Anglers –
July 25, 2015
Last week Hurricane Dolores threatened to impact the Southern Baja region, but never amounted to much at all, as the system veered further west. Keeping it far enough away to cause any damage at all, actually very little rainfall was accounted for, the system dumped more rainfall in Southern California than it did in Los Cabos. Port closure was lifted on Saturday and conditions have been improving every day since. Ocean swells have diminished to moderate levels, mid-week we had six foot swells for a day or so, but this swell has weakened once again. Even though forecasts have called for variable percentages of rainfall every day, it has been mostly dry on the coast, with the exception of very limited isolated showers quickly moving through. In the mountainous area north of the airport and to La Paz, they reported greater measurable rainfall. We had been monitoring recent development of Tropical Storm Felicia, but this storm moved far to the west and quickly downgraded to a depression, causing no impact at all locally, except for increasing tropical humid conditions. Slight breezes in the afternoon have helped to keep conditions bearable.
Ocean temperatures are now reaching the upper 80 degree levels, with most of the area now being in the 86/87 degree range, slightly cooler on the Pacific side of the peninsula. Water clarity quickly rebounded with calmer seas, blue water was found close to shore. Billfish activity has been centered around the 1150 and 95 spots, as well as on the Gordo Banks. Charters have been finding mixed success while trolling lures and various rigged baitfish, with more numbers of blue marlin starting to move in, as well as some lingering striped marlin and a few sailfish. Many charters were accounted for multiple billfish days, while others told stories of large fish being hooked, only to be lost.
The most consistent bite for the local panga fleet has been on the Gordo Banks for smaller grade of yellowfin tuna, these fish were striking best on sardinas, which remained available near the marina jetty in the early morning, these fish ranged up to 10 lb., mixed in with white and black skipjack. There are a few big yellowfin moving on to these same grounds and early in the week we saw the first super cow of the season landed, this tuna was hooked from a 22 ft. panga while soaking a bolito for bait on the Inner Gordo, the fish took two hours to land on 60 lb. tackle with use of a 80 lb. leader, the yellowfin was weighed in at a whopping 331 lb. Quite an achievement on a set up that was being rigged up for targeting dogtooth snapper, which have also been lurking on the Inner Gordo Bank. Several dogtooth snapper were being hooked into each day from this spot, with many of these hook ups lost due to broken off leaders. The dogtooth that were actually landed were weighing in the 30 to 55 lb class.
Dorado continue to be very scarce, just not many being found, who knows what is going on to cause this lack of these normallyy abundant summer season species., most likely these fish are searching out cooler Pacific currents and different food sources. Wahoo were not being found either, not really surprising, as these fish become sluggish in such warm waters. Roosterfish action along the coastal stretches faded out, though an occasional roosterfish was being found, some of these were up to 40 lb.
Still plenty of sharks being hooked into, they seemed to quiet down immediately after the high swells passed, but in recent days they have become a nuisance once again. Off the bottom a few cabrilla, amberjack, yellowtail snapper, huachinango were rounding out catches. One 30 lb. yellowtail was landed, not an everyday catch in 86 degree water, as these jacks prefer cooler currents.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 68 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 1 yellowtail, 8 sailfish, 7 striped marlin, 4 blue marlin, 8 dorado, 430 yellowfin tuna, 12 dogtooth snapper, 6 amberjack, 5 cabrilla, 15 yellow snapper, 11 jack crevalle, 120 white skipjack tuna, 14 bonito, 7 roosterfish and 14 huachinango (red snapper).
Good fishing, Eric