Anglers –
July 29, 2017

We are really starting to feel like the tropical desert climate is dominating. With a series of tropical storm system developing in succession from the south, before following western paths. The latest on the list being Hurricanes Irwin and Hilary, both moving further off to the west and now downgraded to tropical storms. In Los Cabos the impact felt was increased ocean swells, to 8 to feet or more, more cloud cover, higher humidity and some isolated rai squalls on Thursday, moderately heavy in certain areas. Looks to be clearer in the coming days, though this time of year it is very hard to predict weather patterns more than a couple days in advance.

Ocean swells were definitely much larger early this week and will continue moderately for the next week, this commonly is the time of year that we see this. Though winds have been mainly increasing later in the morning or afternoon, morning hours on the water were relatively nice. Water temperatures are now averaging 80 to 84 degrees throughout the region. Clarity a bit stirred up closer to shore, due to currents and swells, but clean blue water is being encountered within a few miles of shore. Early in the week there were sardinas found in limited quantities, as well as caballito and mullet. With increased wave activity it is has been not possible to safely reach where the sardinas were schooling, though there are some sardinas found inside of the marina channel area. Other bait options has been using strips of squid, which is just beginning to prove to be a successful option.

Most common areas now being targeted by local sportfishing fleets have been from off of Chileno Bay and north towards Vinorama, for the most part during summer months the waters are calmer in the direction of the Sea of Cortez, rather than on the Pacific. In recent days the billfish action has improved, decent numbers of blue and striped marlin were being hooked into while trolling lures in open offshore waters most of the stripers being under 100 lb., blues were averaging 150 to 200 lb., with one blue marlin, estimated at 500 lb., lost due to tangling lines of a commercial fishing boat, not a good way to lose a trophy fish like that. Dorado have still been slow, but most days we are seeing some do-do’s striking on various trolled lures, small in size, ranged up to 15 lb. Wahoo became a bit more active for first time in a while, as more hook ups on the ’hoo were reported later in the week, as these fish were striking on trolled lures in the La Fortuna to Vinorama, so this is encouraging, A possible good chance now for another quality option.

Bottom action has been slim recently, strong current being part of the issue, also warmer waters, this often means certain species move to deeper and cooler zones. Most common species now being targeted for panga, cruisers and center console charters, was the yellowfin tuna action. This week the best bite was near Vinorama and on most days later in the morning was better than early. Perhaps the currents slacked near higher tide, you never really know when fish will be more aggressive towards feeding. These yellowfin tuna ranged from 5 lb. to 80 lb. Most consistent action was found on sardinas, as well as on caballito, some strikes on strips of squid. Trolling small to medium Rapalas and hoochies produced mainly the smaller grade of yellowfin, with the larger specimens taken on bait. You also had to fish persistently, with patience, waiting for your chance when the fish would come up and be actively feeding. Also these yellowfin were also line shy, finicky, often anglers needed to go down to 30 lb. line to buy a strike, some of these larger tuna can take close to two hours to land when using such light line. Catching one, two or three of these nice tuna was average, some boats had up to five or more, these fish are definitely on these grounds, using more chum was better to help entice them, but being there when they actually would come to the surface and feed was the key factor

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: 16 striped marlin, 8 blue marlin, 42 dorado, 18 wahoo, 4 amberjack, 12 bonito, 18 yellow snapper, 6 barred pargo, 175 yellowfin tuna, 7 leopard grouper, 73 huachinango, 16 jack crevalle, 18 roosterfish and 38 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric