Cabo and East Cape Fishing Report from Cass Tours - November 4, 2013

Bisbee's Black and Blue 2013

 
Visitors to Los Cabos are enjoying exciting times, as we are now in the midst of the peak fall sportfishing season. The largest of all fishing tournaments, Bisbee’s Black and Blue, was held this past week and once again this event ended with the jackpot marlin being caught in the final moments on the last day and more exciting yet, the top two largest marlin were landed by women anglers. See all the catches for the tournament at CatchStat.com

Team II Success weighs in a 774lb Blue Marlin in the last 10 minutes on the last day of the 2013 Bisbee's Black & Blue Marlin Tournament.

Busy schedules now for all sportfishing fleets, though local weather has seen an unusual late Tropical Storm developing off to the southwest, this contributed to creating windy and choppy ocean conditions, which have plagued the region now for several days and is forecast to continue through the weekend and into next week. This storm front is an unfortunate situation for the hundreds of anglers who plan their annual trips during this period when you normally expect to find much calmer comfortable conditions. Despite the bum conditions people are keeping their spirits high, knowing that all this is out of everyone’s control, the luck of the draw, weather patterns are becoming harder to predict worldwide.

Fleets have been traveling in all directions, scouting out all of the possible fishing grounds within range, ocean water temperatures are now averaging about 84 degrees throughout the area, not much temperature variance, though we do expect that a cooling off trend will begin during this next week. Bait situation has been day to day, with very small sized sardinas being netted off rocky stretches near Santa Maria, there were caballito available and even some mackerel were offered earlier in the week, as well as ballyhoo and slabs of squid at the dock area. There were options of catching larger baitfish on the grounds, overall the bait resource has been sufficient, main problem now was dealing with the relentless north winds that were swirling from out of the southwest as well.

Anglers were finding a mix of dorado, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and billfish, none of which were especially numerous. With ocean temperatures holding warm this late, we are expecting the action to become more consistent after these weather patterns stabilize. Recently the action has been limited to an average of several fish in combination per charter, though there were exceptions for other anglers that happened to be at the right place.

The large yellowfin tuna are still on the Gordo Banks, everyday there have been a couple of hook ups reported, not many of these larger tuna were actually landed, tuna up to 314 lb. were accounted for by the local panga fleet, with others lost after extended battles. Smaller football sized yellowfin were found near Santa Maria and on the Gordo Banks or Iman Bank, though this action was sporadic and most boats that did land these fish would only catch a few fish. Dorado were mixed in, found in medium sized schools spread out, most of these fish were weighing less than fifteen pounds, with an occasional specimen to 20 pounds being reported. The main factor for fewer all around numbers of fish was the relentless winds which limited where boats could comfortable and practically concentrate their efforts.

Wahoo were hiding out most of the week, only a handful of these fish were landed, with other numerous strikes missed. This is now the time we expect to see these fish make their presence known. Once again, as this weather front passes through we do expect things to get back on track.

Not much bottom action was even attempted during these winds times, anglers found it hard enough to troll or drift fish the surface, let alone try to hold the bottom.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 205 charters for this past week, with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 2 black marlin, 4 blue marlin, 16 striped marlin, 18 sailfish, 13 wahoo, 4 amberjack, 14 bonito, 14 pargo, 2 surgeonfish , 35 triggerfish,10 cabrilla, 15 sierra, 260 dorado and 125 yellowfin tuna.

 

Rancho Leonero - East Cape

It has been a windy week down here.Thursday ,Friday and Saturday were blown out. Today is beautiful again.typical scenario for this time of year.That said the fishing has been good.

Still good bait available, the squid returned and the bait guys have had good Caballitos and Ballyhoo on offer.

Most of the Bill fish action was around Sailfish this week. The strong Blue Marlin bite of last week seemed to fall away a bit. This could also be as a result of the light fishing departures!!.Stripers are around but were picky biters.Ballyhoo and Caballitos doing the most work.

Dorado continue to bite all over the bay. Some bigger bulls earlier in the week to 40#. Schoolies of smaller fish taking chunks of squid.

Good sized Jacks and a lot of Roosters to 25# in all the usual spots. Good times for the fly fishermen. Caballitos doing the trick.

The breezy conditions definately turned the water over producing slightly cooler surface.This brought on some Sierra around the lighthouse and Punta Colorada.

Cabo San Lucas - Gaviota Fleet

 

The Lady Anglers sure came out on top in the Bisbee Black & Blue Marlin Tournament and went home with the bulk of the cash prize loot.  Biggest fish, a 774 lb. blue marlin was taken aboard the "II Success" by lady angler Linda Williams, earning $368,675.00.  It was the biggest fish of the week and the largest ever weighed in by lady angler in the B&B.  104 teams were in the 3-day fishing event.  Martha McNabb, fishing "Retriever" settled for 2nd place and largest cash payout with her 525 lb. blue marlin that was worth $1,185,862.00, having entered all the cash jackpots.  "Titan", the first sailboat to ever compete in the event captured first place in the release division, collecting $63,537.00 for 3 blue marlin releases.  Overall reports reflected for the 104 boats released 58 blue marlin, 3 black marlin along with dozens of striped marlin and sailfish.  On the final day of the event, Austin Angel & his family team, fishing aboard the "Sea Angel", captured $966,680.00, with a 313 lb. blue marlin, having entered an across the board bet in all jackpots.  While a 5th place fish, the optional jackpots can make a huge difference in the cash payouts.  Unquestionably, it was the ladies night to shine at the 2013 Bisbee Black & Blue Marlin Tournament.

