Cabo San Lucas
Overall Catch Success Rate: All Species Combined 95.44%; Billfish Catch Success Rate; Billfish, 41.52%%; Dorado 64.81%; Tuna 44.44%; Other Species 33.33%.
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Based on the reports, Captain Miguel aboard the 46-f00t Viking, “La Chingona,” was excited that boats were catching dorado at both Gaspareno and La Ballena Banks, only 25 miles from the Marina.
When Christopher Barnes and Jeff Kunitz arrived for their trip, Captain Miguel recommended they head in that direction. They agreed, and off they went. Meanwhile, Mates Nestor and Joel set up the tackle.
With calm seas and little wind, they covered the distance quickly. When they arrived on the bank, the sea temp was 71 degrees, and the water was clean. To make a long story short, they did find the 20-pound dorado they were searching for. However, that wasn’t all! In addition, they had to settle for five striped marlin caught and RELEASED on cocinero/ballyhoo for the remainder of the day!
San Jose
The yellowfin tuna bite has been extremely slow; you are lucky if you get one bite all day. We continue to see upwards of 100-pound fish chasing sardina, though we have not been able to entice them to bite. Most of these tuna were spotted at either Iman or San Luis, although some captains reported seeing more activity after midday and late afternoons.
Boats brought in a few big tuna at the beginning of the week, with the biggest being almost 230 pounds. It was a tough fight on the 50# test with high winds on a 22-foot boat. The fleet also brought in an 80-pounder after a long battle with a sea lion that took most of the stomach part, leaving the loins untouched. This same boat landed an excellent 35 to 40-pound wahoo on a jig. They caught a few smaller wahoo while drift fishing sardina for tuna. The tuna bite died down throughout, and we didn’t see any more caught for three days. We only saw one small tuna caught on Friday. Most captains reported difficulty drifting and trolling with sardina as the needlefish were a nuisance.
The main focus became bottom and inshore fishing. We catch grouper, snapper, and amberjack while fishing rock structures at Iman, La Fortuna, and Cardon. Surprisingly, most of this action came from sardina on the bottom, but there was not much action on jigs.
Most days, we are catching our sierra (Spanish mackerel) limits on sardina. The best action seems to be coming from Cardon. There were some nice 10-pound sierras in the mix. While trolling sardina closer to shore, we were able to catch some dorado. This past weekend, a few boats were lucky to find big schools of dorado, and they were able to catch their limits. Closer to the shore, we continue to see smaller roosterfish and jacks. The most productive area for the roosters seems to be at La Laguna. …Brian Brictson/Gordo Banks Pangas
East Cape
In the East Cape, they experienced nice weather more recently. The fishing for dorado and marlin continued to provide anglers with the most action. The boats primarily caught them slow-trolling green jacks for bait, and the fishing has picked up, with most boats getting both species and multiple fish. Most boats are averaging from three to five dorado per boat, along with one to three marlin. They are currently experiencing heavy winds, which are forecast to blow off and on. However, the forecast shows nice weather, so good fishing should continue once the winds die down.
We fished in the East Cape and on the Pacific side recently. We found good fishing for roosterfish on both sides. Out of San Jose, we enjoyed several roosterfish, jacks, and a couple of dorado. In the East Cape, we found roosterfish inshore along the La Capilla area just in front of the old Rancho Deluxe. The beaches are starting to see more bait, and I have seen a few mullet and a very few sardina, but the main population of sardina remains to the north by the Island. With the holiday weekend coming along with the crowds that generally gather on the local beaches, we will be doing ALL of our fishing out of the boat, as the beaches will most likely have too many people on them to fish effectively. We will be sure to report how we do. …Jeff de Brown, Reel Baja
La Paz – Las Arenas/ Muertos Bay/ Suenos Bay Fishing Jonathan Roldan, Tailhunter Sportfishing …
The winter winds are still hanging in there, but there’s certainly reason for some optimism that they will soon gone. There are more calmer days than windy, rougher days, and the waters are getting warmer and clearer.
There have still been some days when it is better to stay off the water, and there are days when anglers go charging out anyway, as the town started filling up with “Spring Breakers” and Easter visitors.
Consequently, there are good days on the water and not-so-good days on the water. But the better days are marginally productive and generate some exciting catches.
Most notable have been the yellowtail biters. The fish, ranging from approximately 10 to 25 pounds, have hit live bait, dead bait, Yoyo jigs, and trolled jigs. However, the trick was being in the right spot! And some of those spots sometimes required hitting some rough patches of wind and water. However, anglers working the high spots off Cerralvo Island and Espirito Santo Island found fish willing to chew. Other areas include the rock spots off Las Arenas/ Bahia Muertos.
Those same areas kicked out some nice pargo, cabrilla, and an occasional amberjack.
Inshore fishing held the same species, but also sierra, jack crevalle, bonito, and some huge pompano. We usually don’t see the pompano until May or June, so catching them has been a bonus.
There will be some windy days, but overall, the wind has not been too bad to take a shot out on the water. We only have to pick and choose the correct days.
