November 16, 2013
Anglers –

As we near the Thanksgiving Holiday there continue to be large crowds of anglers visiting the area, now being greeted with ideal weather conditions, winds resided and anglers enjoyed comfortable seas, with water temperatures averaging 80 degrees. Presently there is yet another low pressure spot some 400 miles to the southwest, threatening to push moisture into Southern Baja, we have seen plenty of rainfall already, hopefully this will be minimal. Heavy road construction on the main Hwy 1 now, so be cautious of this.

Charter fleets have been fishing the grounds off the Pacific to Gordo Banks and Vinorama in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. Wide open striped marlin action was reported for fleets out of Cabo San Lucas while fishing the Pacific banks, double digit catches were common. Dorado were found spread throughout the area, a bit sporadic from day to day where the better action was encountered, many dorado now in the 5 to 15 lb. class, some larger bulls up to 20 lb. mixed in.

The more consistent all around action was found around the Iman Bank, this is where yellowfin tuna up to 25 lb. were schooling, also dorado, wahoo, sailfish and striped marlin were all found in this general vicinity. Drift fishing with a mix of strip squid, fresh dead sardinas, which just started being available this week, imported from as far as La Paz, they have proved to be a good choice, other options included ballyhoo and caballito. Catches were ranging from a couple fish per boat, up to 15, depending where you happen to be, often the tuna were biting later in the morning, around 11:00 a.m., just like a switch was thrown, the yellowfin would decide to feed, becoming active on the turn of the tide and change of current.

Skipjack have been prevalent on the fishing grounds and were being used for chumming and chunk fishing, particularly on the Gordo Banks, where the super cow sized yellowfin tuna have been lurking. On Tuesday local angler Memo Rueda, aboard a 24 ft. center console named “Koi Sushi” hooked into a super cow yellowfin tuna while drifting on the Gordo Banks, after a brutal two hour battle Memo landed the monster which we officially weighed in at a whopping 386 lb., this is the largest yellowfin tuna that we have weighed in out of La Playita, the previous local record was a 378 lb. fish about four years ago. I believe a couple of 400 lb. tuna have been brought into Puerto Los Cabos Marina, though these were yellowfin tuna were taken off large sportfishers from PV or distant banks, not from our local grounds. These larger sized yellowfin have not been as numerous this season, though everyday there have been hook ups, one or two, up to four or five. Chunks of squid or skipjack, as well as whole baits have all accounted for strikes. Other tuna taken from these banks this past week weighed 80 to 250 pounds.

Wahoo are definitely in the area, but recently they have not been wanting to strike often, any slight change in water conditions could trigger these elusive fish into action, this is peak season now for these highly sought after gamefish. Limited numbers have been brought to the docks this past week, though just yesterday one panga arrived with four large wahoo, largest about 60 pounds. This Sunday is the annual Wahoo Tournament in La Playita, so surely a team will need a fifty pound plus wahoo to win this event, along with jackpot prize money is a new VW compact car up for grabs.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 204 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:17 striped marlin, 14 sailfish, 29 wahoo, 450 bonito, 1 yellowtail, 22 pargo, 8 rainbow runner, 4 roosterfish, 18 cabrilla, 18 sierra, 405 dorado and 540 yellowfin tuna.

Good fishing, Eric