Improved
Yellowfin Tuna and Dorado Action ~ September 3, 2016
Anglers –
September 3,
2016
We are now
into the first week of September, historically the one month where there are
greater chances of Hurricanes making direct contact with the Southern Baja
Peninsula. Presently the weather has been stable for this past week, no rain,
minimal wind, moderate swells, scattered tropical clouds, with very warm and
humid conditions, early mornings continue to be slightly cooler, lows of 74
degrees, daytime high near 100 degree heat index. Most recent storms were
Madeline and Lester, both following paths far off to the west, narrowly missing
direct strikes on the Hawaiian Islands. Now we are closely monitoring a newly
forming low pressure system south of Acapulco, forecast to strengthen in
Tropical Storm Newton and head in the direction of Baja, we will hope for the
best, but need to be prepared for anything that might happen. With ocean
temperatures now ranging from 82 to 87 degrees, these are favorable conditions
from tropical storm development.
This past
week anglers found much more productive all around action than during the
previous week. Majority of the charter fleets are concentrating on the fishing
grounds from the Gordo Banks to Vinorama, where they have found a variety of
surface gamefish as well as opportunities off of the bottom structure. There
are no huge numbers of billfish now, but there is a chance at hooking into
either a sailfish, striped, blue or black marlin, as all of these species are
presently in local waters. We do know of black marlin landed in recent days
weighing in the 350 lb. class, hooked into off of the Gordo Banks, where there
has also been an occasional larger grade of yellowfin tuna encountered, so far
this bite has been very hit or miss, lots of concentrations of schooling bolito
and skipjack, major natural food source, fish can become finicky at times with
so much food available. In recent days there was one 130 pound tuna landed. On
these grounds the best bet has been to slow troll either bolito or skipjack.
In the
marina area the bait suppliers have been offering caballito, moonfish and slabs
of squid. The most consistent action has been centered on the Iman Bank, good
number of smaller grade yellowfin tuna, most in the 10 to 15 lb. range, an
occasional tuna to 50 lb., drift fishing with strips of squid has been most
productive for this bite. Lots of schooling dorado arrived this week, striking
on lures and a variety of baits, the majority of these fish have been under 15
lb., though we do know of one 40 pound bull dorado that was landed off of the
Gordo Banks, the big ones have been scarce recently. Early in the week there
were a couple of days when a handful of wahoo up to 40 lb. were landed,
striking on baits and trolled Rapalas, this bite shut down as fast as it had
begun.
The swift
current slacked up and this opened up the bottom action, which in the past
couple of weeks had produced mainly triggerfish. In recent days off of Iman
Banks there has been quality action for species such as leopard grouper,
dogtooth snapper and amberjack, we saw one 80 lb. amberjack and dogtooth
snapper to over 50 lb. were accounted for. This is normally the time of year
when we do expect to see some impressively large gamefish, though it is also
the period when weather can turn for the worse very rapidly, so following
extended weather forecast is a must.
Not much
action reported close to shore, though we did hear of a couple of late season
roosterfish, as well as some jack crevalle. Local beach anglers have hooked
into a few snook and tripletail, both prized summertime catches.
The combined
panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out
approximately 60 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
3 black marlin, 5 striped marlin, 4 blue marlin, 4 sailfish, 325 yellowfin
tuna, 210 dorado, 9 wahoo, 10 huachinango, 11 yellow snapper, 9 dogtooth
snapper, 14 leopard grouper, 75 triggerfish, 16 amberjack, 2 roosterfish and 12
jack crevalle.
Good
fishing, Eric
This entry
was posted in Fish Reports.