2015 SHOW SCHEDULE, COME SEE US!

We are getting ready for the 2015 sportmens' shows. Make sure to save the show dates on your calendar and come see us at the Baja's Van Wormer Resorts booth. We will be there to answer all of your fishing and hotel questions. In addition, Van Wormer Resorts will be offering show specials to anyone that stops by the booth.

2015 SHOW SCHEDULE

SACRAMENTO CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 8 - 11
International Sportsmen's Expo
For more information on ISE Denver show, please visit their website at http://www.sportsexpos.com/

DENVER COLORADO - JANUARY 15 - 18
International Sportsmen's Expo
For more information on ISE Denver show, please visit their website at http://www.sportsexpos.com/

PUYALLUP WASHINGTON - JANUARY 21 - 25
Washington Sportsmen's Show
For more informatin on the Puyallup Show, please visit their website at http://www.otshows.com/

LONG BEACH CALIFORNIA - MARCH 4 - 8
Fred Hall Show
For more information on the Long Beach show, please visit their website at http://www.fredhall.com/

SALT LAKE CITY UTAH - MARCH 12 - 15
International Sportsmen's Expo
For more information on the Salt Lake City show, please visit their website at http://www.sportsexpos.com/

DEL MAR CALIFORNIA - MARCH 26 - 29
Fred Hall Show
For more information on the Del Mar show, please visit their website at http://www.fredhall.com/

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

THE UNSTOPPABLE EAST CAPE

Post by East Cape Guides.

East Cape Guides Fishing Report - October 30, 2014

Hola Amigos,

We are seeing some beautiful weather conditions on the East Cape with greasy calm waters. Fishing has been scratch with dorado and tuna being the targets over the last week. Fleet boats have been running down south to El Farolito (Punta Gorda Area) for the pick tuna bite on the sadina and dorado on the troll with the occasional striped or blue marlin in the mix. Bait has been plentiful and consistent with sardina, big baits and juvenile jacks, even some juvenile róbalo (snook), see photo. I have received confirmed reports that dorado are being caught off the beach in the North Beach area of Los Barriles. The fish are chasing huge schools of juvenile balihoo. Follow the bait and you will find the fish. Late season roosterfish are also in the mix. Gallos up to 40lbs. are being caught off the southern beaches near Cabo Riviera Marina. Follow this link for results on the Bisbee Black and Blue.

Steve Jensen, master of the light tackle.
Oh, we now offer light tackle bait runner outfits for our clients. Great for flylining sadinas.

Nice bull on light tackle

Nice hen on light tackle

Early season sierra, delicious a la plancha style at the hotel.

Baby snook in the bait tank, I released them all to grown.

Mark White lures, deadly on the dodos

Quick fight with a bill wrap

Fat stripey released healthy

That's it for this week. We hope to see you down on the East Cape soon.

Mark

East Cape Guides Fishing Report - Post Hurricane Odile - October 13, 2014

Greetings Amigos,

Well, things are finally settling down from the aftermath of Hurricane Odile. We are starting to see larger groups of anglers heading down to get into some late season billfish, dorado, tuna and maybe even some wahoo. A few reports are indicating that wahoo are showing up on the East Cape, see some recent photos below. For those of you who have this speedster on your bucket list, it's officially time to get back to the East Cape!

Don't forget the wire leader...

Buena pesca,

Mark

Historic Hurricane Odile Makes Landfall - September 15, 2014

Hurricane Odile made landfall on the shores of Cabo San Lucas late Sunday night as a category 3, almost category 4 hurricane. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Odile's center made landfall at about 9:45 p.m. PDT near Cabo San Lucas. It said at landfall, Odile had estimated wind speed of 125 mph, and an automated station near Cabo San Lucas reported sustained winds of 89 mph with a gust to 116 mph. This historic storm is the first hurricane to make a direct hit on Cabo San Lucas with maximum impact. Odile continues to march up the Baja peninsula while steadily weakening. News of flooding and wind damage are already being reported. We were all hoping that Odile would have taken the same path as Norbert, but that was not the case. Our thoughts and prayers go out to our family in Baja.

