Anglers –

February 16, 2019

Still just moderate crowds of anglers arriving, kind of normal for this time of year. The weather patterns seem to on a warming trend, actually feeling like spring already, mostly clear sunny skies, with highs of 80 degrees. This next week the forecast looks to be slightly cooler, hard to predict now, transition periods from winter to spring, on and off changes. The water clarity improved closer to shore this week, water temperature seemed to warm slightly, now in the 71 to 75 degree range, offshore area the warmest. Though much of the more consistent fishing action has been closer to shore.

There was a couple of days where limited supplies of sardinas were located, this was inside the marina channel, of course the word traveled and now we see none again, at least it was a sign that these schooling baitfish are moving back into the region, needs to be some kind of control, more preserve zones are required as well. There re mackerel in the area, but a little more hit or miss from day to day, also slabs of squid, as well as ballyhoo and chihuil are rounding out bait options;

Highlight for the week were a handful of yellowfin tuna that were taken off of the Gordo Banks, drift fishing with squid and sardinas, these tuna were in the 80 lb. class. Also a few wahoo biting on the grounds from Punta Gorda to the Iman Bank, including one of about 70 lb. on Friday. Not normally the time of year for wahoo, but with the conditions how they are, there are some wahoo in the area. Not many dorado being accounted for, but every now and then a boat will come in with one or two, more of these found closer to shore, sizes up to 15 lb.

Most numerous fish were the various bottom species, different pargo, snapper, grouper, amberjack and even a few smaller yellowtail in the mix. Red snapper on pieces of squid was a good bet in recent days, more of these under five pounds.

Marlin bite was more spread out, but charters are finding striped marlin off of San Jose del Cabo grounds, as well as the 950, 1150 spots. It appears that many of the stripers that were on the Pacific are now moving in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, it is all about following their food supply.

The combined sportfishing fleet out of the panga area from Puerto Los Cabos Marina reported an estimated 69 charters for the week and anglers reported an approximate fish count of: 11 striped marlin, 22 dorado, 15 yellowfin tuna, 13 wahoo, 32 bonito, 245 red snapper, 14 bagueta, 2 sheepshead, 4 pompano, 12 leopard grouper, 10 roosterfish, 4 yellowtail, 5 amberjack, 14 sierra and 110 triggerfish.

Good Fishing, Eric