The MDM groups, fishing Saturday & Sunday aboard 28 local sportfishers, reflected top-notch fishing results that included some 300 fish or so and produced 1 black marlin, 5 blue marlin, 69 stripers and 225 dorado in their mixed bag catches.  Additionally, the combined fishing effort of the Gaviota Sportfishing Fleet and Fish Cabo Fleet for a total of 44 days fished reflected 1 blue marlin, (250 lbs.) 43 stripers, (41 released) 2 Wahoo, 47 yellowfin tuna and 174 dorado.  It has been a terrific fishing week for many anglers and shaping up for more to come.

Cabo Climate:  Partly cloudy days but plenty of sunshine for the area.  Temps ranged from 68 nights to 90 daytime highs with light & variable surface winds from 5-13 mph, flowing from the southeast to westerly directions.

Sea Conditions:  Excellent sea conditions with excellent sea temps that ranged from 82 to 84.5 degrees and stretched from the Finger Bank, (55 miles NW of Cabo on the Pacific side to Las Frailes on the Sea of Cortez side.

Best Fishing Area:  The better fishing remains on the Pacific side of Cabo.  The Jaime Bank was one of the better spots for billfish and the Herradura was best for the yellowfin tuna.  Dorado were scattered around to all areas on the Pacific side.

Best Bait/Lure:  Most of the black & blue marlin were taken on larger artificial lures and rigged baits from the tuna tubes, pre-caught before the tournament days started.  Most of the sailfish and stripers were taken on live baits.  Dorado were taken on both, artificials, feathers and live baits.

Live Bait Supply:  There was no problem with the live bait supply with good caballito availability for the anglers at $3.00 per bait pricing.

Pancho, the seal taxman taketh...

Hola Amigos,

Here's a little humor to take your minds off the slow bite on the East Cape. As if it wasn't tough enough, watch this video of Pancho, the very smart seal, snatch a dorado (mahi mahi) out of an angler's hands at the dock while a pelican watches with popcorn and soda (I'm joking about the popcorn and soda).

Here's the full article on Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/26/sea-lion-pancho-steals-fish-cabo-mexico_n_4166670.html

Buena pesca,

Mark

Casting4Souls Does It Again!

Jack McCulloch and the gang from Casting4Souls once again put on a great event with nearly 3000 pairs of shoes from New Balance and Clarks, 5000 t-shirts from Aftco being given out to the locals of the East Cape. They also gave away reading glasses and bibles for those in need. Bill, Jill and Christie Shedd from Aftco did an amazing and incredibly generous job of providing visors, hats, shirts, shorts and sun masks for the crews that were fishing the day of the event. They also visited a boarding school in La Paz to provide shoes and shirts for the kids. AND, we also did another sea turtle release thanks to Noe and his brother at the Smokehouse. Also, thanks to Chucky Van Wormer for hosting all the volunteers and showing everyone a great time. 

 

East Cape Guides Fishing Report - September 30, 2013

We are seeing some beautiful weather, warm water and consistent fishing. After recent rains in early September, the East Cape landscape is a vibrant green with pops of red desert flowers. Air temps are in the low 90s and warm water temps from 87-90 degrees. These warm waters are moving the sailfish, dorado and wahoo into Southern Baja water. We finally got some sardina off of La Ribera but they have been spotty as of late. The squid have still been a consistent back up to the sardina. Steve Jensen from Fountain Valley, CA landed 9 wahoo off of one floating log. These speedsters were launching out the of water after sardinas. Andrew and Sharon Pedroncelli had consistent fishing on dorado and sailfish.

Cass Tours Fishing Report - September 16, 2013

Rancho Leonero - East Cape

Water- Inside 87, outside 90, as hot as it's been all year... Clear flat all week. Midweek some afternoon north breezes.

Air- Cooler than last week. Highs in the low 90's. Midweek we had a couple of afternoon northerly winds, really cooling everything down. Very pleasant for this time of year.

The fishing was very similar to last week. That's good news! Again this week we are enjoying a wide open Yellowfin and Dorado bite. The bill fishing is very good and consistent, with quite a few more Sails than last week. The inshore fishing has really improved with lots and lots of big Gallo's being released. The La Ribera banks are producing nice big Amberjack. The Sardine have finally showed up. Good news this has helped the fishing. Lots of Squid around. Abundant bait.

Yellowfin- Right off La Ribera. All free swimmers. Mostly football sized, with a few quality fish mixed in. There are a lot more Skipjack this week. Anglers are releasing two or three for every Yellowfin. All anglers limiting daily. Both chunk Squid and live Sardine are deadly. Trolled Hoochies working.