Nos vemos,

Marcos

East Cape Guides - On The Water Report - August 16, 2014

Hola Amigos,

We are definitely in the midst of an El Nino year. Weather has been a bit screwy with small storms moving through dumping rain on the now green hills of the East Cape. Water temps are very warm ranging from 86-88 with water over 90 degrees offshore. We fished through a 4 hour rainstorm and had a triple tuna bite going while being pelted by a downpour 200 meters off of Los Frailes. Fishing has been challenging at times but the tuna bite down at Frailes continues to produce 20-40lb. fish with a few larger tuna being landed further south. Our largest was 43lbs. landed off of Vinorama. We are also seeing more white bonito, which is great for sashimi. Dorado are being caught inside and south of Punta Arena with some larger fish being landed 8-12 miles offshore from La Ribera to Frailes. Billfish has slowed on the excellent blue marlin bite we had in July but the stripes and sails continue with a few shots everyday. Inshore bite is a mixed bag of jacks, pargo and a few amberjack. Overall the fishing has been up and down, but the bite continues everyday, some days better than others. I'm looking out at the Sea of Cortez right now and it is greasy calm with clear skies. Clients Dean Lawver, Larry Janos and Norm "The Fish Slayer" fished 6 days and filled their coolers with tuna to 43lbs., dorado to 37lbs. and C&Red multiple stripes and sails. Here are some photos from the week on the water...

Buena pesca,

Mark

Elephants and Pea Shooters

Here's side story with dedicated billfish angler, Dennis Kilroy. Dennis asked me to fish with him on the Mi Pistola. I offered to us my gear but he was clear he wanted to use his tackle for our day on the water. Dennis has a collection of vintage Penn gear, 30t and a 50tw internationals and Pen rods from the 70s. Most of these real were only half filled with 50lb. line. I scratched my head as we put out the spread, all top-of-the-line Black Barts, Zukers, etc. Dennis had mention that he landed and release a blue the day before and, "I asked on which rod?" He pointed to a vintage Penn Senator rod with a 30t International that must have been 40 years old, half filled with 50lb. braid and a short topshot of 50lb. mono. I then asked, "how long was the fight?" He replied five hours. Well, off to the grounds we went and sure enough we hooked into a 300lb. blue on the same rod. The photos tell the story of vintage light tackle on blue marlin...enjoy.

Pain

More pain

Pain

More pain

DONE!

The vintage rod

East Cape Guides Report - August 1, 2014

Well, we have had some high highs and low lows these last few weeks. The weather has be unseasonably wet for this time of year with green hills instead of dry desert. We did have a small chaotic chubasco come through last Wednesday blowing the fleet off the water. It only lasted a few hours but it hit just as the boats were leaving the dock and we were in the middle of it about 4 miles off of La Ribera. 50MPH winds, sideways rain, lightning, sick clients, it was a bit loco. All is calm now as water temps are warming up from last week in 86-88 degree range with 90+ degree water 40 miles offshore from the Terrafin reports. Fishing has been a mixed bag with a really great run of blue marlin last week, tuna from 30-60lbs. just south of Frailes and we found some footballs under the porpoise 40+ miles out. Dorado have been up and down with mostly small dodos coming to the dock and the occasional report of the large 40+lb. fish landed offshore. Striped marlin and sailfish have also been a moderate catch. Roosterfish have been landed and released in front of the Cabo Riviera and some larger units down at Frailes. It's looking like the bite is prime to ramp up soon.

Blue marlin on the hook

Bloody decks!

Steve Jensen with a big Sea of Cortez sailfish

Kyler Ostenberg with a 38lb. roosterfish

Cass Tours Fishing Report for the Cabo Area Ending July 6, 2014

Cabo San Lucas - Gaviota Fleet

The billfish bite fell off considerably this past week and for no apparent reason. Another bite was starting to develop above the Gorda Banks, toward Destiladares area, but overall, the billfish were scattered in all directions on the Sea of Cortez side of Cabo. High billfish boat for the week was the "Gaviota VIII", reflecting 3 sailfish for a single day, along with a single dorado, fishing the Herradura area, out front of Cabo San Lucas. The overall fish counts for a combined total of 17 days fished reflected 7 stripers released, 3 sailfish, (2 released) 18 dorado, 4 yellowfin tuna and 17 skipjack tuna.

Cabo Climate: Mostly cloudy days with sporadic periods of sunshine and temps that varied from 76-90 degrees. Tropical Storm, Douglas, provided a good rain on Wednesday night and Thursday and the possibility for more rain is likely for the next few days, albeit, predicted at about a 30% chance.

Sea Conditions: Pacific side, from the shoreline to 25 miles out, wrapping around Cabo San Lucas and up to Las Frailes, is all reflecting 84-85 degrees. Early in the week was a couple of rough and bumpy days that faded into surface breezes flowing mostly from the southerly directions that ranged from flat calm mornings to about 9 mph by afternoons.

Best Fishing Area: The better marlin bite was above the Gorda Banks that had just begun to develop. The Herradura area produced the sailfish for a single fishing day aboard the "Gaviota VIII"

Best Bait/Lure: Live bait was the best bet for the billfish but a few billfish were also taken on rigged ballyhoo baits and artificials.

