Wind Settles, Marlin Action Good, also Tuna, Dorado, Wahoo ~ December 26, 2015

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Anglers –
December 26, 2015

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to everyone

Many tourists have been arriving in Los Cabos this holiday season, compared to last year, when the majority of local resorts were still closed and in the process of rebuilding from the devastation caused by Hurricane Odile. The relentless north winds finally resided mid-week and conditions were feeling more like fall than winter. Warm sunny days, with calm seas, ideal time for anglers to take advantage of the opportunities at billfish, yellowfin tuna, dorado, wahoo, roosterfish and other available species.

Ocean temperatures have ranged from 75 degrees from Iman Bank to Los Frailes to as warm as 79 degrees straight outside of Cabo San Lucas. Ideal conditions now, if the winds stay moderate we do expect to enjoy excellent fishing action into the coming new year. With the lack of sardinas available, anglers have been relying on caballito, slabs of squid and various artificial lures to entice the variety of gamefish now in the area.

San Jose del Cabo fleets were having to travel all the way to the Cabo arches to find sporadic action for yellowfin tuna in the 10 to 15 pound class, some boats catching six or seven fish, other none, lots of pressure by the whole fleet, as well as hungry seas lions on this spot. Chance at a single dorado or wahoo off of the Chileno, Santa Maria and Red Hill areas. Though this action was very hit or miss. So we are glad that the wind has diminished for the time being and this has opened up our normal fishing grounds from the Gordo Banks to the Iman Bank. Crazy that black marlin and larger grade of yellowfin tuna have been holding around the Gordo Banks, in recent days the tuna action on these ground was very dead in the morning hours, but would come alive in the afternoon, so some locals have been packing 20 or more pounds of squid slabs and heading out for this late afternoon action, tuna to 140 lb. were landed, many other even larger yellowfin were lost, sea lions were a pesky problem on these grounds as well. This action should last in to January, any day these yellowfin could bite earlier in the day, full moon phase has feeding patterns mixed up as well.

Iman Bank was holding tuna in the 20 to 40 lb. range, though without sufficient chum and dealing with swifter cooler currents put this bite off later in the week. Dorado continue to be scattered, but actually in recent days we are seeing more of these fish than during the past week or two. Same for wahoo, not many being landed, but they are in the area, with conditions being as favorable as they are, anything could happen, these elusive and highly sought after gamefish are definitely still around and we expect them to become more active in the coming weeks.

This is the time when striped marlin appear on the grounds off of San Jose del Cabo and this has been the case this week, straight outside of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina, anywhere from two to four miles offshore, this is where fleets are now concentrated, chasing feeding marlin and drift fishing with baits down deep has produced good action on the striped marlin, averaging 80 to 120 lb., with some sailfish are still hanging late into the season.

Good numbers of smaller to medium sized roosterfish are now being encountered closer to shore, anglers have been using live caballito to slow troll for this action, not many sierra yet, the lack of sardinas will make this a tough season for the sierra. Bottom action has showed improvement recently, deeper water species around the Gordo Banks and other high spots.Various snappers, cabrilla, grouper, triggerfish, rainbow runner and bonito.

Whales are now appearing in greater numbers every day and will soon be peaking for their annual winter migration to Southern Baja California.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 84 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 5 sailfish, 2 black marlin, 38 striped marlin, 115 yellowfin tuna, 22 dorado, 11 wahoo, 14 cabrilla, 14 huachinango, 22 yellow snapper, 18 bulleye snapper, 3 amberjack, 12 rainbow runner, 24 bonito, 8 white skipjack, 55 roosterfish and 30 triggerfish.

Good fishing, Eric

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