Tropical Storm activity remains calm in the Eastern Pacific, last week there was a substantial southern swell, this has now weakened and ocean conditions have been calm in recent days. We are seeing typical summer time tropical weather patterns, practically every afternoon there have been local thundershowers developing over the mountainous area to the north of San Jose del Cabo, rarely do these squalls ever reach the coastline. Always a bit unpredictable this time of year, we need to monitor all weather forecasts closely. With no new storms presently seen on the horizon it appears that this coming week should be favorable.
With reports coming out of Cabo San Lucas and the East Cape region, apparently the most consistent fishing action has been centered on the grounds from the Gordo Banks to Iman Bank. With the ocean swell residing, the commercial fleet was able to find better supplies of sardinas, these have been the preferred baitfish available for targeting the yellowfin tuna action, the tuna have dominated all of the activity recently. On the Gordo Banks is where the largest sized yellowfin have been lurking, though this action has been hit or miss, with only a few of these tuna actually being landed. The area where greater numbers of the yellowfin are being accounted for, is on the Iman Bank, situated north of the Gordo Banks and within several miles of shore. Water temperatures have been in the 86/88 degree range and clarity has improved since the passing of the swells. Currents remain strong at times. Anglers had good success while drift fishing with sardinas, strips of squid and on cut bolito or skipjack. Most of the tuna on the Iman Bank were in the 8 to 15 lb. class, but there have been some 40, 50 and to over 70 pound fish mixed in. Also some Eastern Pacific Bonito, also referred to as white tuna and are normally a cold water species reaching to over 15 pounds.
Dorado action remained at a standstill, but actually for the past couple of days now we have finally seen a few numbers of medium sized fish accounted for, these fish were accounted for on the same grounds as were the tuna. Billfish action is scattered now, you could have multiple chances per day or not even have a hook up, depending on which grounds being targeted on a given day. It is the time of year that sailfish, striped, blue and black marlin are all found on the same traditional grounds. Wahoo were being found sporadically on trolled lures, more often closer to shore, from La Laguna to La Fortuna not many were landed, more often missed strikes, damaging skirted lures, not many anglers actually targeting wahoo now, these fish are known to become less active in very warm currents, they are also one of the more unpredictable fish, so you can never tell when they might become aggressively active.
Off the bottom structure, there have not been any big numbers of a particular species, though there have been some quality catches accounted for, even a couple of yellowtail off of the Gordo Banks, as well as amberjack, cabrilla, grouper, dogtooth snapper, bonito, yellow snapper and red snapper (huachinango).
Light crowds of tourists and visiting anglers this summer, as long as the weather holds, it is the perfect time to try to land a personal best super cow yellowfin tuna.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 54 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 7 sailfish, 8 striped marlin, 1 blue marlin, 1 black marlin, 11 dorado, 385 yellowfin tuna, 5 dogtooth snapper, 3 amberjack, 4 wahoo, 2 yellowtail, 11 cabrilla, 1 broomtail grouper, 34 bonito, 22 rainbow runners, 14 yellow snapper, 6 barred pargo and 18 huachinango.