Live Bait Supply: Remains excellent for caballitos at the $3.00 per bait rate and the frozen ballyhoo baits are still available at the same rate.

 

San Jose del Cabo

Light crowds of visitors have been greeted by tropical weather patterns as we start the new month of July. Very humid conditions now, created by the recent development of Tropical Storm Douglas, which followed a path off to the northwest. This system brought scattered moderate to heavy thundershowers across Southern Baja on Thursday morning, many outdoor activities were cancelled, including local sportfishing charters, though by mid-day skies had cleared and presently the forecast appears more favorable. This is now the season where it is hard to predict the weather more than a couple of days ahead of time.

Swells increased with this distant tropical disturbance, but diminished as the storm’s distance away increased. Ocean conditions were calm, with a rolling swell, no wind to speak of in recent days. Water temperatures were 80 degrees or warmer throughout the region and clean blue water was found close to shore.

Anglers were able to find a mix of caballito, moonfish, as well as some mullet on most days and there was reports of sardinas now schooling in the vicinity of Los Frailes and further north, so that is an optimistic sign. Most common species being found out of the San Jose del Cabo area have been school sized dorado, at times very abundant and other days a bit more scattered. Majority of these dorado were juvenile sized, particularly the ones found close to shore, a handful of larger dorado up to 20 pounds have been encountered further offshore. Anglers were having good success on the schooling fish while trolling with hoochie type lures and strip baits.

Only an occasional yellowfin tuna accounted for out of Puerto Los Cabos, though charters making the long haul from the East Cape, where they have been able to find live sardinas, have found decent action on tuna in the 15 to 30 pound class near the San Luis Bank, these fish want the sardinas and have been hard to entice on anything else.

Roosterfish were found patrolling the shoreline, though the action has been hit or miss, recent trend showed these jacks more active early in the day, so far we have not seen the epic bite that there was last season. Jack crevalle were numerous along the shoreline and a few sierra were found as well. Surf fishing anglers have reported some quality sized snook to over 40 pounds during the last few week period, these prized fish hit on various baitfish as well as a variety of artificial casting lures.

Near Iman, to the San Luis and Vinorama high spots there was good action early in the morning for red snapper (huachinango), with a mix of some amberjack, cabrilla, bonito and triggerfish. Anglers did well early in the day on yo-yo jigs, as well as drift fish whole and cut baits, though this action tampered way off as the sun rose higher in the sky. This was time when most charters were shifting attention to trolling offshore waters for possible dorado and billfish. There was a mix of sailfish, striped and blue marlin now on local grounds, though not in any significant numbers, as more bolito and skipjack begin to congregate on the local fishing grounds we expect action to become more consistent.

Still have not seen any big inshore run of dogtooth snapper, sporadic action only, though this is the month when this action can be at its best, before moving to offshore structure later on in the summer.

Local panga charter fleets launching out of Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 46 charters for the week, with anglers accountjng for a fish count of: 3 sailfish, 4 striped marlin, 3 yellowfin tuna, 26 bonito, 55 red snapper (huachinango), 13 amberjack, 18 roosterfish, 3 sierra, 225 dorado (many juveniles released), 10 cabrilla and 18 triggerfish.

Van Wormer Resorts Fishing Report - June 13, 2014

It was another good week down on the East Cape.  This week started with the Tournament Anglers Association 2014 Marlin Tournament at Hotel Palmas De Cortez.  The TAA had 24 anglers fishing 12 boats over three days.  They caught and released 90 Striped Marlin, 2 Sailfish and 1 Blue Marlin.  The group also landed a couple of nice Dorado that came in at over 40lbs. (see pictures below).  The winner of this year’s  tournament was Danny Brooks and the winning team of Dick Wallace and Danny Brooks.

Once the TAA tournament ended, the Fathers, Sons and Amigos tournament come to town with tournament organizer Jack Richardson and his group of 64 anglers.  This is one of the most organized groups of the year and do they ever make good use of their time down here with us.  The group started with a “Super Panga Shoot Out” on Wednesday were anglers fished from 20 super pangas to compete for the largest fish.  On Thursday the group switched to Deluxe Cruisers to compete in a three day fishing tournament.  Yesterday evening the guys put together a great clothes give away for the community.  Each angler brought down with them a suitcase or ice chest full of clothes and it was given away yesterday afternoon to almost 200 local who live in the East Cape area.  It was a wonderful event and we all would like to thank Jack and his crew for a great event.  The group here through the weekend and we wish them good luck on their remaining days on the water.

The big story came out of Hotel Playa Del Sol where hotel guest Michael Miranda landed a fish of a life time.  Miranda who is from Olympia Washington landed a beautiful roosterfish which we estimate to be well over 70lbs.  Miranda was fishing with his friend Eric Ryan on the super panga Siboney with captain Juan Carlos.  We then saw another great roosterfish landed by Bill McInerney of Vacaville, CA which we estimated to be over 60lbs.  McInerney was also fishing on the super panga Siboney with captain Juan Carlos.  Needless to say it was a good week for the Siboney.   

That’s it for this week amigos!   

Until next week!   

Eddie Dalmau/Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

Cass Tours Fishing Report (Cabo and Gordo Banks) - June 9, 2014

THE CABO SAN LUCAS FISHING REPORT FOR THE GAVIOTA SPORTFISHING FLEET AND FISH CABO FLEET

According to Captain Roberto Marquez, the billfish were plentiful throughout the area but getting them to bite was next to impossible.  He said, "we baited 38 stripers over a 2-day span without a single strike and I feel the frustration of our anglers for each of those days.  On the end of the 2nd day, we landed a big dorado, near 50 lbs., for our Calgary, Canada client that definitely saved  the day for our anglers, but still, no billfish and that is what they had come for.  While they got to see many striped marlin we were unable to get them connected to a cooperative biter".  Then, on Wednesday, we fished up the Pacific side, above the Golden Gate Bank and inside toward Todos Santos and found an area of stripers that did want to bite and we landed 3 fish for the day, all released and that gave us a total of 5 stripers and 3 dorado for the 4 days fished.  The overall catches for a combined total of 19 days fished reflected 12 stripers, (11 released) 1 sailfish, 2 mako sharks, 3 yellowfin tuna, 6 skipjack and 32 dorado, (the dorado sizes got up to about 50 lbs.)

Cabo Climate:  A mostly sunny and warm week for Cabo San Lucas, with temps that varied from 72 nights to 96 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions:  Sea temps from the Golden Gate on the Pacific side, down to Cabo San Lucas and around the corner and up to the Gorda Banks, all held stable at 77-78 degrees.  Above the Gorda Banks a couple of miles and up beyond Las Frailes, the temps climbed to 83-84 degrees.  The surface breezes were flowing in, mostly from the southwest, from calm to about 15 mph.

Best Fishing Area: The better billfish catches all came from the Pacific side of Cabo, from Migino and farther up the coast, including an area about 2-4 miles southwest of Todos Santos on the Pacific side of Cabo, almost 35+ miles from Cabo San Lucas.

Best Lure/Bait:  Live bait was the best but a few fish were being caught on the frozen/rigged ballyhoo baits, too.

Live Bait Supply:  Remains very good and readily available at the $3.00 per bait rate.

 

GORDO BANKS - SAN JOSE DEL CABO

We are in the later part of the spring season, with moderate sized crowds of tourists now visiting, this is always the time when families are busy finishing school semesters, preparing for graduations, summer adventures, etc. Local weather patterns made a complete circle this past week. We had just seen the season’s first Hurricane form to the south of Cabo San Lucas, Amanda, this system pushed tropical humid air over the Southern Baja, stormy conditions which never amounted to much, besides some higher ocean swells, in recent days we are feeling strong southerly winds push cooler Pacific air and ocean currents in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. There is much marine moisture, creating morning clouds, being swept away by gusting winds later in the day.

Ocean water temperature in the past couple of days has plummeted from 80 plus degrees, to 72 degrees throughout the inshore region from Cabo San Lucas to Los Frailes, some 10 to 15 miles offshore of Vinorama to La Frailes is where the 80 degree temperature break is now lurking. This colder current is a dirty greenish color as well, unfavorable conditions contributed to scattered much of the baitfish and gamefish from this zone. As conditions settle, conditions will rebound, as this is the time of year where things can change quickly overnight.

There are many species of gamefish that have been encountered in local waters this spring, though none of the species have been particularly abundant, with the exception of the offshore action for the striped marlin, which at times was very close to shore, then further out, this action has been very consistent for nearly two months, just tapering off this past week, as food sources migrate so do the gamefish. Sailfish, thrasher shark and scattered dorado were also found on these same billfish grounds. No big schools of dorado, mostly solitary fish, a couple of bulls up to 40 pounds were accounted for this week, this is now the season for the larger bulls.

Before the ocean water turned over and became greenish throughout the inshore zone, we were seeing a handful of yellowfin tuna and wahoo in the fish counts, most of these fish were taken while trolling the grounds from San Luis to Vinormama, some fish weighing near fifty pounds were landed. We should see this action return as the ocean conditions clean. The activity will be determined by what exactly happens with these strong Pacific currents, something we deal with every year at this time.

