With summer progressing the weather has remained calm for the Los Cabos region, recent storm development has seen tropical systems following tracks heading far off to the west. Presently there is a low pressure area off of mainland Mexico that appears favorable for further tropical formation, with forecasts having this system follow a path paralleling the Baja Peninsula, several hundred miles from any impact on land. The next six weeks are historically the period when the highest numbers of hurricanes have impacted the Southern Baja area, so we will be following weather updates closely.
With Southern California now experienced epic, almost unprecedented action for tuna, yellowtail, dorado, striped marlin and other gamefish, local sportfishing fleets are seeing lighter crowds than during previous summers. The main species now being targeting locally has been the yellowfin tuna, supplies of sardinas are now becoming more scarce and with surf conditions now increasing and coinciding with early morning low tides, we expect this bait resource will become even more scattered in the coming weeks. Many anglers are searching out other bait options, local super markets have been selling slabs of giant squid and this has been one of the more productive options available for drift fishing the tuna. The consistent tuna bite on the Iman Bank has continued, in recent days the action turned on best later in the morning, most of the yellowfin caught off of these grounds were ranging in the 6 lb. to 50 lb. class. The spot where a handful of very very large yellowfin tuna have been lurking is on the Gordo Banks, with three more tuna of 300 lb. or more landed this past week. Not any significant numbers yet for these larger cows and the bite for the smaller grade tuna also becoming a little less productive, this area has had heavy pressure now for three weeks, also water clarity has been greenish due to Pacific currents pushing this direction and this seems to have slowed the action. Ocean temperatures remains in the 86/87 degree range, chances are that it will stay in the upper 80’s until the early fall season.
Billfish have been scattered, trolling available larger baitfish around the Gordo Banks has been one of the best techniques for having chances at sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin or the cow sized tuna, which are now all hanging around these grounds, so you never know what you might hook into on any given day. Trolling with skipjack, bolito and small yellowfin tuna are all proven big gamefish producers, though this is the type of fishing where a lot of patience is needed. With hook ups on these fish being few and far between, more charters have been concentrating around the Iman Bank, where there has been better chances at catching more numbers. East Cape charters continue to make the long run south to these same grounds, must mean that they do not have much going on off of their more local fishing grounds.
No really consistent bottom action going on now, a handful of snapper/pargo species, an occasional amberjack, dogtooth snapper, cabrilla or grouper, strong currents has made this structure action more difficult and at times even when the currents slacked, the fish just did not seem to be very active.
We expect that the coming weeks will bring even more reports of monster yellowfin tuna or larger sized marlin, as this is always known as the time when big fish are hanging around on local grounds, attracted by the huge concentrations of natural food sources.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 58 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 9 sailfish, 7 striped marlin, 188 yellowfin tuna, 3 dogtooth snapper, 4 amberjack, 6 cabrilla, 2 broomtail grouper, 18 bonito, 18 rainbow runners and 27 mixed pargo species.