Anglers –
January 3, 2015
The New Year started off with a cold front sweeping in and the crowds of holiday vacationers were wondering where all that advertised warm sunshine disappeared to. Actually New Year’s Day was clear and sunny, nearly 80 degrees, the forecasted front pushed in that evening and looks as this will be the trend through most of the week. Ocean currents are changing and we have now seen water temperatures dip down to 75 degrees, also off colored, greenish water has proved more challenging for anglers options of finding cooperative gamefish.
Inshore there have been increasing numbers of sierra arriving with the cooler current, some quality sized sierra in the 5 to 10 lb. class were found near Cabo San Lucas, other areas were finding smaller sized sierra. A few juvenile sized roosterfish in the mix. Supplies of sardinas were coming from areas south of Palmilla Point.
Offshore of San Jose del Cabo there has been this on and off again bite for striped marlin, found three to miles from shore, on the same grounds where baitfish such as sardineta, jurelito, caballito are now schooling. The stripers were encountered feeding on the surface, also many were hooked into while slow trolling or drift fishing with live baits. Very few dorado or wahoo were reported and the yellowfin tuna all but vanished as well, last weekend there were a few charters that were at the Iman Bank at the right time and accounted for a handful of yellowfin tuna weighing in the 20 to 50 lb. class. This action was before the wind picked up again and is back on hold at the present time. After weather settles back down there should be chances at late season action for wahoo, dorado and tuna.
Last week the winds had calmed and conditions were rebounding, there was quality bottom action found for a variety of species, these type of fish will bite in greenish colored water, but to effectively drift fish over these rock piles, angler’s calmer conditions. So this is hit or miss action throughout the winter, usually becomes more consistent towards spring.
Whales have been slow to show in big numbers this season, we expect this cold wave will bring more of these mammals back to their winter spawning grounds. Plenty of sea lion activity, an ongoing problem for anglers, as they enviably loose a percentage of their hook ups to these pesky animals.
Progress has been slow for rebuilding the panga area of Puerto Los Cabos Marina, recently we have seen a new construction begin pushing some dirt around, so hopefully they continue to pick up the pace and we can see this major rebuilding project finally completed.
The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 71 charters for the week, with anglers reporting a fish count of: 16 striped marlin, 9 dorado, 10 white skipjack, 12 yellowfin tuna, 28 bonito, 210 sierra, 24 roosterfish, 25 pargo, 15 island jack, 5 amberjack, 1 yellowtail, 16 cabrilla and 25 triggerfish.
Good fishing, Eric