Roosterfish are dominating the inshore scene, fish to over fifty pounds were landed this week, trolling with live moonfish has been the ticket to taking a monstrous strike. Changing conditions slowed this action and pushed it further to the north, but surely will shift back our direction soon enough. Still waiting to see schools of mullet move in along local beach stretches, their migration is late this year, last year we never saw mass abundance of mullet, though it sure was an epic year for big numbers of larger sized roosterfish, these are prized fighting, unique gamefish, not known for eating quality, with limited habitat, should be protected, caught and released with care, in order to mature, reproduce and fight another day.

Bottom action has produced mixed success and recent winds had shut that option down, though there have been some impressive specimens of dogtooth snapper, amberjack and cabrilla accounted for, spotty limited numbers though, drift fishing with bait or working the yo-yo jigs were best options.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 82 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 thrasher shark, 8 yellowfin tuna, 9 striped marlin, 5 sailfish, 7 wahoo, 10 amberjack,13 cabrilla, 12 sierra, 24 dorado, 8 dogtooth snapper, 25 bonito and 88 roosterfish.

Van Wormer Resorts' Fishing Report - June 6, 2014

Post by East Cape Guides.

Van Wormer Resort's Fishing Report - June 1, 2014

It was an up and down week on the East Cape.  Started off a little slow with some Striped Marlin, some football size tuna, small dorado and a couple of roosters coming in each day.  It wasn’t bad fishing, just wasn’t great.  On Tuesday, Ben Lasater from Fort Worth Texas landed the fish of the year so far.  Fishing out of Hotel Playa Del Sol on board the 28’ Cruiser Miss Petunia, Ben landed a 197lbs. yellowfin tuna (pictured below).  While fighting the monster tuna, the rod snapped and they were forced to hand line the tuna for almost an hour.  Congratulations to the Lasater family on landing the fish of a life time. 

The rest of the week was up and down with some boats landing a few nice dorado in the 25lbs. range, but we saw more under 25lbs. than we saw over 25lbs.  Outside of the 197# tuna, most of the others were under 30lbs., with a couple of 50lbs. and one 80lbs. tuna.  Keith Davis of Commerce Township Michigan landed a nice dorado while fishing on the super panga siboney, as did the boys from the Pro Angler tournament from Orange California fishing on the cruiser Amante (picture below). 

We are still seeing some striped marlin with most boats have shots at more than a half dozen per day, but sometimes they just don’t bite.  Most boats came in with 1-3 billfish flags flying, but all of them said they say many others that just didn’t bit.  We would like to give a big shout out to the 42^nd annual Pro Angler tournament led by Dan Bohannon.  The group of nearly 30 anglers started fishing today and will be here throughout the weekend.  Van Wormer Resorts would like to thank the Pro Anglers for all the years they have come down to fish with us.  We wish you all the best this weekend.   

That is it for this week amigos!

Eddie Dalmau/Baja’s Van Wormer Resorts

Van Wormer Resort's Fishing Report - May 21, 2014

Post by Van Wormer Resorts.

Mark White Ceramic Offterings to this Summer's Pelagics

Post by East Cape Guides.

Big Tuna Arrive on the East Cape - May 19, 2014

The first big tuna of the season was landed yesterday...hopefully more to come.

Post by Van Wormer Resorts.

East Cape Guides Fishing Report - April 18th, 2014

Post by East Cape Guides.

Cass Tours Fishing Report - April 27, 2014

San Jose del Cabo

With spring break now officially over, crowds of visitors have lighted up, weather patterns have continued to warm, feeling increasingly tropical this past week, early morning clouds, then plenty of sunshine and high temperatures now into the upper 80s. Ocean water temperatures are ranging 76 to 79 degrees, from Cabo San Lucas to Loss Frailes, no significant temperature breaks seen. Winds have still been somewhat unpredictable, though this week has been much more settled than last, recent trend has been that the south winds are kicking up mid day, early mornings have been very comfortable.

No news of any new resources for sardinas, available baitfish have been moonfish, various jacks and fresh brined ballyhoo. There were reports of more flying fishing now being seen in the warming currents, always a favorable sign, water clarity has rapidly improved as well, clean blue water was now found within a half mile of shore.

Early in the week the billfish action was predominately found further offshore, though that quickly changed, as striped marlin moved in within less than one mile from shore, straight out in front of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina, these fish were readily striking on trolled ballyhoo and also hitting on live baits being drifted down deep. Most of these stripers were weighing in the 80 to 120 pound range. Locals are continuing to exploit these marlin, catching them as if they were just part of an hugely abundant, never ending resource and then selling them on the black market, as local authorities turn their heads the other direction, supposedly these billfish are a protected species, preserved for sport fishing, apparently there is no priority in enforcing such laws.

Dorado were spread out, more often in limited numbers, most anglers were fortunate to land one, occasional exceptions of schools of these fish encountered, sizes ranged up to 25 pounds, trolling various live or rigged baits was most productive. Wahoo were also in the area, but only a handful were actually landed each day, most of them from areas north of Punta Gorda, striking on various baitfish, more so than on artificial lures, sizes ranged to 35 pounds. With the way the ocean conditions are shaping up, anything could happen on any given day, as we are seeing optimal conditions now, favorable for a variety of gamefish.

Most of the local panga charters are either targeting the close by billfish action, or heading north towards the San Luis Bank, where they are targeting a variety of structure species, working yo-yo jigs off the high spots, as well as trolling surface baits or lures for dorado, or chance at a wahoo, marlin were on these grounds as well. We are not seeing any yellowfin tuna action to report. The closest we are really getting to tuna now is with the Eastern Pacific Bonito, which despite the warmer waters are still be caught in fair numbers, striking best early in the day, these bonito are showing signs of slowing down, they are more of a cold water species. Other bottom action included pargo (various species), amberjack and cabrilla. With the rapidly warming waters we have not seen much in the way of yellowtail. More amberjack arre starting to appear though. Sea lions continue to be aggressively feeding on these same fishing grounds, at times making it nearly impossible to land fish, these mammals know where the fish are schooling and they also know how much easier they are to catch when they are hooked on a line and be reeled towards the surface, this is like a game of cat and mouse for these sea lions.

Surprisingly there were still reports of some incredible whale activity, now well past due time that these mammals should be half way through their northern migration.

Inshore action included sierra, roosterfish and jack crevalle, though this action was a bit sporadic from day to day, surely would be better if there were sardinas available for chumming, especially for the sierra, which are proficient at slicing the larger bait fish in half.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 85 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 48 striped marlin, 13 wahoo, 15 amberjack, 23 huachinago, 24 cabrilla, 14 jack crevalle, 18 sierra, 47 dorado, 230 bonito and 26 roosterfish.

Rancho Leonero - East Cape

Water - 79-81 degrees; clear and flat all week. Air - Highs in the mid-80s; cool mornings.

The Environment: Flat water, light breezes, clear skies and noisy reels followed by ceviche and margaritas.

The Bottom Line: A solid Leonero 8+ on a “1-10” scale!

Marlin – Off the board! Striped marlin are loving the trolled Leonero-rigged ballyhoo off the La Ribera Bank, with three or four releases a day not unusual. These are all big fish … right around 200 pounds.

Dorado -The dorado were bigger and were found in greater numbers than the past couple of weeks. Most of our boats have been limiting, with the average fish around 12 pounds and some bulls pushing 40. The area around the Lighthouse has been by far the most productive with the fish biting very close to the beach on the Rincon side.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch …Roosterfish and more – Our big roosterfish have finally come to the party! Five days out of the past seven have produced pez gallo in the 50- to 70-pound class. These will put a bend in your rod and a curl in your hair to say nothing of brightening your disposition after a long winter. Caballito and mullet are both working, with the Lighthouse area again producing the biggest fish. Pompano – Not too many boats looking for them with marlin, dorado and roosters on everyone’s mind.

Cabo San Lucas - Gaviota Fleet

This past week has been a very difficult fishing week for the various Cabo San Lucas sportfishers and while there is plenty of billfish in almost all directions, they are in their "don't bite mode" and have become frustratingly difficult to get on the line.  According to Captain Roberto Marquez, owner of the Fish Cabo boats, they baited more than 30 billfish today for a single biter and got lucky enough to get the fish landed and released aboard the "Tuna Time".  High boat for the week was the Fish Cabo, skippered by Roberto's brother, Gil Marquez, with a catch of 6 stripers released for 5 days fished.  The overall combined fish counts for a total of 24 days fished reflected 13 stripers, (12 released) 1 roosterfish, 12 dorado and 1 skipjack.  Roberto added that the fish are going to bite at some point and when they do, it will be a bonanza of marlin and dorado, adding that the dorado are nearly all big fish and chasing the flyers but not biting the lures or anything else they have been using.  It's almost like the dorado were learning their non-bite  techniques from the billfish.

Cabo Climate:  Mostly sunny, warm and clear days with temps that ranged from 63 nights to 90 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions:  Overall, its been really good with warm waters on both sides of the peninsula.  Pacific side at the Golden Gate is 71-72 degrees and southerly to the Jaime Bank at 74 degrees.  Cabo Falso holding at 75 and from Cabo San Lucas out to the Cabrillo Sea Mount and into the Sea of Cortez is all at 79 degrees.

