Yellowfin
Tuna Dominate Action,
Tropical Conditions ~ September 24,2016
Anglers –
September
25, 2016
Although we
are now officially into the first week of the Fall season we are feeling very
tropical weather in the Los Cabos area. This is always the time of year when
weather patterns can be very unpredictable, as well as very humid. The
landscape is now lush green from significant rainfall the past month. The most
recent Tropical Storm Paine stayed far off to the west, paralleling the Pacific
coast of Baja before it dissipated, there was no significant impact on land.
Presently we are having some isolated local thunderstorms threaten, mainly in
the afternoon, though this has not amounted to much of anything. We are also
closely monitoring a new low pressure system developing off to the west, which
is forecast to slowly gain strength, most likely become Tropical Storm Roslyn
and move in the direction of Southern Baja, precise track is not yet
determined.
On Monday
the red flag was posted early in the morning, closing the Port, presumably as a
precaution, even though the day turned out to be calm, with no rain or high
swells at all. Most scheduled charters were forced to cancel this day, only
after the Port reopened at about 10:00 a.m. did a handful of boats go out. The
remainder of the week sportfishing fleets operated normally, seas were calm
most days, late in the week we had some wind pick up later in the day,
threatening tropical clouds, but did not rain on the fishing grounds. Ocean
swells increased, but were moderate and overall conditions were very favorable
considering what time of year it is. Most of the fishing action now is centered
on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to San Luis.
The bait now
be used consisted of caballito, slabs of squid and various skipjack, bolito and
chihuil, which were being found on the fishing grounds themselves. The yellowfin
tuna bite definitely improved, anglers found various grades of tuna, ranging
from football sized, many fish in the 20 to 50 lb. class, a handful to over 100
lb. and even at least a couple of super cows of over 300 lb. that were caught
by local anglers fishing on the Gordo Banks later in the day after the crowds
lightened up. Drift fishing with strips and chunks of various baits was the
technique now being used. Action came in spurts, sometimes early, other times
late, lots of pressure on these areas now, since this is where the only real
bite is now being found. Individual charters accounted for a couple of tuna per
morning, up to ten or more.
Yellowfin
tuna was definitely the most common species being targeted with success now,
only a scattering of bottomfish, a few amberjack, grouper, rainbow runner,
triggerfish and various snapper/pargo being encountered, this action is on the
same grounds as are the tuna. Wahoo went on a limited bite earlier in the week
on the grounds north of Punta Gorda, though these fish have not been very
active overall. Dorado were found scattered throughout the same areas, though
recently it has been rare to see a dorado over ten pounds.
There were
reports of good billfish action off of the East Cape, lots of blue marlin. Off
of our area the action was limited for a mix of striped, blue, black marlin and
a few sailfish. Lots of natural food fish on the high spots now, so there is
more than enough food for the largest of gamefish to feed on, makes it tough to
get them to bite. Several stories of black marlin being hooked on lighter
leaders that were targeting the more leader shy yellowfin tuna and resulted
eventually in losing the marlin due to sawed off leaders.
The combined
panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out
approximately 74 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of:
2 sailfish, 3 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 235 yellowfin tuna, 58 dorado, 7
wahoo, 7 yellow snapper, 1 gulf grouper, 9 leopard grouper, 12 bonito, 12 huachinango,
85 triggerfish, 2 surgeonfish, 5 amberjack and 12 rainbow runner.
Good
fishing, Eric
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