Cass Tours Fishing Report - November 18, 2013

Rancho Leonero - East Cape 

Water- 80-82 Clear, calm mornings, afternoon breezes.

Air- Very pleasant. Highs in the low 80's, cool mornings, clear skies.

The fishing season on the E Cape is winding down. The fishing however is still very good. Almost all anglers are releasing at least on Striped marlin daily and coming in with limits of Dorado. The inshore fishing is hot, with a wide open Gallo bite and lots of Sierra biting aggressively. 

The fishing pressure for the past few weeks has been light. Anglers going out are spotting lots of tailers, both Sails and Striped Marlin. Unlike the past couple of weeks, the Sails are now the picky biters and the Stripers are biting. Anglers targeting billfish are releasing at least one. The bank of La Ribera has been holding a lot of billfish. Slow rolled Bally Hoo is working best. 

Dorado are abundant, spread throughout the bay. Anglers targeting them are limiting daily. Some larger bulls this week to 40#'s, most schooling fish in the 5 to 10# class. Very spread both north and south. Lots around! 

Big Roosterfish to 50#, were released daily off the beaches. Lots and lots of Roosters from 5 to 20#'s. big fish over 40#'s were common. The Sierra are back in force. As many as you can take in that first golden hour around sunrise.

San Jose del Cabo - Gordo Banks 

As we near the Thanksgiving Holiday there continue to be large crowds of anglers visiting the area, now being greeted with ideal weather conditions, winds resided and anglers enjoyed comfortable seas, with water temperatures averaging 80 degrees. Presently there is yet another low pressure spot some 400 miles to the southwest, threatening to push moisture into Southern Baja, we have seen plenty of rainfall already, hopefully this will be minimal. Heavy road construction on the main Hwy 1 now, so be cautious of this. 

Charter fleets have been fishing the grounds off the Pacific to Gordo Banks and Vinorama in the direction of the Sea of Cortez. Wide open striped marlin action was reported for fleets out of Cabo San Lucas while fishing the Pacific banks, double digit catches were common. Dorado were found spread throughout the area, a bit sporadic from day to day where the better action was encountered, many dorado now in the 5 to 15 lb. class, some larger bulls up to 20 lb. mixed in. 

The more consistent all around action was found around the Iman Bank, this is where yellowfin tuna up to 25 lb. were schooling, also dorado, wahoo, sailfish and striped marlin were all found in this general vicinity. Drift fishing with a mix of strip squid, fresh dead sardinas, which just started being available this week, imported from as far as La Paz, they have proved to be a good choice, other options included ballyhoo and caballito. Catches were ranging from a couple fish per boat, up to 15, depending where you happen to be, often the tuna were biting later in the morning, around 11:00 a.m., just like a switch was thrown, the yellowfin would decide to feed, becoming active on the turn of the tide and change of current. 

Skipjack have been prevalent on the fishing grounds and were being used for chumming and chunk fishing, particularly on the Gordo Banks, where the super cow sized yellowfin tuna have been lurking. On Tuesday local angler Memo Rueda, aboard a 24 ft. center console named “Koi Sushi” hooked into a super cow yellowfin tuna while drifting on the Gordo Banks, after a brutal two hour battle Memo landed the monster which we officially weighed in at a whopping 386 lb., this is the largest yellowfin tuna that we have weighed in out of La Playita, the previous local record was a 378 lb. fish about four years ago. I believe a couple of 400 lb. tuna have been brought into Puerto Los Cabos Marina, though these were yellowfin tuna were taken off large sportfishers from PV or distant banks, not from our local grounds. These larger sized yellowfin have not been as numerous this season, though everyday there have been hook ups, one or two, up to four or five. Chunks of squid or skipjack, as well as whole baits have all accounted for strikes. Other tuna taken from these banks this past week weighed 80 to 250 pounds. 

Wahoo are definitely in the area, but recently they have not been wanting to strike often, any slight change in water conditions could trigger these elusive fish into action, this is peak season now for these highly sought after gamefish. Limited numbers have been brought to the docks this past week, though just yesterday one panga arrived with four large wahoo, largest about 60 pounds. This Sunday is the annual Wahoo Tournament in La Playita, so surely a team will need a fifty pound plus wahoo to win this event, along with jackpot prize money is a new VW compact car up for grabs. 

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 204 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of:17 striped marlin, 14 sailfish, 29 wahoo, 450 bonito, 1 yellowtail, 22 pargo, 8 rainbow runner, 4 roosterfish, 18 cabrilla, 18 sierra, 405 dorado and 540 yellowfin tuna.

Cabo San Lucas - Gaviota Fleet 

The striper action has really come alive on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas and the numbers only tell a partial story of how good it really was.  Some of the anglers didn't want to fish for billfish but they were so plentiful and easy to catch for a change, that the mere dragging of the lures resulted in single & double hookups.  According to Captain Roberto Marquez, it was unavoidable.  If the gear was in the water it was going to get bit.  The two high boats for the week, were the "Gaviota VI", fishing 4 days that reflected 20 stripers released and 7 dorado and the "Fish Cabo", fishing 6 days that tallied 21 stripers released and 15 dorado.  The overall fish counts for the week reflected a total of 50 days fished that resulted in 2 blue marlin, (under 300 lbs.) 120 stripers, (114 releases) 2 wahoo and 95 dorado.  Once the Pacific greenback mackerel start to filter onto the banks as the water temps decline a degree or two more, it would appear that the billfish will likely put on their typical annual "pile up" on the Golden Gate, Jaime Bank and Cabo Falso Drop Off, offering multiple marlin catch days as a regular daily fishing effort.  Right now, the billfish are everywhere and still, they are easy to catch.  However, when they school up and get on the balls of bait, the numbers tend to soar into the double digit catches with the only thing slowing down the numbers is the ability and stamina of the anglers.

Cabo Climate:  Partly cloudy days with intermittent sunshine and temps that varied from 63 nights to 89 daytime highs.  Surface breezes were flowing from various directions at 5-13 mph.

Sea Conditions:  A notable increase in the striper action on the Pacific side as the water temps fell a couple of degrees.  Cooler water pushed down the Pacific side and temps fell to 78 degrees at the Golden Gate Bank as the inner-edge of the bank and on into the shoreline remained at 81 degrees.  The Jaime Bank ranged from 81-83 degrees while Cristobal Ridge to Gorda Banks held fairly stable at 83 degrees.  The 95 Fathom Spot and the 1150 Fathom Spot were the warmest areas at 84 degrees.  Clarity remained good in all directions.

Best Fishing Area:  The Jaime Bank and Margaritas were the better billfish areas, both on the Pacific side of the peninsula.

Best Lure/Bait:  Live bait was best for the billfish and dorado but lures were also taking their fair share and getting bit very well.

Live bait Supply:  Live bait continues to be readily available at the rate of $3.00 per bait.