Best Fishing Area:  The billfish are everywhere from close to far and the secret is trying to find the biters.  There is no particular "hot spot" for biters and one can straight line the direction into the east and bait fish all day long.

Best Lure/Bait:  Live bait has been best with a fish or two taken on the artificials, but overall, the fish don't want to bite.

Live Bait Supply:  Remains plentiful for the caballitos and also a good availability for the fresh frozen ballyhoo baits, too, all at $3.00 each.

The Great Ceramic Lure

I had a few questions coming in about this lure. All my clients know that I've been fishing with http://MakairaPullingLures.com/ for many years and wouldn't leave the dock without my Makaira Brutus, 19, 18 and Lenas. But, the bullet lure in the photo is a Mark White lure out of Kauai. I met Mark on a trip out to the Garden Isle back in 2007. He proceeded to load me up with his unique ceramic lures. He has formulated his own proprietary ceramic mix that when cured becomes as hard as steel, of which he demonstrated in his studio by dropping one of his heads on a concrete floor. He counts each time he has dropped the head to illustrate the strength of the ceramic mix. When I was there in '07 he had dropped the lure around a hundred times, and you could see all the cracks and chips in the concrete where the lure had struck the floor. He is probably up to 8004 on the drop count by now and I am sure the collection of cracks in his studio floor continues. He also has a variety of glaze colors that have a unique foil (oil slick) characteristic to them with some great textures. These baits were definitely wahoo and deck proof, but, do they trolling...and raise fish? Well, I've run his 9" Slant and it has done very well on the billfish and dorado. Also, his 5" bullet heads are a "go to" for small pelagics on the shotgun. What I really like about his baits are that they are perfectly weighted, as ceramic has a nice weight to it as a material and the glazes he comes up with are really nice. Mark also has a ceramic popper (again, immune to the abuses of the reef) that is very popular in The Islands for surf fishing for jacks (ulua, papio, etc). His work is definitely worth adding to your collection.

You can check out his lures at http://www.markwhitelures.com/

Cass Tours Report - April 20, 2014

East Cape-Rancho Leonero
Water - Watertemps have stabilized with inshore at 72 degrees; outside 75 degrees.

Air - Warm days and cool evenings

The Environment: Beautiful! In the past few years, the days surrounding Easter have tended to be windy, but not this year. The water has been generally flat as a tortilla. We've had warm days and cool evenings.

The Bottom Line: A solid Leonero 8.5 on a '1-10' scale!

Marlin – Stripers rule! One boat got 5 fish for the day; another hooked 6 and boated 3. Most fish are hitting rigged ballyhoo. One boat counted over 40 jumpers … many nearly close enough to grab over the gunwale. Not that we’d suggest that! These fish were only three miles in front of Leonero.

Dorado – A continued strong bite in the bay at Rincon, just past the Lighthouse. Most fish are being taken on fly-lined ballyhoo. There are toothy needlefish mixed in with the dorado, so it’s a good idea to double up on the bait … you’ll need it.

Pompano – Rancho Leonero continue to pick up good sized pompano as well as barred pargo. You’ll find ‘em by going deep at 60- to 150-feet. Best areas are directly in front of Leonero, in front of Scott Glen's house and at the Lighthouse.

Roosterfish and more Everything seemed to go quiet on the beach with not much action for our cadre of fly-fishers. This should change as spring normally brings a lot of activity accompanying the arrival of baitfish schools.

Gordo Banks - San Jose del Cabo
Easter Week is attracting local families to all of the accessible beaches, as this is the traditional time to spend time with family and friends on the shoreline. Practically the whole city shuts down this weekend, as no one wants to miss out on any of the action. This is also transition time for the weather patterns, days are steadily warming, though there has been a mix of cloud cover and cooler Pacific breezes sweeping through actually the ideal climate now, with high temperatures into the 80s.

Many locals always say that the fish go on vacation as well over the holiday, with the recent full moon passing and choppy ocean conditions for a few days, we did see the water clarity become blotchy and the all around fishing action was more scattered. Striped marlin with some dorado mixed in has been the main deal offshore, varying from day to day, at times fish were found within several miles, other days out to 20 miles. There were reports of offshore porpoise activity, but no yellowfin tuna were associated. Anglers were trolling open water with lures and using either rigged ballyhoo or live caballito for bait. The live bait found inside the marina dock area did become scarcer during the moon as well.

Panga fleets looking for the best chances at action for a variety of more preferred good eating species were concentrating on the San Luis Bank. The Eastern Pacific bonito was the most prevalent catch, striking best on yo-yo jigs, though there was also a mix of snapper, cabrilla, amberjack and even an occasional yellowtail, though no real numbers of any of these species, except for the bonito, limits were standard for them. Though there was the ever increasing situation of problematic sea lions hanging around these same grounds, being aggressive and opportunistic of stealing angler’s catches, fifteen of these mammals were counted one day on these same banks, making it nearly impossible to actually reel a fish all the way to the boat.

