December 18, 2022 

One week before Christmas and as usual we saw slightly less tourists arriving, a lull before the Holiday Season rush. A cold front also pushed in the past few days, we saw low temperatures down into 58 degree range and highs reached only 76 degrees, as skies were cloudy at times early before sun came through later in the day. Winds were predominately from the north most of the week, laying down some over the weekend.

Ocean swells were very slight, water temperature slowing cooling, now averaging 77 to 78 degrees. Bait supplies have been somewhat limited past couple of weeks, though we have seen schooling caballito rebound some, supplies of ballyhoo and slabs of squid have been fairly steady. Still no reports of sardinas being found within range of local commercial pangeros.

The most productive action recently was found between Cardon and Punta Gorda, all within a couple miles of shore. This is where good numbers of dorado up to 15 lb. were found, as well as wahoo and yellowfin tuna. Wahoo were a bit more elusive this past week, spooky from spear gun pressure as well as normal boat traffic, though some nice wahoo were accounted for, we saw a couple of very impressive fish in the 60 to 70 lb. class. Though average wahoo were in the 20 to 40 lb. range. The ‘hoo were striking on trolled baits, as well as rapalas and at times on cast jigs.

Yellowfin tuna action has been very spotty for the past month now, though this week we saw more tuna action than during previous weeks. Mainly near Cardon, but also on Iman and even close off of Punta Gorda. A couple of charters were lucky and accounted for as many as four yellowfin in a morning. We saw weights up to 70 lb., with average tuna landed being in the 20 to 60 lb. class. Not a consistent bite though, one day we saw a handful and the next we would see one. They hit mainly on the strips of squid, but a few were taken on baits rigged for wahoo, such as ballyhoo or caballito. Some charters have been able to chum up their own chihuil baits, which can be candy at times for wahoo, but also a lot of fishing time can be used up to try to obtain them.

Marlin bite is red hot on the Pacific but we are only seeing a few scattered striped marlin on local grounds off of San Jose del Cabo. Inshore there have been a few sierra and smaller roosterfish found, but other than that not much going on. Same for off the bottom, a few bonito and triggerfish and a handful of leopard grouper. 

Typically  this is the time of year where we start to see improved action off the shallow rock piles. Though with the dorado and wahoo biting, most anglers are opting to target them.

Good Fishing, Eric

—