Dorado- From a half mile to five, directly off the hotel and spread throughout the bay. Most anglers limiting. Mostly schooling fish in the 6 to 12# class. Some big bulls to 40# mixed in. The return of the sardine has helped the fishing.

Bill fish- Not much pressure, as most anglers opting for the tuna and dorado. A strong consistent bite again the is week. Anglers targeting are releasing at least one, most multiples. A lot more sails this week. About 2/1 with the Stripers. A Blue or two a day are being released by the hotel fleet.

Inside- Big Gallos! Some whoppers to 90#'s! The roosterfishing was good the week before last, this last week off the charts. Very very good Roosterfishing! The return of the sardine has really fired them up. All the bigger gallos on live Caballito. Lots and lots of quality fish on Sardine.

San Jose del Cabo - Gordo Banks

Local weather has settled down this past week, this has given the area a chance to dry out after all of the recent rainfall. The desert landscape has transformed to a lush green color, days remain warm, with scattered tropical cloud cover and high humidity. With each passing day we are starting to feel a hint of fall in the air, particularly early morning. There is now a low pressure system developing off of the Southern Mexico mainland coast and we will be monitoring its progress closely, as this is the time when the local environment is favorable for tropical storms to form rapidly.

Crowds of tourists are light now, this is the time when family priorities shift towards starting the new school year. It will be soon enough when the busy fall fishing season is in full swing. For the anglers that are making the trip they have enjoyed great fishing action in recent days. Most consistent bite has been found on the areas north of Punta Gorda, from La Fortuna to San Luis Bank, for yellowfin tuna and dorado. Ocean current has been swift from the south, this has made any bottom fishing that much more difficult. Water temperatures are in the 84 to 87 degree range, clear blue conditions are found within a couple of miles from shore.

Squid has been the best bait for the yellowfin tuna, the giant squid are being jigging up by the commercial fleet in dark hours and sold to charter boats in the morning, there are also limited supplies of caballito, still no sardinas available. Drift fishing with strips of squid on light tackle has been the best bet for catching limits of yellowfin tuna, the fish were now larger than in previous weeks, averaging 15 to 20 pounds. The larger cow sized tuna that were starting to show up on the Gordo Banks have not been active this past week, though surely they are still in the area, we expect these cows to become more active soon.

Dorado schools have been spread throughout the area, found by trolling lures and baitfish. The majority of the fish have been smaller sized, though with patience anglers have been able to find some larger sized dorado mixed in. Limit on these fish is two per license and the inspectors are enforcing these regulations. Only a few wahoo being accounted for, they become sluggish in the warmer water, we expect that these speedsters will become more active as fall conditions transition in the coming weeks.

Billfish have slowed this past week out of San Jose del Cabo, only scattered reports of mostly smaller sized striped marlin, surely there are black and blue marlin lurking on the grounds, they just are not readily striking lately, the way the conditions are anything could happen on any given day.

No inshore action being reported, bottom action was limited to a handful of amberjack, pargo and grouper, though no numbers to speak of, though a few impressive fish were accounted for, amberjack up to 78 lb. and one grouper over 100 pounds landed by a La Playita commercial pangero, current has been relentless, hard to effectively drift fish the bottom structure when moving so fast.

The combined panga fleets launching out of La Playita, Puerto Los Cabos Marina sent out approximately 75 charters this past week with anglers accounting for a fish count of: 3 striped marlin, 8 wahoo, 5 amberjack, 2 grouper, 16 red snapper, 300 black skipjack, 415 yellowfin tuna and 550 dorado (many released).

Cabo San Lucas - Gaviota Fleet

Another great fishing week from Cabo San Lucas with excellent dorado catches and for the boats that worked at it, good billfish catches, too.  High boat for the week was the Fish Cabo, reflecting 9 stripers released and 1 sailfish released, along with 32 dorado for their 4 fishing days and followed by the "Gaviota IX", reflecting 6 stripers released and 1 sailfish released along with 8 dorado for 2 days fished.  The overall fish counts for a total of 18 days fished reflected 21 stripers, (20 released) 5 sailfish, (4 released) 2 yellowfin tuna, 8 skipjack tuna and 121 dorado.

Cabo Climate:  Dried out a little bit this past week but still some scattered thunder showers in the mountains.  The days were cloudy to partly cloudy and a couple of sunny days in the mix.  Temps ranged from 75 nights to 95 daytime highs.

Sea Conditions:  One port closure day due to adverse weather conditions but the remainder of the week was decent sea surface conditions and offered good fishing results.  Sea temps holding up well and the warmer waters are starting to show up on the Pacific side of the peninsula and held well at 83-84 degrees from the Finger Bank and southerly to Cabo.  Cabo to San jose Del Cabo saw a decrease to 81 degrees and the change was from the Gorda Banks and northerly, back up to 84 degrees. Mostly light and variable surface breezes in the 5-13 mph ranges but from various directions thru the week.