Not as many wahoo stories being told in recent days, but with water temperatures of 75 degrees, these species are staying in the area. There were reports of increased activity of schooling flying fish offshore, this is usually a favorable sign of spring time and should attract more gamefish into the local waters. Thrasher sharks were also reported from the same billfish grounds.

Inshore action was spotty for sierra, roosterfish and jack crevalle. Quite a few sierra seen, but without sardinas it has not been easy to entice them, a few charters that somehow obtained some frozen sardinas, did well on these sierra. Some days the juvenile sized roosterfish were found just north of the Puerto Los Cabos Marina Jetty’s, these smaller fish were having trouble swallowing the larger sized live baits. Other days the roosters vanished, hard to predict these jacks, sometimes bite best early, other days late, tide can come in to play as when these fish become more active.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 73 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 1 thrasher shark, 1 sailfish, 29 striped marlin, 2 wahoo, 6 yellowtail, 8 amberjack, 25 huachinago, 15 jack crevalle, 12 sierra, 36 dorado, 380 bonito and 16 roosterfish.

Gaviota Fleet - Cabo San Lucas
The striper action continues for the Cabo anglers and while the town is full of tourists, it's primarily the non-fishing Easter Week groups that enjoy the land based activities.  Really good for the town, just not for the boats.  High billfish boat for the week was the "Fish Cabo", reflecting 4 stripers released and 1 dinner dorado for a single fishing day, followed by the "Gaviota II", reflecting 5 stripers for 6 days fished.  The overall fish counts for a combined total of 17 days fished reflected 15 stripers, (14 released) 1 dorado and 2 skipjack tuna.  The better fishing remains on the eastern side of Cabo and toward the Sea of Cortez, in the warmer waters.  The full moon of April 15th had a slight impact on the overall fishing but for the most part, all boats had billfish opportunities through the week for their anglers.

Cabo Climate:  Partly cloudy but warm days with scattered sunshine.  Temps varied from 64 nights to 92 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions:  Variable surface breezes from the south to the east and ranging from calm to 16 mph, (The afternoons, starting at about 1pm have been a little breezy but otherwise, pretty calm overall).  Pacific side has a distinct temp break running north to south just inside the Golden Gate Bank, with 71 degrees pushing down across the Jaime Bank and inshore where the temps increase to 74-75.  Cabo Falso and around the corner of Cabo San Lucas to Las Frailes and into the Sea of Cortez, temps are stable at 76-77 degrees.

Best Fishing Area(s):  The 1150 Fathom Spot continues to be the best producing area for the billfish, albeit, we had a report of a striper taken at Pozo De Cota, up on the Pacific side of Cabo with others taken off Cabo Falso and the Santa Maria Bay area.

Best Bait/Lures:  Live bait was best but the ballyhoo baits were also working well, too.

Live Bait supply:  The caballitos were readily available from the bait vendors at the $3.00 per bait rate.  Also, some of the bait vendors had the ballyhoo baits available, also at the $3.00 per bait rate.

East Cape Guides April Report 2014

This is definitely looking like an early season, tuna in April, wahoo staying over on the Gordo Banks, kinda crazy, but we will take it. Good early season fishing can be had with very little crowds. We have only been seeing a few cruisers and pangas heading out every day on calm seas. Weather has been great, mid to high 80s with a little bit of chill in the mornings just to remind you it's Springtime. The water temps are hanging around 74-76 and the Terrafin reports are showing the warmer water that invaded the East Cape over the last few weeks has moved offshore and dissipated. Fishing has been better South for us on the dorado and tuna. Marlin are spread out in front of La Ribera taking trolled and pitchbait ballyhoo. Bait is all about the large horse ballyhoo and small juvenile ballyhoo on the dorado. Tuna are being taken on blue/silver hoochies on light line and fluorocarbon leader. This is not a wide open, "put the cedar plugs out and they all go off," tuna fishing. So, you want to make those hookups count. Great fishing with Steve, Eddie, Jimbo, Chuy, Pancho and Marcos. We did have one marlin expire on us. Everyone knows I am a huge proponent of C&R and fishery preservation efforts. We rarely have a billfish mortally wounded during a fight, but it does happen. My client opted to have a Japanese gyotaku print made by Lyle Brunson. I did have the opportunity to assist Lyle in two marlin prints. See the photos of the print making process below.

You can see more of Lyle's work by following this link: http://eastcapeguides.com/fishprints.html

Buena pesca,

Mark