Cabo San Lucas
What a difference a week can make! The billfish bite heated way up, moving into the weekend. The marlin came into play, and a few nice-sized dorado, although not many. Crews fished inshore primarily, with some wind and choppy seas, but still, they produced catches mostly in the “Other” Category – mainly sierra mackerel, bonito, and grouper.
By Wednesday, the marlin began to show at the 1150 Bank, and by Saturday, the fleet had released 100 marlin in total! Compared to the prior week, when about 15% of the boats released marlin, this week, nearly 50% of the boats released them. The weather also became friendlier towards the end of the week as the winds diminished.
And earlier in the week, some fishing towards the Sea of Cortez side: The Pisces 28′ Andrea had 1 dorado at the El Tule area that hit on a little hoochie lure which landed 5 sierra mackerel, as well.
Some more highlights from the “Other” Category: Pisces 62′ Chasin Tail had 14 sierra mackerel and one 24-pound yellowtail all at Migrino for angler Ann Anderson on an afternoon trip, plus a very nice-sized grouper for dinner!
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Windier conditions began the week, with winds between 8 and 11 knots. There were better conditions by midweek, with a bit of wind picking up in the afternoons.
WATER TEMP: 69 – 74 F.
BEST LURES: Live and dead caballito, ballyhoo, hoochies.
BEST LOCATIONS: Migrino, 1150 Spot and Tule.
Based on the catches of Pisces Sportfishing Fleet, by Rebecca Ehrenberg.
Puerto Los Cabos
We saw similar patterns this week, light crowds of anglers, ideal weather conditions, and a wide variety of fish species available for the fishermen that were out giving it a try. Mostly clear sunny skies, lows of about 65 degrees, and highs near 85 degrees. Slight ocean swells, variable currents, swift at times, and water temperatures were in the 72-to-74-degree range. Earlier in the week, there were north winds to contend with, but the conditions improved throughout the weekend.
Bait supplies consisted of caballito, some mullet, sardina, anchoveta, ballyhoo, and slabs of squid. Sardina was limited from day to day.
The boats found the most consistent fishing action from Cardon, La Fortuna, Iman, to San Luis. The most common species remained the white bonito ranging up to 6 pounds, which was taken over the various high spots on yo-yo style jigs. Many other species were encountered on the same grounds, though in more limited numbers.
We saw a variety of pinto, leopard & broom tail groupers, yellow and red snapper, barred pargo, spotted rose snapper, pompano, triggerfish, almaco jack, fortune jack, and even a couple of wahoo and dorado. These fish were taken while drift fishing using jigs and various bait. On Saturday, an almaco jack was landed weighing over 70 pounds – most almacos were in the 10-to-25-pound class.
Striped marlin are scattered throughout the area, though no significant numbers are around. The odds of finding them are better a bit farther offshore, 15 miles or more, near the 1150 grounds. They are striking on trolled lures, rigged ballyhoo, and dropped-back bait.
The few yellowfin tuna we saw were taken from San Luis Bank. Every day it seems a few of these yellowfin are being hooked into early in the morning, then they become spooky after more boats arrive. The sizes of these landed fish ranged from 30-to-80 pounds. The tuna preferred the live caballito to strips of squid or sardina.
Inshore now, the main deal was for roosterfish and jack crevalle. Only a few sierra were coming in. Most of these roosterfish have been juvenile-sized, up to 15 pounds, and are released as they should be. A few of the hog-sized jack crevalle are also in the area. …Eric Brictson
East Cape
The water is from 73 to 76 degrees. Clear and flat, and the wind is near 8 mph.
The air has been warm, with highs in the mid-80s. It has been beautiful weather recently. The roosterfish have been swimming close to shore, along the beaches from south of La Ribera to the Lighthouse.
Excellent yellowtail is inshore at the drop-offs south at La Ribera and has been producing. Some quality dorado from 20 pounds are also being taken, very close to shore, with an occasional 40-pounder and striped marlin around and biting as well.
Live bait has been hard to get or make, so almost all the fish were taken on ballyhoo, iron, or trolled lures.
La Paz
It’s all about the wind. It’s been that way all winter.
But finally, after a horrendous few months, the winds seem to be diminishing somewhat. Fortunately, during those crazy rough months, I warn folks about the winds so we don’t have too many anglers. But this week, the season started to kick into gear just in time as the winds cut back on us to allow for some decent fishing.
Recently, anglers found quite a variety of fish. It looks like the big pargo have come inshore to spawn. These tough fish are schooling over the rocks and are brutal fighters but great sports. Even the smaller 5 to 10-pounders can be frustrating with their sharp teeth, scales, and ability to get back into the rocks. However, we got some larger 15 to 25-pounders, and many were lost to the rocks.
The same areas also held rainbow runners, barred pargo, snapper, smaller yellowtail, almaco jack, cabrilla, bonito, and jack crevalle, making for some excellent full-speed action. Also, we’re starting to see some roosterfish in the area up to about 20 pounds, plus a few free-swimming dorado moving in, which keeps it promising.
Later in the week, the winds kicked in again, and the only folks out on the water enjoying the wind were the kiteboarders and windsurfers. …Jonathan Roldan, Tailhunter Sportfishing. ,