatures struggled to reach the low 70s, visitors need to realize that there actual seasons here in Baja, with the months of January and February being the coolest time of year. Of course as compared to most of the U.S. our local climate is moderate and very pleasant.

Anglers were now concentrating their efforts on the grounds from Red Hill and the Gordo Banks. Winds have continued to be persistent from out of the north and has contributed to steadily pushing cooler and greenish colored water in the direction of San Jose del Cabo. Through the week we saw conditions on the Gordo Banks change from clean blue 75 degree waters to off colored 70 degrees over the weekend. Further north towards Iman and Vinorama conditions are even more off. This is the normal pattern for this time of year, though this season the north winds have been stronger and more persistent than usual. Supplies of sardinas are still being netted close to the marina jetty off of the estuary. Also there are mackerel and sardineta now being found on local bait grounds.

Through most of the week local fleets concentrated on the Inner Gordo Banks, this is where schooling wahoo were being found, as well as some dorado, bonito and a few striped marlin. The wahoo action has been red hot on these grounds for the past couple of weeks, with most of these fish being juvenile 5 to 15 lb. size, still quite sporty on light tackle. These fish were striking best on chrome patterned casting jigs, but also hitting on sardinas, rapalas and caballito. The action definitely progressively slowed through the week, as schools were diminishing and conditions turned over. Also with this area producing the most consistent action there was greater pressure, from all sizes of carter boats and worst yet were everyday there were at least several boats full of spear fishermen concentrating directly on the high spot, this is a very small sea mount and cannot sustain the traditional rod and reel fishing combined with spear diving pressure. As everyone just seems to not care, no set regulations or even proposals of any particular zones, seasons of special permits, this activity will only increase, as with social media these days all news is exploited to the masses.

Dorado were declining in numbers with the cooling conditions, though we are still seeing them in smaller sized schools. Often they were fond closer to shore where batfish are now concentrated. Sizes averaged up to 15 lb. We did not have many anglers trying the bottom action or even inshore this past week, though this will be more of the normal fishery in coming weeks. Yellowfin tuna action was even scarcer, the tuna were seen at times surfacing on the Gordo Banks, but were especially spooky and not interested. We heard of a couple of reports of the yellowfin being found associated with porpoise a bit further offshore, but with the winds this was a very hit or miss deal.

Striped marlin are being seen now in greater numbers in the direction off of San Jose del Cabo, still scattered, but being found three to ten miles offshore, the Red Hill, Palmilla areas seems to be the more consistent grounds at this time. With the billfish striking various baits and lures.

Good fishing, Eric

December 27, 2020

Busy times now through the holiday season, as a flood of tourists are arriving to enjoying their vacation time in the warm sunshine of Los Cabos. Not sure how long this influx of tourists will last, as advance reservations for January appear light at this time. With Covid vaccinations now underway, we hope that by spring time more people will be whiling to travel. We are all enjoying the great weather now, sunny skies with high temperatures averaging 75 degrees. Variable northern winds, normal patterns of cycles of a few windy days, followed by calmer conditions. Majority of the fishing action is now concentrated on the Gordo Banks and North to La Fortuna.

The most popular spot now has been the Inner Gordo, which creates heavy pressure, with panga, cruisers, yachts, tank and spear divers all congregated on this relatively small area, this has made the fish that much spookier. Wahoo action has been probably the most consistent, these fish are averaging in the 8 to 15 lb. class, with an occasional 30 lb. fish mixed in. Best action was found while casting smaller sized chrome patterned yo-yo style jigs, also some were strikes on rapalas and sardinas. With the ocean temperature still averaging 75 degrees these pelagic species are hanging around, as pressure resides some after the New Year we do expect continued action, at least until the water drops into the low 70s.

Dorado were abundant early in the week, but tapered off some through the weekend. Still found scattered throughout the region, the majority were fish under ten pounds, though we did see a few dorado over 20 lb. We expect continued action to be found as long as ocean conditions remain favorable as they are now.

More striped marlin are showing up on local grounds, as is the normal pattern in late December. This is when they follow their food source in the direction off of San Jose del Cabo. We look for this action to break wide open in the coming weeks.

Yellowfin tuna were scarce, they are still congregating on the Inner Gordo Bank, but a few fish in the 60 to 100 lb. class were accounted, they just are now super weary with all of the added holiday pressure, Hard to concentrate on drift fishing for these tuna with so many boats and divers, etc…

Not much bottom action now, a few cabrilla up to 20 lb., as well as a mix of yellow snapper, triggerfish and bonito, no big numbers though. We also expect this action to improve after the winds lay down more and water cools.

Whales continue to arrive in greater numbers, as they will now be in the area into April, when they once again migrate back north.

Good fishing, Eric

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

December 20, 2020

The local International airport has been very busy this past week, hundreds of travelers are arriving to enjoy the holidays in the warm sunshine of Los Cabos. Despite all these people arriving, not many of them have been taking advantage of the fishing, so fleets have not been overly busy at all, even though the all-around fishing action was very good, especially considering that we are in the midst of winter season. High temperatures have been reaching 80 degrees, mostly clear sunny skies, though early morning have been in the upper 50’s, so remember to bring appropriate clothing. Ocean water temperatures have been averaging 74 to 77 degrees, a bit warmer than we expect for this time of year. Lots of whales are now arriving, giving visitors opportunities to watch these magnificent mammals in their natural habitat.

Anglers are now using sardinas and ballyhoo for bait, with limited numbers of caballito and we have yet to see the large schools of mackerel and sardineta arrive on local bait grounds. Most charters are now concentrated on the fishing grounds from off of Chileno, Palmilla, Gordo Banks, Punta Gorda, Cardona, La Fortuna and Iman. Favorable ocean conditions have been found on these grounds, though further to the north the water has been greenish and cooler. We have still been dealing with north winds, in the normal cycles, a few days of gusty conditions, then we have two or three calm days before the pattern repeats itself. Even on the days it has blown, often this did not happen until later in the morning and anglers were able to find good action closer to shore in more protected areas.

Dorado were found in good numbers, mixed sizes, we have seen larger sized fish this past week, some were in the 20 to 25 lb. range, we have not seen these big bulls on our local grounds for some time. The dorado were hitting on various baits and trolled lures. Lots of sierra now encountered throughout the inshore zone, some of these to over 5 lb., striking readily on the live sardinas, but also on small hoochies and raplalas.

Tuna action was spottier, though they are being seen and are definitely in the area, just have not been whiling to bite on a consistent basis. We did see a handful of nicer yellowfin brought in, weighing in the 60 to 90 lb. range, also some medium sized 20 to 40 lb. fish accounted for. There were other reports of larger cow sized tuna breezing the surface around the Gordo Banks, but we did not hear of any of these big fish hooked into or landed.

More numbers of striped marlin starting to be found on our local grounds, as it is now the time that these billfish shift in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, we also saw at least a coupe of sailfish in recent days. With the surface action being the main thing now, we did not see many of the limited numbers of charters even trying to look for bottom species.

Wahoo were abundant on the inshore grounds now, particularly Punta Gorda, Cardon, La Fortuna, also on the Inner Gordo Banks. This season we have seen more juvenile sized wahoo than we can ever remember, average sized wahoo that are being brought in are in the 5 to 15 lb. range, we are only occasionally seeing any fish in the 30 to 40 lb. class.

On a direr note is the progression of spear fishing we have seen in recent years, it seems each year we are seeing more and more numbers of these operators who advertise these world famous grounds and are making a big business out of this. The major issue is that they do not have any manners at all, in past years spear fishermen would concentrate on other grounds and during different hours. Now they concentrate their activities on the same fragile inshore fisheries where rod and reel angler are. This region cannot sustain such pressure on these same grounds and it is unrealistic that they simply are able to exploit this activity using the same type of fishing license that rod and reel anglers use, this is not the same sport, these people often target the larger female home guard species, that are too weary or wise to chase down a trolled lure or baited hook, but will simply swim towards the pointed spear to investigate and guard their breeding grounds, only to be shot in the head. We also see that many of these fish are being sold illegally, as authorities just seem to turn their heads in other directions. It seems that some control is much needed, perhaps such as dear, elk, moose tags and other hunting sports do and certain zones that they can use and others that are off limits.

Good fishing, Eric