December 7, 2019

Anglers –

Noticeable lighter crowds of visitors arriving, after Thanksgiving we do normally see a decline of anglers, as people now are beginning to prepare for  the Christmas Holidays, now just around the corner. Weather patterns did finally stabilize and this week we saw much calmer ocean conditions, no crazy rain fall, mostly clear sunny skies, temperatures into the low 80s, really an ideal climate for this time of year.

Ocean actually warmed back up a couple of degrees, averaging about 80 degrees now. Bait situation is that sardinas are scarce out of San Jose del Cabo, now being found schooling near Cabo San Lucas, makes it tough to have to back track so far. So local fleets are mainly relying on caballito, ballyhoo, slabs of squid and if fortunate enough to find some chihuil, they proved the best for wahoo. Some mackerel started to appear now off of the Hotel Zone, still not consistent from day to day, as water temps cool some more, we expect more of these mackerel and sardineta will move in.

Over all anglers found the bite to be tougher to start the week, mainly due to north wind, though later in the week the wind laid down, water cleared up and bite was good for yellowfin tuna, wahoo and dorado. Most of the action was from Gordo Banks, Cardon, La Fortuna and off of Punta Gorda. Best action was on bait, some having to be worked for, especially the chihuil, they proved to be the candy for wahoo. The Gordo Banks produced yellowfin tuna up over 200 lb., larger fish lost, though numbers were not great, but with patience and persistent effort there were some quality fish. Strips of squid, small skipjack, chihuil and caballito all produced.

Wahoo action picked up, trolling live baits was best, fish up to over 45 lb., though some were taken on Repalas. Dorado were mixed in on the same grounds, but scattered, up close to 20 lb. Unusual to find some roosterfish action further offshore while trolling for dorado and wahoo, nice sized fish to 30 lb. Also a couple of yellowtail, one was an impressive 38 lb. and there was a 70 lb. amberjack, they were taken while chunk fishing for tuna on the Gordo Banks. If weather holds it looks like very promising opportunities for the rest of the month. So things are improving after recent rain squalls, landscape is a lush green, plenty of warm sunshine and great fishing.

Billfish was limited off of San Jose deal Cabo, a scattering of striped marlin and a couple small blues. Still better marlin action now on the Pacific. More whales are now being seen with each passing day, it will be peak season coming up for these migrating mammals. Sea lions, manta rays, porpoise, turtles and of course some sharks, which have been taking their share of the tuna catch, have added to entertainment.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 82 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 2 blue marlin, 2 striped marlin, 66 dorado, 98 yellowfin tuna, 56 wahoo, 4 yellow snapper, 5 cabrilla, 16 bonito, 6 sierra, 9 roosterfish, 5 baqueta, 3 surgeonfish, 2 yellowtail, 3 amberjack, 2 pompano and 30 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

November 30, 2019

Anglers –

The crazy month of November has now ended, this is time when the big crowds of anglers diminish, as less people travel between holidays. After dealing with TS Raymond last week, this week we had yet another low pressure system develop and sweep through Southern Baja from the west, which brought more heavy rainfall, as well as some wind gusts that might have even reached 50 mph in areas, rainfall of anywhere from 4 to 8 inches, depending where you were. The local Ports were completely closed on Wednesday, reopening about 8 a.m. on Thursday. This has been a strange season, very unpredictable weather patterns, though the water table definitely has been filled up and the landscape will be staying green longer than normal. Be aware of the mosquitoes as well.

Ocean temperatures dropped a bit, now averaging about 77 degrees, this latest storm turned over water conditions, from all of the run off, dirty water for much of the inshore zone, though now with each passing day we are seeing clarity improve and the all-around fishing action quickly rebound. Baitfish were more scattered, schooling sardinas now closer to Cabo San Lucas, local fleets ere using mainly slabs of squid, ballyhoo and what other baitfish could be found on the fishing grounds, caballito vanished, it will be any week now that school of mackerel and sardineta appear on the ground off of San Jose del Cabo.

The better billfish action was on the Pacific, but in recent days we have seen more striped marlin showing in the direction of San Jose, which is usually the trend during this time frame. Dorado action improved, as more numbers of these popular gamefish are showing throughout the region, majority of these fish are in the 10 to 15 lb. class, some larger. Wahoo became a bit more elusive in the dirty conditions, as did most species, but as water began to clean up we did see a few more ‘hoo starting to show, the action early week had been near Vinorama, but by weekend the best areas were closer off of Cardon, La Fortuna and then on Saturday the wahoo bite broke open close off of Punta Gorda. If you get chihuil for bait, that was the hot ticket, some hit on ballyhoo as well. Wahoo up to 50 pounds were weighed in.

Yellowfin tuna action stalled out during the dirty conditions, but now we are seeing more tuna in the mix, some from Iman, San Luis, Gordo Banks and others further offshore associated with porpoise. Earlier in the week local pangeros brought in a cow yellowfin of about 350 lb., not returning to the docks until 9 p.m. Though most of the tuna we did see were from football size, up to 70 lb. Though the cows are lurking on the Gordo Banks, just you need to put in some serious time to have a real chance.

Off of the bottom we saw various snapper, pargo, bonito, a few cabrilla and of course more triggerfish than anything else. Along the shoreline there were roosterfish and some early season sierra, but with limited bait this was not a guaranteed option.

Still only sporadic sightings of whales, but these mammals are now arriving from their northern feeding grounds on their annual southern migration and will be in taking up residence in local waters through the winter months.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 76 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 3 blue marlin, 6 striped marlin, 3 sailfish, 108 dorado, 68 yellowfin tuna, 35 wahoo, 4 yellow snapper, 5 cabrilla, 4 amberjack, 22 bonito, 9 sierra, 10 roosterfish, 4 rainbow runner, 4 golden eyed tilefish, 14 glass eyed snapper and 40 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric

November 23, 2019

Anglers –

Last week we saw TS Raymond pass through the Los Cabos area, shutting down all Port activities on Sunday and Monday, this during a very busy time frame when these red flag conditions are rare occurrences. In another week the large crowds will lighten up, as they normally do after Thanksgiving and before the Christmas Holidays. Unpredictable weather conditions for the past month, more north wind than usual for this early in the season, also we are now following forecast for another rain storm that is moving in the direction of Southern Baja, all local interests are hoping this latest system veers in another direction, as we have already had plenty of rainfall, last weekend alone there were reports of isolated areas receiving six of more inches of rainfall, also some major flooding through low lying regions.

After the passing of the rain the all-around action seemed to slow down, which also stirred up ocean conditions, dirty water and a bit cooler, down in the 79 degree range, baitfish became scattered as well. Later in the week water clarity did improve and baitfish were becoming more active. Some schools of sardinas were found near marina jetties, also some caballito, other options were ballyhoo and slabs of squid.

The wahoo action near Vinorama vanished, though by Friday a few nice wahoo up to 47 lb. were reported, other strikes lost, so we are confident that these fish will remain on local grounds for another month or so. Dorado were spread out in different direction, found more consistently towards Cabo San Lucas, most of these fish were under 15 lb., with a few exception of larger 20 lb. plus specimens, striking both baits and lures.

The yellowfin tuna bite near San Luis Bank came to a halt, though the big news was that a few much Alger yellowfin tuna were hooked into off of the Gordo Banks, though more anglers were having battles with various species of sharks, there were some monster tuna now on these grounds. There were several very impressive catches records,, including 145 lb,. 272 lb. and 335 lb., this proved to be best week yet for this season on these grounds for the larger grade of yellowfin, several other cow sized tuna were lost after long epic battles. Slow trolling lovely smaller sized skipjack was the main producer of these big strikes. Offshore and towards Cabos San Lucas there were a smaller football sized grade of yellowfin tuna, though that was a bit hit or miss, with some charter landing 5 to 7 fish and others lucky to find one.

Bottom action continued to be slow, mainly triggerfish, an occasional amberjack, cabrilla, snapper or pargo. Inshore action was limited, depending on what bait was obtainable, jack crevalle up to 20 lb., a few sierra and some juvenile roosterfish up to 15 lb.

Billfish was red hot on the Pacific grounds, but were also starting to move in the direction of the local grounds off of San Jose del Cabo, a handful of striped marlin, sailfish and blue marlin were accounted for in recent days, nothing too large, stripers averaged less than 100 lb., blue marlin up in the 175 lb. range.

The combined sportfishing fleet launching out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out an estimated 120 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 1 black marlin,1 blue marlin, 5 striped marlin, 1 sailfish, 88 dorado, 65 yellowfin tuna, 5 wahoo, 6 yellow snapper, 2 barred pargo, 3 leopard grouper, 5 amberjack, 29 Mexican bonito, 4 sierra, 4 jack crevalle, 10 roosterfish, 4 surgeon fish, 2 rainbow runner,5 golden eyed tilefish and 80 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric